LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

U  N  I  VER.S1TY 

OF    1LLI  NOIS 

977.38 
PA2 


™.  VAistov^  Survjey 


HISTORY 


OF 


Bond  and  Montgomery  Counties, 


ILLI  NOIS. 


EDITED    BY   WILLIAM    HENRY    PERRIN. 


Illustrated. 


CHICAGO: 

O.  L.  Baskin  &  Co.,  Historical  Publishers,  Lakeside  Building. 

1882. 


{  mi 


1. 2_  St\cv< 


PREFACE. 


nr^HK  history  of  Bond  and  Montgomery  Counties,  after  mouths  of  persistent  toil  and  research, 
-L  is  now  completed,  and  it  is  believed  that  no  subject  of  universal  public  importance  or 
interest  has  been  omitted.,  save  where  protracted  effort  failed  to  secure  reliable  results.  We  are 
well  aware  of  our  inability  to  furnish  a  perfect  history  from  meager  public  documents  and 
numberless  conflicting  traditions,  but  claim  to  have  prepared  a  work  fully  up  to  the  standard  of 
our  promises.  Through  the  courtesy  and  assistance  generously  afforded  by  the  residents  of  these 
counties,  we  have  been  enabled  to  trace  out  and  put  on  record  the  greater  portion  of  the  important 
events  thai,  have  transpired  in  Bond  and  Montgomery  Counties  up  to  the  present  time.  And  we 
feel  assured  that  all  thoughtful  people  in  these  counties,  now  and  in  future,  will  recognize  and 
appreciate  the  importance  of  the  work  and  its  permanent  value. 

A  dry  statement  of  facts  has,  as  far  as  possible,  been  avoided,  and  incidents  and  anecdotes 
have  been  woven  in  with  facts  and  statistics,  forming  a  narrative  at  once  instructive  and 
interesting. 

To  those  who  have  kindly  assist ed  our  corps  of  writers  in  gathering  material,  and  furnished 
us  data  of  historical  value,  we  acknowledge  our  indebtedness  ;  and  to  Williamson  Plant,  Esq.,  of 
Greenville  Judge  A.  N.  Kingsbury,  of  Hillsboro;  H.  A.  Coolidge,  Esq.,  of  Litchfield  ;  and  Rev. 
T.  E.  Spiln'ian,  of  Nokomis,  our  thanks  lor  able  contributions  are  especially  due. 

August,  1882.  THE  PUBLISHERS. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I. 

BOND  COUNTY. 

Page. 

CHAPTER  I.— Introduction  to  Bond  County— The  Early  State 
of  the  Country — Difficulties  of  Occupying  It — Coming  of 
the  Pioneers — Hill's  Station  and  Jones'  Fort— Perils  of 
the  Wilderness — Timber  and  Prairie— Prairie  Kirns — 
Hard  Fare  of  the  Settlers 11 

CHAPTER  II.— Trials  of  the  Pioneers— Skins  asa  Circulating 
Medium— War  of  is  12 — Murder  of  Cux  and  His  Sun- 
Progress  of  Emigration — Early  Manners  and  Customs 19 

CHAPTER  [II.— Organization  of  Bond  County-Its  Present 
Boundaries  ind  Topography— Courts  Organized — County 
Seat  at  Perryville — Jail  Building — Lynching — Lawyers 
Lost  in  the  Prairie — Permanent  Location  of  the  Seat  of 
Justice 25 

CHAPTER  IV.— Early  Agricultun — Hug  Raising— Difficulties 
of  Teaming — Roads  to  St.  Louis  and  Springfield — Ser- 
mon on  a  Load  of  Apples— Building  Mills  and  Manufac- 
tories      33 

CHAPTER  V.— Early  Society— Whisky  and  Fighting— Work- 
ing Frolics — Gold  and  Silver  Mines — Gaylord's  Swindle — 
Slavery — Magoou  Kidnaping  Case—  Early  Physicians 39 

CHAPTER  VI.— Religion— First  Preachers  and  Churches- 
Methodists  j'.nd  Presbyterians — Moody's  Camp-Ground — 
Sunday-Schools — "The  Jerks" — Temperance — Education 
— The  Improvement  in  Schools — Statistics — The  People 
aud  the  State  Debt— War  History 47 

CHAPTER  VII.—  Railroad  History— The  Internal  Improve- 
ment System — Old  National  or  Cumberland  Road — Mis- 
sissippi &  Atlantic  Railroad — The  Present  Vandalia  Line 
and  Its  Officers — The  Press  of  Bond  County 54 

CHAPTER  VIII.-  Greenville  Precinct— Boundaries  and  Con- 
figuration— Early  Settlement — Pioneer  Industries  and 
Improvements — Sketch  of  William  S.  Wait— Villages — 
Gold  and  Sip  er  Mines — Educational — Religious 67 

CHAPTER  IX.— C  ty  of  Greenville— Locating  the  County  Seat 
at  Perryville— Its  Removal  to  Greenvilb — Laying-out  of 
Greenville — The  Name— Early  Settlers  of  the  Town— The 
Kirkpatrick-  and  Others — First  Business  Men  and  Prom- 
inent Citizens — The  Roll  of  Pioneers 73 

CHAPTER  X.— Grleenville— Sato  of  Lots— Building  a  Court 
House — Public  Buildings  of  the  County — Taverns  and 
Their  Changes — Uncle  Jimmy's  Grocery — County  Officers 
—The  Water  Supply— War  History  of  Greeuville  and 
Bond  County  ■ -The  Ililliard  Rifles,  etc 101 


Page. 

CHAPTER  XI. — Greenville — Educational — 1  k>mmon  Schools — 
Almira  College — Religious — Presbyterians  and  Method- 
ists—  Erection  of  Church  Building— Secret  aud  Benev- 
olent Orders,  etc 109 

CHAPTER  XII.— Retrospective— Building  of  Jails— Situation 
of  the  City — More  of  Early  Business  and  Business  Men— 
Agricnl  in  ml  Warehouses— Banking  Business— Shops  and 
M  i  hanics — Summary 1-1 

CHAPTER  XIII.— Ripley  Precinct— Topography— Early  Set- 
tlers—Old Ripley— Churches— Schools— Villages 129 

CHAPTER  XIV.— Mulberry  Grove  Precinct— Its  Configura- 
tion —  Early  Settlements  —  Bev.  J.  B.  Woolard  and 
Other  Pioneers — First  Birth,  Marriage,  etc.— Churches 
and  Schools — Village  of  Mulberry  Grove 133 

CHAPTER  XV. — Pocahontas  Precinct— Topography,  etc.— Pio- 
neer Settlers— The  Plants  and  Johnsons— The  Old  Meth- 
odist Church — Town  of  Pocahontas— Other  Villages— 
Schools  and  Churches 140 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Beaver  Creek  Precinct— General  Description 
— Manners  and  Customs  of  Pioneer  Times — First  Post  Of- 
fice, Blacksmith,  Stores,  etc.— Hills  and  Carding  Ma- 
chines— Villages — Educational  and  Religious 145 

CHAPTER  XVII.  —  Fairview  Precinct  —  Descriptive—  The 
Name— Isam  Reaves  and  Other  Pioneers— First  Elec- 
tion— Early  SchoolB— Religious— " Old  Hurricane"  and 
Other  Churches — Village  of  Fairview 151 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— La  Grange  Precinct— Boundaries,  etc.— 
Its  N.Ul.-niriit  by  White  People— Pioneer  Hardships- 
Churches  and  Schools 158 

OH  VI'I'KK  XIX.— /.ion  Precinct— Its  Topography— Earlj  Set- 
tlements—Life on  the  Frontier — Pioneer  Industries — 
"  i  tld  Zion  "  Camp-Ground— Village  of  Woburn— Schools 
and  Churches 162 

CHAPTER  XX.— Cottonwood  Grove  Precinct— Early  History 
—The  M< ■C.iidn  and  Kuhit, nuns— old  Shoal  Creek  Church 
— Village  of  Bethel — Schools  and  Churches 166 

CHAPTER  XXL— Okaw  Precinct— Description  and  Topogra- 
phy— The  Pioneers'  Habits  and  Modes  of  Living — 
Schools,  Churches,  etc 160 

MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 

CHAPTER  I.— Introductory— Descriptive  and  Topographical 
—Varieties  of  Timber— Geological  Features— Limestone 
and  Sandstone— Coal  Measures — Quality  of  Coal— Quar- 
ries—Climatology— Past  Compared  with  Present 173 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
CHAPTER  II.— Early  Occupation  of  the  Country— The  Mound- 
Builders — Their  Remains  and  Fortifications — The  Indi- 
ans— Coming  of  the  Whites— Difficulties  Encountered 
by  Emigrants  on  the  Way— Growth  and  Development  of 
the  Country 1W 

CHAPTER  III.— Organization  of  Montgomery  County— The 
Act  of  Legislature  Creating  it— Early  Officers  and  Courts 
—Location  of  the  County  Seat— Court  Houses  and  Public 
Buildings  —  Divisions  into  Precincts  and  Townships  — 
Convenience  of  Township  Organization — The  Poor  Farm 
— Politics  and  Parties 186 

CHAPTER  IV.— Early  Religious  History— Educational,  Past 
and  Present,  with  Statistics — Compulsory  Education  and 
its  General  Effects— The  Press 194 

CHAPTER  V.— Agriculture— Improved  Methods,  and  Imple- 
ments— County  Agricultural  Association  —  Offices,  Fair 
Grounds,  etc. — Railroads 199 

CHAPTER  VI.— War  History  of  Montgomery  County— The 
Black  Hawk  War  — Muster  Rolls  of  Companies  — The 
Mexican  War — The  Great  Civil  War— Regiments,  Officers, 
etc. — Litchfield's  Participation — Incidents,  etc 205 

CHAPTER  VII  — Hillsboro  Township — Description— Bounda- 
ries and  Topography— Early  Settlement— The  Mc Adamses, 
Rutledges,  Bonnes  and  other  Pioneers — Primitive  Cus- 
toms,  etc. — Mills,  Roads  and  Bridges — Early  Schools, 
Churches,  etc 215 

CHAPTER  VIII—  City  of  Hillsboro— Its  Laying-out,  Loca- 
tion and  First  Sale  of  Lots — Streets  and  Additions — Judge 
Rountree  and  other  Pioneers — Stores,  Mills,  etc. — Manu- 
factories— Grain  and  Railroads — Incorporation,  etc 221 

CHAPTER  IX.— Hillsboro— Its  Religious  History— The  Meth- 
odist Church  —  Organization,  Members  and  Preachers 
— The  Presbyterians — Other  Religious  Organizations — 
Benevolent  Institutions— The  Masons — Odd  Fellows,  etc,  J.;j 

CHAPTER  X. — Hillsboro — Educational — Pioneer  Schoolhouses 
— Hillsboro  Academy — The  Public  Schools — Newspapers 
— Ups  and  Downs  of  the  BusineHS — The  A7t»'s  and  the 
Journal  of  To-day 242 

CHAPTER  XL— North  Litchfield  Township— Description  and 
Topography— Character  of  Soil  —Early  Settlements — The 
Briggs  Family  —  Other  Pioneers — First  Preachers  and 
Churches — Schools  and  Teachers — Pioneer  Incidents — 
Tax  Receipts,  etc. — Early  Diseases  and  Deaths-  Ell"'  ts 
of  the  War 218 

CHAPTER  XII. — South  Litchfield  Township— Its  Description, 
Boundaries  and  Topograph} — Settlement  of  White  People 
— Early  Customs  and  Industries — Facts  and  Incidents — 
Educational  and  Religious— Miscellaneous  Topics 255 

CHAPTER  Mil  —City  of  Litchfield— First  Settlers— Laying 
out  a  Town — Growth  and  Development — Public  Sale  of 
Lots — Improvements  and  Increase  of  Business^-Popula- 
tion  in  18:"i7 — First  Circus — Pioneer  Business  Men — The 
Machine  Shop  and  Mill  ot  Beach,  etc , 260 

CHAPTER  XIV.— Litchfield  — Increase  of  Population— Early 
Politics — The  Journals — Douglas  and  Lincoln — Incorpo- 
ration asadty — Late  Business  Men — Physicians — Dur- 
ing the  War-Fires— Removal  of  Railroad  Shops,  etc 275 


Page. 

CHAPTER  XV.— Litchfield  — Educational  — The  Press— The 
Journal — the  Monitor  and  other  Papers— Banking  Inter- 
ests— The  Coal  Business— Sanitary  Condition  of  the  City  289 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Nokomis  Township — Position  and  Bounda- 
ries—Surface, Soil,  Streams  — Forest  Growth— Agricult- 
ural Products  — Early  Settlements  — Roads— Schools- 
Churches,  etc 303 

CHAPTER  XVII— Town  of  Nokomis— Its  Location  and  Settle- 
ment—The First  Stores,  Mills  and  Other  Business — Grain 
Trade  —  Manufacture  of  Agricultural  Implements  — 
Schoolhouses,  etc.— The  Press— Religious  History— The 
Different  Churches,  Preachers,  etc 307 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— East  Fork  TownBhip—  Boundaries— Water 
Courses— Early  Settlers— Mills— Cattle  Raising— Roads- 
Churches — Schools — Secret  Societies 311 

CHAPTER  XIX.—  Fillmore  Township  —  Boundaries  —  First 
Growth— Pioneers— Mills— Schools— Churches,  etc.. 

CHAPTER  XX.— Butler  Grove  Township— Boundaries— Soil- 
Timber— Early  Settlers— Roads— Educational  and  Re- 
ligious—Village of  Butler— Business  Interests— Secret 
Societies,  etc. 

CHAPTER  XXI.— Raymond  Township  — Boundaries— Early 
Settlement  — Schools  — Churches— Busiuess  Interests— 
The  Fire — Secret  Societies.. 

CHAPTER  XXII.— Irving  Tow i  ship— Boundaries— Soil— Pio- 
neer Settlers— Schools— Churches— Physicians  and  Mer- 
chants  

CHAPTER  XX1IL— Zanesville  Township— Position— Bounda- 
ries, etc.— Soil  and  Products— Pioneer  Settlements— Roads 
and  Mills— First  Election  and  First  Birti— Schools  and 
Churches— Village  of  Zanesville— Its  Groivth  and  Decay  362 

CHA PTER XXI V.— Walshville Township-Ten. toiy  Embraced 
—Soil  and  Timber—  Crops— First  Settlements— Schools— 
Elections— First  Marriage— Religion,  etc 368 

CHAPTER  XXV.— Witt  Township— Soil,  Timbnr  and  Configu- 
ration— schools,  Past  and  Present— The  Circuit-Rider— 
Churches  and   Sunday   Schools  - 
dustries 

CHAPTER  XXV I.— Hurvel  Township— Position  and  Boundaries 
—Topography— Productions—  Pioneers -,- Schools —Vil- 
lage ofHarvel— Industries— Churches— Sdcret  Soi  ietiea. 

CHAPTER  XXVII— Rountree  Township— Soil  and  Drainage- 
Timber— Firsl  White  Man— Pioneers- 
Various  Denominations 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— Bois  D'Arc  Township— lloundaries  and 

Topography— Its  Early  Settlements— First  Deaths— Early 

Roads,  Churches  and  Schools 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— Grisham  Township— Location  —Soil    and 

Drainage— Early  Settlers—  Religious— Secret  Societies, 

etc 


320 


327 


340 


360 


-Mills   and    Other    In- 


378 


384 


Sc  lools — Roads  - 


CHAPTER  XXX.—  Pitman  Township — PoBitio  i  and  Bounda- 
ries—Physical Features— Productions— En  rly  Settlers  and 
Mills— Schools  and  Churches— Sei  ret  Societies-  Robot  ry, 
etc - 

CHAPTER.  XXXI.— Audubon  Township— To]  ographical  and 
Descriptive— Physical  Features— Early  Settlements— 
First  Birth,  Death  and  Marriage— The  Littles— Cln 
and  Schools— Old  Town  of  Audubon,  e* 


301 


PART  I 


H ISTORY 


OF 


BOND  AND  MONTGOMERY  COUNTIES. 


CHAPTER  L* 

INTRODUCTION  TO  BOND  COUNTY— GENERAL   OBSERVATIONS— THE  EARLY  STATE  OF  THE  COUN- 
TRY—THE DIFFICULTIES  OF  OCCUPYING  IT— COMING  OF  THE  PIONEERS— HILL'S  STATION 
AND  JONES'   FORT  — PERILS  OF  THE  WILDERNESS  — TIMBER  AND  PRAIRIE  — THE 
LATTER    SHUNNED  AS  A    DESERT— PRAIRIE   FIRES— AN    INi  [DENT—  HARD 
FARE  OF  THE  SETTLERS— HOW  THEY  LIVED,  ETC. 


"  Time  though  old  is  swift  in  flight, 
And  years  go  fleetly  by." 

THE  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
study  of  history  are  numerous  and  im- 
portant. There  is  something  in  the  breast  of 
almost  every  individual  which  makes  him  de- 
sirous of  examining  the  past,  and  ascertaining 
what  has  been,  in  relation  to  his  own,  as  vvell 
as  other  countries.  Man  is  anxious  to  look 
back  and  inquire  into  the  transactions  of  the 
generation  which  immediately  preceded  him  : 
this  creates  in  his  mind  a  desire  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  one  preceding  that,  and  so  he 
goes  on  inquiring  back  from  one  generation  to 
another,  and  from  century  to  century,  until  he 
arrives  at  his  origin — Adam — in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  fresh  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker. 
Knowing  this  general  desire  of  the  human 
race,  men  have  written  histories,  in  every  age 
of  the  world,  from  the  time  of  Moses  down  to 

*By  R.  0.  White. 


the  present,  in  order  to  perpetuate  the  sayings 
and  doings  of  their  fellow-beings. 

The  words  and  actions  of  man,  either  for 
weal  or  woe,  constitute  the  most  important 
feature  in  all  histories  ;  there  is  no  portion  of 
the  habitable  earth  that  has  not  been  made  or 
ruined  to  a  certain  extent  by  his  management. 
Christianity,  the  arts  and  sciences,  peace  and, 
as  a  consequence,  civilization,  render  the  earth 

"One  great  garden  of  her  God, 
Bright  with  beauty  and  girt  with  power;" 

but  when  infidelity,  ignorance,  bigotry,  super- 
stition and  war  prevail,  barbarism  is  the  result, 
aud  the  earth  becomes, changed  into  a  wilder 
ness.  Such  has  been  the  case  in  the  past,  and 
if  it  is  any  criterion  by  which  to  judge  the 
future,  it  is  certainly  of  great  moment,  that  we 
become  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  all 
countries,  more  especially  that  of  our  own  ; 
when  we  peruse  its  pages  and  find  there  re- 
corded the  former  errors    and  virtues   of  our 


12 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


race,  whether  considered  as  individuals,  com- 
munities or  states,  or,  in  a  political,  social,  or 
religious  point  of  view,  there  are  many  instruct- 
ive lessons  to  be  learned.  One  of  the  first  is 
to  studiously  avoid  any  course  of  action  which 
has  been  fraught  with  evil  consequences,  and 
to  earnestly  strive  for  those  principles  that 
have  been  most  productive  of  good,  to  all 
classes  of  society. 

Among  all  grades  of  history,  none  is  more 
instructive  or  sought  after  with  a  greater 
eagerness  than  that  which  truthfully  deline- 
ates the  rise  and  progress  of  the  State,  com- 
munity, or  even  county  in  which  we  live. 
There  is  pleasure  as  well  as  profit  to  every 
well-educated  and  inquiring  mind,  in  contem- 
plating the  struggles  of  the  early  settlers  in  all 
portions  of  the  great  West  ;  how  they  encoun- 
tered and  overcame  every  species  of  trial,  hard- 
ship and  danger  to  which  human  beings  were 
ever  subjected.  But  these  things  strike  us 
more  forcibly  and  fill  our  minds  with  more 
immediate  interest  when  confined  to  our  own 
little  county  of  Bond,  where  we  can  yet  occa- 
sionally meet  with  some  of  the  now  gray  -haired 
actors  in  those  early  scenes,  with  whom  life's 
rugged  day  is  almost  over,  whose  bravery  in 
encountering  the  troubles  and  misfortunes 
incident  to  a  frontier  life  has  borne  an  impor- 
tant part  toward  making  our  county  what  it 
now  is,  and  whose  acts  in  connection  with  hun- 
dreds of  others  in  the  first  settling  of  our  vast 
domain,  have  compelled  the  civilized  world  to 
acknowledge  that  the  Americans  are  an  invin- 
cible people. 

It  may  appear,  to  some,  rather  small  and  in- 
significant work  to  record  the  history  of  a 
diminutive  county  like  Bond,  but  it  will  be 
remembered  that  our  vast  republic  is  com- 
prised of  States  that  are  made  up  of  counties, 
each  of  which  contributes  its  share  toward  the 
general  history  of  the  country.  Though  occu- 
pying but  a  small  portion  of  the  State  of 
Illinois,  yet  Bond  County  has  a  history  that  is 


fraught  with  interest  to  its  own  citizens,  at 
least,  besides  many  of  those  in  adjoining 
counties. 

How  little  do  many  of  the  present  genera- 
tion, when  they  behold  the  "  old  settler,"  as  he 
is  termed,  either  realize  or  appreciate  the  hard- 
ships through  which  he  has  passed,  or  the  part 
he  has  performed  in  reclaiming  our  country 
from  the  rule  of  the  wild  and  savage  tribes 
that  roamed  at  will  over  all  parts  of  it. 
"  Young  America,"  as  he  passes  the  old  settler 
by,  without  so  much  as  nodding  his  head,  little 
dreams  that  he  has  spent  the  bloom  of  his  life 
in  helping  to  make  this  country  what  it  now  is, 
or  rather,  in  preparing  it  for  the  reception  of 
all  those  modern  improvements  and  business 
which  surround  us  on  every  side.  The  old 
settler  and  his  deeds  should  be  remembered 
and  appreciated  by  all.  Every  lover  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  undaunted  energy  cannot  but 
admire  that  adventurous  spirit,  united  with 
cool  determination,  which  influenced  the  hardy 
pioneer  to  leave  the  civilization  of  the  older 
States,  and  locate  in  this  wild  region,  far  re- 
moved from  the  influence  of  the  schoolhouse 
and  the  church,  driving  back  the  savage,  and 
paving  the  way  for  the  great  advantages  we 
now  so  fully  enjoy.  And  what  must  be  the 
reflections  of  the  old  settler  himself,  as  he 
looks  upon  this  country  and  contrasts  the 
present  with  the  past — for  he  knows  some- 
thing of  the  past.  He  looks  over  the  thriving 
county  of  Bond,  which  may  be  termed  almost 
one  vast  farm,  and  calls  to  mind  the  time  when 
all  those  prairies,  now  teeming  with  grain, 
fruits  and  vegetables,  were  thickly  covered 
with  grass  six  feet  in  height,  where  the  deer 
and  wolves  held  high  carnival,  undisturbed, 
save  by  the  stealthy  Indian,  or  the  occasional 
appearance  of  a  white  hunter  passing  from  one 
to  another  of  the  settlements  or  forts  that 
were  ''few  and  far  between."  He  views  our 
elegant  homes,  telling  of  wealth,  ease  and  com- 
fort, and  remembers  the  time  when  there  was 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


13 


not  a  glass  window  in  the  whole  comity — not 
over  two  dozen  dwellings,  all  of  them  log 
cabins  with  weight  -  pole  roofs  and  wooden 
chimneys.  He  beholds  neat  churches,  fine 
schoolhouses  and  colleges,  and  thinks  of  the 
time  when  there  was  not  a  church  or  school- 
house  in  the  county.  He  looks  at  our  court 
house,  provided  with  its  comfortable  rooms  for 
the  accommodation  of  various  county  officers, 
and  remembers  the  holding  of  the  first  court 
that  ever  assembled  in  the  county,  which  met 
in  a  rude  log  house,  the  jury  room  being  in  the 
woods.  He  contemplates  with  wonder  and  de- 
light the  railroad,  one  of  the  grandest  achieve- 
ments of  human  enterprise,  and  as  he  beholds 
the  numerous  trains  of  crowded  cars  rapidly 
conveying  passengers  and  freight  from  one 
point  to  another,  his  mind  reverts  back  to  those 
early  days  when  there  were  no  railroads,  and 
not  even  tolerable  wagon  roads  in  all  this 
country,  the  means  of  transportation  being  ox 
teams,  the  only  market  St.  Louis,  then  a  small 
town,  while  in  some  portions  of  the  year  the 
mud  was  many  feet  in  depth.  He  sees  our  fine 
flouring  mills  in  all  parts  of  the  county,  and 
thinks  of  the  days  when  there  were  no  mills 
here  of  any  kind,  and  the  inhabitants  lived  on 
hominy  and  bread  made  of  pounded  corn.  He 
is  delighted  with  our  various  agricultural  im- 
plements, and  recollects  the  hardships  of  farm- 
ing, when  there  was  not  a  seed-drill,  corn- 
planter,  reaper,  mover,  or  thresher  in  the  State. 
when  scythes  and  sickles  cut  down  the  harvest, 
and  flails  or  horses'  feet,  threshed  or  trod  out 
the  grain.  He  looks  back  to  the  first  advances 
that  were  made  here  in  improvement  and  civil- 
ization— the  early  schools,  their  teachers  and 
many  incidents  connected  with  them  ;  the  sing- 
ing-schools, where  the  young  men  brought  their 
sweethearts  behind  them  on  the  same  horse  ;  of 
camp-meetings  in  the  olden  time,  and  promi- 
nent individuals  and  circumstances  connected 
therewith ;  of  old-fashioned  muster  and  elec- 
tion days,  and  the  heroes  of  the  various  fights 


which  there  occurred,  the  result  of  old  grudges 
and  bad  whisky.  These,  and  a  thousand  other 
reflections  must  pass  in  review  through  his 
mind  as  he  looks  around  upon  the  Bond 
County  of  to-day  in  contrast  with  that  of  fifty 
years  ago. 

It  will  be  the  object  of  the  following  pages, 
to  describe  as  accurately  as  possible  the  rise 
and  progress  of  Bond  County,  and  the  incidents 
and  characters  pertaining  thereto,  from  the  first 
settlement  within  its  limits  down  to  the  present 
time.  In  doing  this,  the  great  aim  will  be  to 
present  facts,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  obtain 
them.  Many  of  these  must  necessarily  be 
gleaned  from  individuals  now  living,  who  emi- 
grated to  the  county  in  an  early  day,  and  either 
witnessed,  or  were  actual  participants  in  the 
scenes  connected  with  its  early  history,  there 
being  no  written  account  to  which  we  can  go  for 
information. 

The  task  will  be  a  pleasant  one,  both  to  the 
reader  and  the  writer,  to  go  back  to  the  period 
when  this  county,  along  with  other  portions  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  was  a  wilderness  unmarked 
by  the  hand  of  man.  and  note  the  advent  of  the 
first  white  families,  and  contemplate  the  numer- 
ous and  apparently  insurmountable  difficulties 
with  which  they  were  surrounded.  But  to  give 
precise  dates  in  all  cases  of  the  early  histor}-  of 
Bond  County  will  be  almost  impossible,  as 
there  are  but  few  of  the  old  pioneers  now  liv- 
ing. The  lapse  of  fifty-five  or  sixty  years  has 
not  only  swept  from  the  theater  of  life  most  of 
those  heroes  of  the  old  and  perilous  time,  but 
has  dimmed  the  in  -m  >ries  of  those  who  yet  re- 
main, so  that  some  of  them  have  forgotten  the 
exact  time  when  many  events,  appertaining  to 
our  history,  transpired.  II  >wever,  by  a  careful 
comparison  of  the  different  statements  and 
dates,  they  are  given  with  sufficient  accuracy 
for  general  utility,  even  in  the  instances  where 
there  is  any  lack  of  coincidence. 

The  first  settlement  made  within  the  present 
limits  of   Bond  County  was  at   Hill's  Station, 


14 


HLST011Y  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


or  fort — (called  also  White's  Fort) — ■  about  the 
year  1S12.  This  fort  was  situated  about  eight 
miles,  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  from  where 
the  town  of  Greenville  now  stands.  One  mile 
and  a  half  south  of  this  was  another  station, 
one  called  Jones'  Fort,  built  near  the  same  time. 
These  buildings  were  erected  by  the  white  inhabi- 
tants, as  shelters  not  only  to  protect  them  from 
the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  but  from  the 
incursions  of  the  Indians,  with  whom  the 
county  was  infested,  it  being  considered  unsafe 
for  one  family  to  reside  at  a  distance  from 
others.  These  settlements  were  all  made  within 
a  year  or  two  of  the  same  time,  and  during  the 
last  war  with  England. 

When  we  view  the  present  prosperous  condi- 
tion of  the  country,  it  seems  scarcely  credible 
to  believe  that  no  longer  age  than  the  period 
under  consideration,  the  entire  population  of 
Bond  County  was  comprised  of  only  two  feeble 
bands  of  adventurers,  each  containing  but  a  few 
families,  shut  up  within  the  walls  of  a  fort,  out- 
side of  which  it  was  dangerous  to  venture  any 
distance.  These  forts,  stations  or  block- 
in  mses,  as  they  were  variously  called,  were 
located  in  the  edge  of  the  timber,  and  were  con- 
structed of  hewed  logs.  They  would  not,  it  is 
true,  present  a  very  formidable  resistance  to 
the  military  arrangements  of  the  present  day, 
but  when  considered  as  a  protection  against  the 
implements  of  savage  warfare,  they  proved 
quite  efficient. 

The  only  land  cultivated  was  a  few  acres  im- 
mediately surrounding  or  near  the  stations. 
These  farms,  or  patches,  as  they  would  now  be 
termed,  were  in  the  timber  also,  and  planted  in 
cotton,  tobacco,  corn,  pumpkins,  melons,  pota- 
toes, and  a  few  other  vegetables.  Wheat,  for 
the  first  few  years,  was  not  cultivated,  as  there 
were  no  mills  ;  hence,  it  would  have  been  of 
little  service.  Most  of  the  first  settlers  were 
from  Kentucky,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
where  all  the  laud  is  timbered,  and  the  prairies, 
they   viewed   as   uninhabitable   deserts.      The 


idea  of  hauling  rails,  fire-wood  and  building 
timber,  several  miles  was  not  to  be  thought  of 
b}'  them.  It  was  a  current  remark  by  the 
people  then,  that  "  the  greatest  drawback  to 
this  country  was  scarcity  of  timber." 

In  the  autumn  of  1816,  a  few  families  of  emi- 
grants were  crossing  the  prairie  east  of  Beaver 
Creek,  in  the  southern  part  of  this  county. 
The  grass  had  nearly  all  been  burnt  off,  afford- 
ing a  fine  opportunity  for  viewing  the  soil  and 
situation  of  the  country.  An  old  gentleman 
belonging  to  the  part}'  was  walking  along  be- 
hind the  wagons,  in  company  with  a  few  others, 
who,  like  himself,  had  become  fatigued  with 
riding  and  got  out  to  walk.  The  old  man  gazed 
with  wonder  and  delight  on  the  boundless  ex- 
panse of  prairie  spread  out  before  him  in  all  its 
original  beaut}-.  Taking  up  handfuls  of  the 
rich,  black  soil,  he  would  examine  it  minutely, 
then  toss  it  aside  with  the  exclamation,  "Ah 
me,  how  rich  it  is  ;  what  a  pity  there's  no  tim- 
ber to  fence  it."  He  greatly  deplored  the 
strange  freak  of  nature,  which  deprived  a  vasl 
extent  of  country  of  trees,  otherwise  so  produc- 
tive, evidently  believing  this  arrangement  one  of 
the  mysterious  workings  of  an  All- Wise  Provi- 
dence, in  creating  a  soil  where  trees  would  not 
grow,  and  that  it  would  be  of  no  avail  to  ever 
plant  them,  for  if  the  Almighty  had  so  intended 
it,  they  would  have  been  found  growing  there 
of  their  own  accord. 

It  is  stated  by  one  who  belonged  to  this  party, 
that  some  of  the  old  ladies  felt  afraid  to  enter 
the  first  prairie  they  ever  beheld  ;  fearful  that 
the  ground  might  give  way  and  the}'  be  swal- 
lowed up  as  if  in  quicksand  ;  or  that  night 
might  overtake  them  before  getting  across,  and 
they  have  to  wait  in  the  darkness  without  wood 
or  water  until  morning. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  that,  on  account 
of  the  scarcity  and  inconvenience  of  timber, 
the  prairies  would  remain  as  vast  pastures,  and 
hence  the  first  farms  were  made  in  or  near  the 
edge  of  the  timber.     A  heavy  growth  of  coarse 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUXTY. 


15 


grass  from  four  to  eight  feet  high  covered  the 
prairies  and  all  the  upland  portion  of  the  tim- 
ber, as  well  as  much  of  the  bottom  land  ;  its 
place  in  the  woods  is  now  supplied  by  scrubby 
underbrush.     When  the  grass  became  dry  in 
autumn,  or  killed  by  the  frost,  it  furnished  ma- 
terial for  vast  conflagrations  annually,   sweep- 
ing over  the  country   with  destructive   force, 
consuming  everything  of  a  dry  nature  in  their 
pathway,   and  in    some  instances   burning  up 
wild  animals  overtaken  by  them  in  their  devas- 
tating   course.      These  fires  broke  out  some- 
times by  accident,  but  were  often   put  out  on 
purpose  to  burn  the  grass  on",   so  that  people 
could    see     to    hunt     to     better     advantage. 
Farms  or  settlements  being  few,  this  was  not 
objected  to.     The  neighbors  united  on  a  certain 
day  agreed  upon,  and  "  burnt  the  woods,''  as  it 
was  termed,  first  making  their  farms  or  clear- 
ings secure  by  setting  tire  to  the  edge  of  the 
grass  next  to  the  farm  and  carefull}-  watching 
it  until  a  space  was  burnt  all   around   it  suffi- 
ciently wide  to  prevent  the   fire  passing  over. 
Fires  were  on  some  occasions  set  out  by   the 
Indians,  many  miles  from  the  white  settlements, 
and,  driven  before  the  wind,  spread  over  exten- 
sive tracts  of  country,  destroying  everything 
in   their  course.     As  may   be   imagined   from 
the  height  of  the  grass,  a  tire  on  the  prairie  at 
that  time  was  a  grand  and   fearful  spectacle, 
more  particularly  at  night.     When   fanned  b}T 
a  strong  wind,  the  flames  rose  to  a  height  of 
thirty  or   forty   feet,   presenting    in  the  large 
prairies    an   unbroken    wall  of   flame  several 
miles  in  extent,  having  the  form  of  a  semi-circle 
with  the  convex  side  in  front,  and  sending  forth 
a  roar  that  could  be  heard  at  a  great  distance. 
With  a  heavy    wind,   the  flames  advanced  so 
rapidly   that   many  instances  occurred  where 
persons,    even  on   horseback,    barely   escaped 
being   overtaken    before   reaching   a   place   of 
safety. 

On  one  occasion,  a  party  of  hunters  from  the 
settlements    near   Greenville,   returning    home 


with  a  wagon  load  of  honey  and  venison,  when 
about  a  mile  east  of  where  Elm  Point  now  is, 
set  fire  to  the  grass,  for  amusement.  As  the 
wind  was  from  the  south  and  blew  the  flames  in 
a  direction  opposite  to  the  way  they  were  going, 
no  danger  was  apprehended.  After  enjoying 
the  sight  to  their  satisfaction,  they  started  on, 
when,  in  a  short  time,  the  wind  changed  to  a 
strong  gale  from  the  north,  bringing  the  fire 
directly  toward  them  in  all  its  fury,  and  so 
rapid  was  its  advance,  that  they  were  forced  to 
cut  the  horses  loose  from  the  wagon  and,  with 
all  possible  speed,  escape  for  their  lives.  By- 
great  exertion  they  managed  to  outrun  it,  but 
the  wagon,  harness,  venison  and  honey  were 
consumed.  Quite  a  number  of  marvelous  ad- 
ventures of  this  nature  were  related  by  the 
early  backwoodsmen,  detailing  feats  of  horse- 
manship in  comparison  with  which  John  Gil- 
pin's perilous  ride  was  mere  child's  play.  In 
eveiy  public  crowd  would  lie  found  indi- 
viduals who  loved  to  hunt,  and  tell  of  their 
adventures,  or  listen  to  ihose  of  others.  There 
was  nothing  wrong  in  this,  perhaps,  so  long  as 
the  truth  was  kept  in  view,  but  as  every  such 
collection  contained  some  "  hard  cases,"  es- 
pecially when  warmed  up  with  whisky,  they 
soon  entered  the  regions  of  fancy,  trying  who 
could  tell  the  " biggest  tale,"  betting  "drinks 
for  the  crowd  "  on  the  result.  The  narrators  of 
these  stories  told  them  so  often,  that  they  grew 
into  the  belief  that  they  were  actually  true. 

One  of  these  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the 
reader.  Its  truth  is  not  vouched  for.  but  the 
substance  of  what  the  old  hunter  stated  is 
here  given.  The  hero  of  the  adventure  went 
by  the  name  of  "  old  Slaymush,"  and  was  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  "  biggest  liar  "  in  Bond 
County  at  that  time,  with  but  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, which  was  saying  much  for  him  in 
that  respect,  for  in  those  early  times  there  were 
some  here  "  hard  to  beat  "  on  frontier  incidents. 
The  old  fellow  said  he  had  been  out  huuting 
"  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  over  on  the  Okaw,  and 


16 


HISTORY   OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


there  was  a  heap  of  bear  and  deer  over  thai','' 
but  it  seemed  like  "  luck  was  agiu  "  him,  hav- 
ing shot  several  deer,  but  failing  to  kill  them 
instantly,  or  "  drap  them  in  their  tracks,"  as 
he  "  ginerally  done,"  they  ran  off  and  he  lost 
them.  He  •'  snapped  "  six  times  at  the  "  big- 
gest bear  that  ever  was  seen,"  when  the  animal 
took  fright  and  ran  oh".  Attributing  his  bad 
luck  to  some  newly-purchased  powder,  and  ex- 
pressing the  modest  desire  that  the  individual 
who  sold  it  to  him  might  be  safely  domiciled 
in  a  region  where  powder  would  ignite  without 
flint  and  steel,  he  started  home,  taking  a  west- 
erly course  through  the  prairie  lying  in  the 
eastern  part  of  this  county.  It  was  about  2 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  he  was  within  two 
miles  of  the  timber,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
"  perara,"  when  thick  clouds  of  smoke  ap- 
peared, stretching  to  some  distance  along  the 
edge  of  the  woods.  At  the  first  glance  he 
"  knowed  the  perara  was  a-fire,  and  that  old 
Slaymush  and  his  boss  would  have  to  git  out 
o'  thar,  or  be  roasted  alive,"  and  as  there  was 
a  high  wind  from  the  west,  something  had  to 
be  done  immediately.  Putting  whip  to  his 
horse,  he  set  out  in  a  northern  direction,  hop- 
ing, by  this  flank  movement,  to  get  around  the 
fire  to  a  place  of  safety,  but  this  was  soon 
found  to  be  unavailing,  for  the  flames  extended 
too  far  in  that  direction,  and  had  already  ap 
proached  so  close  that  the  heat  and  smoke 
almost  stifled  him.  The  only  remaining  chance 
was  to  turn  back  and  keep  ahead  of  the  fire  to 
the  Okaw  timber — a  distance  of  six  miles.  He 
said  he  never  was  as  "  nigh  skeered  "  in  his 
life  as  when  he  "seed  "  the  race  that  was  before 
him.  Wheeling  his  horse,  he  took  out  his 
hickory  rammer  to  urge  him  on,  but  his  "  boss 
was  the  worst  skeered  of  the  two,"  and  when 
he  "  sort  o'  leaned  forred  and  fetched  a  big 
yell,  the  critter  actually  cum  very  nigh  jump- 
ing from  under  "  him,  causing  him  to  "  drap  his 
ramrod  and  lose  his  cap  ;"  but  holding  on  to  his 
gun  "  like  a  possum  to  a  simraon-tree  limb,"  he 


sped  on  like  the  wind,  with  the  fire  advancing 
and  roaring  behind  him  like  a  hurricane.  It 
often  got  so  close  that  "  great  rolls  of  it,  big- 
ger than  a  kivered  wagon,  would  bust  loose " 
and  run  past  him  "  roarin'  like  all  natur," 
sometimes  on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  the 
other.  Occasionally  one  of  these  "  big  rolls  " 
would  rush  "  clean  over  "  him,  when  he  would 
throw  himself  forward  on  the  neck  of  his  horse 
till  it  passed  over  and  then  straighten  up  again. 
Fortunately,  none  of  the  fiery  billows  happened 
to  envelop  him  entirely,  and,  with  the  jaws  of 
destruction  snapping  at  his  heels,  he  flew  on- 
ward, leaping  gullies,  one  of  which  was  "  forty 
foot  wide."  In  crossing  this,  he  and  the  fire 
were  side  by  side,  and  "jest  the  instant  his 
boss  struck  t'other  bank,  it  was  thar  too." 
Thus  he  went  on  with  his  fearful  race,  anxious- 
ly looking  ahead  for  the  timber,  near  which  the 
grass  had  been  burnt  some  weeks  before,  know- 
ing that  there  he  would  be  in  a  place  of  safety. 
Though  nearly  blinded  and  suffocated  with 
smoke,  he  thought  of  making  one  more  desper- 
ate efl'ort  to  increase  the  speed  of  his  horse, 
although  he  seemed  to  be  doing  his  very  best 
already.  So  leaning  forward  and  straining  his 
voice  to  the  utmost,  he  "  fetched  another  big 
yell,"  when  the  animal  "jumped  clear  from 
under"  him.  When  he  struck  the  ground,  the 
momentum  caused  him  to  roll  over  two  or 
three  times  and  lose  his  gun,  besides  stunning 
him  considerably.  On  rising  to  bis  feet,  he 
found  himself  on  the  open,  burnt  ground,  and, 
of  course,  safe.  The  fire  having  ceased  in  a 
few  moments,  he  looked  around  a  little,  and 
found  his  gun,  which  had  received  no  further 
damage  than  being  discharged  as  the  fire 
passed  over  it.  He  saw  his  horse  standing  at 
a  distance  of  a  hundred  yards,  gazing  at  him 
most  intently ;  going  up  in  front  of  the  faith- 
ful animal  and  looking  at  him,  he  seemed  un- 
hurt—  not  a  hair  showed  the  least  sign  of 
having  been  in  the  proximity  of  fire  ;  for  this 
he  was  thankful,  as  also,  his  own  preservation 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


17 


— "  there  was  not  a  bar  of  his  head  even 
singed."  He  took  his  horse  by  the  bridle  and 
turned  him  round,  when  a  sight  presented 
itself  that  was  horrible  to  behold.  Every  par- 
ticle of  hair  and  skin  was  burnt  off  his  tail  and 
hind  legs,  the  tail  itself  being  literally  roasted. 
The  hair  was  also  burnt  off  his  hips  and  back, 
as  far  forward  as  the  loins,  but  no  farther  ! 
The  old  man  would  relate  this  story  whenever 
the  subject  of  prairie  fires  was  mentioned, 
evidently  believing  it  to  be  the  truth,  for  if  any 
of  his  hearers  showed  any  signs  of  incredulity, 
he  appeared  much  offended. 

There  being  no  mills  in  the  country  at  the 
time  the  forts  were  occupied,  and  for  sev- 
eral years  afterward,  the  inhabitants  used 
much  less  bread  than  at  present ;  it  was  all 
made  of  corn  meal,  procured  in  the  following 
manner  :  A  large  block  of  wood,  two  or  three 
feet  in  length  and  from  one  to  two  feet  in  diame- 
ter, was  set  up  endwise  on  the  ground,  the  up- 
per end  being  scooped  out  so  as  to  make  a  hol- 
low capable  of  holding  from  a  peck  to  a  half 
bushel  of  grain.  The  corn  was  put  into  this 
and  pounded  with  a  maul,  or  other  heavy  weight 
made  on  purpose.  This  was,  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  term,  "  earning  bread  by  the  sweat 
of  the  brow,"  but  there  being  no  other  chance, 
it  was  better  to  procure  it  in  that  manner  than 
to  do  without.  These  "  machines,"  called  "  mor- 
tars," were  sometimes  made  in  the  stump  of  a 
tree  when  conveniently  situated.  Hominy  was 
much  used,  being  considered  a  saving  of  bread. 

The  inhabitants,  at  first,  depended  rnostty  for 
meat  on  the  game,  with  which  the  country 
abounded.  Nearly  every  article  of  clothing 
worn  by  either  male  or  female,  was  manufact- 
ured at  home  by  the  women,  on  the  old-fash- 
ioned spinning-wheel,  cards  and  loom.  The 
man  dressed  buckskins,  out  of  which  were  made 
pantaloons,  hunting-shirts,  moccasins,  and  oc- 
casionally pillow-cases,  and  dresses  for  the 
women. 

They   made  shoes   from    leather   tanned    at 


home  by  themselves.  To  do  this  a  tree,  three 
or  four  feet  in  diameter,  was  cut  down,  and  as 
large  a  trough  as  possible  dug  out  of  it ;  this 
constituted  a  kind  of  vat,  into  which  the  hides, 
after  being  duly  prepared,  were  placed  along 
with  oak  bark,  broken  to  pieces,  and  pulverized 
a  little  by  pounding,  the  whole  being  filled  up 
with  water.  They  were  kept  in  this  condition 
until  tanned.  Some  of  the  leather  manufactured 
in  this  way  was  very  good,  but  most  of  it  rather 
indifferent.  These,  primitive  tanners  put  no 
blacking  on  their  leather,  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  lampblack  could  nowhere  be  ob- 
tained. Of  course  this  kind  of  material  made 
rather  a  rough  shoe,  but  being  the  best  that 
could  be  procured,  the  people  were  content.  In 
fact,  such  shoes  best  suited  the  rough  jaunts 
taken  on  foot  by  many  of  the  pioneers,  through 
brush,  briers,  swamps  and  grass,  wet  with  dew 
and  rain.  Boots  were  seldom  worn,  except  in 
the  towns,  and  then  only  by  professional  men  ; 
no  better  evidence  could  be  adduced  of  a  man 
being  a  preacher,  doctor  or  lawyer,  than  his 
appearing  in  public  with  boots  on.  This  scarcity 
of  boots  continued  for  several  years.  Many  old 
ladies  seemed  disposed  to  consider  them  as 
belonging  especially  to  the  legal  fraternity, 
styling  every  man  who  wore  them  a  "  dandy 
lawyer." 

Everything  not  manufactured  at  home  was 
termed  a  "  store  "  article,  as  "  store  shoes," 
"  store  hat,"  "  store  bonnet ;"  and  any  one  wholly 
or  even  partially  attired  in  "  store  "  articles, 
excited  envy  in  the  breasts  of  the  younger  and 
more  shallow-brained  portion  of  the  community, 
and  many  a  young  lass,  when  appearing  in 
public,  considered  herself  highly  honored,  if  so 
fortunate  as  to  secure  the  attentions  of  a  "  feller 
with  store  clothes  on,"  furnishing  an  instance 
of  that  weakness  in  human  nature,  too  common 
even  yet,  judging  persons  by  external  appear- 
ances. 

The  scarcity  of  the  necessaries  of  life  will  not 
be  wondered  at,  when  we  consider  that  St.  Louis 


18 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


was  the  only  market,  and  a  very  poor  one  at 
that,  being  then  a  small  town  of  only  a  few 
thousand  inhabitants,  having  but  two  ways  of 
obtaining  everything  of  foreign  growth  or  manu- 
facture, one  by  keel-boats  rowed  or  pushed  by 
poles  up  the  Mississippi  from  New  Orleans  ;  the 


other  from  Philadelphia,  by  means  of  wagons 
across  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  Pittsburgh, 
thence  down  the  Ohio  Kiver,  in  keel-boats,  float- 
ing with  the  current  to  its  mouth,  and  from  this 
point,  pushed  up  the  Mississippi  in  the  same 
manner  as  from  New  Orleans. 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


19 


CHAPTER  IX* 

TRIALS  AND  HARDSHIPS  OF  THE    PIONEERS— SKINS  AS  A  CIRCULATING    MEDIUM— THE  WAR  OF 
181'.'— ITS  EFFECT  UPON  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THIS  PORTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY— MURDER 
OF  COX  AND   HIS  SON— THE  BLESSINGS  OF  PEACE— PROGRESS  OF  EMIGRATION- 
BUILDING  OF  CABINS— EARLY  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS— PIONEER  COURT- 
SHIPS AND  OTHER  SOCIAL  EVENTS. 

right,"    as    they   expressed    it,   one   of  them 
slipped  back   where  the  pile  of  skins  lay,  took 


"Oh,  the  waves  of  life  danced  merrily, 
And  had  a  joyous  now, 
In  the  days  when  we  were  Pioneers, 
Fifty  years  ago  !" — Gallagher. 


FROM  the  time  the  first  settlements  were 
made  in  what  is  now  Bond  County  until 
the  close  of  the  war  of  1812,  money  was 
scarcely  ever  seen.  Skins  of  the  mink,  musk- 
rat,  raccoon  and  deer  composed  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  country.  Tobacco,  powder, 
lead  and  whisky  were  the  principal  articles 
purchased,  and  the  merchant  or  grocery- keeper 
when  asked  the  price  of  an}-  of  his  goods, 
replied  by  stating  a  certain  number  of  skins 
per  pound  or  gallon. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  party  of  fellows  on  a 
Christmas  spree,  who,  finding  themselves  about 
out  of  whisky,  and  not  having  the  wherewith 
to  replenish,  hit  upon  the  following  expedient 
to  obtain  a  supply  :  They  went  one  night  to  a 
little  grocery,  having  one  raccoon  skin  with 
them.  This  paid  for  whisky  enough  to  furnish 
them  all  a  drink  or  two  round,  including  the 
proprietor,  who  of  course  was  fond  of  the  article 
and  imbibed  rather  freely,  soon  becoming  quite 
hilarious  from  its  effects.  The  party  observed 
this,  and  each  one,  on  placing  the  liquor  to  his 
lips,  merely  tasted  it,  but  the  grocery-keeper, 
whenever  it  came  his  turn,  took  a  good  drink  ; 
consequently  objects  soon  began  to  assume  a 
confused  appearance  to  his  vision.  This  was 
just  what  they  wanted,  and  getting  him  "  about 

*  By  R.  0.  White. 


one  and  put  it  through  a  large  crack  in  the 
wall  of  the  hut,  to  the  outside  ;  then  going  out 
at  the  door  he  went  round,  took  up  the  skin, 
and  after  waiting  a  few  minutes  came  in — 
being  saluted  by  the  others  as  a  fresh  arrival, 
— and  presented  his  raccoon  skin  in  payment 
for  a  certain  amouut  of  whisky.  This  offer 
was  readily  accepted,  the  whisky  measured  out 
and  the  skin  thrown  back  on  the  heap  with  the 
rest.  This  feat  was  repeated  every  few  min- 
utes till  they  obtained  all  the  whisky  the}' 
wanted,  having  actually  sold  the  grocery-keeper 
his  own  raccoon  skin  six  or  seven  times  in  a 
few  hours.  After  the  close  of  the  war  money 
was  brought  into  the  country  and  gradually 
took  the  place  of  skins. 

At  one  time  during  the  war  Hill's  Station 
and  Jones'  Fort  were  abandoned,  on  account  of 
Indian  hostilities,  and  all  the  white  inhabitants 
left  the  country  except  one  man  named  Kenson, 
— generally  called  "Old  Kenson."  There  is  no 
account  given  of  this  man  "  showing  whence 
he  came  or  whither  he  went,"  but  we  are  told 
he  loved  the  spirit,  but  whether  he  was  born  of 
it  or  not  is  quite  another  question.  He  was 
as  impervious  to  the  angelic  smiles  and  charms 
of  the  softer  sex,  and  had  never  realized  the 
truth,  that 

"  The  world  was  sad,  the  garden  was  a  wild, 
And  man  the  hermit  sighed  till  woman  smiled." 

but  lived  in  the  enjoyment  of  single  blessed- 


20 


HISTORY   OF    BOND   COUNTY, 


ness,  in  a  large  hollow  sycamore  tree,  situated 
in  Shoal  Creek  Bottom,  near  where  the  Van- 
dalia  Railroad  now  crosses.  "Old  Henson" 
remained  alone  in  this  primitive  residence  to 
look  after  his  hogs  and  hunt,  returning  to  his 
tree  each  time  by  a  different  route,  to  avoid 
being  tracked  by  the  Indians.  He  stayed 
there  unmolested  until  the  rest  of  the  people 
returned  to  the  neighborhood,  after  which  no 
further  trace  of  him  can  be  found.  But  the 
presumption  is  that  he  joined  some  band  of 
Rocky  Mountain  trappers,  spending  his  life  in 
the  wild  seclusions  of  the  land  of  sunset. 

While  the  war  of  1812  was  in  progress,  but 
few  emigrants  came  to  the  county,  and  these 
settled  in  the  vicinity  of  the  forts,  or  stations, 
on  account  of  the  hostile  incursions  of  the  sav- 
ages. Occasionally  a  settler  erected  his  cabin, 
and  made  a  "  clearing  "  at  quite  a  distance  from 
the  station,  remaining  there  with  his  family  as 
long  as  there  were  no  signs  of  Indians  about 
but  as  soon  as  the}'  made  their  appearance  in 
the  neighborhood,  he  would  remove,  with  all  his 
responsibilities  and  household  goods,  into  the 
fort  for  safety,  returning  home  when  the  danger 
had  passed.  Families  thus  situated  moved  to 
and  from  the  forts,  perhaps,  several  times  in  a 
year,  and,  while  living  at  their  homes,  were  in 
constant  danger  of  being  attacked  by  Indians  ; 
yet  they  appeared  contented,  and  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  more  happiness  than  seems  possible, 
under  the  circumstances. 

There  was  a  man  named  Cox,  who,  in  spite  of 
the  warnings  and  entreaties  of  others,  persisted 
in  staying  at  home  instead  of  coming  with  his 
family,  into  Hill's  Station,  the  savages  being  then 
encamped  on  Indian  Creek,  four  miles  nearly  west 
from  Greenville.  His  house  was  near  Beaver 
Creek,  a  little  below  where  Dudleyville  is  now 
situated,  and  several  miles  from  the  station, 
but  he  insisted  there  was  no  danger.  As  a  re- 
sult, however,  of  his  imprudence,  the  Indians 
attacked  his  house  one  day  during  his  absence, 
stole   several   articles   of  value,  captured    his 


daughter,  Sally  Cox,  and  carried  her  off  with 
them.  Intelligence  of  this  melancholy  event 
reached  the  station  in  a  few  hours.  A  party  of  men 
was  instantly  raised,  the  savages  pursued,  over- 
taken, and  the  girl  rescued  and  brought  back  safe 
to  her  parents,  all  within  the  space  of  twenty-four 
hours  from  the  time  of  her  capture.  After  this 
occurrence,  Cox  was  willing  to  remove  his  family 
to  the  fort,  especially  in  times  of  imminent  dan- 
ger, but,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of 
others,  he  would  go  out  to  his  house  once  or 
twice  a  week,  "  to  see  how  things  were  getting 
along."  On  one  of  these  occasions  he  was  ac- 
companied by  his  sou,  a  small  boy,  both  being 
on  horseback. 

When  they  came  within  a  short  distance  of 
his  residence,  he  sent1  the  boy  to  water  their 
horses  at  the  creek,  while  he  proceeded  on  foot 
to  the  house.  As  he  approached  he  noticed  In- 
dian tracks,  which  aroused  his  suspicions,  but 
being  a  brave  man  he  went  on,  almost  fearing 
to  enter.  The  savages  were  concealed  in  the 
house,  standing  on  both  sides  of  the  door  with 
rifles  cocked  and  presented,  ready  to  shoot  him 
the  moment  he  entered.  He  came  up  to  the 
door,  and  on  opening  it.  was  shot  by  an  Indian 
and  instantly  killed.  They  then  ran  down  to 
the  creek  where  the  boy  was,  and  gave  him  to 
understand  they  would  not  hurt  him,  that  they 
only  wanted  the  horses.  Being  greatly  fright- 
ened he  endeavored  to  ride  toward  them,  or  hold 
the  horses  so  that  they  could  come  near  enough 
to  take  hold  of  the  bridles,  but  the  poor  ani- 
mals were  so  alarmed  at  the  Indians  he  could 
not  manage  them.  Hence,  quite  a  struggle  en- 
sued ;  the  Indians  trying  to  get  to  the  horses 
and  they  struggling  away  from  them,  while  the 
boy  was  using  every  exertion  to  hold  them,  no 
doubt  thinking  his  life  depended  on  his  efforts 
to  do  so.  In  this  manner  they  gradually  got 
farther  from  the  creek,  when,  suddenly  emerg- 
ing into  the  prairie,  the  boy  thought  to  escape, 
and  started  off  at  a  rapid  pace.  The  Indians 
perceiving  this,  one  of  them  leveled   his  gun 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


21 


and  shot  the  little  fellow  off  his  horse  as  he  ran. 
The  house  in  which  this  tragedy  occurred  was 
standing  but  a  few  years  since. 

The  particulars  of  the  murder  of  Cox  and  his 
son  were  related  by  the  Indians  themselves,  at 
the  treaty  made  near  die  close  of  the  war.  He 
was  a  large,  powerful  man,  an  experienced  In- 
dian fighter,  and  had  sent  many  a  "brave"  to 
the  "  happy  hunting  grounds."  Had  he  cer- 
tainly known  they  were  concealed  in  the  house, 
it  would  have  cost  them  many  lives  to  have 
taken  his,  for  he  was  considered  a  match  for 
two  or  three  Indians  at  any  time.  Most  of 
them  knew  him,  and  acknowledged  that,  as  they 
watched  through  a  small  crevice  in  the  house, 
and  perceived,  from  his  looks  and  actions,  that 
he  had  discovered  their  tracks,  and  vet  was 
boldly  approaching  the  door,  they  felt  afraid  of 
him,  although  ten  to  one  in  numbers. 

An  incident  occurred  at  Jones'  Fort,  about 
the  time  Cox  was  killed,  which  is  of  interest 
in  this  connection.  At  a  little  distance  from 
it  stood  a  large  elm  tree,  which  at  the  height  of 
several  feet  separated  into  three  prongs,  all 
branching  out  at  the  same  distance  from  the 
ground.  Each  of  these  being  very  large 
afforded  sufficient  shelter  to  conceal  a  man 
standing  in  the  space  thus  formed.  An  Indian, 
observing  this,  conceived  the  idea  of  climbing 
up  into  the  ambuscade  thus  furnished  and 
shooting  at  persons  inside  the  fort.  From  this 
elevated  position,  he  could  see  over  the  wall 
and  fire  on  the  people,  which  was  impossible 
from  the  ground.  One  evening,  near  sunset, 
he  ascended  the  tree  and  took  his  station  ;  soon 
the  report  of  a  rifle  was  heard  and  one  of  the 
men  in  the  fort  fell  dead.  This  was  so  sudden 
ami  unexpected  that  no  one  could  tell  from 
whence  the  firing  proceeded,  though  all  were 
satisfied  it  came  from  an  Indian  concealed 
somewhere  outside  the  inclosure.  This  was 
repeated  on  several  evenings  until  four  or  five 
white  men  had  been  shot  down  without  any  one 
being  able  to  find  out  the  whereabouts  of  the 


murderer.  He  was  finally  discovered,  however, 
in  his  hiding  place,  and  shot  by  a  man  watch- 
ing for  him. 

Another  attack  by  Indians  took  place  at 
Hill's  Station  in  the  latter  part  of  August, 
1814.  As  there  have  been  several  versions  of 
this  fight  already  published  it  is  but  proper  to 
mention  that  the  following  statement  is  in  no 
particular  derived  from  any  of  them,  as  they 
are  not  entirely  correct.  It  coincides  with  them, 
however,  in  man}-  of  its  details.  It  is  obtained 
direct  from  persons  now  living  who  had  the 
scene  described  to  them  by  those  residing  in 
the  station  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  be- 
sides from  the  statement  of  the  hero  of  the 
conflict  himself,  and  may  be  considered  relia 
ble. 

A  few  rangers,  under  the  command  of  Maj. 
Journey,  were  stationed  at  the  station  in  order 
to  afford  the  settlers  better  protection  against 
the  savages.  Benjamin  Henson,  a  resident  in 
the  station,  while  out  hunting  one  day,  saw  an 
Indian,  which  circumstance  he  related  on  his 
return  in  the  evening,  adding  that  he  believed 
they  were  in  danger  of  an  attack.  This  story- 
was  discredited  by  many,  both  officers  and 
men,  who  believed  he  had  manufactured  the 
whole  thing  merely  to  get  up  an  excitement 
and  alarm.  On  the  evening  of  the  day  in  ques- 
tion some  of  the  women  found  grains  of 
parched  corn  scattered  about  the  spring,  situat- 
ed a  little  distance  from  the  station,  and  as 
none  of  the  white  people  had  been  using  any  at 
that  time,  this  was  conclusive  evidence  that  the 
"  red  skins"  were  about. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  however,  some  of 
the  rangers  still  refused  to  believe  that  there 
was  any  danger.  One  Lieut.  Boucher,  on  hear- 
ing Henson's  statement,  called  him  a  liar  to  his 
face,  and  treated  with  contempt  every  sugges- 
tion of  danger. 

After  disputing  and  quarreling  awhile  over 
the  matter,  they  decided  to  send  out  a  squad  of 
men  on  the  following  day  to  look  for  Indians. 


22 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Next  morning  Maj.  Journey  started  out,  taking 
all  the  men  with  him,  thus  leaving  the  fort  in  a 
defenseless  condition,  the  gates  all  wide  open 
and  the  women  milking  the  cows,  apparently 
unconscious  of  danger.  The  part}'  of  rangers 
proceeded  along  a  narrow  path  leading  down  a 
narrow  ravine,  when  they  were  suddenly  fired 
upon  by  a  large  party  of  Indians,  concealed 
behind  trees  and  in  the  grass  on  both  sides  of 
the  path.     Maj.  Journey,  Capt.  Grotz  and  two 

of  the  privates, ■  Lynn  and  William  Pruitt, 

were   instantly   killed.     The    fifth    man,   

Thomas  Higgins,  was  shot  in  the  thigh  and  fell 
from  his  horse,  which  ran  off.  The  others, 
seeing  danger  ahead,  left  the  path  immediately, 
scattering  in  different  directions  and  taking  po- 
sitions at  some  distance  from  each  other,  man- 
aged to  engage  the  enemy  as  best  they  could 
Having  seen  Higgins  fall  from  his  horse  with 
the  other  four,  they  supposed  him  killed  also 
and  took  no  further  notice  of  him  at  that  time. 
There  was  a  small  field  of  corn  close  to  the 
fort,  on  the  north  side,  in  which  several  Indians 
had  concealed  themselves,  for  when  the  firing 
commenced  the  women  saw  three  or  four  run 
out  of  this  field  and  pass  round  to  the  scene  of 
conflict.  They  had  doubtless  been  watching 
the  whites,  intending  to  commit  some  depreda- 
tion as  soon  as  the  men  all  left.  Immediately 
after  Higgins  fell  from  his  horse  he  was 
attacked  by  three  Indians  armed  only  with 
spears,  evidently  believing  him  entirely  within 
their  power.  His  wound  had  disabled  him  so 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  could  stand  with- 
out support,  but  the  knowledge  that  his  life 
was  at  stake  seemed  to  give  him  super-human 
strength.  Cocking  his  rifle,  he  presented  it 
whenever  one  approached  nearer  than  the 
others,  as  if  intending  to  shoot,  determined, 
however,  not  to  do  so  until  he  could  make  sure 
of  his  game.  The  Indians,  being  uncertain 
whether  his  gun  was  loaded  or  not,  were  afraid 
to  rush  on  him.  Thus  he  held  them  at  bay 
for  a  short  time  ;  but  they  kept  circling  round 


trying  to  get  on  both  sides  of  him,  each  time 
coming  a  little  closer  and  closer,  whirling  about 
in  various  ways  or  falling  down  fiat  in  the  grass 
and  weeds  whenever  he  seemed  likely  to  fire. 
Occasionally  one  gave  him  a  thrust  with  his 
spear,  when  they  would  all  laugh  to  see  him 
dodge  and  writhe  with  the  pain,  but  were 
afraid  to  advance  near  enough  to  take  hold  of 
him.  He  still  reserved  his  fire  knowing  that  his 
only  chance  for  life  was  to  kill  one  "  dead"  at 
the  first  and  only  shot  he  would  get.  He  said 
that  one  of  them  was  the  "  biggest  Injun"  he 
ever  saw,  and  he  thought  if  he  could  only  kill 
him  first  his  chance  for  life  would  be  much 
better.  At  length  feeling  himself  growing 
weaker,  and  receiving  a  severe  wound  in  the 
mouth  and  jaw  from  the  spear  of  the  largest 
Indian,  who  also  was  the  boldest,  Higgins 
leveled  his  rifle  at  him  as  he  pulled  the  spear 
from  the  wound  and  fired,  killing  him  dead  on 
the  spot. 

The  other  two,  knowing  that  his  gun  was 
discharged,  now  advanced  on  him  without  fear. 
His  success  in  killing  the  most  formidable  one 
inspired  him  with  fresh  courage,  and  not  having 
time  to  reload  his  rifle,  he  seized  it  by  the 
muzzle,  arid  as  they  rushed  upon  him  with  loud 
and  triumphant  yells,  struck  the  foremost  one 
with  all  his  power  over  the  head,  knocking  out 
his  brains  and  killing  him  immediately.  The 
force  of  the  blow  broke  the  gun  off  at  the 
breach  and  the  barrel  flew  out  of  his  hands  to 
some  distance  in  the  thick  grass. 

He  now  fell  exhausted,  and  being  unable 
to  rise  to  his  feet,  commenced  crawling  to- 
ward the  gun-barrel,  his  only  means  of  defense, 
in  order  to  obtain  it  before  the  remaining  In- 
dian, who  had  also  started  to  search  for  it. 
The  savage  succeeded  in  getting  it  first,  and 
with  a  tremendous  yell,  came  slowiy  up  in  front 
of  him,  brandishing  the  weapon  in  his  hands,  as 
if  to  give  him  all  the  anguish  possible,  before 
striking  the  final  blow.  Having  reached  a  small 
tree,  he  raised  himself  by    means  of  it  to  a 


HISTORY  OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


23 


standing  position,  leaning  back  against  it  for  sup- 
port, feeling  that  his  time  had  come  when,  to  his 
great  joy,  he  beheld  two  white  men — William 
Pursley  and  David  White — on  horseback,  com- 
ing to  his  rescue.  They  were  coming  up  behind 
the  Indian,  who  was  too  much  elated  with  the 
idea  of  capturing  his  victim  to  observe  them. 
As  soon  as  Higgins  saw  them  he  exclaimed, 
•  Pursley,  for  God's  sake,  don't  let  him  kill 
me." 

The  Indian  still  believing  no  one  near. 
and  that  this  was  a  cry  of  despair,  laughed 
tauntingly  in  his  face,  and  mimickingly  repeated 
his  cry  in  bad  English.  The  words  had  scarcely 
passed  his  lips  when  the  men  were  upon  him 
with  rifles  leveled.  Instantaneously  he  com- 
menced a  series  of  the  most  vigorous  and  ludi- 
crous gymnastic  exercises,  but  they  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  killing  him. 

A  portion  of  this  fight  was  witnessed  by  the 
women  in  the  fort,  and  one  of  them — Mrs. 
White — when  she  saw  Higgins  likely  to  be  over- 
powered, seized  a  gun,  mounted  a  horse,  and 
started  to  his  assistance.  She  had  not  pro- 
ceeded far,  however,  when,  perceiving  Pursley 
and  her  husband  hastening  to  his  relief,  she  re- 
turned to  the  fort.  Higgins  was  taken  to  the 
station,  where  his  wounds  were  dressed  and 
cared  for  until  his  recover}-.  He  died,  a  few 
years  since,  in  Fayette  County,  having  been  a 
perfect  specimen  of  a  frontier  man  iu  his  day. 
He  was  once  assistaut  door-keeper  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  Illinois. 

Such  are  the  scenes  through  which  some  of 
the  pioneers  of  Bond  County  passed  during  its 
first  settlement.  Our  citizens  should  cherish 
the  memory  of  those  victims  who  fell  at  Hill's 
Station,  Jones'  Fort,  and  other  places  iu  the 
county.  Their  graves  lie  neglected,  and  some 
of  them  unknown.  This  ought  not  to  be.  The}* 
should  all  be  found,  if  possible,  neatly  inclosed, 
and  a  monument  erected  to  their  memory. 

At  the  close  of  our  last  war  with  England,  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  made  with  the  Indians  as 


well  as  with  the  English,  thus  bringing  peace 
to  the  pioneer.  After  the  conclusion  of  this 
treaty,  the  forts  in  Bond  County  were  aban- 
doned, though  with  some  misgivings  on  the 
part  of  the  whites,  lest  the  Indians  should  fail 
to  observe  the  terms  of  peace.  In  a  short  time, 
however,  the  people  becoming  more  satisfied  of 
the  peaceful  intentions  of  the  savages,  "  scat- 
tered out "  from  the  different  stations,  forming 
settlements  several  miles  apart. 

Emigrants  came  to  the  country  but  slowly, 
so  that  by  the  year  1816,  Bond  County  num- 
bered not  over  twenty-five  dwelling-houses,  if 
their  pole  cabins  could  be  called  dwelling- 
houses.  The  people  then  managed  to  get  along 
without  nails,  glass,  sawed  lumber  or  brick,  for 
the  reason  they  could  not  procure  them.  Their 
houses  were  small,  consisting  of  one  story,  built 
of  logs  or  poles,  in  many  cases  unhewed,  with 
the  ends  projecting  from  six  inches  to  two  feet 
at  the  corners,  the  crevices  between  them  being 
daubed  with  mud  or  clay,  and  the  whole  struct- 
ure covered  with  clapboards,  held  on  by  heavy 
poles  called  "  weight-poles."  The  same  kind  of 
boards,  fastened  to  cross  pieces  by  wooden 
pins  driven  into  holes  made  with  a  gimlet,  con- 
stituted the  door  shutters,  generally  constructed 
to  open  outwards.  The  floor,  when  they  had 
any,  was  made  of  puncheons,  pinned  down  or 
laid  on  loose.  These,  when  carefully  dressed 
and  closely  put  together,  constituted  a  very 
good  floor,  but  some  of  them  conveyed  the  idea 
that  the  settlers  believed  in  ventilation,  for  they 
left  cracks  so  wide  that  the  children,  in  pursuit 
of  their  juvenile  amusements,  their  little  feet 
often  slipped  through  those  dangerous  trap- 
doors, causing  many  squalls  and  bruises.  A 
wooden  latch,  raised  by  a  string,  served  as  a 
fastening  for  their  doors.  This  string  had  one 
end  tied  to  the  latch  and  the  other  passed 
through  a  small  hole  above  it,  and  when  the 
door,  fastened  on  the  inside,  was  left  hanging 
out,  the  person  wishing  to  enter  having  only  to 
pull  it,  iu  order  to  raise  the  latch  ;  hence,  to 


24 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


leave  the  "latch-string  hanging  out,"  they  con- 
sidered synonymous  with  sociability  and  hospi- 
tality.    They  built  wooden  chimneys,  plastering 
them  inside  with  earth,  making  the  jambs  and 
hearths  also  of  the  same  material — except  when 
stone  could  be  procured — beating  the  hearths 
with  a  maul  to  make  them   solid.     The  fire- 
places were  from  six  to  ten  feet  in  width,  and 
two  rocks  or  billets  of  wood  served  instead  of 
andirons.     Though  so   wide,   these   fire-places 
were,  nevertheless,  quite  convenient,  furnishing 
a  receptacle  for  most  if  not  all  the  cooking  uten- 
sils of  the  family,  and  when  crowded  the  chil- 
dren, and  in  some  families  the  dogs  found  ac- 
commodations on  each  side,  in  company  with 
skillets,  ovens  and  frying  pans.     But  at  one  side 
or  the  other  of  these  capacious   hearths,  one 
article  always  stood  conspicuous,  and  that  was 
the  kettle  of  "  blue  dye,"  as  the  old  ladies  called 
it,  in  which  they  colored  their  "yarn  "  for  weav- 
ing.    This  kettle  being   covered   with  an  old 
barrel-head,  or  something  of  the  kind,  often  did 
service  as  a  seat  for  some  member  of  the  family, 
and  even  for  visitors.     Young  fellows,  when  on 
courting  expeditions,  sometimes  found  it  a  very 
convenient  seat,  with  the  "  idol  of  their  heart  " 
in  close  proximity.     Some  of    the    best    men 
of  our  country  wooed  and  won  their  brides, 
seated  on  a  kettle  of  "  blue  dye  "  by  the  blazing 
fire  of  the  backwoodsman's  rude  cabin.     An  in- 
cident is  related  of  a  youthful  swain  seated  on 
a  kettle  of  "  blue  dye,"  engaged  in  close  con- 
versation with  a  lass,  whose  love  he  hoped  to 
win,  when  the  covering  gave  way.  precipitating 
him  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  in  a  sitting 


position.     As  he  wore    white  pantaloons,  the 
results  may  be  imagined. 

Articles  of  household  furniture  were  few  and 
rude.  With  the  exception  of  those  brought 
from  the  States,  chairs  could  not  for  several 
years  be  procured,  their  place  being  supplied 
by  wooden  stools,  which,  though  answering 
very  well  the  purpose  of  seats,  were  easily 
upset,  a  circumstance  often  causing  much  mer- 
riment. 

The  tables  and  bedsteads  were  rude,  the 
former  being  constructed  of  the  same  kind  of 
material  as  the  doors,  and  many  of  the  latter 
by  boring  two  holes  in  the  wall  with  a  large 
auger,  six  or  seven  feet  apart  ;  into  these, 
pieces  of  wood  were  driven  having  the  oppo- 
site end  of  each  inserted  into  an  upright  post, 
this  constituting  a  kind  of  frame  work,  which, 
being  covered  with  clap-boards,  served  as  a 
receptacle  for  the  beds.  Sofas,  rocking-chairs, 
center-tables,  bureaus  and  all  such  articles 
were  not  used  except  where  some  old  lady  or 
whimsical  old  maid  had  refused  to  part  with 
these  "  household  gods,"  and  had  them  hauled 
out  to  this  wild  region,  over  mountains,  hills 
and  swamps,  at  much  trouble  and  expense. 

On  the  outside  of  the  houses,  it  was  no  un- 
common thing  to  see  a  goodly  number  of  rac- 
coon and  deer  skins  stretched  and  hanging  up 
against  the  wall  to  dry,  and  occasionally  the 
skin  of  a  wild  cat,  wolf  or  bear.  The  project- 
ing ends  of  the  logs  at  each  corner  of  the  cabin 
served  as  places  to  hang  the  various  utensils 
used  on  the  farm,  such  as  hoes,  rakes,  bridles 
and  harness. 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


25 


CHAPTER   III.* 

ORGANIZATION  OF   BOND  COUNTY— THE  TERRITORY  FROM  WHICH  IT  ORIGINATED— ACT  OF  THE 
LEGISLATURE— THE   COUNTY  AS  NOW  BOUNDED,  WITH    ITS  DESCRIPTION  AND  TOPOGRA- 
PHY—COURTS  ORGANIZED  — THE    FIRST   GRAND   JURY  AND   COURT  OFFICERS  — 
COUNTY  SEAT  AT  PERRYVILLE— JAIL  BUILDING— A  CASE  OF  LYNCHING— 
LAWYERS  LOST  ON  THE  PRAIRIE— PERMANENT  LOCATION  OF  THE 
SEAT  OF  JUSTICE,  ETC.,  ETC. 


AS  the  country  settled  up  and  population  in- 
creased, it  became  necessary  to  form  the 
territory  into  smaller  divisions  for  the  purpose 
of  convenience  and  the  better  administration 
of  the  laws.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  the  read- 
er to  give  a  few  of  the  territorial  changes  of 
the  country  in  which  we  now  live.  Illinois  was 
taken  from  the  British  in  1778,  by  conquest  of 
Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark,  and  became  a 
county  of  Virginia.  It  then  embraced  what  is 
now  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi- 
gan and  Wisconsin,  with  the  seat  of  government 
at  Kaskaskia.t  In  1784,  Virginia  ceded  it  to 
the  United  States  Government,  and  by  the  or- 
dinance of  1787  it  became  the  Northwestern 
Territory,  with  its  capital  first  at  Marietta,  and 
then  at  Cincinnati.  Ohio.  This  continued  until 
1800,  when  it  was  made  a  part  of  the  Indiana 
Territory,  with  the  seat  of  government  at  Vin- 
cennes,  Ind.,  and  embraced  the  present  States 
of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin. 
In  1809,  that  portion  now  forming  the  States 
of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  became  the  Territory 
of  Illinois,  and  in  1818,  Illinois  became  a  State 
of  the  Federal  Union,  with  her  capital  at  the 
ancient  town  of  Kaskaskia.  The  Southern 
part  of  the  State  was  settled  long  before  the 
central  and  northern  part,  and  here  the  first 
counties  were  formed,  even  before  the  State  was 
admitted  into  the  Union.     The  country  within 

*By  R.  O.  White. 

fNe.ir  Chester,  the  peat  of  the  New  Southern  Penitentiary. 


the  boundaries  of  the  present  State  of  Illinois 
extending  northward  to  the  mouth  of  the  Little 
Mackinaw  Creek,  was  organized  into  a  county 
in  February,  1790,  and  named  for  His  Excel- 
lency, Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Governor  of  the 
Northwestern  Territory.  Other  counties  were 
formed,  as  population  increased.  In  1795,  Ran- 
dolph was  created,  and  Madison  in  1812.  Bond 
County,  comprising  a  large  extent  of  territory, 
and  from  which  several  counties  have  since 
been  formed,  was  organized  in  1817.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  act  of  the  Legislature,  or  that 
part  of  it  pertaining  to  the  subject,  which  gave 
it  a  legal  existence. 

An  act  forming  a  new  county  out  of  the 
county  of  Madison,  approved  January  4, 1817  : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Legislative  Council  and 
House  of  Representatives  of  Illinois  Territory,  and 
it  is  hereby  enacted  by  authority  of  the  same,  that 
all  that  tract  of  country  within  the  following 
boundaries,  to  wit: 

Beginning  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Township 
3  north.  Range  4  west  ;  thence  east  to  the  southeast 
corner  of  Township  3  north.  Range  1  east,  to  the 
third  meridian  line  ;  thence  north  to  the  boundary 
line  of  the  Territory  ;  thence  west  with  said  bound- 
ary line  so  far  that  a  south  line  will  pass  between 
Ranges  4  and  5  west ;  thence  south  with  said  line  to 
the  beginning.  The  same  shall  constitute  a  separate 
county  to  be  called  Bond,  and  the  seat  of  justice 
for  said  county  shall  be  at  Hill's  Fort  until  it  shall 
be  permanently  established  in  the  following  man- 
ner, that  is  to  say,  there  shall  be  five  persons  ap- 
pointed, to  wit :  William  Roberts,  John  Powers, 
Robert    Gillespie,    John    Whitley,    Sr.,   and    John 


26 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Laughlin,  or  a  majority  of  them  being  duly  sworn 
before  some  Judge  or  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  this 
Territory  to  faithfully  take  into  view  the  situation 
of  the  settlements,  the  geography  of  the  county, 
the  convenience  of  the  people  and  the  eligibility  of 
the  place,  shall  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  March, 
next,  at  Hill's  Port,  on  Shoal  Creek,  and  proceed  to 
examine  and  determine  on  the  place  for  the  perma- 
nent seat  of  justice  and  designate  the  same.  Pro- 
vided that  the  proprietor  or  proprietors  of  the  land 
shall  give  to  the  said  county,  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  public  buildings,  a  quantity  of  land  at  the 
said  place,  nut  less  than  twenty  acres,  to  be  laid  off 
in  lots  and  sold  for  the  above  purpose.  But  should 
the  proprietor  or  proprietors  refuse  or  neglect  to 
make  the  donation  aforesaid,  then,  in  that  case,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Commissioners  to  fix  upon 
some  other  place  for  the  seat  of  justice  as  conven- 
ient as  may  be  to  the  present  and  future  settlements 
of  said  county,  or  should  the  said  Commissioners 
fix  it  upon  lauds  belonging  to  the  United  States,  in 
that  case,  the  Judges  of  the  said  county,  or  any  two 
of  them,  may  apply  to  the  Register  of  the  Land 
Office  for  that  district,  and  in  behalf  of  the  county 
purchase  one-quarter  section  for  the  use  ofgthe 
county,  and  the  seat  of  justice  shall  be  established 
thereon,  and  the  county  shall  be  bound  for  the 
purchase  money,  which  place,  when  fixed  upon  aud 
determined,  the  said  Commissioners  shall  certify 
under  their  hands  and  seals,  and  return  their  certifi- 
cates of  the  same  to  the  next  County  Court  in  the 
county  aforesaid  ;  and  as  a  compensation  for  their 
services  they  shall  each  be  allowed  $2  for  every  day 
they  may  be  necessarily  employed  in  fixing  the 
[foresaid  seat  of  justice,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  coun- 
ty levy,  which  said  court  shall  cause  an  entry 
thereof  to  be  made  on  the  records,  etc..  etc. 

The  remainder  of  the  act,  which  is  a  very 
long  one,  is  taken  up  with  matters  which  have 
no  reference  to  Bond  County.  It  will  be  seen 
by  this  act  that  the  county  was  much  larger 
at  the  time  of  its  formation  than  it  is  now.  As 
at  present  constituted,  it  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Montgomery,  on  the  east  by  Fayette, 
on  the  south  by  Clinton,  and  on  the  west  by 
Madison. 

It  contains  nine  entire  townships,  in  a 
square,  aud  five  fractional  ones  on  its  north- 
ern and  western  sides,  comprising  about  three 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  square  miles.     The 


population  is  fourteen  thousand,  being  thirty- 
seven  to  the  square  mile. 

Shoal  Creek  and  its  tributaries  water  the 
western  and  central  portions,  and  the  Okaw 
River  and  Hurricane  Creek  the  eastern  part. 

Shoal  Creek  rises  in  the  northern  part  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  crosses  the  line  of 
Bond  at  the  north  half-mile  corner  of  Section 
28,  Township  7,  Range  4,  and.  (lowing  nearly 
south  through  the  county,  leaves  it  near  the 
southwest  corner  of  Section  36,  Town  4,  Range 
4.  It  has  on  both  sides  a  fine  body  of  timber, 
varying  in  width  from  two  to  five  miles.  Its 
principal  tributaries  in  Bond  County  are  the 
Dry  Fork,  Indian  Creek,  East  Fork,  Locust 
Fork,  Beaver  Creek  aud  the  Lake  Fork. 

The  largest  of  these  streams  is  the  East 
Fork,  which  rises  in  the  northeastern  part  of 
Montgomery  County,  and,  running  southwest 
into  Bond,  empties  into  Shoal  Creek,  in  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  36.  The  timber 
on  this  stream  is  of  a  good  quality,  aud  several 
miles  in  width.  Beaver  Creek  rises  a  few  miles 
northeast  of  Greenville,  and,  flowing  nearly 
south,  crosses  the  line  into  Clinton  County.  The 
whole  length  of  this  creek  is  about  twenty-five 
miles  ;  it  is  a  muddy,  sluggish  stream,  and  wa- 
ters a  fine  portion  of  Bond  County.  When 
the  Government  Surveyors  first  came  to  this 
stream,  they  found  a  dead  horse  in  it,  and  from 
this  circumstance  called  it  "Stinking  Creek," 
a  name  which  appears  on  some  of  the  older 
maps.  Lake  Fork  enters  the  county  a  few  rods 
south  of  the  uorthwest  corner,  flows  in  an 
easterly  direction  near  the  north  line  for  a  little 
over  a  mile  ;  then,  turning  north  and  northeast, 
1  Kisses  into  Montgomeiy  County  and  empties 
into  Shoal  Creek.  It  is  noted  for  being  a  rapid. 
rocky,  stream,  furnishing  numerous  quarries  of 
a  <rood  building  stone,  and  for  beds  of  coal 
along  its  banks  at  various  points.  Dry  Fork 
rises  in  the  southwestern  part  of  Montgoniery 
County,  and,  running  southeast  into  Bond, 
empties  into  Shoal  Creek.   It  is  a  rapid  stream, 


•  '"S- 


it 


'%    /*ksm\ 


( 


t-'Z 


^^u^co^^i.  U .   rvousf"^ 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  uf  ILLINOIS 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


29 


and  runs  through  a  rough,  broken  tract  of 
country.  Indian  Creek  rises  in  the  southwest 
part  of  Township  6,  Range  3,  and  runs  south- 
west into  Shoal  Creek.  It  was  so  named 
from  the  Indians  having  once  been  encamped 
on  it  during  the  first  settling  of  the  county. 
Locust  Fork  is  a  small  stream  in  the  the  south- 
ern part  of  Township  4,  Range  4,  running 
southeast  through  a  fine  portion  of  country  ; 
coal,  and  extensive  beds  of  the  finest  limestone 
in  the  county  are  found  along  this  creek  and 
its  branches.  It  flows  into  Shoal  Creek,  a 
short  distance  north  of  the  Clinton  County 
line. 

The  Okaw  or  Kaskaskia  River  runs  through 
the  extreme  southeastern  part  of  the  county. 
It  rises  in  Champaign  County,  and,  taking  a 
southwestern  course,  empties  into  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  passing 
through  or  bordering  in  its  course  the  counties 
of  Douglas,  Coles,  Moultrie,  Shelby,  Fayette, 
Bond,  Clinton,  Washington,  St.  Clair.  Monroe 
and  Randolph.  A  body  of  excellent  timber; 
from  two  to  ten  miles  wide,  is  found  along  this 
river,  supplying  the  numerous  and  extensive 
farms  on  both  sides  of  it  with  lumber.  It  is 
not  navigable  for  any  considerable  distance, 
though  a  small  steamboat  once  ascended  as  far  as 
Carlyle  in  a  time  of  high  water.  The  Hurricane 
Fork  and  its  tributaries  water  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  Bond  County,  and  are  bordered  with 
fine  bodies  of  timber. 

Bond  County  contains  a  due  proportion  of 
timber  and  prairie,  and  has  a  generally  level  or 
undulating  surface,  but  no  mountains  nor  very 
high  hills.  The  general  quality  of  the  soil  is 
second  rate,  though  in  certain  localities  there  is 
excellent  land.  Some  of  the  prairies  are  too 
level  to  answer  well  the  purposes  of  cultivation 
without  some  artificial  drainage,  but  most  of 
the  land  is  sufficiently  undulating  to  drain  well, 
and  in  fact  some  of  the  finest  landscape  views 
in  the  State  are  found  in  this  county.     The  tim- 


ber consists  of  white,  black,  Spanish,  over-cup, 
water,  black-jack,  post  and  pin  oak,  hackberry, 
ash,  hickory,  walnut,  elm,  sycamore,  cotton- 
wood,  sugar  and  white  maple,  locust,  mulberry, 
sassafras,  wild  cherry  and  other  kinds.  Springs 
are  not  very  numerous,  but  good  wells  can  be 
obtained  in  all  parts  of  the  county.  With  but 
few  exceptions  the  water  is  limestone.  There 
are  saline  springs  in  Shoal  Creek,  a  short  dis- 
tance above  New  Berlin,  where,  during  the  first 
settling  of  the  country,  salt  was  manufactured 
to  a  small  extent,  but,  being  down  in  the  bed  of 
the  creek,  they  are  inaccessible  the  greater  part 
of  the  year,  and  have  long  since  been  aban- 
doned. 

In  addition  to  the  places  already  noted,  good 
quarries  of  both  sand  and  limestone  are  found 
in  the  western  part  of  the  county,  at  various 
points  along  the  banks  of  the  main  fork  of 
Shoal  Creek,  and  many  of  the  smaller  streams 
running  into  it  from  the  west.  In  the  prairies 
are  found,  lying  on  or  near  the  surface,  large 
bowlders  nearly  round,  weighing  from  five  hun- 
dred to  several  thousand  pounds.  They  are 
granite  in  formation,  and  have  been  broken 
from  the  parent  quarry  by  some  convulsion  of 
nature,  and  removed  to  their  present  situation, 
probably  through  the  agency  of  water,  and 
seem  to  have  been  rounded  by  rolling  over  a 
hard  surface.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  them 
on  any  reasonable  ground.  There  is  not,  so  far 
as  is  known,  a  quarry  of  granite  in  the  State, 
and  hence  it  is  evident  that  these  "  lost  rocks," 
as  they  are  called,  have  been  transported  many 
miles. 

As  Bond  County  was  organized  in  1817, 
when  Illinois  was  yet  a  Territory,  it  was  one  of 
the  fifteen  counties  represented  in  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  1818.  Thomas  Kirk- 
patrick  and  Samuel  G.  Morse  represented  this 
county  in  the  Convention  that  formed  the  first 
State  Constitution.  Of  the  dimensions  of  Bond 
at  the  time  of  its  formation,  Rev.  Thomas  W. 
Hynes,    in   his   address,   July  4,  1876,   says  : 

B 


30 


HISTORY   OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


"  Originally  our  county  was  of  immense  size, 
extending  indefinitely  northward  and  eastward  ; 
but  in  1821  tbe  formation  of  Montgomery  and 
Fayette,  and,  in  1825,  the  county  of  Clinton 
reduced  her  extent  on  three  sides  till  she  was 
so  small  that  an  addition  taken  from  Madison 
had  to  be  made  in  1843,  to  bring  it  up  to  the 
present  extent  of  territory.  This  addition,  two 
miles  wide  and  nine  miles  long,  leaves  the 
county  of  respectable  and  convenient  magni- 
tude, though  much  below  the  average  of  the 
102  counties  in  Illinois.  Bond  has  378  square 
miles,  while  the  average  for  all  the  counties  of 
Illinois  is  544  square  miles." 

After  the  adoption  of  the  act  of  the  Legisla- 
ture for  the  legal  organization  of  the  county,  the 
next  business  in  order  was  to  establish  the  dif- 
ferent departments,  and  set  the  political,  civil 
and  judicial  machinery  in  motion.  This  was 
accomplished  without  any  unnecessary  delay. 
The  first  Circuit  Court  was  held  at  Hill's  Station, 
on  Monday,  May  30,  1817.  The  State  being 
under  a  Territorial  Government,  all  the  offices 
were  filled  by  appointment,  and  were  as  follows  : 
The  Hon.  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  Judge  ;  Daniel 
Converse,  Clerk ;  Samuel  G.  Morse,  Sheriff ; 
and  Charles  R.  Matheny,  State's  Attorney.  The 
following  persons  served  as  grand  jurors  :  John 
Whitley,  Sr.,  Foreman,  Solomon  Reavis,  Fields 
Pruitt,  Coonrod  Hoosong,  Samuel  Davidson, 
Paul  Beck,  William  Robinson,  John  Hopton, 
Robert  Gillespie,  Benjamin  James,  Charles 
Reavis,  Charles  Steel,  Andrew  Moody,  Absalom 
Mathews,  William  McLane,  John  Whitley,  Jr. 
Peter  Hubbard,  David  White,  Francis  Kirk- 
patrick,  William  Burgess,  John  Samples,  Elijah 
Powers,  Thomas  White. 

The  list  of  petit  jurors  cannot  be  given,  for  it 
does  not  appear  in  any  of  the  old  records  of  the 
county,  and,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  John 
B.  White,  residing  a  short  distance  west  of 
Greenville,  is  the  only  man  now  living  who 
served  on  either  jury  at  that  court.  The  petit 
jury,  on  retiring  to  make  up  their  verdict,  in- 


stead of  being  shut  up  in  a  close  room,  went  out 
and  sat  on  a  large  log. 

There  was  only  one  bill  of  indictment  found, 
and  but  one  case  tried.  Judge  Thomas,  allud- 
ing to  this  circumstance  when  dismissing  the 
grand  jury,  remarked,  "  It  speaks  much  for  the 
morals  of  your  community ;  long  ma}'  such  a 
state  of  things  continue."  In  the  foregoing  list 
of  grand  jurors,  quite  a  number  of  our  citizens 
will  recognize  the  names  of  ancestors  and 
others  with  whom  they  have  been  familiar  in 
former  years. 

Two  or  three  terms  of  the  Circuit  Court  were 
held  at  Hill's  Station,  after  which  it  was  held  at 
Perryville,  the  first  county  seat,  situated  near 
the  mouth  of  Hurricane  Creek,  in  the  south- 
western part  of  what  is  now  Fayette  County. 
The  following  report  of  the  Commissioners  ap- 
pointed to  locate  the  seat  of  justice  for  Bond 
Count}',  shows  something  of  the  extent  of  terri- 
tory then  under  its  jurisdiction,  and  also,  the 
ideas  entertained  by  the  people  in  relation  to 
the  navigation  of  the  small  rivers  and  large 
creeks  in  this  country  : 

Shoal  Creek,  April  15,  1817.         ( 
Illinois  Territory,  Bond  County,    f 

We,  the  Commissioners  to  fix  the  seat  of  justice 
for  the  county  of  Bond,  being  duly  sworn,  after  re- 
viewing different  parts  of  said  county  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  we  do  nominate  and  appoint  for  that  pur- 
pose, the  bluff  lying  west  of  the  Hurricane  Fork  of 
Okaw,  being  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  No. 
5,  of  Range  No.  1  west,  of  Township  No.  4  north, 
now  the  property  of  Martin  Jones,  taking  into  view 
the  geographical  center,  the  navigation,  the  eligibility, 
and  the  common  good  of  the  people,  as  directed  by 
law.  Given  under  our  hands  and  seals,  the  day  and 
year  first  above  written.  John  Powers. 

Robert  Gillespie, 
John  Whitley. 

This  town  was  laid  out  in  the  spring  of  1818, 
and  the  plat  recorded  May  17  of  the  same  year. 
Illinois  having  been  in  the  meantime  admitted 
into  the  Union,  Bond  County  was  regularly  or- 
ganized the  following  autumn,  and  named  for 
Shadrach  Bond,  the  first  Governor  of  the  State, 


HISTORY    OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


31 


who  was  elected  in  October,  1S18,  and  filled  a 
term  of  four  years.  The  county  then  included 
a  large  scope  of  territory,  extending  to  the 
north,  east  and  south,  which  is  now  embodied 
in  adjoining  counties. 

The  first  Justices'  or  Count}'  Commissioners' 
Court  ever  held  in  the  county,  met  at  Perry  - 
ville  in  the  month  of  October,  1818.  The  Jus- 
tices were  Thomas  Kirkpatrick,  Martin  Jones 
and  Isaac  Price.  Daniel  Converse  was  Clerk, 
and  Samuel  G-.  Morse,  Sheriff,  Converse  being 
Clerk  of  both  Circuit  and  County  Courts.  The 
principal  business  of  this  first  court  at  Perry- 
ville  seems  to  have  been  rewarding  persons  for 
killing  wolves,  *2  being  the  amount  paid  for 
each  scalp  produced.  There  were  thirty-five 
orders  passed  allowing  pay  for  wolf-scalps,  and 
it  appears  that  fifty-one  wolves  had  been  killed. 
The  whole  amount  of  money  expended  by  the 
county  for  the  year  previous,  as  stated  by  the 
Sheriff,  was  $97.75,  which  was  probably  mostly 
for  wolf-scalps. 

Among  the  orders  passed  at  this  term  of  the 
court  was  one  for  the  erection  of  a  jail  at  Perry - 
ville,  giving  plan  and  specifications  of  the  build- 
ing. It  appears  to  be  the  only  order  of  any  im- 
portance passed  after  remunerating  the  wolf- 
killers  ;  a  jail,  whether  needed  or  not,  being  evi- 
dently considered  as  a  mark  of  civilization,  or, 
at  least,  tending  in  that  direction.  After  perus- 
ing this  order,  the  reader  can  form  his  own  con- 
elusions  as  to  the  condition  of  the  literature 
and  architecture  of  Bond  Count}'  at  that  time, 
and  picture  to  himself  the  imposing  appearance 
such  a  building  would  now  present  if  located 
in  the  public  square  of  Greenville.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  order,  given  word  for  word  and  letter 
for  letter : 

Ordered  thai  Martin  Join's  lie  appointed  and  Em- 
powered to  let  a  Gail  to  the  lowest  Bidder  to  lice 
built  in  the  following  Manner;  twelve  by  eighteen 

feet  in  the  clear,  in  1 built  of  timber  hewn  square 

12  Inches,  the  log  with  a  partition  of  the  same  kind 
of  Timber,  the  partition  to  be  6  feet  from  one  end, 
the  corners  to  be  dove-tailed  together  and  also  the 


partion  walls, — the  outside  door  to  be  double,  of  two 
Inch  plank,  and  sufficiently  mailed  with  Strong  nails 
and  barred  with  two  Iron  barrs,  half  an  inch  thick 
and  three  inches  wide,  to  answer  for  the  hinges,  to 
be  hinged  with  steeples  J  of  an  Inch  in  Diameter 
drove  through  the  Logs  and  Clinched,  and  also  stee- 
ples through  the  logs  in  the  same  manner  on  the 
other  side  of  the  door,  with  holes  through  the  bolls 
to  Lock  the  door  with  Pad  Locks  to  each. 

This  jail  was  built,  but  not  strictly  in  ac- 
cordance  with  the  above  order,  for  if  it  had,  it 
would  have  been  without  roof  or  floor.  It  is 
likely  the  architect,  supplied  with  his  inventive 
powers  what  was  omitted  in  the  specifications. 
The  first  man  ever  imprisoned  in  Bond  County 
was  incarcerated  in  this  building  during  the 
first  CircuitCourt  held  at  Perryville.  Hecame 
into  court  not  only  a  little  "  tight,"  but  very 
drunk,  swearing  and  making  quite  a  disturb- 
ance. The  Judge  ordered  him  to  jail  until  he 
became  sober,  which  order  was  promptly  exe- 
cuted by  the  Sheriff.  That  worthy  official,  how- 
ever, found  it  impossible  to  lock  the  door,  for 
the  reason  that  there  had  been  no  padlock  pro- 
vided, as  stipulated  in  the  building  contract, 
but  as  the  door  opened  to  the  outside,  he  closed 
it  and  placed  fence-rails  and  poles  against  it, 
making  everything,  as  he  thought,  secure.  This 
was  late  in  the  afternoon,  near  sunset.  The  pris- 
oner lay  down  and  soon  fell  asleep.  About  mid- 
night he  awoke,  duly  sober,  and  finding  himself 
in  such  a  place,  was  at  first  much  surprised, 
but  after  a  little  reflection,  recollected  his  con- 
dition the  day  before,  and  imagined  that  some- 
body had  put  him  in  there  for  mischief.  After 
groping  around  the  walls  awhile,  he  found  the 
(lour,  and  by  pushing,  kicking,  swearing  and 
yelling  till  almost  daylight,  succeeded  in  get- 
ting out.  The  next  day  he  was  going  about 
trying  to  find  the  perpetrators  of  the  outrage, 
swearing  he  could  whip  any  man  that  helped 
to  put  him  in  there,  never  for  a  moment  sup- 
posing that  an  order  of  court  had  anything  to 
do  with  it. 

Some  idea  of  the  sparseness  of  the  settle- 


32 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


merits  at  that  time  may  be  obtained  from  the 
fact  that  a  party  of  three  or  four  lawyers,  on 
their  wa}'  to  the  above-named  court,  got  lost  in 
crossing  the  prairie  between  Shoal  Creek  and 
the  Okaw.  After  wandering  about  for  several 
hours,  vainly  endeavoring  to  discover  some 
signs  of  a  human  habitation,  night  overtook 
them,  and  the}*  were  compelled  to  pass  it  in  the 
tall  grass  near  a  pond,  where,  bitten  by  mos- 
quitoes and  gnats,  and  serenaded  by  hundreds 
of  wolves  and  myriads  of  frogs,  their  medita- 
tions were  anything  but  pleasant.  They  ar- 
rived at  their  destination  the  next  forenoon, 
hungry  and  sleepy,  where  their  acquaintances 
accused  them  of  having  been  on  a  spree  the 
night  previous,  judging  from  the  reddened  ap- 
pearance of  their  countenances. 

The  courts  continued  to  meet  at  Perryville 
for  more  than  three  years,  and  until  Greenville 
was  laid  out  and  established  as  the  permanent 
county  seat,  which  occurred  in  1821.  In  the 
chapters  devoted  to  the  history  of  Greenville, 
the  erection  of  the  public  buildings  will  be  fully 
given.  For  several  years  Bond  Count}'  contin- 
ued to  exercise  jurisdiction  over  a  large  extent 
of  territoiy,  as  the  following  will  serve  to  show  : 
At  one  of  the  Justices'  Courts,  held  at  Perry- 
ville, an  order  was  passed  at  a  subsequent  ses- 
sion, when  a  license  was  granted  authorizing 
one  Jones  "to  establish  and  keep  in  operation 
a  ferry  over  the  Okaw  River  at  Vandalia." 
This  large  territoiy,  however,  was  curtailed,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  the  organization,  some  years 
later,   of    Fayette,    Montgomery    and    Clinton 


Counties.  Notwithstanding  the  rough  state  of 
society  then  existing,  and  that  the  county  con- 
tained some  pretty  "  hard  cases,"  yet  the  laws 
were,  with  few  exceptions,  strictly  and  prompt- 
ly executed,  without  any  serious  resistance  or 
attempts  at  lynching.  The  only  case  of  the 
latter  was  that  of  a  mau  named  Baker,  arrested 
on  Big  Shoal  Creek  for  horse-stealing,  where 
he  was  tied  to  a  tree,  whipped,  and  then  driven 
from  the  county.  He  went  to  Vandalia,  stole 
another  horse,  and  started  east,  but  was  pur- 
sued, overtaken  and  shot  near  the  Indiana  line. 
The  precise  date  of  this  occurrence  is  not 
known,  but  was  probabl}'  about  the  year  1820. 
Bond  County,  in  its  civil  organization,  dif- 
fers from  a  majority  of  the  counties  in  the 
State,  in  that  it  is  not  governed  by  township 
rule,  or  more  properly  speaking,  is  not  under 
township  organization.  For  civil  purposes  it 
is  divided  into  ten  election  precincts,  which  do 
not  correspond  in  territorial  boundaries  with 
the  Congressional  surve}-,  but  are  laid  off  accord- 
ing to  the  best  advantage,  or  to  suit  the  will 
of  the  people.  These  precincts,  which  are 
more  fully  described  iu  other  chapters,  devoted 
to  each  severally,  are  as  follows  :  Greenville, 
Ripley,  Cottonwood  Grove,  La  Grange,  Poca- 
hontas, Beaver  Creek,  Okaw,  Fairview,  Mulber- 
ry Grove  and  Zion.  These,  as  we  have  said, 
are  more  minutely  described  ill  chapters  which 
are  devoted  exclusively  to  them,  and  in  which 
everything  of  interest  in  regard  to  them  are 
fully  given. 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


33 


CHAPTER   IV* 

AGRICULTUKE    IN  EARLY  TIMES— THE  FUST  PLOWS  USED— HORSE   COLLARS,    HARNESS,    TRACE 
CHAINS,  ETC.— 'GREEN   HEADS  "—WHEAT,  AND  THE  MODE  OF  HARVESTING  IT— AN  INCI- 
DENT—HOG   RAISING— DIFFICULTIES    OF   TEAMING  — ROADS    TO    ST.    LOUIS    AND 
SPRINGFIELD— A  SERMON  UN  A  LOAD  OF  APPLES— BUILDING   MILLS  AND 
OTHER  MANUFACTORIES,   ETC.,  ETC. 


THE  inhabitants  of  Bond  County  are  an  in- 
telligent, industrious  and  enterprising 
people,  and  are  engaged  mainly  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  In  the  early  history  of  the  country, 
when  Southern  Illinois  was  but  sparsely  settled. 
agriculture  was  in  a  very  rude  state,  when  com- 
pared to  the  science  to  which  it  is  now  reduced. 
The  prime  cause  of  this  was  the  great  lack  of 
agricultural  implements,  which  were  few  in 
number  and  of  simple  construction.  Inventive 
genius  and  Yankee  enterprise  had  not  yet  been 
employed  in  this  direction  to  an}-  great  extent. 
The  plows  in  common  use  when  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made  within  the  present  limits  of 
the  county  of  Bond  were  of  a  rude  character, 
and  of  three  kinds,  viz.,  the  "  bar-shear,"  the 
"  shovel"  and  the  "  bull-tongue."  To  attempt 
a  description  of  the  bar-shear  plow  would  be 
useless,  as  those  who  never  saw  one  could 
scarcely  understand  the  description  ;  like  the 
alligator,  it  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated. 
It  was  constructed  on  about  as  simple  a  plan 
as  could  be  imagined,  having  a  heavy  wooden 
mold-board  to  turn  the  soil.  The  shovel  plow 
is  yet  in  use  and  need  not  be.  described.  The 
bull-tongue  was  like  the  shovel,  though  nar- 
rower and  longer. 

With  such  implements  as  these  it  was  im- 
possible to  do  good  plowing,  the  ground  being 
merely  scratched  over  instead  of  broken  up 
deep.  The  harrows  then  had  wooden  instead 
of  iron  teeth  ;  but  a  heavy  brush  drawn  by  a 

>  By  R.  O.  White. 


pair  of  horses  or  oxen  usually  served  in  their 
place.  As  there  were  no  seed  drills  of  any 
kind,  the  grain  was  all  sown  by  hand,  and  cov- 
ered by  brushing  or  harrowing.  Horse-collars 
were  made  by  plaiting  and  sewing  together 
corn-husks.  They  were  constructed  without 
opening  at  the  upper  end,  and  put  on  the  horse 
by  being  pushed  over  his  head,  a  feat  some- 
times difficult  to  accomplish,  especially  for 
boys.  The  hames  were  much  heavier  than 
those  now  used,  and  not  plated  with  iron.  A 
raw  hide  or  buckskin  strap  fastened  them 
together.  When  chains  could  not  be  procured 
for  traces,  raw-hide,  hickory  withes,  bark  ropes 
or  dressed  deer-skin  served  instead.  These 
were  held  up  in  proper  position  by  a  strap  or 
back-band  made  of  the  kind  of  material  most 
convenient,  a  piece  of  rope  passed  over  the 
back  of  the  horse  and  tied  to  each  trace,  or  a 
strap  of  leather  or  hide  two  or  three  inches  in 
width  and,  in  some  cases,  cloth  obtained  by 
taking  strips  of  the  best  parts  of  worn-out 
pantaloons  and  other  garments,  sewing  them 
together  and  forming  a  band  of  the  required 
length  and  strength. 

In  addition  to  the  lack  of  good  plows  and 
harness,  the  early  farmers  were  much  troubled 
and  hindered  by  horse-flies,  which  annoyed 
their  horses  during  the  plowing  season  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  was  often  impossible  for  them 
to  work  except  during  a  small  portion  of  each 
day — early  in  the  morning  and  late  in  the  even- 


34 


HISTORY    OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


ing.     The   flies   were   most   numerous   in   the 
prairies  and  vicinity. 

Some  seasons,  during  •'  fly-time,"  it  was  im- 
possible to  ride  across  any  of  the  prairies.  In 
going  a  hall-mile,  or  mile  at  farthest,  the 
horse's  neck  and  shoulders  would  be  literally 
covered  with  flies,  which  would  cause  him  to 
rear  and  jump  about,  or  lie  down  and  wallow  to 
get  rid  of  them,  so  that  the  rider  could  not 
maintain  his  seat.  These  flies  were  of  a  gray 
color,  with  green  heads,  by  which  they  attained 
the  name  of  "  green-head  flies."  With  the 
rude  plows  and  harness  of  the  time  an  acre  was 
as  much  ground  as  one  team  would  break  up 
in  an  entire  day  ;  and  hindered  as  they  were 
by  flies  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  the  amount 
plowed  per  day  was  much  less.  But,  to  com- 
pensate for  this  want  of  culture,  the  wild  land 
was  more  productive  than  it  is  now,  and  the 
people  raised  the  most  abundant  crops,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  ground  cultivated. 

.Most  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  Bond  County 
had  emigrated  from  sections  where  corn  was 
the  principal  grain,  and  continued  its  cultiva- 
tion here  as  their  main  crop,  raising  but  little 
wheat,  notwithstanding  it  was  of  good  quality 
and  fair  yield.  But,  little  as  they  did  raise,  it 
was  just  about  as  much  as  could  be  harvested 
with  the  implements  they  then  had.  For  sev- 
eral years  after  the  first  attempt  at  wheat-rais- 
ing, the  only  means  of  harvesting  was  the  old- 
fashioned  sickle  or  "  reap-hook,"  as  some  called 
it — a  slow  process — the  man  that  could  cut  and 
bind  one  acre  per  day  being  considered  an 
extra  good  hand.  During  harvest  the  people 
in  a  neighborhood  would  unite,  on  the  principle 
that  "  many  hands  make  light  work,"  and  be- 
ginning at  the  farm  where  the  wheat  was  ripest, 
proceed  to  reap  first  one  field  and  then  another, 
till  all  the  grain  was  cut.  They  looked  upon 
harvest  as  a  time  of  social  enjoyment  as  well  as 
profit  ;  when  the  neighbors,  male  and  female, 
met  together  and  had  a  good  time  generally. 
Sickles  were  succeeded  by  grain-cradles,  which 


continued  in  use  until  superseded  by  reapers 
and  mowers. 

Wheat  was  threshed  by  beating  it  with  flails, 
or  laying  the  bundles  down  in  a  circle  and 
tramping  them  out  by  horses.  As  barns  were 
very  scarce,  the  operation  of  threshing  was  per- 
formed mostly  on  the  ground,  scraped  off  and 
swept  for  the  purpose.  The  grain  was  cleared 
by  slowly  pouring  it  from  a  half  bushel,  or  sift- 
ing through  a  coarse  riddle,  in  the  wind,  and 
when  this  proved  insufficient,  an  artificial  cur- 
rent of  air  was  produced  by  two  men  holding  a 
sheet  or  coverlet  at  each  end,  and  bringing  it 
round  with  a  peculiar  swing  ;  this  served  to 
blow  away  the  chaff  and  render  the  wheat  toler- 
ably clean.  In  consequence  of  the  scarcity  of 
wheat,  flour  bread  was  quite  a  rarity,  some 
families  having  none  at  all,  others  enjoying  the 
luxury  of  biscuits  for  breakfast  only  on  Sunday 
morning. 

The  following  incident  will  show  the  scarcity 
of  wheat  bread,  and  how  highly  it  was  prized 
by  some  persons :  At  a  wedding  party,  the 
bridegroom,  after  the  Justice  had  pronounced 
the  words  which  bound  two  hearts  together,  for 
"  weal  or  woe,"  called  him  to  one  side,  and 
whether  he  gave  him  any  money  or  not  is  un- 
known, but  he  took  from  his  capacious  coat- 
pocket  six  biscuits,  with  either  of  which  one 
could  knock  a  man  down  at  a  distance  of  twenty- 
paces,  and  giving  them  to  him,  exclaimed,  "  Here, 
Squire,  take  these  home  with  you,  and  keep 
them  expressly  for  yourself  and  the  old  woman  ; 
hide  them  away  somewhere,  so  the  children 
can't  get  them,  for  you  know  what  children 
are."  The  bridegroom  is  yet  living  in  Boud 
County,  and  represents  one  type  of  the  "old 
settler." 

Some  of  the  first  apple  and  peach  orchards 
in  the  State  were  planted  in  Boud  County.  For 
many  years  it  was  noted  for  producing  more 
and  better  fruit  than  any  of  the  adjoining  coun- 
ties, and  at  the  present  time,  according  to  popu- 
lation, it  produces  more  apples  than  any  other, 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


35 


although  the  fruit  is  not  as  good  as  in  former 
years,  owing  to  the  severe  droughts. 

As  most  of  the  early  emigrants  settled  in  the 
timber  where  nuts  and  acorns  were  plenty,  they 
paid  but  little  attention  to  the  raising  of  any 
kind  of  stock  except  hogs.  There  was  then  but 
one  breed,  a  lank,  sharp-nosed,  long-legged, 
ravenous  hog,  that  ran  in  the  woods  at  least 
three-fourths  of  the  year.  Near  the  commence- 
ment of  winter,  the  settlers  usually  began  to 
hunt  up  their  hogs  for  the  purpose  of  convert- 
ing them  into  pork. 

These  hogs,  when  found  in  the  fall,  were 
more  or  less  shy,  many  of  them  being  half  or 
entirely  wild.  After  finding  them,  the  first  en- 
deavor was  to  tame  them  in  the  woods,  and  when 
considered  sufficiently  gentle  for  the  purpose, 
they  were  brought  home  and  put  into  an  inclos- 
u re,  and  afterward  butchered. 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  hog-raising 
in  this  county.  Great  improvements  have  been 
made  in  this  kind  of  stock  in  late  years,  both  in 
the  breeds  now  reared  and  in  the  taking  care  of 
them.  Hog  raising  has  become  an  extensive 
as  well  as  a  valuable  industry  with  our  farmers. 

The  same  imperfection  and  rudeness  of  con- 
struction of  other  farm  implements  applied  also 
to  wagons,  which  were  clumsily  and  heavily 
made,  and  drawn  almost  exclusively  b}7  oxen. 
liuggies.  and  the  lighter  kinds  of  carriages,  were 
not  used.  When  horses  were  worked  to  wagons, 
the  harness  was  of  but  little  better  quality  than 
that  already  described.  Lines  were  ignored  in 
those  days  ;  the  driver  rode  the  lead-horse,  and 
either  held  the  reins  of  the  other  in  his  hand  or 
hung  them  on  the  hames  of  the  leader.  A 
wagon,  team  and  driver  fitted  up  in  the  style  of 
fifty-five  years  ago,  if  now  driven  through  the 
streets  of  Greenville,  would  present  quite  a 
grotesque  and  ludicrous  appearance.  When 
people  first  began  to  drive  with  lines  some  of 
the  settlers  ridiculed  them,  saying  it  was  out 
of  the  question  for  a  man  to  drive  horses  as  ac- 
curately in  that  way  as  to  ride  one  of  them  ; 


that  a  horse  could  pull  more,  and  with  greater 
ease  with  a  man  on  his  back  than  without,  and 
that  it  was  all  laziness,  but  notwithstanding 
their  misgivings,  the  new  way  of  driving  soon 
became  general,  as  everything  always  has  done 
which  tends  to  ameliorate,  or  to  do  away  with 
an}7  portion  of  manual  labor. 

The  largest  part  of  the  hauling  to  and  from 
St.  Louis — our  only  market  at  that  time— was 
done  with  ox  teams.  Wagons  intended  to  be 
drawn  by  oxen,  were  much  more  stoutly  made 
than  others,  in  order  to  stand  the  rough  usage 
on  the  road,  for  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to 
see  six  or  seven  yoke  of  oxen  attached  to  one 
wagon  going  to  market  in  the  spring,  when 
the  mud  was  tough  and  almost  bottomless. 
The  business  of  teaming  necessarily  increased 
as  the  country  became  more  populous,  for  this 
was  the  only  way  in  which  produce  could  be 
sent  off,  or  merchandise  procured.  When 
people  first  began  to  haul  to  and  from  St.  Louis, 
and  for  several  years  afterward,  there  were  no 
bridges  across  the  streams  on  the  route  ;  so  the 
reader  can  imagine  some  of  the  difficulties  at- 
tending those  engaged  in  this  business  during 
the  spring  or  breaking  up  of  winter.  Even 
after  bridges  were  built  over  the  larger  streams 
it  was,  at  certain  seasons,  a  serious  undertaking 
to  perform  the  trip  from  Greenville  to  St.  Louis 
and  back,  and  usually  occupied  from  two  to  four 
weeks,  according  to  the  state  of  the  road.  Per- 
sons were  often  under  the  necessity  of  unload- 
ing their  wagons  before  going  through  a  deep 
mud-hole,  and  after  driving  through  reloading 
on  the  other  side,  carrying  the  load  over  by 
peacemeal  on  their  shoulders  ;  or  worse  than 
this,  undertaking  to  go  through  loaded,  the 
wagon  would  mire  down,  every  wheel  sinking  to 
the  axle  in  the  tough  mud,  and  they  be  com- 
pelled to  wade  through  it  knee  deep  or  more, 
and  carry  the  loading  out  to  solid  ground. 

After  orchards  were  planted  and  apples  be- 
came an  article  ot  produce,  the  settlers  hauled 
them  to  other  points  besides  St.  Louis.     Being 


II  [STORY    OF    BOND   COUNTY. 


scarce,  they  always  commanded  ready  cash, 
and  for  several  years  it  was  not  unusual  to  see 
teams  from  Bond  County  taking  them  to 
Springfield,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  over  a 
worse  road  than  that  to  St.  Louis. 

The  writer  heard  a  sermon  delivered  about 
twenty-seven  years  ago,  by  one  of  the  primi- 
tive preachers  of  Bond  County,  wherein  he 
related  a  case  of  miring  down  on  the  road 
with  a  load  of  apples,  about  the  year  1836,  in 
which  he  and  another  individual  were  the 
principal  actors.  As  nearly  as  can  be  recol- 
lected, he  described  it  in  the  following  lan- 
guage : 

"  M3-  dear  brethring  and  sisters,  I'm  a  going 
to  tell  you  of  a  circumstance  that  happened  to 
your  poor,  unworthy  speaker  on  the  road  to 
Springfield  with  a  load  of  apples.  It  is  one 
that  I  love  to  tell  to  my  d3Ting  hearers,  when- 
ever I'm  called  upon  to  stand  up  and  try,  in  my 
stammering  and  imperfect  manner,  to  preach 
about  the  mysterious  workings  of  Providence 
toward  the  poor  fallen  sons  and  daughters  of 
men  and  wimmin-ah.  Oh,  my  hearers,  when  I 
think  of  that  awful  winter  night,  when  we  lay 
out  on  the  big  prairie,  with  the  wind  and  snow 
and  sleet  a  pourin  upon  us-ah  ;  and  when  we 
had  no  fire  and  only  about  a  quart  of  whisky 
to  keep  us  from  freezing,  I  feel,  nry  dying  con- 
gregation, jest  like  the  Lord  had  retched  His 
hand  down  from  the  shinin  cauopits  of  heaven 
and  jerked  me  right  out  from  between  the  very 
jaws  of  death-ah.  We  were  on  the  road  to 
market,  my  dear  brethring,  with  a  load  of 
apples.  They  were  '  big  Romanite '  apples, 
put  up  in  barrels,  and  were  the  finest  apples  I 
ever  saw-ah.  We  had  my  big  wagon  and  four 
yoke  of  oxens,  and  had  on  about  forty  hundred 
pounds  ;  we  had  got  along  very  well  and  were 
making  great  calculations  on  gettin  a  good 
price  for  our  apples-ah.  And  right  here,  let 
me  tell  you,  my  dying  hearers,  I  learnt  what  it 
is  to  feel  disappointment  and  have  all  our  cal- 
culations blasted-ah.      Along  in  the  evening, 


my  brethring,  it  commenced  raining  a  cold 
rain,  that  soon  wet  us  from  head  to  foot,  and 
just  about  that  time  the  wind  turned  to  the 
north,  and  the  first  thing  we  knowed  it  was 
blowing  and  snowing  and  freezing,  with  all  the 
combined  fury  of  the  elements-ah.  Then,  my 
congregation,  we  came  to  a  big  mud-hole, 
where  the  ground  had  froze  a  little  on  top,  but 
not  sufficient  to  hold  up  the  wagon  and  team- 
ah.  When  we  drove  into  it,  my  hearers,  the 
wagon  and  oxens  went  in  plumb  up  to  the 
hub-ah,  and  the  poor  unworthy  worm  of  the 
dust  that  stands  before  you  to-day,  my  breth- 
ring, was  soon  in  the  same  deplorable  condi- 
tion-ah.  But,  my  dear  friends,  we  believed 
we  would  get  out  safe,  for  we  had  a  noble  team 
— all  except  the  off  ox  at  the  wheel.  Some- 
times he  was  a  little  tricky  and  wouldn't  pull 
when  it  came  to  the  pinch-ah  ;  and  now,  my 
dear  brethring  and  sisters,  when  we  needed  all 
the  help  we  could  get,  it  seemed  as  if  Satan 
entered  into  that  ox  as  he  did  into  the  swine  of 
old,  and  he  stopped  stone  still  and  wouldn't 
pull  a  pound-ah.  So,  my  dear  brethring,  we 
had  to  unload  and  carry  them  barrels  of  apples 
about  a  hundred  yards  on  our  shoulders  from 
the  wagon  to  the  dry  ground  and  lay  them 
down  in  the  open  prairie-ah  ;  and  my  dear, 
I  dying  hearers,  as  we  carried  them  barrels 
through  the  mud,  water,  snow  and  ice,  we  sunk 
in  up  to  our  knees  at  every  step-ah.  Then, 
my  dying  congregation,  we  drove  the  wagon 
and  team  out,  and  crawled  into  it,  wet,  cold 
and  hungry-ah  ;  and  wrapped  up  and  kept 
ourselves  alive  with  that  little  bottle 
of  spirits  till  morning-ah.  When  morn- 
ing came,  my  dear  brethring  and  sisters, 
all  our  apples  and  two  of  the  oxens'  tails  were 
froze  hard  and  were  fit  only  to  be  taken  back 
and  made  into  cider-ah.  Thus  you  see,  my 
dear  congregation,  that  it  is  through  the  mys- 
terious workings  of  a  spiritual  power  that  your 
unworthy  servant  stands  before  you  to-day." 
When  the  spring  rains  ceased  and  the  roads 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


37 


became  dry,  hauling  was  attended  with  fewer 
difficulties.  One  of  the  greatest  troubles,  how- 
ever, was  the  failing  of  the  water-courses,  which 
became  quite  low  in  summer  ;  some  of  them 
drying  up  entirely,  and  others  having  water 
standing  only  in  holes.  This  being  the  only 
chance  for  watering  teams,  it  was  often  a  source 
of  much  inconvenience.  After  traveling  many 
miles  through  the  heat  and  dust,  the  oxen,  of 
course,  grew  very  hot  and  thirsty  ;  in  this  con- 
dition, all  who  are  acquainted  with  their  nature, 
know  that  some  of  them  are  almost  unmanage- 
able when  coming  within  sight  of  water.  At 
such  times,  they  would  start  with  a  rush,  not 
stopping  until  the  whole  four  or  five  yoke, 
wagon  and  all,  were  in  the  water,  or  mud  and 
water,  as  deep  as  they  could  get,  notwithstand- 
ing the  driver  used  every  exertion  to  prevent 
them  from  so  doing.  Sometimes  they  turned 
so  abruptly  out  of  the  road  into  the  stream  as 
to  upset  the  wagon  in  the  operation,  and  some- 
times the  driver,  fatigued  with  walking,  would 
be  carelessly'  seated  on  his  wagon,  when  he 
would  find  himself  suddenly  roused  by  the 
sudden  start  of  his  team,  and  fearing  an  upset, 
would  be  forced  to  jump  from  his  seat,  alight- 
ing up  to  his  knees,  or  coming  down  sprawling 
in  mud  and  water. 

Such  scenes  as  teamsters  passed  through  in 
the  "  olden  times  "  until  the  building  of  rail- 
roads, may  truly  be  termed  the  times  that  tried 
not  onlyvmen's  souls,  but  their  temper  and  re- 
ligion. The  remark  was  often  made,  though 
perhaps  intended  as  a  joke,  that  an}'  one,  not 
even  excepting  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  who 
could  drive  an  ox  team  through  the  mud  to  St. 
Louis  and  back  without  swearing,  would  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of 
the  age. 

The  price  of  hauling  varied  with  the  condi- 
tion of  the  roads  and  the  distance  ;  from  Green- 
ville to  St.  Louis  it  varied  from  50  cents  to  a 
$1  or  more  per  hundred  ;  to  Vaudalia  it  was 
from  $1   upward.      This  mode  of  transporta- 


tion, although  attended  with  so  many  incon- 
veniences, was  the  only  means  of  obtaining  sup- 
plies for  a  large  scope  of  territory,  and  as  late 
as  the  year  1840,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to 
see  ox  teams,  in  gangs  of  five  or  six  from  Effing- 
ham County,  passing  through  Greenville  on 
their  way  to  St.  Louis.  They  were  noted  for 
offering  venison  hams  for  sale  along  the  route  ; 
hence,  some  gave  that  county  the  appellation 
of "  Venison  Ham  County,"  a  name  which  it 
has  long  since  lost  the  ability  to  sustain. 

For  several  years  after  the  first  settlements 
were  made  in  this  county,  the  pioneers  were 
compelled  to  do  without  mills  of  any  kind. 
The  sparsely  settled  country  did  not  justify  the 
expenditure  required  to  erect  mills  even  for 
grinding  corn.  The  nearest  place  for  having 
grain  ground  was  at  Edwardsville.  For  several 
years  after  corn- mills  were  first  built  in  this 
section,  the  people  had  to  take  their  wheat  there 
to  have  it  ground  into  what  they  called  flour, 
though  it  would  hardly  be  so  considered  at  the 
present  day.  Most  of  the  people  were  content 
if  they  had  plenty  of  pork  and  corn  bread,  or 
"  hog  and  hominy,"  as  they  called  it.  Warm 
corn  "dodgers"  and  "johnny-cake,"  stewed 
pumpkins,  fresh  spare-ribs  and  backbones,  with 
plenty  of  gravy,  usually  called  "  sop,"  varied  oc- 
casionally by  a  dish  of  wild  game,  were  con- 
sidered the  sum  total  of  good  eating  by  the 
early  backwoodsmen. 

In  the  year  1817,  the  first  mill  ever  in  Bond 
County  was  built  by  Paul  Beck,  on  quite  a 
primitive  plan.  It  stood  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  Greenville,  near  the  cemetery,  and  is 
more  particularly  noticed  in  the  history  of 
Greenville.  The  fine  spring  near  this  mill  was 
called  "  Beck's  Spring."  In  a  few  years,  other 
mills  were  built,  some  of  which  ground  wheat, 
being  supplied  with  a  bolt  turned  by  hand. 
The  first  water-mill  in  the  county  was  put  up 
on  Shoal  Creek,  at  Old  Ripley,  by  Samuel  Lee, 
about  1819  or  1S20.  E.  R.  Wheelock  and 
Wyatt  Stubblefield  erected  mills  on  the  East 


38 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Fork  of  Shoal  Creek  shortly  after.  Both  of 
these  mills,  together  with  their  owners,  have 
long  since  passed  away. 

Most  of  the  mills  for  grinding,  in  Bond 
County,  for  a  number  of  years,  were  horse- 
mills,  similar  to  Beck's,  with  the  improvement, 
however,  of  a  large  cog  wheel  instead  of  a  raw 
hide  band,  but  they  ground  very  slowly.  Every 
man  had  to  hitch  his  own  team  to  the  machine 
and  grind  his  own  grain.  The  large  wheel  was 
furnished  with  two  levers,  so  that  either  two  or 
four  horses  could  be  worked  to  it.  The  work 
being  much  easier  for  four  horses  it  was  com- 
mon for  two  neighbors  to  join  teams,  each  put- 
ting in  a  span  of  horses,  and  grind  both  their 
grists.  As  an  illustration  of  the  inconven- 
iences under  which  the  people  then  labored  to 
obtain  meal,  some  of  them  carried  their  grain 
in  sacks,  on  horseback,  eight  or  ten  miles  to  an 
old  horse-mill,  where  they  sometimes  had  to 
wait  two  or  three  days  for  their  grinding. 

Other  manufactories  were  few  in  number 
and  on  a  par  with  mills  in  quality  and  impor- 
tance. The  first  settlers  being  mostly  from 
the  Southern  States  turned  their  attention  early 
to  cotton-growing,  and  hence  establishments 
must  necessarily  be  erected  for  its  manufacture. 
So,  in  the  3-ear  1820,  Thomas  Long  put  up  a 
cotton-gin  not  far  from  Stubblefield.  A  year 
or  two  afterward  Samuel  White  and  Moses 
Hintou  put  in  operation  a  spinning-machine  in 
Greenville.  Neither  of  these  establishments 
had  a  very  extensive  run,  however,  for  their 
owners  had  built  them  with  the  expectation  of 
obtaining  supplies  from  the  products  of  the 
surrounding  country.  But  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  supply  them  with  material,  as  it 
was  soon  demonstrated  that  cotton  would  not 


grow  to  do  an}-  good  upon  the  soil  of  Illin- 
ois. A  tannery  was  started  by  Samuel  White 
in  1820,  at  the  spring  west  of  Greenville,  the 
first  in  the  county.  In  1822,  James  B.  Ruther- 
ford commenced  the  manufacture  of  hats  in 
Greenville,  which  he  carried  on  for  several 
years.  Other  establishments  of  the  kind  were 
started  up  from  time  to  time.  Somewhere 
about  1823-24.  Milton  Mills  started  a  wool- 
carding  machine  in  the  county  near  Wisetown. 
Many  other  small  manufacturing  establishments 
were  started,  most  of  which,  however,  had  but 
a  brief  existence. 

In  the  years  that  have  gone,  since  the  first 
occupation  of  Bond  County  by  the  whites, 
rapid  strides  have  been  made  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life.  Scarcely  a  trace  now  remains  of 
the  old  customs  of  the  people.  We  are  sur- 
rounded by  conveniences  never  dreamed  of 
fifty  years  ago.  Instead  of  Beck's  primitive 
mill  with  its  quaint  "  findings,"  we  have  a  num- 
ber of  as  fine  mills  as  may  be  found  anywhere. 
We  no  longer  have  to  wade  through  mud,  snow 
and  rain  with  slow-going  ox-teams  to  St.  Louis, 
but  the  iron-horse  brings  the  best  markets  to 
our  very  doors.  It  is  no  longer  necessary  to 
go  to  Edwardsville  for  a  physician  ;  every  com- 
munity has  one  of  its  own,  always  ready  to 
alleviate,  so  far  as  is  possible,  the  ills  of  suffer- 
ing humanity.  Children  are  not  compelled,  as 
of  yore,  to  sit  all  day  in  a  close,  ill-ventilated 
log-cabin,  "  to  learn  to  cipher,"  but  comfortable 
schoolhouses  are  found  in  eveiy  neighborhood. 
Churches,  with  their  lofty  spires  pointing  to 
heaven,  dot  the  country  everywhere.  When 
we  view  all  this,  we  are  forced  to  acknowledge 
the  Americans  a  progressive  people,  and  the 
present  an  age  of  improvement. 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


39 


CHAPTER   V.* 

THE     STATE    OF    SOCIETY    IN   EARLY    TIMES  — DAILY'    USE    AND    MANUFACTURE   OF    WHISKY- 
DRUNKENNESS,   FIGHTING,  AND  OTHER    INNOCENT   AMUSEMENTS— SHOOTING  MATCHES- 
WORKING    FKOLICS  —  GOLD    AN1>    SILVER    MINKS    OF    THE    COUNTY  —  GAYLORDS 
SWINDLE— NEGRO    SLAVERY  — THE    MAGOON     KIDNAPING  CASE  —  EARLY 
PHYSICIANS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


IN  the  early  history  of  Bond  County,  whisky 
was  considered  as  almost  one  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  or  at  least  "  good  in  its  place." 
This  "place"  was  nearly  everywhere,  embrac- 
ing all  occasions  and  applying  to  nearly  every 
condition  of  life.  Of  course,  no  one  presumed 
to  uphold  or  advocate  drunkenness,  but  a  tem- 
perate use  of  spirituous  liquors,  was  not  only 
considered  harmless,  but  in  many  cases  abso- 
lutely beneficial.  Hence,  distilleries  were 
erected,  and  the  manufacture  of  whisky  begun 
soon  after  settlements  were  made  in  the  coun- 
try. 

The  first  distillery  in  what  is  now  Bond 
County,  was  put  in  operation,  in  181'J.  by 
George  Donnell,  at  a  spring  about  two  miles 
north  of  Greenville.  Within  a  few  years  suc- 
ceeding the  erection  of  this  one,  several  others 
were  built  in  different  portions  of  the  county. 
one  of  which  was  at  Beck's  Spring,  near  the 
graveyard  (a  very  appropriate  place  for  a  dis- 
tillery). The  manufacture  of  whisky  at  these 
distilleries  was  not  carried  on  to  a  great  extent, 
nor  for  any  considerable  length  of  time.  And 
to  the  honor  of  Bond  County  be  it  recorded, 
that  there  is  not  now  an  establishment  within 
its  limits  for  the  manufacture  of  ardent  spirits. 
At  the  time  these  distilleries  were  in  operation, 
and  for  several  years  after,  intemperance  pre- 
vailed to  an  almost  alarming  extent.  It  is  not 
exaggerating  to  say,  that  whisky  was  in  use, 

*By  B.  0.  White. 


either  moderately  or  otherwise,  by  more  than 
one-half  of  the  people  in  the  county.  On  pub- 
lic occasions,  drunken  men  were  so  common, 
that  sober  men  seemed  to  be  the  exception. 
At  any  time  between  the  years  of  1830  and 
1845,  it  was  nothing  unusual  to  see  twenty  or 
thirty  men  at  one  time,  on  election  or  muster 
day,  in  Greenville,  drunk,  swearing  and  yelling 
like  Indians,  the  majority  of  them  with  coats 
off  and  sleeves  rolled  up,  wanting  to  resent  an 
insult  which  they  fancied  they  had  received 
from  some  one  whom  they  were  trying  to  find. 
Sometimes  a  fellow  staggered  against  a  tree,  or 
post,  or  came  in  collision  with  another  indi- 
vidual, and  feeling  the  concussion,  imagined 
that  somebody  had  struck  him.  In  an  instant 
he  would  shed  his  coat  and  hat,  and  go  rush- 
ing through  the  crowd,  endeavoring  to  find  his 
supposed  enemy,  and  swearing  that  he  was  "  a 
boss,"  and  could  "  whip  his  weight  in  wild 
cats."  And  woe  be  unto  the  luckless  indi- 
vidual who  was  mistaken  for  the  aggressor. 
Many  an  inoffensive,  respectable  citizen  re- 
ceived rough  treatment  under  such  circum- 
stances, and  astonished  his  better-half  by 
returning  home  from  an  election,  or  muster, 
with  a  smashed  hat,  black  eye,  or  bloody  nose, 
to  satisfactorily  account  for  which,  required,  in 
some  instances,  no  ordinary  amount  of  ex- 
planation. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing,  all  the 
the  voting  at  a  general  election  was  done  in 


40 


HISTORY    OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


Greenville.  On  these  occasions  the  people 
from  all  portions  of  the  county  congregated 
together  and  proceeded  to  settle  their  old 
grudges.  Quarrels  were  renewed,  and  fought 
out,  under  the  exhilarating  influence  of  whisky. 
People  looked  upon  fights  as  inevitable  on 
public  days,  especially  at  elections,  and  were 
disappointed  if  they  did  not  occur.  It  was  not 
uncommon  to  see  two  or  three  fights  in  prog- 
ress at  the  same  time  on  an  election  day  in 
Greenville.  These  contests  were  conducted  on 
the  regular  old-fashioned  "fist  and  skull" 
st3'le — knives  and  pistols  being  seldom  used. 
Men  prided  themselves  on  their  physical 
strength,  and  for  one  to  declare  himself  the 
best  man  in  the  crowd  was  considered  an  in- 
sult to  be  resented  b}T  everyone  present.  This 
expression,  "  best  man,"  had  no  reference  to 
anything  further  than  mere  bodily  powers — 
the  finer  feelings  and  nobler  qualities  of  the 
mind  were  not  taken  into  consideration.  It 
may  with  safety  be  said  that  Main  street,  in 
the  old  part  of  Greenville,  has  been  the  scene 
of  more  hotly-contested  fist-fights,  louder  yells 
and  oaths,  and  more  brutal,  as  well  as  ludicrous 
drinking  revels,  than  all  other  places  in  the 
county  put  together.  On  that  street  were 
located  the  dram-shops  where  liquid  ruin, 
dealt  out  by  glasses,  quarts  and  gallons,  sent 
misery  and  destitution  to  all  portions  of  the 
community. 

Other  amusements,  not  quite  so  rough  as 
fighting,  were  engaged  in  by  the  inhabitants 
on  public  days,  such  as  wrestling,  jumping, 
running  foot-races  and  shooting  with  the  rifle. 
Main  street  was,  chiefly,  the  theater  of  these 
sports,  except  shooting.  The  scenes  connected 
with  them  were  more  interesting,  and  occasion- 
ally somewhat  ludicrous,  and  numerous  inci- 
dents of  the  latter  might  be  given,  but  space 
will  not  permit. 

Shooting  with  the  rifle  was  practiced  just 
outside  of  the  town,  that  there  might  be  no 
ihinger  attending  it.     Certain  individuals  spent 


the  greater  portion  of  every  public  day  in  this 
exercise ;  and  many  of  them  became  ex- 
pert marksmen,  and  very  proud  of  their  skill. 
Shooting-matches  were  then  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. A  beef  was  "  put  up,"  at  a  certain 
price,  to  be  shot  for,  each  man  paying  a  stipu- 
lated amount — usually  25  cents— for  every 
shot.  The  best  shots  took  the  first  choice  of 
the  beef,  the  next  best,  the  second  choice,  and 
so  on.  About  Christmas  times,  a  live  turkey, 
fastened  on  a  stump  or  fence  at  the  distance  of 
a  hundred  yards,  was  sometimes  put  up  and 
shot  at,  the  first  man  that  drew  blood  taking 
the  turkey. 

Bond  County,  as  we  have  already  stated,  at 
the  time  of  its  early  settlement,  abounded  in 
all  of  the  wild  animals  common  in  this  lati- 
tude— bears,  panthers,  lynxes,  wolves,  cata- 
mounts, wild  cats,  deer,  and  many  kinds  of 
smaller  game.  Bears  and  panthers,  however, 
were  not  very  numerous,  and  soon  became  ex- 
tinct. A  bear  was  killed  in  1821,  on  Shoal 
Creek,  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  the 
county,  which  is  the  last  account  we  have  of 
Bruin  in  this  part  of  the  State.  But  many  of 
the  other  animals  remaining  until  a  much  later 
date,  gradually  leaving  the  country,  however, 
as  the  settlements  increased.  A  few  deer  and 
turkeys  are  yet  found  in  two  or  three  localities 
on  Shoal  Creek,  where  there  are  large  bodies 
of  timber.  As  the  wild  animals  disappeared 
before  the  advance  of  the  pioneer,  a  certain 
class  of  people  left  also,  or  changed  their  mode 
of  living  to  the  greater  credit  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  inhabitants  were,  for  several  years,  an- 
noyed by  the  ravages  of  wolves,  which  de- 
stroyed many  of  their  sheep  and  pigs.  Wild- 
cats and  catamounts  were  also  troublesome — 
killing  many  young  pigs  and  lambs.  Wolves 
continued  so  destructive  that,  as  late  as  the 
year  1842,  wolf-hunts  were  organized,  in  order 
to  rid  the  country  of  these  troublesome  ma- 
rauders.    The  writer  attended  one  about  that 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


41 


time,  in  the  prairie  northwest  of  Greenville,  a 
description  of  which  we  will  give  as  a  sample. 
The  people  assembled  on  horseback,  and  formed 
a  circle  six  or  eight  miles  in  diameter.  At 
a  certain  hour,  all  commenced  moving  toward 
the  center,  and  as  the  circle  contracted,  their 
line  became  more  compact. 

The  plan  did  not  succeed  well,  only  one  wolf 
being  killed  during  the  hunt.  Wolves  are  very 
suspicious  of  danger,  and  in  nearly  every  case, 
before  the  hunters  got  close  enough  together  to 
prevent  it,  they  broke  through  the  circle  to  the 
outside,  and  escaped.  This  sport  was  both  ex- 
citing and  amusing,  and  was  often  indulged  in 
by  the  earl}'  settlers. 

In  those  early  times,  the  people  were  more 
dependent  on  each  other  than  at  the  present 
day,  and,  as  a  consequence,  more  social  and 
accommodating.  It  was  the  general  custom 
for  the  neighbors  all  to  meet  and  assist  each 
other  in  performing  their  heaviest  work,  such 
as  harvesting,  log-rolling,  house-raising,  corn- 
husking,  etc.,  etc.  In  opening  a  farm,  a  great 
many  logs  had  to  be  burned,  or  taken  off  the 
ground,  before  it  could  be  plowed,  hence  log- 
rollings were  common.  At  these  annual  gath- 
erings, the  logs  were  collected  in  large  heaps 
suitable  for  burning,  and  men  took  special 
pride  in  testing  their  manhood  at  the  end  of  a 
handspike. 

At  corn-huskings  and  various  other  gather- 
ings common  in  those  early  days,  lively,  social 
times  were  experienced  by  both  sexes.  When, 
ever  men  met  to  roll  logs,  husk  corn,  or  raise  a 
house,  the  ladies  would  have  a  quilting,  "  sew- 
ing-bee," or  something  of  the  kind  at  the  same 
place.  When  night  came,  it  was  not  uncom- 
mon for  the  youngsters  to  have  a  dance  or  play. 
The  dances  were  old-fashioned  reels,  and  were 
sometimes  continued  till  a  late  hour,  and  occa- 
sionally they 

"Danced  all  night  till  broad  day  light," 

when  the    young    swains,    with    love-stricken 


hearts,  and  warmly-beaming  affections,  deemed 
it  their  duty  to 

"  Go  home  with  the  girls  in  the  raoruing." 
Plays  of  various  kinds,  were  as  much  in 
vogue  as  dancing,  but  they  have  long  since  be- 
come obsolete.  Many  persons,  however,  now 
living,  can  look  back  to  the  scenes  of  those  old 
plays  with  pleasant  memories.  Who  can  think 
of  the  old  lines, 

"  Oh,  sister  Phebe,  how  merry  were  we, 
When  we  sat  under  yon  juniper  tree." 
Or, 

"  We're  marching  down  to  Quebectown, 
And  the  drums  are  loudly  beating. 
The  Americans  have  gained  the  day, 
And  the  British  are  retreating," 

without  thinking  also  of  the  "  lads  and  lasses" 
assembled  on  such  occasions.  Many  delight- 
ful reminiscences  are  connected  with  those 
scenes,  when  memory  calls  them  up  from  the 
far  distant  past. 

A  great  excitement  was  created  here  many- 
years  ago  from  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  the 
precious  metals  in  Bond  County.  Both  silver 
and  gold  were  believed  to  be  deposited  at  vari- 
ous points  in  the  middle,  western  and  south- 
western parts.  Tales  were  related  by  some  of 
the  old  settlers,  giving  accounts  of  fabulous 
quantities  of  silver  ore  being  obtained  here  by 
the  French  and  Indians,  more  than  a  hundred 
years  before.  The  people  credited  these  stories 
and  dreamed  of  future  wealth  and  luxury. 

Kobert  Gillespie,  living  on  Shoal  Creek,  a  few 
miles  above  Pocahontas,  found  shining  particles 
in  the  sand  of  a  spring  near  his  house,  and 
washing  out  a  quantity,  showed  it  to  some  fel- 
low in  St.  Louis,  who  pronounced  it  pure  gold. 
This  was  enough  ;  the  demand  for  Gillespie's 
"  dust "  was  such,  that  small  quantities  of  it 
were  in  the  possession  of  various  persons,  in 
order  to  compare  it  with  such  as  might  be  found 
on  their  own  premises.  About  this  time,  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Gaylor,  who  was  supposed 
to  know   something  about  minerals,   being    a 


42 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


"  water  witch,"  astonished  the  neighborhood  by 
announcing  that  he  had  discovered  an  inex- 
haustible mine  of  silver  on  the  land  of  Samuel 
Hunter,  near  Indian  Creek,  about  four  miles 
from  Greenville. 

A  furnace  was  erected  at  the  expense  of  Mr. 
Hunter,  and  Gaylor  went  to  work  manu- 
facturing silver.  The  business  was  carried  on 
for  some  weeks,  producing  but  little  silver,  how- 
ever, in  proportion  to,  the  amount  of  ore  smelted. 
Specimens  of  the  metal  had  been  tested  by  com- 
petent judges,  and  found  to  be  silver,  and  men 
became  almost  insane  with  excitement,  as  they 
beheld  the  treasure  issue  from  Gaylor's  cruci- 
ble. Some  individuals  actually  neglected  their 
business,  spending  days  in  wandering  up  and 
down  creeks,  branches  and  ravines,  and  return- 
ing at  night  with  their  pockets  crammed  full  of 
little  pieces  of  the  substance  known  as  "  horn- 
blende," the  shining  particles  of  which  they  be- 
lieved to  be  gold  and  silver. 

Several  of  Hunter's  neighbors,  believing  the 
whole  thing  to  be  a  deception,  went,  one  after- 
noon, to  the  furnace,  where  Gaylor  was  at  work, 
expressing  a  desire  to  see  him  smelt  some  ore 
taken  from  the  mine  in  question.  He  did  so 
producing  a  small  quantity  of  metal  which  was 
pronounced  silver  by  all  present.  But  while 
stirring  the  mass  of  pulverized  ore,  one  of  the 
men  saw  him  drop  a  piece  of  silver  coin  into  the 
crucible,  which  fact  he  communicated  to  the 
others.  They  then  filled  the  crucible  them- 
selves with  precisely  the  same  kind  of  ore,  and 
placing  it  in  the  furnace,  told  him  that,  after 
being  thoroughly  searched,  he  should  smelt  it, 
with  his  coat  off  and  sleeves  rolled  up.  He  re- 
fused to  do  so,  when  they  took  him  into  custody 
and  proceeded  to  melt  it  themselves.  After 
heating  and  stirring  the  precious  mass  as  he 
had  done,  they  poured  it  out,  but  no  silver  was 
found. 

Gaylor  was  taken  to  Greenville  and  lodged 
in  jail  on  a  charge  of  swindling,  but  was  soon 
after  released.     He  left  the  country,  and  thus 


ended  the  gold  and  silver  excitement  in  Bond 
Count}-. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear  to  the  reader,  slav- 
ery existed  in  Bond  County  in  the  early  period 
of  its  history.  A  man  named  Houston,  from 
Kentucky,  emigrated  to  this  county  and  pur- 
chased a  farm  three  miles  west  of  Greenville, 
the  place  first  settled  and  owned  by  Dr.  Per- 
due. He  brought  with  him  a  number  of  slaves, 
among  whom  were  a  woman  named  Fanny  and 
her  two  children,  a  boy  and  girl,  Stephen  and 
Charitj-.  His  family  soon  became  dissatisfied, 
and  he  returned  to  Kentucky,  taking  all  his 
negroes  with  him  except  Fanny  and  her  chil- 
dren— she  not  being  able  at  the  time  to  travel. 
They  were  left  at  the  residence  of  Thomas 
White,  two  miles  west  of  town,  until  her  recov- 
ery, when  she  went  to  Greenville  and  hired  to 
work. 

According  to  the  laws  of  Illinois  then  in 
force,  she  and  her  children  were  free,  having 
been  in  the  State  longer  than  the  time  specified, 
sixty  days.  About  this  time,  one  Magoon 
came  to  Greenville  and  stated  that  he  had  pur- 
chased those  negroes  from  Houston.  He  was 
informed  that  they  were  free  and  could  not  be 
removed  without  a  violation  of  law.  He  then 
formed  a  conspiracy  with  two  citizens  of  Bond 
County  to  kidnap  them,  which  they  carried 
into  effect  one  Sunday  while  the  people  were  at 
church.  They  wei-e  pursued  and  captured  at 
Pearce's,  on  Silver  Creek,  in  Madison  County. 
After  being  all  brought  buck,  the  negroes  were 
released  and  the  kidnappers  placed  under  bonds 
for  trial,  but  it  appears  were  never  brought 
into  court. 

Magoon  left  the  country,  and  remained  away 
until  the  excitement  subsided  a  little,  when  he 
returned  and  arranged  with  one  of  the  Bate 
mans,  living  on  the  Okaw,  to  steal  the  boy 
Stephen,  from  a  place  north  of  Greenville, 
where  he  had  gone  to  live.  Bateman  succeeded 
in  kidnapping  him,  and  carried  him  down  into 
the  neighborhood  where  he  lived.    He  was  kept 


HISTORY  OF  BOXD  COUNTY. 


43 


concealed  in  the  Okaw  bottom  until  Magoon 
found  an  opportunity  to  escape  with  him. 

The  excitement  was  intense,  and  a  crowd  of 
resolute  men  soon  started  in  pursuit.  They 
followed  on  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  Bate- 
mans,  and  spent  several  days  searching  in  the 
woods.  Failing,  however,  to  find  the  boy,  the 
pursuit  was  abandoned  and  the  party  returned 
home. 

Magoon  succeeded  in  escaping  south  with 
the  boy,  where  he  sold  him  into  slavery,  in 
which  condition  he  remained  until  liberated  by 
the  late  war  between  the  States.  He  was 
never  heard  from  until  near  the  close  of  the 
rebellion,  when  he  was  found  in  the  southern 
part  of  Georgia,  by  a  Bond  Count}'  soldier,  to 
whom  he  related  the  particulars  of  his  cap- 
ture and  abduction.  Bateman  was  one  of  the 
Okaw  desperadoes  and  drunkards,  who  were 
wont  to  assemble  in  Greenville  in  the  early 
history  of  Bond  County,  on  public  days,  to 
drink  and  fight.  He  died  not  many  years 
since,  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  uttering  with 
his  last  breath  the  most  horrible  blasphemies. 

Old  Fanny's  husband,  Stephen  Hudley,  was 
a  slave  in  Missouri,  and  she,  after  years  of  toil, 
saved  money  enough  cooking,  washing  and 
selling  ginger  cakes,  to  purchase  his  freedom, 
and  thus  had  the  proud  satisfaction  of  re-unit- 
ing those  sacred  ties  which  had  been  sundered 
by  the  curse  of  slavery.  An  attempt,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  made  to  kidnap  her  and 
her  little  children,  not  by  slaveholders,  from 
whom  nothing  better  could  have  been  expected, 
but  by  citizens  of  a  free  State — -the  last  men 
it  would  be  supposed,  who  would  commit  such 
a  dastardly  act.  But  who  can  account  for 
human  depravity  ? 

The  health  of  the  people  of  Bond  County  is 
mueh  better  now  than  in  former  years.  This 
is  attributable  to  the  fact  that  there  is  less  rain, 
less  decaying  vegetation,  fewer  marshes  and 
stagnant  pools,  and  a  consequent  diminution  of 
the  vapors  thus  generated,  which  have  proved, 


in  so  many  cases,  fatal  to  the  human  family. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  we  live  in  more  com- 
fortable houses,  are  better  clothed,  and  expose 
ourselves  less  to  the  inclemencies  of  the 
weather. 

The  first  physicians  who  located  here  were 
Drs.  William  Perrine  and  J.  B.  Drake,  from 
New  Jersey.  Before  this,  when  people  became 
sick,  they  had  to  send  to  Edwardsville  for  a 
doctor.  Both  Dr.  Perrine  and  Dr.  Drake  were 
young  men  of  talent  and  education,  and  well 
versed  in  their  profession.  They  soon  got  a 
good  practice,  and  became  noted  physicians. 

Dr.  Perrine  married  a  Miss  Townsend — the 
daughter  of  a  Presbyterian  preacher,. residing 
in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  county,  and  a 
few  years  later  removed  with  his  family  to 
Florida.  During  the  Seminole  war,  he  was 
murdered  by  Indians  at  his  own  house.  Dr. 
Drake  removed  to  Greenville,  where  he  con- 
tinued the  practice  of  medicine  for  many 
years.  He  then  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  and,  still  later,  married,  residing  in 
Greenville  until  his  death. 

As  the  county  became  more  populous,  other 
physicians  of  eminence  located  here  and  ac- 
quired considerable  note  as  medical  practition- 
ers. During  some  of  the  sickly  seasons,  there 
were  not  enough  well  persons  to  take  care  of 
the  sick.  This  state  of  affairs  was  not  con- 
fined to  Bund  County  alone,  but  extended  over 
the  southern  part  of  the  State.  The  year  1844 
was,  perhaps,  the  most  unhealthy  one  ever  ex- 
perienced in  this  part  of  Illinois.  Then,  all  the 
physicians  of  this  county  resided  in  Greenville, 
and,  of  course,  their  practice  extended  many 
miles.  They  were  kept  going  night  and  day. 
during  the  sickliest  portion,  not  only  of  1844, 
but  of  several  years  preceding,  and  after  that 
time. 

There  was  much  sickness  then  of  a  serious 
and  fatal  character,  }-et  there  were  some  per- 
sons who  would  send  for  a  physician  for  every 
trifling  illness.     When  an  individual  mounted 


44 


HISTORY    OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


a  horse  to  go  for  a  doctor,  he  generally  "  put 
him  through,"  no  matter  what  the  distance,  nor 
what  the  disease,  whether  a  sprained  ankle,  or 
congestion  of  the  brain  ;  the  speed  was  about 
the  same.  A  man  living  ten  or  twelve  miles 
from  Greenville  was  seen  one  day  riding  at  a 
fearful  rate  toward  town,  his  horse  in  a  foam  of 
sweat,  and  evidently  going  for  a  doctor  in  a 
desperate  case.     He  was   hailed  on  the  way, 


when  the  following  dialogue  ensued  :  "  Who's 
sick?"  "My  brother."  "What's  the  matter 
with  him  ?"  "  He's  bleeding."  By  this  time 
he  had  got  so  far  off  as  to  render  further  ques- 
tions impracticable.  It  was  afterwards  ascer- 
tained that  his  brother  had  only  taken  a  spell 
of  bleeding  at  the  nose,  from  which  he  soon 
recovered. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


47 


CHAPTER  VI.* 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  BOND   COUNTY  — THE   FIRST   PREACHERS  AND  THE   FIRST  CHURCHES- 

TIIE  METHODISTS  AND  PRESBYTERIANS— MOODY'S  CAMP  GROUND— SUNDAY  SCHOOLS— 

THE  "JERKS  "—TEMPERANCE— EDUCATIONAL   FACILITIES— IMPROVEMENT  IN 

SCHOOLS  — STATISTICS  — THE  PEOPLE  AND  THE  STATE  DEBT— WAR 

HISTORY,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"Many  things  of  many  kinds." 

THERE  is  no  better  evidence  of  moral  ad- 
vancement and  Christian  civilization  in  a 
newly-settled  community  than  the  establish- 
ment of  churches.  The  history  of  Christianity 
in  Bond  County  ma}-  be  termed  coeval  with  its 
settlement  by  white  people.  The  first  preacher 
of  whom  there  is  any  authentic  account  made 
his  appearance  in  the  county  in  the  year  181Gi 
and  was  of  the  Methodist  denomination,  among 
which  were  found  those  pioneer  soldiers  of  the 
cross,  who  preceded  or  followed  close  in  the 
wake  of  civilization  in  the  West.  Rev.  Jesse 
Hale,  the  pioneer  minister  of  Bond  County 
preached  his  first  sermon  at  the  house  of  Robert 
Gillespie,  who  lived  two  miles  southwest  of 
Greenville,  in  the  year  mentioned  (1816),  and 
where  he  continued  preaching  at  intervals,  dur- 
ing that  and  part  of  the  ensuing  year.  A 
church,  the  first  established  in  the  county,  was 
organized  in  that  neighborhood  during  the  two 
years  of  his  ministration.  What  State  he  was 
from,  or  where  he  went  after  this,  cannot  now 
be  ascertained. 

The  next  preacher  was  Salmon  P.  Giddings 
of  St.  Louis,  a  Presbyterian,  who  preached  oc- 
casionally at  private  houses,  and  in  1818  or 
1819,  organized  a  church  at  "Moody's  Spring," 
about  a  mile  southwest  of  Greenville.  This 
spring  was  so  named  for  Andrew  Moody,  who 
lived  there  several  years,  though  the  place  was 

•By  R.  0.  White. 


first  settled  by  Thomas  Kirkpatrick.  Here  the 
first  church  in  Bond  County  was  erected  during 
the  year  1817,  by  the  Methodist  denomination. 
It  was  built  of  hewed  logs,  and  thirty  feet 
long  by  twenty-five  feet  in  width.  We  have 
not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  precise  dates 
when  the  first  ministers  belonging  to  each 
of  the  denominations  now  in  the  count}-  came 
here,  but  those  of  the  Baptists  and  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  arrived  soon  after  the  two  already 
mentioned,  and  those  of  the  others  at  a  still 
later  day. 

At  "  Moody's  Spring  "  the  Methodists  held 
the  first  camp-meeting  in.  the  county,  and  for  a 
series  of  years  these  meetings  were  annually 
held  there,  so  that  it  afterward  became  gener- 
ally known  as  "  Moody's  Camp-ground."  As 
the  county  became  more  thickly  settled,  the 
number  of  "camp-grounds  "  increased,  and,  for 
many  years,  camp-meetings  were  annually  held 
in  various  portions  by  the  Methodists  and  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians.  These  gatherings  of 
the  people  for  religious  purposes  took  place  in 
July,  August  or  September,  when  fruits  and 
vegetables  were  the  most  abundant,  and  provi- 
sions to  "feed  the  multitude"  could  most  easily 
be  procured. 

One  of  the  most  noted  places  in  the  county 
for  holding  camp-meetings  was  situated  near 
the  town  of  Newport,  and  called  "Zion  Camp- 
ground," a  brief  description  of  which  may  not 
be  uninteresting  to  the  reader.     Many  of  us  can 


48 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


well  remember  its  cool,  shady  arbor  in  the  green 
forest,  with  its  primitive  seats,  the  temporary 
pulpit  or  "  stand,"  in  front  of  which,  on  a  nail 
driven  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  was  suspended 
the  tin  trumpet  or  horn,  by  which  the  people 
were  called  together  for  religious  services  ;  the 
tents  with  their  straw-covered  floors,  forming 
three  sides  of  a  square  around  the  seated  area, 
at  a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  yards  ;  back  of 
these  the  cooking  operations  presided  over  by 
old  ladies  with  caps  on  their  heads,  and  young 
maidens  with  bright  eyes,  rosy  cheeks  and  glossy 
curls  ;  the  space  reserved  for  '•  anxious  seats," 
called  the  "  altar,"  immediately  in  front  of  the 
stand  and  covered  with  straw  ;  the  shady  and 
well-beaten  path  to  the  cool  spring,  trickling 
from  its  moss-grown  sycamore  gum  ;  the  tables 
spread  with  the  choicest  viands  of  the  country, 
of  which  all  were  invited  freely  to  partake  freely, 
"  without  money  and  without  price  ;"  and  the 
groups  of  singers  in  the  tents,  composed  mainly 
of  young  gentlemen  and  ladies,  assembled  for 
the  ostensible  purpose  of  singing.  All  these, 
and  many  other  associations  of  these  old  camp- 
meetings,  will  long  remain  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  those  who  witnessed  them. 

Preaching  then  was  very  different  from  what 
it  is  now,  being  generally  of  the  noisy  order. 
Society,  too,  was  in  a  rough  state,  and  the 
preaching,  in  order  to  rivet  attention  and  be 
effective,  had  to  correspond  with  the  times. 
For,  unless  a  speaker  can  gain  the  attention  of 
his  audience  and  hold  it,  he  may  preach  till 
doomsday  and  then  find  that  his  time  and 
breath  have  been  spent  in  vain.  Thus  the 
style  of  preaching,  as  well  as  any  other  public 
speaking,  changes  with  the  manners  of  the 
people.  In  those  early  days,  the  preacher 
who  had  the  strongest  voice  and  exercised  it 
most  ;  who  could  give  the  most  extravagant 
and  over-wrought  descriptions  of  heaven,  hell 
and  the  day  of  judgment,  and  could  slash  the 
air  with  his  hands  and  arms  in  the  wildest  man- 
ner, was  considered  the  greatest  man  by  the 


majority  of  the  people.  The  singing  partook 
of  the  same  noisy  character  as  the  preaching 
and  at  night,  with  favorable  wind,  both  the 
singing  and  preaching  might  be  easily  heard 
three  miles. 

With  the  rude  state  of  society  then  existing 
in  the  community,  the  behavior  of  some  at 
camp-meetings  was  not  always  of  the  best,  and 
ministers  and  members  had  much  difficulty 
some  times  in  maintaining  good  order,  espe- 
cially at  night.  Notwithstanding  their  best 
endeavors,  frequent  disturbances  occurred  after, 
dark,  such  as  shaving  off  horses'  manes  and 
tails,  smearing  tar  over  the  seats  of  saddles, 
and  throwing  watermelon  rinds,  empty  whisky 
bottles,  etc.,  into  the  altar  among  the  mourners. 
Taking  all  things  into  consideration,  however, 
the  general  behavior  was  as  good  as  could  have 
been  expected  at  that  time  ;  and  much  as  we 
may  now  pride  ourselves  on  our  superior  refine- 
ment and  deplore  such  conduct,  we  have,  never- 
theless, in  our  community  at  this  day  individ- 
uals who  are  only  restrained  from  committing 
such  disgraceful  acts  by  the  force  of  public 
opinion  and  the  laws  of  the  land. 

Though  the  religious  exercises  partook,  to  a 
great  extent,  of  this  noisy  character,  and  the 
preachers  were  less  polished  in  their  phrase- 
olog}-  than  at  this  time,  yet  the  people  were  as 
sincere  in  their  profession  of  Christianity  as 
they  are  now.  In  proportion  to  number,  there 
were,  doubtless,  as  few  hypocrites  among  relig- 
ious people  and  as  much  true  piety  as  at  the 
present  day.  The  pioneer  ministers  were  not 
all  of  the  above  type,  but  many  possessed 
talent  and  learning,  used  the  best  of  language, 
and  were  graceful  and  dignified  in  their  preach- 
ing. These  backwoods  preachers  contributed 
largely  in  their  day  to  the  morals  of  the  com- 
munity, and  were  mainly  instrumental  in  laying 
the  foundation  of  the  various  religious  denom- 
inations in  our  county.  They  were  not 
ashamed  to  be  seen  traveling  on  foot  or  on 
horseback  many  miles  to  meet  their  appoint- 


HISTORY  OF   BOX!)  COUNTY. 


49 


ments,  often  encountering  hunger  and  thirst. 
and  exposing  themselves  to  the  inclemencies  of 
the  weather. 

The  first  Sunday  school  in  the  county  was 
organized  in  the  year  181 S,  at  the  residence  of 
William  Robinson,  about  one  and  a  half  miles 
northwest  of  Greenville.  It  was  under  the  su- 
pervision of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which 
we  have  already  mentioned.  It  was  composed 
of  grown  people  and  children,  and  was  termed 
a  Bible  class  or  society.  This  school  has  been 
kept  up  by  that  denomination  ever  since,  but 
meets  now  in  Greenville,  at  the  Old  Presbyteri- 
an Church,  and  is  very  justly  entitled  the  pio- 
neer Sunday  school  of  Bond  County.  After 
its  organization,  others,  under  the  control  of  the 
different  religious  denominations,  were  estab- 
lished in  various  portions  of  the  county,  as  new 
churches  were  organized.  The  progress  of 
these  schools  was  at  first  slow,  but  they  gradu- 
ally gained  in  strength  and  popular  favor,  keep- 
ing pace  with  the  various  religious  denomina- 
tions, until  there  are  now  in  every  neighbor- 
hood, not  only  neat,  commodious  churches,  but 
well-attended  and  flourishing  Sunday  schools. 

Among  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  who  la- 
bored here  at  an  early  day,  may  be  mentioned 
Bishop  Ames,  Peter  Cartwright  and  James  B. 
Woollard,  of  the  Methodist ;  Peter  Long,  of  the 
Baptist,  and  Joel  Knight,  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  These,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Peter  Cartwright,  have  preached  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  county.  J.  B.  Wool- 
lard and  Peter  Long  have  doubtless  performed 
more  marriage  ceremonies  and  preached  more 
funerals  than  any  other  two  ministers  in  this 
portion  of  the  State.  Of  the  early  preachers 
of  this  county  long  since  dead,  were  Revs.  John 
Dew,  John  M.  Peck,  William  K.  Stewart,  and 
many  others  of  the  various  denominations, 
whom  the  old  settlers  can  call  to  mind. 

It  is  not  inappropriate,  in  concluding  this 
sketch  of  the  religious  denominations  of  the 
county,  to  notice  briefly  what  was  termed  in 


those  early  times  "  the  jerks."  Although  not 
so  common  here  as  in  many  other  localities  of 
the  Western  country,  yet  they  were  of  frequent 
enough  occurrence  as  to  excite  considerable 
speculation  as  to  their  origin.  There  is  little 
doubt  now,  perhaps,  that  they  were  a  species  of 
religious  excitement,  though  many  believed 
then  that  they  originated  from  witchcraft,  or 
were  the  direct  work  of  Satan.  Persons  having 
them  were  affected  with  violent  convulsions, 
their  heads,  necks  and  limbs  being  involuntari- 
ly and  forcibly  jerked  in  every  possible  direc- 
tion, their  hands  clenched,  and  their  jaws 
tightly  set. 

A  young  lady  took  the  jerks  one  evening  at 
a  camp-meeting  at  Mount  Gilead,    four  miles 
west  of  Greenville,  about  thirty-five  years  ago, 
and  so  violent  and  rapid  were  her  motions  that 
four  men  who  attempted  to  hold  her,  to  prevent 
her  being  thrown  against  the  benches  or  trees, 
were   unable  to  do  so.     Her  hands   were  shut 
more  firmly  than  her  natural   strength  seemed 
to  wan-ant.     Attacks  of  this  kind  came  on  sud- 
denly, lasting   generally   only  a  few  minutes, 
though  sometimes  longer,  and  occurred  only  at 
camp-meetings,  when  the  religious  excitement 
was  at  its  greatest  strain.         There  was  anoth- 
er phase  or   modification  of  the  jerks,  termed 
•'  the  falling  down  exercise,"  in  which   the  per- 
sons affected  suddenly   fell    down  and   lav  per- 
fectly helpless.     Sometimes   they    remained  in 
this   condition   for    several    hours,  but  usually 
only  a  short  time,  when  they  would  rise  to  their 
feet,   and  in  most  instances  commence  running 
and  leaping  about,  throwing  their  arms  in  even- 
direction,  manifesting  all  the  symptoms  of  the 
first   form  of  the   disease,    with    the  exception 
that,  in  the   former  cases,  they   seldom  spoke  a 
word,  but  in  the  latter,  after  rising  from  the 
ground,  they  often  screamed,  sang  or  laughed 
in  the  wildest  manner.     Persons,  after  recover- 
ing from  one  of  these  attacks,  appeared  li-iless 
and  dull  for  awhile,  having  little  or  nothing  to 
say  to  anyone,  and  utterly  incapable  of  being 


50 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


excited  in  any  way  whatever,  until  the  return 
of  the  paroxysm,  which  to  some  came  every 
night  of  the  meeting,  when  the  mourners  were 
called  to  the  "  altar.''  and  the  excitement  again 
became  great. 

From  what  has  been  said  in  a  preceding 
chapter  of  the  prevalence  of  whisky-drinking 
among  the  early  settlers,  and  the  general  belief 
that  ardent  spirits  "  were  good  in  their  place," 
it  will  not  be  supposed  that  Bond  County  was 
a  fruitful  field  for  temperance  organizations  in 
old  times.  Temperance  societies  were  formed, 
however,  at  different  periods,  between  the  years 
1830  and  1840,  though  with  but  little  perma- 
nent success.  A  man  would  come  along,  de- 
liver a  lecture,  organize  a  society,  and,  for  a 
while,  all  would  go  well ;  but  in  the  course 
of  a  year  or  two,  the  whole  thing  went  to 
naught,  and  those  of  the  members  who  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  drinking,  like  the  Biblical 
sow,  "  returned  to  their  wallow." 

As  late  as  1846,  when  the  company  for  the 
Mexican  war  from  Bond  County  was  organized 
at  Greenville,  after  the  requisite  number  had 
volunteered,  the  men  were  drawn  up  in  line,  on 
the  public  square,  and  a  bucket-full  of  whisky 
brought  out  and  distributed  as  a  "treat,"  of 
which  most  of  them  partook,  drinking  it  out 
of  a  tin  dipper.  It  was  not  many  years  after 
this,  however,  before  the  temperance  cause  be- 
gan to  gain  ground,  encountering  more  or  less 
opposition,  until  at  present  no  one  who  is  an 
habitual  drinker  is  admitted  into  the  best 
society,  and  no  young  lady  of  the  community 
will  tolerate  the  addresses  of  a  regular  and 
known  dram-drinker.  This  state  of  things  is 
not  so  much  attributable  to  the  influence  of 
temperance  organizations,  perhaps,  as  to  the 
better  training  and  education  of  the  present 
generation. 

The  schools  and  educational  facilities  of  the 
county  now  claim  our  attention,  and  follow 
very  appropriately  the  history  of  the  churches. 
Both  possess  refining  influences,  and  furnish 


the  highest  standard  of  the  civilization  of  all 
communities.  It  is  a  characteristic  feature  of 
all  American  settlements  that  among  their  first 
efforts  of  a  public  nature  is  the  establishment 
of  churches  and  schools.  The  early  school- 
houses  in  Illinois  were  rude,  and  constructed 
upon  a  primitive  plan. 

The  first  school  in  the  county  was  taught,  in 
the  year  1819,  by  Thomas  White,  in  a  little  log 
cabin,  on  the  hill  west  of  Greenville,  between 
the  residence  of  Mrs.  Black  and  where  Samuel 
White's  tanyard  was  situated.  This  school 
was  small,  as  the  inhabitants  were  few,  some  of 
whom  had  no  education  themselves,  and  did 
not  care  whether  their  children  ever  received 
any  or  not.  But  as  the  population  increased, 
schools  sprang  up  in  various  parts  of  the 
county,  whenever  a  neighborhood  became 
strong  enough  to  sustain  one.  In  some  in- 
stances, where  but  two  or  three  families  lived 
near  each  other,  they  sent  off  several  miles 
to  those  similarly  situated,  took  in  children 
and  boarded  them  free,  in  order  to  have  a 
school  that  would  justify  the  paying  of  a 
teacher. 

There  being  no  school  fund  then,  every  man 
paid  for  the  tuition  of  his  children  out  of  his 
own  pocket.  The  price  of  teaching  was  from 
$1.50  to  $2  per  scholar  per  quarter — equiva- 
lent to  $12  or  $15  a  mouth,  for  a  school  of 
twenty-five  pupils,  which  was  more  than  any 
school  in  the  county  averaged  for  many  years. 

The  schoolhouses,  for  many  years,  were  built 
of  logs  with  puncheon  floors,  weight-pole  roofs, 
and  wide  chimneys  of  wood  and  clay,  on  a  par 
with  the  dwellings  of  the  settlers  themselves. 
The  seats  were  long  benches  made  of  puncheons 
or  slabs,  without  backs,  and  frequently  so  high 
that  the  feet  of  the  smaller  pupils  could  not 
touch  the  floor,  and  it  was  quite  an  irksome 
task  for  the  little  fellows  to  sit  from  early  in 
the  morning  till  late  in  the  evening,  with  noth- 
ing to  support  their  backs,  aud  their  legs 
dangling  from  the  rough  seats.     It  is  no  won- 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


51 


der,  then,  that  some  scholars,  instead  of  going 
on  to  school  when  they  left  home  in  the  morn- 
ing, often  played  truant  all  day,  concealing 
themselves  in  the  bushes  till  the  usual  time  to 
return  in  the  evening.  This  trick  the  writer 
remembers  having  been  guilty  of  several  times. 
He  once  lay  all  day  in  a  field  of  tall  rye,  near 
harvest,  when  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  his  thirst 
were  far  more  intolerable  than  sitting  on  a 
bench  at  school. 

The  schools  were  conducted  on  the  most 
noisy  plan  imaginable.  They  received  the  ap- 
pellation of  "  vocal  schools,"  that  is,  the  schol- 
ars spelled,  read  and  "  ciphered  "  aloud  while 
studying  their  lessons,  as  well  as  when  reciting, 
and  such  another  jargon  of  unintelligible 
sounds  as  one  of  those  schools  presented  has 
never  been  witnessed,  perhaps,  since  the  con- 
fusion at  Babel.  Some  of  the  pupils  tried  to 
study,  others  gabbled  away  with  all  their  might 
without  uttering  an  intelligible  sound,  and  the 
noise  made  rendered  it  almost  impossible  for 
the  instructor  to  tell  who  were  studying  and 
who  were  not.  But  the  culminating  point 
came,  when  they  were  told  to  study  the  i:  spell- 
ing lesson,"  which  was  the  last  one  recited  be- 
fore school  "  turned  out "  at  noon  and  in  the 
evening,  and  was  participated  in  by  all  the 
scholars.  The  noise  then  produced  has  been 
often  heard  at  the  distance  of  more  than  a 
mile.  When  the  teacher  wished  the  class  to 
recite,  he  brought  his  foot  to  the  floor  with  a 
loud  and  vigorous  stamp,  which  shook  the 
whole  house,  and  had  the  effect  of  stilling  the 
noise  for  a  moment,  similar  to  the  throwing  of 
a  billet  of  wood  into  a  pond  of  croaking  frogs. 
The  whole  school  would  instantly  rise  to  their 
feet  and  make  an  unceremonious  rush  for  "  their 
places,"  recklessly  running  against  or  over  each 
other. 

Occasionally,  a  "downy-chinned''  lad,  un- 
der the  influence  of  "  puppy  love,"  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  confusion  to  imprint  or,  rather, 
daub  a  kiss  on  the  cheek  of  some  fair  damsel, 


whom   he  imagined  as   far  gone  in  the  tender 
passions  as  himself* 

The  teacher  of  one  of  these  noisy  schools 
once  gave  his  usual  stamp  to  call  up  the  class, 
when  his  foot  came  down  upon  the  end  of  a  loose 
puncheon,  which  fell  beneath  his  weight,  letting 
him  through  as  far  as  he  could  go.  and  tearing 
one  leg  of  his  pantaloons  from,  the  ankle  to  the 
knee  on  a  nail.  The  effect  upon  the  school,  of 
course,  was  a  serious  and  melancholy  one. 
Some  of  the  teachers,  when  pronouncing  the 
words  to  the  class,  or  "  giving  out "  the  lesson, 
as  it  was  called,  spoke  as  though  they  intended 
not  only  their  pupils,  but  many  of  the  neigh- 
bors to  hear  them. 

When  schools  prohibiting  pupils  from  study- 
ing aloud  first  began  to  be  taught,  they  were 
called  "  silent  schools,"  and  such  was  the  preju- 
dice in  favor  of  the  old,  noisy  system  that  in 
some  neighborhoods  it  was  made  the  test  of 
qualification  of  teachers.  School  books  then 
were  scarce,  Webster's  Spelling  book,  the  En- 
glish Reader,  New  Testament  and  Pike's  Arith- 
metic constituted  the  list  of  books  used  for 
many  years. 

Male  teachers  only  were  employed  for  several 
decades  after  the  first  organization  of  schools  in 
this  county.  Female  teachers  were  so  scarce 
that  none  offered  their  services,  and  had  they 
done  so,  the  prejudice  against  them  was  so 
"■reat  that  no  neighborhood  would  have  em- 
ployed  them.  So  great  was  the  opposition  to 
female  education,  many  of  the  first  settlers  of 
the  county  held  that  all  the  education  a  girl 
required  was  to  be  able  to  read  the  Bible  and 
Testament  and  write  well  enough  to  sign  her 
own  name.  Some  would  not  even  go  this  far, 
but  allowed  her  only  the  privilege  of  learning 
to  read.  When  speaking  of  the  literary  attain- 
ments of  a  girl,  it  was  a  common  remark,  "she 
has  education  enough  for  a  woman  ! " 

Our    educational    interests     and     facilities, 

*[This  was  a  part  of  the  performance,  wo  presume,  that  was  loft 
off  the  programme. — Ed.] 


52 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


though  at  first  so  inferior,  have  gradually  kept 
improving  as  the  county  increased  in  popula- 
tion and  wealth,  aided  by  wise  legislation,  until 
we  have  arrived  at  our  present  system  of  free 
schools,  of  which  all  may  feel  justly  proud. 
Below  we  present  the  following  condensed 
school  statistics  of  Bond  County,  as  a  matter  of 
interest : 

Number  of  white  persons  in  the  county 
betwei  n  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one 
years 4,618 

Number  of  colored  persons  in  the  county 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one 
years 32 

Total 4,650 

Number  of  schools  in  the  county 69 

Number  of  districts  in  the  county 69 

Number  of  scholars  attending  school 3,685 

Number  of  teachers Ill 

Number  of  male  teachers 67 

Number   of    female    teachers 44 

Number  of  brick  schoolhouses 12 

Number  of  frame  schoolhouses 57 

Number  of  log  schoolhouses 2 

Amount  paid  male  teachers $14,501.64 

Amount  paid  female  teachers 7,512.98 

Highest  monthly  wages  paid  any  male 

teacher 125 

Lowest   monthly   wages   paid   any  male 

teacher 25 

Highest  monthly  wages  paid  any  female 

teacher 50 

Lowest  monthly  wages  paid  any  female 

teacher 20 

The  highest  monthly  wages  paid  to  male 
teachers  are  in  Township  5,  Range  3,  $165  ; 
Township  4,  Range  i,  $65  ;  Township  4,  Range 
3,  StiO.  The  lowest  wages  paid  to  males  arc  in 
Township  7,  Range  3,  $25  ;  Township  4,  Range 

2,  $28.  The  highest  monthly  wages  paid  to 
females  are  in  Township  5,  Range  3,  $50 ; 
Township  6,  Range  4,  $45  ;  Township  7,  Range 

3,  $40.  The  lowest  are  in  Township  4,  Range 
2  and  Township  6,  Range  3,  Township  4,  Range 

4,  and  Township  7,  Range  4,  each  $20  per  month. 
Alruira  Female  College,  beautifully  situated 

in  Greenville,  is  an  educational  institution  of 


which  Bond  County  may  well  feel  proud.  It 
was  founded  in  1857,  and  is  in  a  very  flourish- 
ing state.  A  full  history  of  it,  however,  will  be 
found  in  the  chapters  devoted  to  the  history  of 
Greenville. 

The  citizens  of  Bond  County  have  not  been 
behind  those  in  airy  other  portion  of  the  State 
in  asserting  their  opinions,  demanding  their 
rights,  or  responding  to  the  calls  of  patriotism. 
As  an  instance  of  their  readiness  to  make  a 
public  declaration  of  opinion,  thej-  were  the  first 
in  the  county  to  oppose  what  was  called  the 
"  internal  improvement  bill,"  passed  many  years 
ago  by  the  Legislature,  the  following  notice  of 
which  appears  in  Ford's  History  of  Illinois, 
page  201  : 

"  The  people  of  Bond  County,  as  soon  as  the 
internal  improvement  system  passed,  had  de- 
clared in  a  public  meeting  that  the  system 
must  lead  to  taxation  and  utter  ruin  ;  that  the 
people  were  not  bound  to  pay  any  of  the  debt 
to  be  contracted  for  it ;  and  that  Bond  County 
would  never  assist  in  paying  a  cent  of  it.  Ac- 
cordingly, they  refused  to  pay  taxes  for  several 
years."  The  citizens  of  the  county  were  correct 
in  their  conclusions,  for  in  a  few  years  the  sys- 
tem went  down,  and  left  the  State  in  the  almost 
bankrupt  condition  they  had  foretold,  with  a 
debt  of  $14,000,000  hanging  over  it.  When 
the  subject  of  paying  this  debt  by  increased 
taxation  came  up  in  1S44,  William  S.  Wait  ad- 
dressed a  very  able  letter  to  Thomas  Ford, 
Governor  of  the  State,  in  opposition  to  the  plan 

In  patriotism  the  county  has  been  equally 
prompt  in  maintaining  her  position.  When  the 
State  of  Illinois  was  called  upon  for  four  regi- 
ments of  volunteers  for  the  Mexican  war,  in 
1S46,  Bond  County  furnished  one  company  of 
ninety-three  men.  This  company  had  the  fol- 
lowing officers  :  Benjamin  E.  Sellers,  Captain  ; 
J.  M.  Hubbard,  First  Lieutenant  ;  S.  G.  Mc- 
Adams,  Second  Lieutenant,  and  I.  N.  Red- 
fearn,  Third  Lieutenant.  Of  this  number  only 
about  forty   men  returned  at  the  close  of  the 


HISTOKY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


53 


campaign,  the  remainder  having  died  or  been 
discharged  on  account  of  sickness.  But  few  of 
them  are  now  living  in  the  county. 

During  the  late  rebellion,  the  county,  small 
as  it  is.  furnished  five  companies  of  cavalry, 
besides  several  companies  of  infantry. 

Notwithstanding  so  many  companies  went 
from  this  county  into  the  late  war,  many  of  the 
citizens  strongly  opposed  it.  In  consequence 
of  their  opposition,  much  excitement  prevailed 
during  a  portion  of  the  time,  resulting,  how- 
ever, in  no  very  serious  trouble,  except  in  a 
few  instances.  Many  occurrences,  both  ludi- 
crous and  otherwise,  might  be  related,  but  lest 


the}  stir  up  and  keep  alive  old  prejudices  and 
differences,  they  will  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  in  conclusion  of  the  county's 
war  record,  that  those  who  went  forth  to  battle 
for  their  country's  honor  acquitted  themselves 
as  became  American  soldiers,  and  their  history 
in  the  long  and  dreadful  four  years'  struggle 
was  that  of  all  the  soldiers  from  Illinois — noble 
and  honorable.  Those  who  met  a  soldier's 
death  fell  in  a  high  and  holy  cause  ;  those  who 
survived  the  struggle  and  returned  home  en- 
joy the  proud  consciousness  that  the  Union 
was   preserved — the   government  unshaken. 


54 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    VII.* 

RAILROAD  HISTORY— THE  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT  SYSTEM— OLD  NATIONAL  OR  CUMBERLAND 
KOAD— MISSISSIPPI  AND   ATLANTIC   RAILROAD— THE   EARLY  DIFFICULTIES   IN   ITS  CON- 
STRUCTION—FINAL  COMPLETION— THE   PRESENT  VANDALIA   LINE— OFFICERS  OF 
THE  ROAD,  ETC.— THE   PRESS  OF  BOND   COUNTY— EARLY   NEWSPAPERS— 
"ADVOCATE"  AND  ITS  ANTECEDENTS— THE  "SUN,"  ETC. 


ALL  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history 
of  Illinois,  will  remember  the  old  In- 
ternal Improvement  System,  which  well-nigh 
wrecked  the  Commonwealth.  For  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  whole  country  had  gone  wild 
upon  the  subject  of  internal  improvements, 
and  railroads  and  canals  were  chartered  with- 
out regard  to  cost  or  eligibility  of  location. 
Illinois  took  a  front  rank  in  this  reckless  ex- 
penditure, and  voted  away  millions  of  money 
for  internal  improvements.  But  it  is  not  our 
intention  to  go  into  details  upon  the  subject — 
a  subject  that  man}7  still  living  in  Bond  Coun- 
ty are  familiar  with.  It  is  merely  alluded  to 
by  way  of  introduction  to  the  internal  im- 
provements of  the  county. 

The  old  National  road  was  the  first  internal 
improvement  in  which  Bond  County  took  an 
active  interest.  Perhaps  no  work  has  ever 
taken  place  in  the  United  States,  of  a  public 
character,  which  excited  so  much  interest 
throughout  the  country  as  the  "  National,  or 
Cumberland  road "  from  Washington  City  to 
St.  Louis,  with  a  branch  diverging  at  Zanes- 
ville,  Ohio,  passing  through  Kentucky,  Tennes- 
see, and  on  to  New  Orleans.  Not  even  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  excelled  in  magnitude 
the  enterprise  of  the  Old  National  road  in  its 
day,  and  which  passed  through  Vandalia  and 
Greenville  on  to  St.  Louis.  For  years  it  was 
the  great  question  in  the  National  Congress,  as 

»By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


the  Mississippi  River  Improvement  is  now  the 
all-absorbing  theme  in  that  august  body.  Our 
space,  however,  will  not  allow  a  sketch  of  this 
great  project,  and  the  reader  is  referred  to  other 
publications  for  its  histoiy.  The  remarks  upon 
this  road,  as  well  as  the  old  internal  improve- 
ment system,  are  but  prefatory  to  the  sub- 
joined sketch  of  the  Mississippi  &  Atlantic 
Railroad,  now  so  extensively  and  favorably 
know  everywhere  as  the  "Vandalia  Line." 
The  history  of  this  famous  railroad  thorough- 
fare is  written  by  Mr.  Williamson  Plant,  who 
has  been  connected  with  it  from  the  very  in- 
ception of  the  enterprise,  and  is  perfectly 
familiar  with  its  career  from  the  original  sur- 
vey to  the  present  time.  He  has  written  it  up 
fully,  and  the  article  will  be  found  interesting 
to  all  the  friends  of  the  road.     It  is  as  follows  : 

The  first  railroad  that  gave  an}-  assurance  to 
the  people  of  being  built  through  Bond  Coun- 
ty was  the  Mississippi  &  Atlantic  Railroad 
from  St.  Louis  through  Greenville,  Vandalia, 
Terre  Haute,  connecting  with  lines  to  New 
York. 

One  of  the  most  earnest  workers  for  that 
road  was  the  Hon.  William  S.  Wait,  who  was 
one  of  Bond  County's  oldest  and  most  re- 
spected citizens.  His  letter  written  in  June, 
1863,  to  ex-Gov.  B.  Gratz  Brown,  of  St.  Louis, 
will  fully  explain  the  difficulties  that  sur- 
rounded, and  finally  overcame  that  road  : 

"The  railroad  projected  so  early  as  1835  to 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


55 


run  from  St.   Louis  to  Terre  Haute,  was  in- 
tended as  the  commencement  of  a  direct  line 
of  railway  to  the  Atlantic  cities,  and  its  first 
survey  (of  which  a  copy  is  inclosed)  was  taken 
over  the  exact  line  of  the  great  '  Cumberland' 
road.     We  applied   to  the  Illinois   Legislature 
for  a  charter  in  1846,  but  were  opposed  by 
rival  interests,  that  finally  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing  two   lines   of  railroad   connecting  St. 
Louis  with  the  Wabash — one  by  a  line  running 
north,  and  the  other  by  a  line  running  south  of 
our  survey,  thus  demonstrating  by  the  unfail- 
ing test  of  physical  geography  that  our  line  is 
the  central  and  true  one.     The  two  rival  lines 
alluded  to,  viz.,  Terre  Haute  &  Alton  and  Ohio 
&    Mississippi.     We  organized   our   company 
with  the  name  of  the  '  Mississippi  &  Atlantic 
Railroad,'     in   1850,   by  virtue   of  a   General 
Railroad  Law  passed  the  year  previous,  and 
immediately  accomplished  a  survey.     An  ad- 
verse decision  of  our  Supreme  Court  led  us  to 
accept  the  otter  of  Eastern  capitalists  to  help 
us  through,  who  immediately  took  nine-tenths 
of  the  stock,  and    gave   us  John   Brough  for 
President.     Our  right  to  construct  was  finally 
confirmed    in    February,   1854 ;    the  road    put 
under  contract,  and  the  work  commenced.    The 
shock  given  to  all  railroad  enterprise  by  the 
■  Schuyler  fraud "'   suspended  operations,  and 
before  confidence  was  restored,  the  controlling 
power,   which    was   enthroned  in  Wall  street, 
had  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  as  we  afterward 
discovered,  to  proceed  no  further  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Mississippi   &  Atlantic  Rail- 
road.    For  purposes  best  understood  by  them- 
selves, the    Eastern   managers  amused  us  for 
several  years  with    the  hope   that   they  were 
still  determined  to  prosecute  the  work.     When 
we  were  finally  convinced  of  the  intentional 
deception,  we  abandoned   the  old   charter  and 
instituted  a  new  company  under  the  name  of 
the  'Highland  it  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company' 
with  power  to  build  and  complete  by  sections 
the  entire  road  from  St.  Louis  to  Terre  Haute. 


The  charter  was  obtained  in  February,  1859, 
with  the  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
Highland  corporators  to  make  no  delay  in  con- 
structing the  section  connecting  them  with  St. 
Louis,  but  were  prevented  at  the  outset  by 
difficulties,  since  overcome,  and  afterward  by 
the  existing  rebellion.'' 

The  foregoing  letter  portrays  truthfully  some 
of  the  prominent  difficulties  with  which  Bond 
and  other  counties  on  the  central  line  had  to 
contend.  State  policy  was  openly  urged  bj- 
many  of  the  leading  men  north  and  south  of 
the  "  Brough  road,"  as  it  was  generally  called. 
Hon.  Sidney  Breeze,  a  long  resident  of  Car- 
lisle, on  the  line  of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi 
Railroad,  publicly  declared  for  that  doctrine. 
"  that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  State  to  en- 
courage the  policy  that  would  build  the  most 
roads  through  the  State  ;  that  the  north  and 
south  roads  (alluded  to  in  Mr.  Wait's  letter) 
should  first  be  allowed  to  get  into  successful 
operation,  when  the  central  line  should  then 
be  chartered,  as  the  merits  of  that  line 
would  insure  the  building  the  road  on  that 
line  at  once,  giving  to  Middle  Illinois  three 
roads  instead  of  one,  as  the  chartering  of 
the  central  line  first  would  be  a  death  blow 
to  the  other  two,  at  least  for  many  long  years 
to  come."  Mr.  Wait  replied  immediately,  say- 
ing it  was  the  first  instance  he  had  ever  known 
where  the  merits  of  a  railroad  line  had  been 
urged  as  a  reason  why  it  should  not  meet  with 
merited  encouragement,  and  after  more  than 
$100,000  was  expended  on  the  "  Brough  "  road, 
further  work  on  it  was,  of  the  necessity  before 
referred  to,  suspended. 

In  February,  1865,  the  rebellion  nearing  its 
close,  the  people  along  the  "  Central  Line,"  or 
''Brough"  survey,  again  renewed  their  peti- 
tion to  the  Illinois  Legislature  for  a  negotia- 
tion of  their  right  to  build  their  railroad  on 
their  long-cherished  route. 

On  the  10th  of  February,  1865,  a  liberal 
charter   was   granted    for    building   the   pros- 


56 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


ent  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Rail- 
road. The  line  was  designated  in  the  charter 
as  "  commencing  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  opposite  St.  Louis,  running 
thence  eastwardly  through  Greenville,  the 
county  seat  of  Bond  County,  and  through  Van- 
dalia, by  the  most  eligible  route,  to  a  point 
on  the  River  Wabash."  The  persons  named 
therein  as  incorporators  were  Henry  Wing,  T. 
W.  Little,  John  S.  Dewy.  Andrew  Mills,  Solo- 
mon Koepfli,  Garritt  Crownover,  Curtis  Blake- 
man,  William  S.  Smith,  Charles  Hoiles,  William 
S.  Wait,  John  B.  Hunter,  Williamson  Plant, 
Andrew  G.  Henry,  Jediah  P.  Alexander,  Na- 
thaniel M.  McCurdy,  August  H.  Dieckmann. 
Ebenezer  Capps,  Frederick  Remann,  Mathias 
Fehren,  Michael  Lynch,  Thomas  L.  Vest,  J.  F. 
Waschfort,  Samuel  W.  Quinn,  Chauncey  Rose 
and  Joseph  H.  Morgan.  The  citizens  of  Bond 
County  led  in  the  enterprise  of  building  the 
road,  not  only  by  words,  but  by  liberal  indi- 
vidual and  county  subscriptions.  The  county, 
"small  in  territory,  made  the  liberal  subscription 
of  $100,000,  payable  in  fifteen  annual  install- 
ments willi  10  per  cent  annual  interest,  all  of 
which  has  been  met  promptly,  and  at  this  date 
only  $16,000  remain  due.  all  of  which  will  be 
paid  this  year,  the  tax  being  already  collected 
for  that  purpose,  and  Bond  County  will  be  free 
from  debt,  but  the  advantages  in  the  use  of  the 
road  to  the  people,  and  the  yearly  tax  paid  by 
the  railroad  company  will  continue  as  long  as 
taxes  are  levied  and  collected.  The  railroad 
tax  paid  in  Bond  County  for  1881  amounted  to 
64.374.29.  The  individual  subscriptions  in 
Bond  County  were  some  $46,000  at  Greenville 
and  824.000  at  Pocahontas,  were  not  only 
promptly  paid  as  called  for,  but  some  half 
dozen  citizens  of  Greenville,  viz.,  W.  S.  Smith, 
J.  F.  Alexander,  Williamson  Plant,  Andrew  G. 
Henry  and  others,  gave  to  the  Highland  sub- 
scribers their  individual  guaranty  to  refund 
their  $65,000  subscribed  by  them  and  being 
then  paid  out  on  call  as  the   work  progressed, 


if  the  road  was  not  finished  to  Highland  by 
July  1,  1S6S.  as  per  condition  in  their  sub- 
scriptions. 

The  road  was  completed  to  that  point  at  the 
date  agreed  upon,  and  the  Highland  subscribers 
finished  the  payment  of  their  subscription 
promptly.  And  although  of  the  citizens  of 
Bond  County  it  may  be  said  they  led  in  start- 
ing this  great  railroad  enterprise,  which  has  led 
to  the  building  one  of  the  most  popular  lines 
across  the  State  of  Illinois,  the  fact  should  not 
be  overlooked  that  Collinsville,  Highland,  Van- 
dalia. Effingham  and  Clark  County  did  then- 
duty  nobly.  The  entire  subscription  list  along 
the  line  amounting  to  $500,000,  and  was  divided 
as  follows  : 

Collinsville  and  vicinity,  individual $    9,600 

Highland,    individual,    and   about    $10,000 

from  St.  Louis 75,000 

Highland  City 10,000 

Pocahontas,  in  Bond  Count}',  individual....  24,100 

Greenville,  in  Bond  County,  individual  ....  46,000 
Greenville  City,  in  Bond  County,  for  depot 

building 8,000 

Bond  County 100,000 

Vandalia.  in  Fayette  County 50,000 

Douglas  Township,  in  Effingham  County. . .  50,000 

Tentopolis,  in  Effingham  County 15,000 

Moccasin,  in  Effingham  County .1.0110 

Summit,  in  Effingham  County 10,000 

Clark  County 100,000 

Individual  subscriptions  in  Clark  County. ..  2,700 
Individual     subscriptions     in    Cumberland 

County 600 

Total .... , $500,000 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Corpora- 
tors was  held  at  Vandalia,  111.,  on  the  14th  day 
of  November,  1S65,  for  the  purpose  of  organ- 
izing and  electing  a  Board  of  nine  Directors, 
with  following  result  :  John  Scholfield,  and 
Charles  Duncan,  Clark  County,  111.;  Samuel 
Quinn,  Cumberland  County.  111.;  J.  P.  M.  How- 
ard and  L.  W.  Little.  Effingham  County,  111.; 
C.  Floyd  Jones  and  F.  Remann,  Fayette  Coun- 
ty, 111.:  WilliamS.  Smith  and  Williamson  Plant , 
Bond  County.  111. 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


57 


At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors held  at  Effingham  on  the  22d  day  of  No- 
vember, 1865,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  the 
first  officers  of  the  company,  H.  P.  M.  Howard 
was  elected  President,  and  Williamson  Plant, 
Secretary. 

Through  the  influence  of  E.  C.  Rice,  who  was 
chief  engineer  of  the  "Brough"  survey,  and 
had  made  estimates  for  the  work  under  the 
same.  Gen.  E.  F.  Winslow,  a  gentleman  of  great 
energy  and  considerable  railroad  experience, 
after  various  propositions  being  made  to  build 
part  of  the  line,  or  parts  of  the  road,  contract- 
ed. Augusl  22,  1 866,  to  build  the  entire  line  from 
the  '■  west  bank  of  the  Wabash,  to  the  east 
end  of  the  dyke  at  Illinoistown."  Thecoutract 
was  finally  ratified  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  held  at  Vandalia  November  14, 
1866.  An  additional  agreement  was  entered 
into  November  28,  1866,  and  made  part  of  the 
original. 

The  first  shock  received  by  the  Railroad 
Company  in  the  outset,  was  the  lamented  death 
of  its  earnest  leader  and  judicious  friend,  Hon. 
William  S.  Wait,  July  17,  1865,  thereby  de- 
priving them  of  his  mature  judgment  and  wise 
counsel  in  making  and  carrying  out  the  con- 
tract about  to  be  entered  into  for  the  building 
of  the  road  under  the  charter  so  recently  ob- 
tained from  the  Legislature. 

In  1867,  first  mortgage  bonds  were  put  on 
the  ■•  property,  rights,  franchises,  leases  and  es- 
tate," etc.,  of  the  company  to  amount  of  $1,- 
900,000.  When  the  property  was  leased  in  Feb- 
ruary, 18G8,  a  second  mortgage  was  put  on  the 
same  to  amount  of  $2,600,000,  each  mortgage 
bearing  7  per  cent  interest,  payable  semi-annu- 
ally. For  the  purpose  of  further  equipment  of 
the  road,  preferred  stock  has  been  issued  to  the 
amount  of  §1,541,700,  bearing  7  per  cent 
interest.  The  issue  of  $2,000,000  has  been  au- 
thorized. This  stock  will  take  precedence  over 
the  common  stock  of  the  company  in  receiving 
dividends,  and  as  the  interest  on  the  preferred 


stock  may  accumulate  before  any  payment 
thereof,  the  prospect  for  dividends  on  common 
stock  is  remote. 

By  mutual  understanding  between  the  con- 
tractor and  the  company,  E.  C.  Rice  was  en- 
gaged as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  company  Jan- 
uary 18,  1867,  and  he  commenced  the  first  sur- 
vey on  the  west  end  of  the  line  in  March,  and 
the  grading  was  begun  as  soon  as  the  line  was 
fixed  at  the  west  end,  in  April  following.  At 
the  same  meeting  a  code  of  by-laws  was  adopt- 
ed, and  Greenville  was  designated  as  the  gen- 
eral office  of  the  company. 

At  the  annual  election  held  in  January,  1867, 
J.  P.  M.  Howard  was  re-elected  President,  Will- 
iamson Plant,  Secretary,  and  W.  S.  Smith, 
Treasurer.  April  3,  1867,  Mr.  Howard  gave 
up  the  position,  on  request,  and  J.  F.  Alexander 
was  chosen  President  of  the  Company  in  his 
place.  This  gave  to  Bond  County  all  the  officers 
of  the  company,  and  at  the  same  annual  elec- 
tion Bond  County  had  three  of  the  nine  Direct- 
ors. By  the  charter  the  company  was  author- 
ized to  issue  first  mortgage  bonds  not  to  ex- 
ceed $12,000  per  mile.  The  capital  stock  was 
made  $3,000,000,  which  could  be  increased  al 
an  annual  meeting  by  a  majority  of  stockhold- 
ers in  interest,  as  they  should  direct. 

At  the  annual  election  in  January,  1SGS,  five 
Directors  from  Bond  County  were  chosen  out 
of  the  nine,  viz.:  J.  F.  Alexander,  W.  S. 
Smith,  Andrew  G.  Henry,  William  S.  Wait,  Jr., 
and  Francis  Dressor.  The  same  officers,  J.  F.  Al- 
exander, President,  Williamson  Plant,  Secretary, 
and  William  S.  Smith,  all  from  Bond  County,  were 
re-elected,  giving  to  Bond  County  again  all  the 
officers  and  a  majority  of  the  Directors.  Men- 
tion is  made  of  these  facts  only  to  show  that 
in  the  building  of  the  road  Bond  County  citi- 
zens were  considered  and  acknowledged  as 
leading  in  the  enterprise.  This  may  be  owing, 
in  some  degree,  to  the  geographical  position  of 
the  county,  being  twenty  mrles  from  Green 
ville  north,  south  or  east  to  any  railroad  ad- 


58 


HISTORY   OF  BOND  COUNTY 


vantages.  It  is  not  the  intention  of  this  arti- 
cle to  detract  in  any  way  from  the  many  per- 
sons and  places  along  the  line  that  responded 
with  their  liberal  subscriptions.  Highland,  and 
the  country  around  it  in  particular,  by  their 
heavy  individual,  though  conditional,  subscrip- 
tions, are  deserving  special  recognition  for  the 
same.  The  road  was  completed  to  Highland 
by  July  1,  1868,  and  the  stock  was  issued  to 
the  subscribers,  and  they  paid  up  in  full  as 
specified  in  their  subscriptions.  The  first  reg- 
ular passenger  train  did  not  run,  however,  until 
August  20.  1868,  from  Highland  to  St.  Louis. 

B}-  the  consent  of  the  railroad,  company  G-en. 
Winslow  as  contractor  was  paid  $120,000  for 
labor  expended  on  the  line  to  the  10th  day  of 
February,  1868,  and  at  his  request  was  released 
from  his  contracts.  The  same  was  ratified  and 
accepted  by  the  company  at  their  meeting 
March  13,  1868.  The  railroad  company  en- 
tered into  a  contract  February  10,  1868,  with 
Thomas  L.  Jewett  and  B.  E.  Smith,  of  Ohio  ; 
George  B.  Roberts,  of  Philadelphia,  and  W.  R. 
MeKeen,  of  Terre  Haute,  in  the  firm  name  of 
McKeen,  Smith  &  Co.,  to  complete  the  road  at 
an  earl}-  day.  At  the  same  time  and  place  an 
agreement  was  entered  into,  leasing  the  St. 
Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad  to 
the  Terre  Haute  &  Indianapolis  Railroad 
Company.  In  the  report  of  the  President  of 
the  Vandalia  Company  made  to  the  stockhold- 
ers at  their  annual  meeting  held  at  Greenville, 
111.,  January  6. 1872,  he  says  : 

"  When,  on  the  10th  day  of  February,  1868, 
the  contract  was  made  insuring  the  completion 
of  your  road,  another  contract  was  also  made, 
providing  for  its  forming  a  part  of  a  continuous 
railroad  line  from  St.  Louis  (via  Indianapolis)  to 
Pittsburgh  ;  and  for  perfecting  this  object  your 
line  was  leased  for  a  period  of  999  years  to  the 
Terre  Haute  &  Indianapolis  Railroad  Company, 
for  the  joint  interest  of  this  company  and  the 
several  railroad  companies  forming  the  said  line. 
Under  this  lease,  the  lessees  were  to  work  your 


road  at  their  own  cost  and  expense,  and  to  pay 
to  your  company  thirty-five  (35)  per  cent  of  the 
gross  earnings,  first  paying  therefrom  all  the  in- 
terest due  on  the  bonds  of  the  company,  and  all 
taxes  assessed  against  the  property  of  the  com- 
pany,  advancing  any  deficit  in  the  amount 
needed  to  meet  these  liabilities  and  paying  the 
surplus  (if  any  remained)  of  the  thirty-five  (35) 
per  cent  to  your  company.  Your  board,  in  view 
of  the  light  traffic  usually  done  upon  a  new  line, 
reduced  the  proportion  due  your  company  of 
the  gross  earnings  to  thirty  (30)  per  cent,  pro- 
vided, that  after  payment  b}-  the  lessee  of  the 
cost  and  expense  of  working  your  road  out  of 
the  sevent}'  (70)  per  cent  received  for  that  pur- 
pose, if  any  surplus  remained  it  should  go  to 
your  company." 

From  small  earnings  from  the  time  the  road 
was  opened,  first  to  Highland  and  Greenville  in 
1868,  and  finally  through  to  Terre  Haute,  July 
1,  1870,  it  has  developed  a  marvelous  increase 
of  business,  not  only  to  the  road,  but  to  the 
farming  and  all  other  industries  along  the  line. 
The  whole  cost  of  the  road  and  equipment  of 
the  same  to  July  1,  1S68,  when  the  contractors 
turned  the  road  over  to  the  lessee,  was  $7,171.- 
355.89,  which  has  increased  steadily  as  the  line 
is  more  fully  developed  by  "  rolling  stock  "  and 
"  betterments,"  etc.,  on  the  road,  until  the  last 
report  of  Treasurer  W.  H.  Barnes,  made  the 
total  cost  of  road  and  equipment  to  October  1, 
1S80,  $8,330,410.75.  The  amount  of  business 
over  this  line,  for  the  past  year,  aggregates 
$1,565,515.04  ;  and  the  rental  due  to  the  com- 
pany from  the  lessee  for  the  year  ending  Octo- 
ber 31,  1881,  was  $469,654.50  ;  and  for  the 
same  time,  $424,827.04  was  earned  in  carrying 
passengers,  $43,490.57  for  express,  and  $90,- 
835.98  for  mail  services. 

Under  the  management  of  McKeen,  Smith  <k 
Co.,  the  line  was  completed  to  Greenville  on  the 
5th  of  December,  1868  ;  the  first  passenger  train 
reached  Greenville  on  the  night  of  December  7, 
and  the  first  regular  passenger  train  on  schedule 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


59 


time,  from  Greenville  to  St.  Louis,  was  on  the 
morning  of  December  8,  1868. 

The  first  train  ran  into  Effingham  April  26, 
1870.  On  the  8th  of  June,  1870,  an  excursion 
train  was  run  through  from  Indianapolis  to  St. 
Louis,  over  the  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre 
Haute  Railroad  ;  and  the  first  regular  passen- 
ger train,  over  the  whole  line  on  schedule  time, 
was  on  the  12th  day  of  June,  1870  ;  and,  as 
mentioned  before,  the  contractors  turned  over 
the  road  as  per  contract  to  the  Terre  Haute  & 
Indianapolis  Railroad  Company,  Jul}'  1,  1870. 

At  first,  one  passenger  train  each  way  was 
started,  but  soon  found  necessary  for  two  ;  and 
now  four  regular  trains  each  way  for  passen- 
gers, and  twice  as  many  freights,  are  needed  to 
keep  up  with  the  increasing  business.  Boud 
County  furnishes  its  full  share  of  the  heavy 
business  of  the  road  as  it  passes  through  the 
county  from  west  to  east,  passing  through 
Oakdale,  Pocahontas,  Stubblefield,  Greenville, 
Smithboro  and  Mulberry  Grove. 

The  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Rail- 
road is  158  miles  from  East  St.  Louis  to  east- 
ern line  of  the  State,  and  seven  miles  from  State 
line  to  Wabash  River  at  Terre  Haute. 

The  interest  of  the  people  of  Bond  County  in 
the  Vandalia  Railroad  is  such  that  the  history 
of  the  county  would  be  incomplete  without,  not 
only  a  history  of  the  road,  but  a  detailed  his- 
tory or  record  so  far  as  can  be  given  of  those 
who  have  been  and  now  are  connected  with  the 
same,  probably  made  more  appropriate  as  the 
general  office  of  the  company  is  located  at 
Greenville,  where  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
stockholders  and  directors  are  held. 

Presidents— J.  P.  M.  Howard,  Effingham,  111., 
November  22,  1865,  to  April  3,  1867  ;  J.  F. 
Alexander,  Greenville,  111.,  April  3,  1867,  to 
February  15,  1871  ;  George  B.  Roberts,  Phila- 
delphia, February  15, 1871,  to  January  11, 1876  ; 
Thomas  D.  Messier,  Pittsburgh,  January  11, 
1876,  to  present  time. 

Treasurers — William  S.  Smith,  Greenville,  111., 


January  18, 1867,  to  April  14, 1869  ;  Williamson 
Plant,  Greenville,  111.,  April  14,  1860,  to  Febru- 
ary 15,  1871  ;  Albert  Hewson,  Philadelphia, 
February  15,  1871,  to  June  26,  1871  ;  William 
P.  Shinn,  Pittsburgh,  June  26,  1871,  to  Janu- 
ary 11,  1876  ;  W.  H.  Barnes,  Pittsburgh,  Janu- 
ary 11,  1876,  to  present  time. 

Secretary,  Williamson  Plant,  Greenville.  111., 
November  22,  1865,  to  present  time. 

Superintendents  and  General  Managers — R. 
B.  Lewis,  first  Superintendent  in  1868  ;  J.  W. 
Conlogue,  second  Superintendent,  1869  and 
1870  ;  Charles  R.  Peddle,  third  Superintendent, 
1869,  1870  and  1871  ;  Maj.  John  E.  Simpson, 
General  Superintendent,  from  1S70  to  1876.  and 
General  Manager  from  1876  to  the  time  of  his 
death  in  August,  1880  ;  Joshua  Staples,  Super- 
intendent, 1877  to  1880  ;  D.  W.  Caldwell,  Gen- 
eral Manager,  after  the  death  of  Maj.  Simpson 
August,  1880,  to  May  1,  1882  ;  Joseph  Hill' 
General  Superintendent,  from  January  1,  1881, 
to  the  present  time,  and  since  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Caldwell,  May  1,  1882,  has  the  entire 
management  of  the  Vandalia  line  from  St.  Louis 
to  Indianapolis. 

H.  W.  Hibbard  has  very  acceptably  filled  the 
responsible  position  of  General  Freight  Agent 
of  the  Vandalia  line  to  Indianapolis  for  the  past 
ten  years  or  more.  C.  R.  Peddle  has  been  Mas- 
ter Machinist  and  Superintendent  of  Machinery, 
etc.,  since  1870  to  present  time;  and  held  the 
same  position  with  the  Terre  Haute  &  Indian- 
apolis Railroad,  for  fourteen  years  continuously 
before  1870.  H.  W.  Billings  was  the  first  Gen- 
eral Solicitor  of  the  company.  John  Scholfield 
was  General  Solicitor  for  the  company  from 
May  1,  1870,  until  he  resigned  to  accept  the 
Supreme  Judgeship  to  which  he  had  been 
elected  in  the  latter  part  of  1873.  R,  W. 
Thompson,  of  Terre  Haute,  was  appointed  Jan- 
uary 13,  1874.  Mr.  Thompson  held  that  posi- 
tion until  he  was  selected  by  President  Hayes, 
in  1877,  as  one  of  his  Cabinet  (Secretary  of  the 
Navy).     John  G.  Williams,  the  present  General 


CO 


HISTORY    OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


Solicitor  of  the  company,  was  appointed  in 
1877. 

The  interest  of  the  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  & 
Terre  Haute  Railroad  and  the  Terre  Haute  & 
Indianapolis,  as  lessee,  being  almost  identical, 
a  history  of  one  road  necessarily  includes  much 
that  belongs  to  both,  and  whilst  their  organi- 
zation are  entirely  separate — -each  having  a 
Board  of  Directors,  a  President,  Treasurer  and 
Secretary — many  of  the  other  officers  and  em- 
ployes, besides  the  General  Manager,  General 
Superintendent,  General  Freight  Agent,  and 
General  Solicitors  as  given  above  are  covered 
in  both  roads,  under  the  latter  head  the  names 
of  F.  M.  Colbun,  General  Ticket  Agent,  St. 
Louis  ;  W.  S.  Roney,  Auditor  ;  N.  K.  Elliott, 
Master  of  Transportation,  and  many  others  will 
be  readily  recalled. 

The  intelligent  traveler  will  soon  make  the 
acquaintance  of  the  many  gentlemanly  conduct- 
ors on  this  line,  who  vie  with  each  other  to 
make  the  passengers  feel  at  home  whilst  riding 
in  the  "  Vandalia  "  cars.  In  his  memory  he 
will  carry  the  names  of  John  Wise,  John  Mc- 
Mahon,  John  Trindle,  Samuel  Trindle,  L.  D. 
Hibbard,  Joseph  Haselton.  Richard  Cornell,  D. 
T.  Conway,  Curtis  Paddock,  John  T.  Elliott 
and  A.  E.  Bobbins.  The  station  agents  at 
Greenville  have  been  :  First,  S.  B.  Hynes ; 
second,  J.  E.  Hunt ;  third,  M.  W.  Van  Valken- 
burg,  and  fourth,  our  present  efficient  and 
affable  agent,  W.  S.  Ogden.  Pocahontas  has 
had,  among  others,  P.  Powell,  Mr.  Record  and 
\V.  H.  Spradling,  present  incumbent.  Mulberry 
Grove,  among  others,  Pitts  Powell ;  M.  J.  Rob- 
inson, present  incumbent.  W.  D.  Hynes,  mail 
agent  since  the  road  started  from  Greenville, 
having  held  his  place  until  the  present,  is 
worthy  of  mention,  a  period  of  nearly  fourteen 
years. 

The  general  management  of  the  St.  Louis, 
Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad  is  in  the 
hands  of  W.  R.  McKeen,  President  of  the  Terre 
Haute  &  Indianapolis   Railroad   Company,  as 


lessee,  who  has,  by  his  judicious  management, 
and  the  management  of  those  acting  under  and 
in  harmony  with  him,  made  it  one  of  the  most 
popular  lines  in  the  United  States. 

Col.  J.  Hill,  a  gentleman  of  large  railroad  ex- 
perience, has  been  General  Superintendent  since 
January  1,  1881,  and  has  had  full  control  of 
the  line  as  General  Superintendent  since  the 
resignation  of  General  Manager  P.  W.  Cald- 
well, May  1,  1882.  Col.  Hill,  since  assuming 
full  control  of  the  line,  has  shown  a  determina- 
tion to  keep  the  good  name  of  the  Vandalia  in 
the  lead  by  putting  on  an  extra  fast  express 
train  for  the  Eastern  cities,  and  also  by  extend- 
ing the  Highland  accommodation  to  Effingham, 
where  the  company  have  proper  accommoda- 
tion for  their  engines  and  cars,  and  make  an 
extra  connection  with  trains  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral at  that  place.  This  last  change  will  greatly 
encourage  the  small  stations  along  the  road, 
and  will  aid  in  developing  the  whole  line.  But 
a  few  years  will  elapse  before  the  growing  de- 
mands of  trade  and  travel  will  require  the  com- 
pany to  make  a  double  track  the  whole  line. 
Already  steel  rails  are  being  laid  as  fast  as  the 
finances  of  the  company  will  allow,  and  at  the 
rate  they  are  now  being  being  placed,  will  soon 
be  laid  on  the  entire  road. 

The  Jacksonville  &  Southeastern  Railroad  is 
a  project  now,  not  only  in  agitation,  but  in  the 
course  of  construction  through  Bond  County. 
Its  history,  however,  will  be  more  fully  given 
in  the  part  of  this  work  devoted  to  Montgomery 
County. 

The  Press. — If  journalism  does  not  come  under 
the  head  of  internal  improvements,  there  can 
be  no  denying  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  stanch 
advocate  of  all  legitimate  public  improvements, 
and  that  the  press  of  the  country  is  ever  ready 
to  lend  its  influence  to  promote  all  honest  en- 
terprises for  the  common  good,  and  for  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  The  fact  is,  the  people 
themselves  do  not  appreciate  the  press  as  it  de- 
serves.    It  is  a  power  for  good  in  the  country, 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


61 


and  should  be  honestly  supported  by  all  enter- 
prising and  wide-awake  people.  The  press  of 
Bond  County  merits  an  extended  notice  in  this 
work,  and  the  following  sketch  of  the  Green- 
ville Advocate  is  compiled  from  an  article  pub- 
lished in  its  columns,  January  19,  1882  : 

With  this  issue  the  Advocate  goes  to  its  many 
readers  as  No.  1  of  Vol.  XXV.  In  other  words, 
it  enters  upon  its  twenty-fifth  year,  or  quarter 
of  a  century  of  service.  As  with  individuals 
and  nations,  so  with  newspaper  proprietors, 
there  is  a  pleasure  in  looking  back  over  the  past 
history  on  special  occasions.  Inasmuch  as 
readers  have  as  much,  though  not  exactly  the 
same,  interest  in  their  paper  that  its  editor  has, 
it  is  quite  appropriate  that  this  historical 
review  should  not  be  confined  to  the  editor's 
easy  chair,  but  given  to  the  public  through  the 
columns  which  all  read — especially  since  about 
all  the  day-dreaming  an  editor  finds  time  to  in- 
dulge in  must  flow  from  the  nib  of  his  pen- 
Though  the  Advocate  proper,  and  by  that  name, 
is  scarcely  yet  twenty-five  3rears  old,  it  is  really 
a  continuation  of  previous  journalism,  which 
only  the  oldest  settlers  will  remember.  It  seems 
that  in  this  review  a  brief  notice  of  that  and 
cotemporaneous  journalism  will  not  be  out  of 
place,  and  that  it  should  come  in  the  order  of 
the  respective  papers. 

Of  The  Barn-Jin  run;  nothing  is  preserved, 
and  the  memory  of  the  men  of  that  time  has 
been  resorted  to  in  order  to  get  even  a  trace  of 
its  existence.  Since  then,  however,  everything 
has  been  preserved,  and  all  the  back  numbers 
that  could  be  obtained  have  been  securely 
bound,  and  are  kept  in  a  convenient  place  for 
reference.  The  first  that  is  accessible  of  the 
above  is  No.  30  of  Volume  I  of  the  Protestant 
Monitor.  This  was  the  first  paper  ever  issued 
in  Bond  County.  As  its  name  indicates,  it  was 
a  religious  paper.  By  counting  the  numbers 
backward  from  the  number  just  mentioned, 
which  bears  the  date  of  Wednesday,  January  6, 
184G,  it  will  appear  that  the  first  number  was 


issued  about  the  lGth  of  June,  1845,  or  more 
than  thirty-six  years  ago — over  a  third  of  a 
century  ago.  It  was  owned  and  published  by 
Mr.  E.  31.  Lathrap.  The  subscription  price  was 
$2  per  annum,  in  advance  ;  $2.50  at  the  end  of 
three  months,  and  $3,  if  payment  was  delayed 
to  the  end  of  the  year  ;  single  copies,  6^  cents. 
So  far  as  its  denominational  views  gave  color 
to  its  columns,  it  was  a  Protestant  Methodist 
paper,  and  had  a  circulation  and  list  of  con- 
tributors reaching  over  an  area  of  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  in  every  direction,  including 
Springfield,  Jacksonville,  Alton  and  even  St. 
Louis.  Though  a  religious  journal,  it  mingled 
secular  affairs  in  its  columns  quite  freely,  after 
the  fashion  of  day.  There  was  but  little  local 
news,  for  in  those  days  of  little,  and  at  best 
slow  and  tedious,  travel,  people  wished  to  hear 
from  the  outside  world,  a  want  which  is  now 
supplied  by  the  dailies  and  large  city  weeklies, 
which  few  could  take  at  the  then  high  prices. 
The  last  Protestant  Monitor  that  is  preserved  in 
this  office  is  dated  May  24,  1848,  and  is  two 
inches  larger  each  way  than  the  first  issue. 

On  Friday,  September  13,  1850,  the  Green- 
ville Journal  issued  No.  37,  Vol.  3.  This  was  a 
four-page  paper  about  the  size  of  the  first  Mon- 
itor. J.  F.  Alexander  appears  as  its  editor  at 
this  time,  though  in  the  absence  of  other  back 
files  we  are  obliged  to  rely  on  the  recollection 
of  0.  Buchanan,  that  it  was  first  owned  by  John 
Waite.  According  to  Messrs.  0.  Buchanan  and 
J.  Harvey  Alexander,  J.  F.  Alexander  was  in 
partnership  with  Mr.  Waite  for  a  short  time, 
when  he  bought  out  his  interest,  but  subse- 
quently re-sold  the  entire  concern  back  again  to 
Mr.  Waite.  Mr.  Waite  again  sold  out,  this  time, 
to  Alexander  Brothers,  Harvey  and  Cal.,  who 
had  been  working  in  the  office.  These  two  sold 
to  another  brother,  D.  W.  Alexander,  and  he  in 
turn  to  Dr.  Smith,  whose  widow,  Mrs.  Mary 
Smith,  Greenville  citizens  remember  as  a  resi- 
dent of  this  city  only  a  few  years  since.  Mr. 
John  Harper  also  owned  the  paper,  but  wheth- 


HISTORY    OF    BOND   COUNTY. 


er  he  sold  out  to  J.  P.  Alexander  the  records 
do  not  show. 

It  should  here  be  noticed  that  while  Mr. 
Waite  had  the  Journal,  J.  F.  Alexander  started 
and  conducted  for  about  one  year  the  "Barn- 
Burner"  as  an  organ  of  the  extreme,  or  as  we 
would  now  say,  Stalwart  Free-Soilers,  who  in 
New  York  had  acquired  the  name  of"  barn  burn- 
ers" and  who  were  for  Martin  Van  Bureu.  This 
was  the  first  journalistic  venture  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander, and  died  out  soon  after  the  election.  It 
was  printed  in  the  Journal  office.  A  copy  of 
the  first  issue  was  sent  to  Martin  Van  Bnren, 
who  soon  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  it  in  a 
letter  of  thanks  to  the  editor,  enclosing  also  a 
five-dollar  bill.  Mr.  Charles  Hoiles  remembers 
having  the  bill'  shown  to  him  and  further  says 
that  it  was  considered  a  big  thing  in  those  times. 
This  change  was  without  material  difference  in 
the  paper  or  its  management,  except  that  J.  F. 
Alexander  was  left  to  give  his  time  to  editing 
the  paper  by  D.  W.  Alexander's  entering  the 
office  as  publisher.  The  Journal,  as  has  since 
been  the  record  of  the  paper,  supported  what 
are  now  distinctive  Republican  principles  either 
settled  or  undergoing  that  process.  Beneath 
the  picture  of  a  hand  holding  a  pen,  are  the 
Fremont  and  Dayton  tickets,  followed  by  the 
State  ticket. 

Next  we  find  the  American  Courier,  of  which 
No.  47,  of  Vol.  I,  bears  the  date  of  May  21,  1857. 
Othniel  Buchanan  was  editor  and  proprietor. 
The  entire  outfit  for  this  paper  was  purchased 
new  at  St.  Louis,  03-  Thomas  Russell  and  Othniel 
Buchanan.  Mr.  Russell,  however,  retired  in 
about  a  year,  leaving  Mr.  Buchanan  alone.  This 
outfit  was  the  nucleus  from  which  the  present 
Advocate  equipment  has  been  developed.  That 
identical  hand  press  is  still  in  this  office.  This 
outfit,  press  and  all,  cost  $800  in  St.  Louis, 
whence  it  was  ordered  shipped  to  Carlyle.  About 
the  time  it  was  expected  at  Carlyle,  a  wagon 
was  driven  over  after  it.  Failing  to  find  it  at 
Carlyle,  it  was  thought  that  the  shipment  had 


been  made  to  Hillsboro.  At  the  latter  place 
some  one  told  the  "  office-seeker  "  that  he  had 
seen  a  printing  press  traveling  toward  Vanda- 
lia,  where  the  searchers  were  fortunate  enough 
to  find  it.  So  the  Courier  continued  a  very 
readable  paper  of  the  dimensions  of  the  present 
Advocate,  only  that  it  was  a  single  instead  of  a 
double  sheet.  It  should  be  stated  that  O.  Bu- 
chanan purchased  of  J.  F.  Alexander  the  Jour- 
nal office,  and  subsequently  sold  both  the  Jour- 
nal and  the  Courier  to  Alexander  &  Bro.,  con- 
sisting of  J.  F.  and  J.  H.  Alexander,  who,  after 
a  while,  disposed  of  the  Journal  outfit  to  a 
Scotchman  named  Parson  Percy,  who  took  it 
to  Stanton,  Macoupin  Co.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  none  of  the  Monitor  or  Journal  material  is 
now  in  Greenville. 

Next  the  paper  became  the  Greenville  Advo- 
cate. Under  this  name,  which  it  has  ever  since 
retained,  the  paper  began  its  first  volume  Feb- 
ruary 11,  1858.  In  size  the  paper  was  what 
the  Advocate  of  to-day  would  be  without  the 
inside  pages.  Its  editorial  management  con- 
tinued to  be  conducted  by  J.  F.  Alexander, 
who  was  also  proprietor.  All  know  that  those 
times  were  eras  of  terrible  earnestness.  The 
old  and  the  middle-aged  remember,  and  the 
young  have  since  learned  of  the  situation  of 
that  day.  The  columns  of  the  Advocate  from 
that  day  to  this  have  been  true  to  the  great 
principles  of  Republicanism,  freedom  and  hu- 
•man  right. 

It  might  be  well  enough  to  state  here,  that 
John  H.  Hawley,  who  is  now,  and  has  been  for 
three  years,  one  of  the  Advocate  force,  worked 
on  the  Greenville  Advocate  in  1860-61,  com- 
mencing the  14th  day  of  November,  1860.  J. 
F.  Alexander  was  editor,  and  Thomas  Russell 
foreman.  The  paper  at  that  time  being  less 
than  half  its  present  size,  about  one  good  man, 
and  a  country  boy  like  Mr.  Hawley,  was  then  all 
that  was  necessary  to  do  the  work.  The  only 
machinery  about  the  office  was  the  old  hand- 
press,  now  in  use.     On  the  editorial  page  an 


^^Y^^1^7 


LIBRARY 

OF   1HE 
UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


G5 


•■  Educational  Department"  was  conducted  by 
Thomas  W.  Hynes,  who  still  continues  a  warm 
friend  and  occasional  contributor  to  the  Advo- 
catt  An  article  from  his  pen  on  "  Our  Early 
Local  History"  urged  the  formation  of  an  old 
settlers'  society,  that  the  early  incidents  might 
not  be  forgotten,  and  that  memories  of  the  past 
might  be  preserved. 

During   the  late   rebellion.  J.  F.  Alexander 
was  succeeded  as  publisher  and   proprietor  of 
the  Advocatr   by   his  brother,  B.  J.  C.  Alexan- 
der,  who  continued    the  paper  until   August, 
1865,  when  his  interest  was  transferred  to  S.  C. 
Mace,  who  managed  the  paper  alone  until  April 
of  1866.  when  he  associated   with   him  T.  0. 
Shenick.  as  publisher,  who  combined  his  ener- 
gy with  Mr.  Mace,  giving  the  public  the  only 
local  reading  in  the  county,   till  March,  1869, 
when  Mr.  Mace  was  again   left  alone.     In  No- 
vember, 1871,  Mr.  Mace  sold  out  to  Samuel  B. 
Hynes.  under   whose  proprietorship,  his  father. 
Rev.  Thomas  W.  Hynes,  had  the  editorial  and 
general    management  of  the  Advocate,  which, 
with   the   beginning   of   the   year  1872,    they 
had  changed  from  a  four  page  with   eight  col- 
umns to  an   eight-page  paper  of  six  columns 
each,  considerably  smaller  than  its  present  size. 
This  form  was  retained   for  two  years,   when 
the    former   dimensions    were   again    adopted. 
From   Mr.  Hynes  the  Advocate  was  purchased 
by  George  M.  Tatham,  the  present  proprietor 
and  editor.     This  was  October  1,  1873.     Since 
that  time  the  Advocate  has  steadily   increased 
in  size,  never  decreasing,  and  often  requiring 
large  supplements,  so  that  readers  might  not  be 
stinted  by  thepressureof  advertisements.    From 
a  subscription  list  of  about  five  hundred,  many 
for  wood  and  produce,  which  often  never  came, 
the  present  editor  acknowledges  the  apprecia- 
tion of  the  reading  community  to  the  extent  of 
over  twelve  hundred  subscriptions,  all  settled 
for,  and  an  influence  extending  over  the  entire 
county,  and  not  unnoticed  in  neighboring  coun- 
ties. States  and  cities. 


Also  from  a  paper  treating  almost  entirely 
of  general  principles,  and  news  from  the  outside 
world  alone,  with  rarely  a  word  from  different 
parts  of  the  county,  except  a  special  letter  now 
and  then  on  some  mooted  question,  the  Advocate, 
keeping  up  with  the  demands  of  the  age,  has 
become  a  real  news  paper,  with  such  an  array 
of  correspondents  from  every  part  of  the  coun- 
ty, that  "  Widow  Bond  "  is  no  longer  lonesome, 
but  every  week  her  children  learn  how  the  rest 
of  the  family  are  prospering. 

The  Sun,  published  by  William  Boll  and 
Fordyce  C.  Clark,  at  Greenville,  is  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  Bond  Count)/  Democrat,  which  was 
started  by  J.  B.  Anderson.  June  2,  1876.  On 
the  25th  of  January,  1877,  Boll  &  Clark  bought 
the  paper,  and  changed  its  name  from  Bond 
County  Democrat  to  the  Sun.  They  worked  up 
the  circulation  from  400  pay-as-you-please  sub- 
scribers in  1877,  to  an  edition  of  1,280,  on  the 
cash- in-advance  rule,  reaching  that  circulation 
during  the  campaign  of  1880. 

The  Sun  is  an  eight-page  paper,  with  six 
columns  to  a  page,  being  considerably  larger 
than  the  average  country  paper.  It  is  cut  and 
pasted  in  pamphlet  form  by  a  machine  invented 
by  the  senior  proprietor.  Its  publishers  are 
both  practical  printers,  and  spare  no  effort  to 
get  up  a  good  looking  paper.  It  is  credited  by 
newspaper  men  with  being  one  of  the  neatest 
and  newsiest  country  journals  in  the  State  ;  its 
particular  specialty  is  home  news.  A  page  is 
given  every  week  to  Greenville  happenings,  in- 
cluding court  house  news,  real  estate  transfers, 
circuit  and  county  proceedings,  doings  of  the 
County  Board,  City  Council  proceedings,  school 
and  college  notes,  church  and  Sunday-school 
news,  local  personals,  home  markets,  etc.,  etc. 
Besides  this,  the  paper  has  a  reporter  in  almost 
every  school  district  in  the  county,  and  gives 
from  three  to  five  columns  of  news  items  from 
these  county  neighborhoods  regularly.  News 
from  neighboring  counties  is  faithfully  gleaned 

also,  as  well  as  State  news  and  a  good  sum- 

r> 


66 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


ining  up  of  general  news.  Its  editorial  com- 
ment is  on  topics  relating  to  home  matters,  and 
its  opinions  are  stated  clearly,  forcibly  and 
fearlessly,  a  proper  respect  of  the  right  of 
opinion  in  others  being  observed.  The  Sun  is 
popular,  and  while  it  has  many  friends,  like  all 
papers  of  influence,  it  also  has  enemies.  Politi- 
cally, it  is  independent,  leaning  toward  Democ- 
racy, but  not  controlled  by  party  caucus  or 


office-seekers'  cliques.  Its  opinions  in  politics 
as  well  as  on  other  topics  are  the  expression  of 
the  convictions  of  its  editors  after  study,  and 
are  not  dictated  or  suggested  by  outsiders. 

The  foregoing  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  press 
of  Bond  County,  as  there  never  has,  we  believe, 
been  a  paper  published  outside  of  Greenville  ; 
none  at  least,  of  especial  note. 


GREENVILLE  PRECINCT. 


07 


CHAPTER    VIII.* 

GREENVILLE    PRECINCT— INTRODUCTION— BOUNDARIES,  AREA  AND   GENERAL   CONFIGURATION- 
EARLY    SETTLEMENT  — FRONTIER     LIFE,  HARDSHIPS,  ETC.  — PIONEER    INDUSTRIES    AND 
IMPROVEMENTS— SKETCH    OF    WILLIAM   S.   WAIT— VILLAGES— GOLD    AND    SILVER 
MINES— EDUCATIONAL— RELIGION— THE    FIRST   CHURCHES   ESTABLISHED 

IN   THE   COUNTY,   ETC  .   ETC 


"  Where  nothing  dwelt  but  beasts  of  prey, 
Or  men  as  fierce  and  wild  as  they." 

THE  history  of  Greenville  Precinct  com- 
mences more  than  sixty  years  ago.  and  dates 
back  prior  to  the  departure  of  the  savages  for 
the  land  of  the  setting  sun.  It  is  the  story  of 
a  community  planted  in  the  wilderness  amid 
the  murderous  raids  of  prowling  Indians  ;  of 
camp-fires  that  grew  into  block-houses,  forts, 
and  then  into  log  cabins,  and  finally  into 
wealthy  and  prosperous  homes.  There  is  a 
page  which  should  come  before  this  history, 
and,  like  the  prologue  to  a  drama,  be  recited 
first,  but  space  forbids  it,  and  the  page  which 
calls  to  mind  the  Indian  occupation  of  the 
country  will  be  found  in  other  chapters  of  this 
work.  Our  narrative  will  begin  with  the  settle- 
ment of  the  whiles  among  wild,  ferocious  beasts 
and  savage  men.  and  will  recount  their  trials 
and  hardships,  their  perils  and  hazards  in  sub- 
duing the  country. 

Greenville  Precinct  comprises  a  large  terri- 
tory  lying  in  the  central  part  of  Bond  County. 
it  is  irregular  in  shape,  and  embraces  portions 
of  Township  5  north.  Ranges  2,  '.',  and  t  west, 
with  one  tier  of  sections  in  Township  C.  and 
same  ranges.  The  land  is  diversified  between 
hill  and  prairie,  the  latter  predominating  ;  the 
rough  and  broken  country  being  confined  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  water  courses.  The  principal 
streams  are  the  east  and   west  forks  of  Shoal 


!By  W.  H.  I'errin. 


Creek.  The  east  fork  flows  nearly  through  the 
center  of  the  precinct  in  a  rather  southwesterly 
direction,  while  the  west  fork  makes  its  tortu- 
ous course  almost  southeast,  and  unites  with 
the  east  fork  at  the  southern  line  of  the  pre- 
cinct. Beaver  Creek  rises  in  the  vicinity  of 
Greenville,  flows  southwest  and  passes  out 
through  Section  34  into  Beaver  Creek  Precinct. 
Indian  Creek  touches  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  precinct,  and  a  few  other  small  and  name- 
less streams  intersect  it.  The  timber  consists 
i  if  oak,  hickory,  walnut,  elm,  sycamore,  cotton- 
wood  and  other  species  common  in  this  section. 
This  precinct  is  noted  for  containing  the  capi- 
tal of  the  county,  and  hence,  much  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  surrounding  community  centers  in 
the  town  of  Greenville.  Two  or  three  small 
villages  have  sprung  up  along  the  railroad 
since  its  completion,  which  will  receive  notice 
further  along  in  this  chapter.  Upon  the  whole, 
Greenville  Precinct  is  a  fine  agricultural  region, 
and  contains  many  excellent  farms. 

The  settlement  of  Greenville  Precinct  dates 
back  to  the  days  of  forts  and  block-houses. 
Says  i  pioneer  of  the  town  :  -  Wyatt  Stubble- 
field.  George  Davidson  and  the  Kirkpatricks 
all  came  prior  to  the  war  of  1812,  and  when  the 
war  came  on  they  left  through  fear  of  the  In- 
dians, but  when  peace  was  declared,  they  re- 
turned to  their  former  settlements."  Thomas 
White  ami  William  Robinson  came  into  the 
precinct  in  1816.     They  lived  one  year  in  Lind 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


ley's  Fort,  and  in  the  fall  of  1817  settled  one 
and  a  half  miles  from  where  Greenville  now 
stands.  William  S.  Wait  and  his  brother  set- 
tled a  little  east  of  the  present  village  of  Ripley 
(just  over  the  line  in  what  is  now  Ripley  Pre- 
cinct), in  1820-21.  They  went  back  East  in  a 
short  time,  but  in  a  few  years  returned  and 
settled  permanently.  William  S.  Wait  was  so 
long  prominently  known  in  the  county,  that  a 
few  words  of  him  are  not  out  of  place  in  this 
connection,  although  he  is  extensively  men- 
tioned in  the  railroad  history.  He  will  be  re- 
membered as  an  early  friend  and  supporter  of 
the  Mississippi  &  Atlantic  Railroad,  now  the 
famous  Vandalia  Line.  He  wrote  many  articles 
in  the  Illinois  papers,  the  St.  Louis  Republican, 
New  York  Evening  Post,  the  New  York  Tribune, 
and  other  prominent  newspapers,  in  earnest 
support  of  the  enterprise.  He  was  a  constant 
worker  for  the  road,  from  1847,  the  time  of  the 
first  agitation  of  the  question,  to  1865,  and  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  was  spent  in  procur- 
ing the  charter,  right  of  wa}-,  stock,  attending 
meetings  in  its  interest,  etc.,  and  in  discharging 
the  duties  of  the  different  offices,  viz.,  President, 
Vice  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  which 
he  successively  held  in  the  company.  He  was 
a  thorough  student,  an  investigator  of  all  new 
subjects  and  theories,  and  a  voluminous  writer 
on  political,  educational,  agricultural  and  re- 
formatory questions,  and  always  took  the  side 
of  progress  and  improvement.  A  regular  con- 
tributor to  the  press,  and  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  many  of  the  leading  minds  of  the 
United  States,  he  was  fully  familiar  with  all 
topics  of  interest,  and  versed  in  all  questions 
pertaining  to  the  public  good. 

Mr.  Wait  was  Chairman  of  the  National  In- 
dustrial  Convention,  held  in  New  York  in  Octo- 
'>er.  lS-lf>.  and  delivered  an  able  address,  He 
was  nominated  for  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  ticket  with  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith 
{on  National  Reform  Ticket)  in  1848,  but  re- 
spectfully  declined  the  exalted  position.     He 


wrote  numerous  newspaper  articles,  and  able 
letters  on  the  Constitution  of  Illinois  adopted 
in  1848,  and  many  portions  of  which  were  from 
his  pen.  In  county  and  State  agricultural  so- 
cieties he  took  an  active  interest,  and  was  a 
zealous  friend  to  the  public  schools  ;  an  active 
and  valuable  citizen,  honored  and  admired  by 
the  people  of  the  country  at  large. 

Joseph  Lindley  built  the  first  house  in  the 
forks  of  the  creek  southwest  of  Greenville  in 
1817,  and  was  the  first  white  settler  in  that  lo- 
cality. Hezekiah  Archer  settled  just  below 
him  soon  after,  and  in  1818-19,  the  Hunters 
settled  in  the  same  neighborhood.  John  Pick- 
ett settled  six  miles  west  of  Greenville  about 
the  same  time  as  the  Hunters.  George  Nelson 
in  1819  settled  one  mile  east  of  Pickett.  Sam- 
uel White  settled  in  the  neighborhood  very 
early,  and  Thomas  Long  in  the  vicinity  of  Stub- 
blefield.  Mrs.  Morse,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Hynes,  says  :  "  One  of  the  early  settlers  was 
Mr.  Seth  Blanchard.  who  arrived  in  1820.  He 
came  out  from  New  York  expecting  to  settle  in 
St.  Louis,  but,  disgusted  with  the  Frenchy  look 
of  that  place,  bought  laud  of  Mr.  Wyatt  Stub- 
blefield,  east  of  town,  and  opened  a  store  and 
tavern  in  town,  just  laid  out  by  Green  P.  Rice. 
Samuel  G.  Blanchard  assisted  in  laying  off  the 
public  square.  The  principal  families  then 
were  the  Kirkpatricks,  Messrs.  Camp,  Goss. 
Leonard.  Rutherford.  Fergueson,  White,  old 
Father  Elam,  the  Birges,  and  Drs.  Drake.  New- 
hall  and  Perrine."  Andrew  Moody  was  an 
earlv  settler,  and  occupied  a  place  originally 
settled  by  Thomas  Kirkpatriek,  about  one  mile 
southwest  of  Greenville.  The  famous  spring 
at  this  place  took  its  name  from  Mr.  Moody, 
and  was  known  far  and  wide  as  "  Moody's 
Spring,"  a  famous  place  for  holding  religious 
meetings,  and  the  site  of  the  first  church  built 
in  Bond  County.  William  Perrine  and  J.  B. 
Drake  might  be  termed  early  settlers,  though 
they  were  young  meu  and  single  when  they 
came  here.     Thev  boarded  at  Richard  White's, 


GREENVILLE   PRECINCT. 


69 


two  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Greenville,  and 
were  physicians. 

It  is  not  possible,  however,  at  the  present 
day,  to  give  the  names  of  all  the  early  settlers 
in  as  large  a  district  as  the  precinct  of  Green 
ville  is.  as  at  present  laid  off.  As  the  settle- 
ment of  the  country  progressed,  people  scattered 
out  on  to  the  prairies,  opening  farms  first  near 
the  timber,  but  gradually  extending  farther 
and  farther  from  it.  Thus  large  farming  com- 
munities sprang  up  in  different  portions  of  the 
precinct,  and  at  considerable  distances  from 
Greenville.  Especially  was  this  the  case  after 
all  danger  from  the  Indians  had  passed  away, 
and  the  more  savage  of  the  wild  beasts  had 
been  driven  from  the  vicinity.  Even  then,  how- 
ever, the  lives  of  the  pioneers  were  not  all  sun- 
shine and  prosperity,  but  many  hardships  min- 
gled with  their  every -day  experiences.  Their 
implements  of  agriculture  would  be  considered 
the  most  extreme  hardships  by  the  farmers  of 
the  present  day,  if  they  had  to  work  with  them; 
and  the  mode  of  obtaining  bread  and  other 
needed  supplies,  would  be  deemed  by  us  among 
the  impossibilities,  and  beyond  human  power 
to  overcome.  The  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Hynes,  in 
a  historical  address  on  Bond  County,  delivered 
July  4,  187G,  says  : 

"  We  look  back  from  our  present  position  to 
the  time  when  the  brave  and  enterprising  pio- 
neers left  their  homes  and  friends  and  came  to 
this  wild  and  unsubdued  land  to  make  their 
residence  here.  They  faced  danger,  for  up  to 
1 816  the  country  was  the  frequent  resortof  hos- 
tile and  predatory  savages.  They  endured  toil 
— for  houses,  orchards,  farms,  implements  of 
husbandly,  mills  and  shops,  schools  and 
churches,  in  short,  all  that  men  need  in  civilized 
society,  were  to  be  provided  here  out  of  the 
rough  material.  They  bore  self  denial — for  they 
left  behind  them  the  comforts  and  abundance 
of  their  old  homes.  They  were  few  at  first  in 
their  numbers,  but  strong  in  their  faith  and 
courage.  The}-  developed  a  character  of  which 


we,  their  descendants  and  successors,  need  not 
feel  ashamed.  Their  necessities  made  them  in- 
genious. Their  perils  made  them  brave.  Their 
fewness  made  them  sociable.  Their  community 
of  wants  and  dangers  made  them  sympathetic 
and  helpful  of  each  other.  However  scanty 
their  board,  it  was  shared  with  the  neighbor  or 
stranger  with  a  free-heartedness  that  gave  a 
relish  to  the  plain  repast.  However  small  and 
unsightly  their  cabin,  its  room  and  bed  and 
genial  warmth  were  divided  with  a  cordiality 
that  sweetened  your  welcome.  Their  social  life 
was  adorned  with  the  graces  of  liberality  and 
true  friendship.  They  did  wisely  and  well  their 
peculiar  work  of  laying  the  foundations  that 
we  might  build  upon  them.  They  established 
schools  and  churches,  and  organized  society 
and  civil  government,  and  left  us  a  heritage  of 
freedom  and  a  home  of  peace  and  comfort. 
Let  us  honor  their  names,  cherish  their  memory, 
record  their  virtues,  and,  thankfully  recognizing 
our  obligations  to  them,  see  to  it  that  we  hand 
down  to  our  successors  an  untarnished  inherit- 
ance of  manly  independence,  wholesome  liberty, 
free  intelligence  and  pure  religion." 

As  the  community  increased  in  wealth  and 
importance,  the  people  enlarged  the  facilities 
for  living  more  comfortably,  and  with  less  toil 
and  privation.  Mills  were  built,  and  roads 
leading  to  them  were  laid  out.  Probably  the 
first  mills  in  the  precinct  were  those  of  Wyatt 
Stubblefield  and  Beck,  erected  prior  to  1S25. 
Stubblefield's  stood  a  little  northwest  of  Green- 
ville, on  Shoal  Creek,  near  where  the  Hillsboro 
road  now  crosses.  A  notice  of  Beck's  will  be 
found  in  the  history  of  Greenville.  Stubble- 
field's  was  constructed  for  sawing  as  well  as 
for  grinding,  and  was  a  great  convenience  to 
the  neighborhood.  The  Waits  built  an  ox-mill 
very  early.  The  power  was  received  from  a 
"tread-wheel" — that  is,  a  large  inclined  wheel, 
trod  by  oxen,  was  used,  which,  when  put  in 
motion,  operated  the  machinery  of  the  mill. 
They  added  a  distillery,  and  for  several  years 


HISTORY   OF    BOND  COUNTY. 


carried  on  both  distillery  and  mill.  Samuel 
White  started  a  tan-yard  at  the  spring  west  of 
Greenville  in  1820,  where  he  manufactured 
leather  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  to  the 
"understanding"  of  the  community.  '  Thomas 
Long  put  up  a  cotton  gin  the  same  year,  near 
where  Stubblefleld  now  stands.  The  cultivation 
of  cotton  having  been  attempted  by  the  early 
settlers,  led  Mr.  Long  to  that  enterprise,  but 
cotton  growing  in  Southern  Illinois  proved  a 
failure,  and  gins  turned  out  to  be  poor  invest- 
ments. 

It  is  a  characteristic  of  the  human  race  to  be 
easily  duped,  and  it  has  been  said  that  the 
American  people  are  more  easily  humbugged 
than  any  other  race  of  beings  below  the  sun. 
The  settlers  in  this  section  of  the  countrj'  were 
no  exception,  and  when  reports  were  circulated 
that  gold  and  silver  ore  was  hidden  in  the  Shoal 
Creek  bluffs  and  ravines,  the  most  intense  ex- 
citement prevailed  in  every  home.  People 
spent  days  and  weeks  in  search  of  the  precious 
metals,  roaming  through  the  swamps  of  Shoal 
Creek  bottom,  digging  in  the  hills,  and  scratch- 
ing in  the  sands  of  the  ravines,  filling  their 
pockets  with  glittering  rocks,  and  accumulating 
stuff  that  in  the  end  proved  utterly  worthless. 
A  silver  mine  was  once  supposed  to  be  found 
on  Samuel  Hunter's  place  by  a  man  named 
G-aylor.  Hunter  lived  on  Indian  Creek,  four 
miles  from  Greenville.  A  close  investigation 
showed  that  neither  gold  nor  silver  were  native 
in  that  region,  but  that  Gaylor  was  a  good-sized 
fraud.  He  was  arrested  for  an  attempt  to 
swindle,  but  finally  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape  from  the  country.  This  put  a  damper 
upon  the  idea  of  digging  out  fabulous  wealth 
from  the  creek  hills,  and  had  a  tendency  to 
shake  the  confidence  of  some  of  the  wiser 
heads,  but  the  excitement  continued  quite  a  time 
before  the  people  settled  down  quietly  again  to 
their  every-day  duties. 

The  first  physicians  in  Greenville  Precinct 
were  Drs.  Perrine  and  Drake,  already  referred 


to.  and  practiced  the  healing  art  for  some  time 
among  the  pioneers.  Malarial  diseases  pre- 
vailed in  the  first  settling  of  the  country,  some 
years  to  a  fearful  extent,  and  before  the  coming 
of  Perrine  and  Drake,  the  people  of  this  section 
had  to  go  to  Edwardsville  for  a  physician.  Al- 
though doctors  were  often  actually  needed 
when  their  services  could  not  be  obtained,  yet 
many  people  sent  for  them  for  the  simplest 
cases.  Mr.  White  relates  the  following,  which 
is  illustrative  :  "  One  morning,"  says  he,  "  we 
saw  a  fellow  coming  down  the  road  on  a  gallop, 
whom  we  had  seen  pass  rny  father's  ever}-  day 
for  a  week  or  more,  going  for  a  doctor  for  his 
sick  wife.  This  time  he  was  riding  faster  than 
usual,  without  a  saddle,  the  bottom  of  his 
breeches'  legs  slipped  up  nearly  to  his  knees, 
showing  his  bare  legs,  although  he  had  on  coarse 
shoes  ;  and  the  rim  of  his  old  wool  hat  blown 
back  in  front.  He  was  urging  his  horse  along 
by  the  repeated  strokes  of  a  hickory  sprout 
four  or  five  feet  long.  As  he  passed  the  house, 
some  one  screamed  out.  '  How's  your  wife?' 
'She's  worse;  git  up!'  was  the  reply,  the  last 
part  of  which  was  addressed  to  his  horse,  at  the 
same  time  he  gave  him  a  cut  round  the  flank 
with  the  hickory  which  might  have  been  heard 
at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  yards."  Such 
scenes  were  common  in  those  days,  as  though 
the  pioneers  were  determined  that  the  doctors 
should  earn  their  money.  Dr.  Newhall  was 
also  an  early  physician  in  this  neighborhood. 
These  early  practitioners,  however,  are  more 
particularly  mentioned  in  a  preceding  chapter. 
Schools  were  established  and  schoolhouses 
were  built  as  soon  as  the  population  of  the  pre- 
cinct would  permit.  Just  where,  when  and  by 
whom  the  first  school  was  taught  outside  of  the 
town  of  Greenville  we  cannot  say.  The  early 
education  of  the  surrounding  country  centered 
in  the  town,  and  the  first  schools  were  taught 
there,  and  will  be  alluded  to  more  fully  in  the 
chapters  on  Greenville.  There  is  now,  in  the 
precinct  outside  of  town,  some  half  a  dozen  or 


GREENVILLE   PRECINCT. 


71 


more  excellent  schoolhouses,  where  good  schools 
are  taught,  and  the  rising  generation  can  be 
educated  "  without  money  and  without  price," 
an  advantage  not  possessed  by  their  ancestors. 

Two  small  villages  are  located  in  the  precinct, 
in  addition  to  the  city  of  Greenville,  viz.,  Smith- 
boro  and  Stubblefield.  Smithboro,  or  Hender- 
son Station,  was  laid  out  by  H.  H.  Smith  in 
1^70,  and  is  on  the  Vandalia  Railroad,  about 
three  miles  from  Greenville.  It  is  called  Hen- 
derson Station,  but  the  post  office  is  named 
Smithboro.  and  was  established  in  1871,  with 
H.  H.  Smith  as  Postmaster.  There  is  a  grain 
elevator  operated  by  Hoffman  &  Hinkle,  who 
ordinarily  ship  a  large  quantity  of  wheat.  A 
cheese  factory  or  creamery  was  started  in  1870. 
II.  H.  Smith  was  the  first  President  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  establishment  is  doing  an  exten- 
sive business,  and  makes  up  the  milk  of  about 
five  hundred  cows.  A.  store  is  kept  by  T.  L. 
Miner,  the  only  one  in  the  place.  The  Jack- 
sonville &  Southeastern  Railroad  is  laid  out 
through  this  village,  and,  when  built,  will  add 
considerably  to  its  importance. 

Stubblefield  is  merely  a  station  on  the  Van- 
dalia Railroad,  about  four  miles  west  of  Green" 
ville.  It  consists  of  but  half  a  dozen  or  so  of 
houses,  a  water  tank  of  the  railroad,  and  a 
shipping  place  for  farm  products. 

A  place  was  laid  out,  probably  about  1840, 
some  three  or  four  miles  northwest  of  Green- 
ville, on  the  Hillsboro  road,  called  Elizabeth 
City.  "  This  famous  city,"  says  Mr.  White 
"  was  to  occupy  ground  little  better  than  a  frog- 
pond,  and  yet  five  plats  of  it  were  made  and 
sent  back  East  on  which  appeared  in  high- 
sounding  names,  its  streets,  avenues  and 
squares.  Flaming  notices  of  it  were  published 
in  the  newspapers,  in  which  it  was  represented 
as  being  eligibly  situated  on  '  Shoal  River,' 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  country  which,  with  com- 
paratively little  labor,  could  be  transformed 
into  an  earthly  paradise."  These  Haltering 
representations,    or   more   properly   speaking. 


misrepresentations,  led  many  persons  in  the  old- 
er settled  States  to  invest  in  this  "  city  on  pa- 
per," all  of  whom,  it  is  needless  to  say,  were 
"  taken  in,"  as  Elizabeth  City  never  had  any 
existence  other  than  fancy  plats  and  flaming 
advertisements. 

The  first  churches  organized  in  Rond  were  in 
Greenville  Precinct,  by  the  Methodists  and 
Presbyterians,  and  are  fully  noticed  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter.  There  are  now,  so  far  as  we 
are  able  to  learn,  three  churches  in  the  precinct, 
outside  of  the  city  of  Greenville,  viz.:  Methodist, 
Baptist  and  Cumberland  Presbyterian.  The 
Methodists  and  Presbyterians  are  about  four 
miles  west  of  Greenville,  and  are  but  a  short 
distance  from  each  other,  while  the  Baptist 
stands  near  Stubblefield. 

The  Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
one  of  those  mentioned  above,  is  a  very  old 
church,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  originally 
organized  some  time  about  1820.  William  Hun- 
ter states  that  when  he  came  here  in  1821,  the 
society  was  then  in  existence.  The  families 
forming  it  were  those  of  Allen  Conner,  Aquilla 
Suggs,  Richard  White,  John  Hunter,  Samuel 
Hunter,  McHenry  Nesbit,  etc.  The  first  minis- 
ter was  Rev.  Samuel  Thompson  ;  Rev.  Jesse 
Hale  also  preached  here,  and  Rev.  Joshua 
Raines.  The  society  met  at  private  residences 
at  first.  Allen  Connor  was  a  zealous  Methodist, 
and  his  house  was  long  used  as  a  place  of  wor- 
ship, and  a  home  of  the  preachers,  who  fre- 
quently stayed  with  hiin  a  month  at  a  time,  and 
preached  as  often  on  week  days  as  on  Sundays. 
The  name  of  the  society  was  finally  decided  -as 
11  Sinai,"  and  they  met  in  a  schoolhouse  which 
was  dedicated  to  worship.  The  present  society 
is  called  the  "  Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  and  was  formed  from  the  Mt.  Horeb 
and  Sinai  societies  as  early  as  1825.  The 
church  was  built  in  the  Centennial  year  of  Meth- 
odism, and  is  thirty-four  by  forty-six  feet — 
a  frame  building,  costing  $2,300.  The  present 
minister  is  Rev.  J.  H.  McGrifF.     The  Trustees 


72 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


are  Wesley  White,  W.  B.  Sibert,  W.  C.  Nelson, 
James  C.  Causay,  John  Ward,  John  W.  Plant 
and  William  Hunter  ;  has  about  sixty  members. 
A  Sunday  school  was  organized  early,  of  which 
Allen  Conner  was  first  Superintendent  ;  Conner 
was  also  the  first  class-leader  ;  the  next,  John, 
and  then  Samuel  Hunter. 

Mount  Gilead  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  formed,  or  the  society  from  which 
it  originated,  was  formed  about  1850-21. 
Among  the  first  members  were  James  Johnson, 
John  Edwards,  James  Hunter,  Thomas  Hunter 
and  their  families.  Mrs.  Mary  Nelson,  etc.— 
about  a  dozen  in  all.  The  church  was  organ- 
ized by  Rev.  Joel  Knight,  and  among  the  first 
preachers  were  Rev.  John  Berry,  David  Foster 
and  G.  P.  Rice.  Soon  after  the  formation  of 
this  society,  the  members  joined  together  and 
built  a  log  church.  Some  years  afterward,  a 
frame  house  was  built.  The  present  church 
was  built  in  18(50,  and  cost  about  $1,500.  There 
are  at  present  about  sixty  members.  The  first 
Elders  were  James  Johnson  and  Thomas  Hun- 
ter ;  the  present  Elders  are  Macklin  Hunter, 
William  King  and  Alvin  Jackson  ;  Trustees, 
Robert  Mackey  and  Larkin  Jackson.  Sunday 
school  has  been  in  existence  nearly  ever  since 
the  organization  of  the  church,  and  now  aver- 
ages about  fifty  children  in  regular  attendance. 

The  Smith's  Grove  Baptist  Church  was  or- 
ganized less  than  twenty  years  ago.     Prior  to 


this  organization,  however,  there  was  a  society 
formed,  perhaps  as  far  back  as  1828.  and  was 
under  the  ministrations  of  Elders  John  Crouch 
and  James  Long.  They  put  up  a  large  log  build- 
ins,  which  was  used  both  as  church  and  School- 
s' 

house,  and  was  located  but  a  short  distance 
from  the  present  church.  The  society  pros- 
pered for  that  early  day,  but  dissensions  final- 
ly sprang  up,  which  injured  its  usefulness,  and 
it  after  awhile  became  extinct,  Through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  ladies  of  the  old  society, 
a  new  church  was  organized  with  the  following 
members  :  Henrj-  Harris  and  wife,  John 
J.  Smith  and  wife,  John  Leverton  and  wife, 
James  Harris  and  wife,  John  Hagin  and  wife, 
Monroe  Ditch  and  wife,  and  Mrs.  Hillard.  The 
church  was  organized  July  23,  1869.  Elder  F. 
M.  Long  was  chosen  Pastor,  and  John  J.  Smith, 
Clerk.  They  decided  the  church  should  be  called 
"  Smith's  Grove  Church,"  to  belong  to  the  Ap- 
ple Creek  association.  Elder  W.  C.  Harvey  is 
the  present  minister,  and  J.  M.  Harris,  Clerk. 
The  church  is  a  frame  building  and  cost  about 
$2,000.    Preaching  every  two  weeks. 

This  comprises  the  history,  so  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  obtain  it,  of  Greenville  Precinct, 
and  with  its  conclusion  we  end  the  chapter, 
leaving  the  hisUny  of  Greenville  to  be  treated 
of  in  a  new  chapter,  by  Mr.  Williamson  Plant, 
from  whose  pen  we  have  no  doubt  that  it  will 
receive  justice,  and  all  the  importance  it  merits. 


CITY   OF   GREENVfLLE. 


73 


CHAPTER  IX* 

CITY  OF  GREENVILLE— LOCATING  THE  COUNTY  SEAT  AT  PERRYVILLE— ITS  REMOVAL  TO  GREEN- 
VILLE—LAYING    OUT  OF   THE  LATTER  PLACE— THE  NAME   GREENVILLE— EARLY  SET- 
TLERS OF    THE   TOWN  — THE    K1RKPATR1CKS   AND  OTHERS  —  FIKST    BUSI- 
NESS  MEN   AND    PROMINENT   CITIZENS  — THE   ROLL   OF    PIO- 
NEERS—MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS,  ETC. 


A  S  has  been  heretofore  noticed  in  this  work 
-*-J-  under  that  part  covering  the  county  his- 
tory, the  act  of  the  Legislature  approved  Jan- 
uary 4,  1817,  forming  a  new  county  out  of 
Madison  County,  to  be  called  Bond,  in  honor 
of  Shadrack  Bond,  afterward  elected  first  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Illinois,  also  appointed 
William  Roberts,  John  Powers,  Robert  Gilles- 
pie. John  Whitley,  Sr.,  and  John  Laughtou, 
Commissioners  to  locate  and  establish  a  per- 
manent seat  of  justice  for  Bond  County,  and 
that  their  first  meeting  should  be  held  at  the 
house  of  David  White,  at  Hill's  Fort,  on  Shoal 
Creek,  on  the  first  Monday  of  March,  1817,  and 
the  act  further  provided  that  Hill's  Fort  should 
be  the  county  seat  of  justice  for  Bond  County 
until  the  same  was  located  by  said  Commis- 
sioners or  a  majority  of  them,  and  that  the 
County  Court  should  be  held  on  the  first  Mon- 
days in  February,  June  and  October. 

The  first  County  Court  for  Bond  County  was 
held  June  2,  1817.  The  following  copy  of  their 
record  at  this  first  meeting,  and  the  report  of 
the  said  Commissioners  to  that  court  will  be 
interesting : 

Be  it  remembered  that  on  the  id  day  of  June, 
1817,  at  a  County  Court  held  for  Bond  County,  be- 
gan and  held  at  Hills  Station,  in  pursuance  of  an 
Act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Illinois  Territory, 
passed  in  the  year  1S17  [January  4],  Thomas  Kirk- 
patrick,  John  Powers  and  Martin  Jones  produced 
commissions  from  His  Excellency,  Ninian  Edwards, 

*By  Williamson  Plant. 


Governor  of  said  Territory,  appointing  them  Judges 
of  said  County  Court,  who.  having  taken  the  sev- 
eral oaths  prescribed  by  law,  and  thereupon  took 
their  seats.  Present,  Thomas  Kirkpatrick,  John 
Powers  and  Martin  Jones,  Judges.  Samuel  (4. 
Morse  produced  in  court  from  His  Excellency,  Nin- 
ian Edwards,  a  commission  appointing  him  Sheriff 
of  the  said  county  of  Bond,  and  also  a  certificate 
that  he  bad  taken  the  several  oaths  (before  His  Ex- 
cellency) prescribed  bylaw.  Daniel  Converse  pro- 
duced in  court  a  commission  from  His  Excellency, 
Ninian  Edwards,  appointing  him  Clerk  of  tin-  said 
court,  and  also  a  certificate  of  hi-  having  taken  the 
several  oaths  prescribed  by  law.  The  court  then 
proceeded  to  business. 

The  Commissioners  made  the  following  re- 
port to  the  court  : 

A  majority  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to  fix 
and  establish  the  permanent  seat  of  justiee  for  this 
county,  this  day  present  the  following  report  :  "  We 
the  Commissioners  to  fix  the  permanent  seat  of  jus- 
tice for  the  county  of  Bond,  met  according  to  ap- 
pointment, on  the  west  side  of  the  Hurricane  Fork 
of  the  Kaskaskia  River,  on  the  southwest  quarter  ol 
Section  No.  5,  of  Town  No.  4  north,  of  Range  No  1 
west,  and  stuck  a  stake  for  the  center  of  the  public 
square,  as  may  be  at  any  time  when  necessary 

"  May  16,  Anno  1817.         "  John  Powers. 

"  Robert  Gillespie. 
"John  Whitley." 

Illinois  Territory.  Bond  County  : 

We,  the  Commissioners  to  fix  the  seat  of  justice 
for  the  county  of  Bond,  being  duly  sworn,  after 
veiwing  different  parts  of  said  county  for  that  pur- 
pose, we  do  nominate  and  appoint  for  that  purpose 
the  bluff  lying  west  of  the  Hurricane  Fork  of  Okaw, 
being  the   southwest  quarter  of  Section  No.  5,  of 


74 


HISTORY    OF   BOND  COUNTY 


Range  No.  1  west,  of  Township  No.  4  north,  now 
the  property  of  Martin  .Tones,  taking  into  view  the 
geographical  center,  the  navigation,  the  eligibility, 
and  tin-  common  good  of  the  people  as  directed  by 
law. 

(iiveu  under  our  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year 
first  above  written.  John  Powers. 

Robert  Gillespie. 

John  Whitley. 

The  Commissioners  were  not  authorized  to 
locate  the  county  seat  on  the  land  of  any  per- 
son, unless  the  owner  or  owners  should  first  do- 
nate to  the  county  at  least  twenty  acres  of  land 
where  the  location  was  made,  to  be  laid  off  in 
town  lots,  to  be  sold,  and  the  proceeds  to  be 
applied  toward  erecting  county  buildings. 

The  land  designated  b}T  the  Commissioners 
was  deeded  to  the  county  by  Martin  Jones,  who 
also  surveyed  and  platted  the  same,  and  named 
it  Perryville.  The  County  Court -:  ordered  that 
the  lots  be  exposed  to  public  sale  for  the  use  of 
the  county,  on  the  28th  day  of  October,  inst, 
[181 7],  and  it  is  further  ordered  that  an  ad- 
vertisement describing  the  place  be  inserted  two 
weeks  successively  in  both  the  Illinois  Herald 
and  the  Missouri  Gazette  [now  the  Missouri  Re- 
publican] ;  and  it  is  further  ordered  that  money 
be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  Postmaster  at 
Edwardsville,  for  the  payment  of  the  advertis- 
ing of  the  same.'' 

William  M.  Crisp,  the  first  Constable  ap- 
pointed by  the  County  Court,  cried  the  sale  of 
the  town  lots  sold  in  Perryville,  for  which  he 
was  allowed  $2. 

The  first  County  Court  held  at  Perryville, 
and  being  the  third  held  in  the  county,  was  on 
the  20th  day  of  July,  1818,  and  was  called  a 
'•  Justice's  Court,"  three  Justices  of  the  county 
acting,  viz.,  Thomas  Kirkpatrick.  Martin  Jones 
and  Isaac  Price  ;  Samuel  G.  Morse  was  Sheriff, 
and  Daniel  Converse  had  again  been  appointed 
Clerk  of  said  court.  The  principal  business 
transacted  by  the  County  and  Justice's  Courts 
fir  several  years  after  the  organization  of  the 
county,  was  the  laying-out  the  various  county 


roads  needed  by  the  inhabitants,  the  hearing 
petitions  from  those  desiring  to  erect  water 
grist-mills  on  the  numerous  streams  in  the  then 
large  though  not  populous  county.  To  that 
end  the  appointment  and  the  summoning  for 
each  applicant  "  twelve  discreet  householders 
of  the  vicinage."  to  assess  any  damage  that 
may  accrue  to  the  owner  or  owners  of  adjoin- 
ing lands  by  overflow  or  otherwise,  bj  the 
erection  of  a  mill  dam  at  the  place  stated  in 
the  petition,  and  to  report  whether  in  their 
opinion  the  health  of  the  neighborhood  would 
thereby  be  endangered,  and  the  height  of  dam 
that  the  petitioner  may  erect,  etc.,  and  also 
granting  license  to  those  persons  desiring  to 
keep  tavern  and  to  sell  spirituous  liquors,  and 
grant  orders  to  those  entitled  to  pay  for  vari- 
ous services  performed,  a  large  number  of 
which  were  for  wolf  scalp  premiums.  Every 
age  has  its  day  ;  much  of  the  time  of  courts 
and  citizens  of  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago  was 
taken  up  in  harmony  with  the  surroundings  of 
that  time,  much  of  which  would  be  inappropri- 
ate for  the  present  day  and  generation. 

Before  closing  the  history  and  events  con- 
nected with  the  County  Court  whilst  being  held  at 
Perryville,  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  that 
the  court  at  its  session  July  2(1.  1818,  empow- 
ered Martin  Jones  "  to  let  the  contract  for 
building  a  jail,  provided  the  bids  did  not  ex- 
ceed $200.  The  building  was  to  be  12x18  feet 
in  the  clear,  to  be  built  of  hewed  timber, 
squared  one  foot  at  each  side,  and  laid  up  and 
dovetailed  at  the  corners  ;  the  floors,  both  up- 
per and  under,  to  be  of  hewed  timber  one  foot 
square,  and  laid  close  together  with  a  partition 
of  timber  neatly  hewed  eight  inches  thick,  and 
laid  close  together  ;  the  roof  to  be  made  by 
laying  ribs  or  straight  timber  in  the  form  of  a 
common  cabin  roof,  and  clapboards  nailed  on, 
so  as  to  be  perfectly  tight  and  secure  from 
storms,  the  outside  door  to  be  made  of  plank 
two  inches  thick,  doubled  and  riveted  together, 
or  nailed   with   large  nails,  and   hung  with  two 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


liars  of  iron,  half  an  inch  thick  and  three  inches 
broad,  hung  on  staples  at  one  side,  and  the 
other  the  staples  through  the  bar,  so  as  to  re- 
ceive a  padlock  at  each  end.  the  steeples  to 
he  let  or  drove  in  through  the  log  and  clinched, 
and  the  wires  to  be  threee-fourths  of  an  inch 
in  diameter,  and  the  inside  door  to  be  made  of 
one  inch  plank,  double,  and  riveted  or  nailed, 
and  hung  with  strong  iron  hinges,  with  a  good 
padlock,  with  sufficient  clasp  and  staples. 
In  1820.  Francis  Brown  and  Eleazer  M. 
Townsend  were  the  only  acting  County  Com- 
missioners. James  Jones  was  Clerk  of  said 
court :  the  Clerks  at  this  time  were  appointed 
by  the  County  Courts  ;  the  Justices  of  the 
1  'eace  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  on  rec- 
ommendation from  the  County  Court. 

In  May,  a  second  term  of  the  Circuit  Court 
was  held  at  Perryville.  Only  five  indictments 
were  presented  at  this  court.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  any  other  business  was  acted  upon. 

The  last  County  Court,  and  being  the  eleventh 
held  at  Perryville,  was  held  October  9,  1820. 
-ome  time  prior  to  this  date,  it  was  appar- 
nt  that  a  new  county  seat  for  Bond  County 
must  be  chosen. 

The  county  was  large,  and  the  settlements 
were  being  scattered  over  a  large  district  of 
country — generally  in  the  timber,  near  some 
water  course;  always  near  any  spring  found, 
no  matter  how  rough  the  surrounding  country 
— as  the  inhabitants  found  it  necessary  to  make 
division  of  the  county,  necessarily  the  county 
seat  must  be  removed.  The  act  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature,  at  its  session  February  14,  1821, 
passed  the  following  act : 

Section  1.  Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  Thai  all  thai  tract 
of  country  lying  north  of  a  line  beginning'  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Township  No.  3  north.  Range 
No.  1  west,  extending  cast  to  the  southeast  corner  of 
Township  No.  ■  >  north,  of  Range  No.  6  cast,  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian,  shall  constitute  a  new 
county,  to  be  called  Fayette,  the  county  seat  of 
which  shall  be  Vandalia. 

Sec.  3.     Beit  further  enacted.  That  for  the  pur- 


pose  of  fixing  a   permanent   seal   of  justice  for  the 
county    of    Bond,   the    following  persons,    to  wit: 
James  B.  Moore.  Abraham  Eyman,  Joshua  Oglesby. 
Samuel  Whitesides  and  John   Howard  be,  and  they 
arc   hereby    appointed  Commissioners,    which    said 
Commissioners,  or  a  majority  of  them,  being  duly 
sworn  before  some  Judge  or  Justice  of  the  Peace  of 
this  State,    to  faithfully  take  into  view  the  conven- 
ience of  the  people,  the  situation  of  the  settlement-, 
with  an  eye  to  future  population,  the  eligibility  of 
the  place,  and  the  preservation  of  the  boundaries  ol 
counties,  the  limits  of  which  have  been  heretofore 
established,  shall  meet  on  the  first  Monday  of  April 
next,  or  at  such  other  lime  thereafter  as   they   may 
agree  upon,  at  the  house  of  Thomas  White,    in  said 
county,  and  proceed  to  examine   and   determine   on 
the  place  for  the  permanent  seat  of  justice,  and  des 
ignate  the  same;  Provided.  That  the  proprietor,  or 
proprietors  of  the  land  shall  give  to  the  county,  for 
the  purpose  of  erecting  county  buildings,  a  quantity 
of  land,  not  less  than  tweutyMtcre^to  be  laid  out  in 
lot,  and  sold  for  that  purpose.    Orshouldthe  propri- 
etor, or  proprietors,  prefer  paying  the  donation   in 
money,  in   lieu  of  land,  then   and  in   that    case  the 
Commissioners  are  authorized  to  receive  (lie  bond  of 
the  proprietor,  or  proprietors,  with  good  and  sum 
eient  security,  for  such  same  as  in  their  opinion  will 
he  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  county,  the  same  to  be  paid  in  three  equal 
semi  annual  installments.     And  should  the  proprie 
tor,  or  proprietors,  refuse  or  neglect  to  make  the  do- 
nation  aforesaid,   then    and  in  that  case  it  shall    be 
flic  duty  of  the  Commissioners  to  fix  on  some  other 
place  for  the  seat  of  justice,  as   convenient    as   may 
lie  to  the  inhabitants  of  said  county,  which  place  so 
fixed  and  determined  upon,  the  said  Commissioners 
shall  certify  under  their  hands  anil  seals,  and  return 
the  same  to  the  next  Commissioners' Court  in  the 
county  aforesaid,  which  court  shall  cause  an  entry 
thereof  to  be  made  in  their  book  of  record,   which 
place  so  designated  shall  be  the  permanent  seat  of 
justice  for  Bond  County. 

And  until  the  public  buildings  shall  be  erected,  the 
courts  shall  be  held  at  Greenville,  in  said  county 
And  it  shall  lie  the  furtherduty  of  said  Commission 
ers,  or  a  majority  of  them,  within   three  days  after 
they   shall   have  established   the  seat  of  justice    of 
Bond  County,  to  repair   to   Perryville.    in    tin'    said 
county  of  Fayette  and  proceed  to  appraise   and   as 
certain  the  damages  sustained  by  the  proprietor,  or 
proprietors,   of  lots  in  said  town  in  consequence   i 
the  removal    ot    the    scat    of  justice    therefrom,  and 


7<; 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


shall  certify  the  araout  to  the  County  Commission- 
ers' Court  of  Fayette  and  Bond  Counties.  Provided, 
however.  That  the  Commissioners,  before  they  pro- 
ceed  to  ascertain  the  said  damages,  shall  be  sworn 
before  some  Judge  or  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  either 
of  said  counties,  faithfully  and  to  the  best  of  their 
judgment,  to  ascertain  the  damage  as  aforesaid;  and 
when  the  damages  assessed  as  aforesaid  shall  have 
been  certified  as  aforesaid,  the  said  County  Commis- 
sioners nf  the  said  counties  respectively,  shall  allow 
and  direct  the  same  to  lie  paid  out  of  the  County 
Treasuries  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  taxable 
inhabitants  of  cadi  county. 

The  compensation  allowed  said  Commission- 
ers for  the  time  necessarily  employed  in  fixing 
the  county  seat,  and  assessing  the  damages 
heretofore  referred  to.  were  to  be  paid  $2  per 
day  out  of  the  treasury  of  Bond  County,  by 
order  of  the  Commissioners'  Court.  The  said 
court  in  Bond,  Fayette  and  Edwards  Counties 
were  authorized  and  required  to  levy  a  tax,  not 
exceeding  one-half  per  centum  per  annum,  on 
all  taxable  property  within  their  respective 
counties,  to  pay  the  damages  which  may  be  ad- 
judged by  the  removal  of  the  county  seats  of 
Bond  and  Edwards  Counties,  which  shall  con- 
tinue until  a  sufficient  sum  shall  be  raised  to 
pay  all  the  damages  which  shall  be  allowed  by 
said  removals. 

In  accordance  with  the  act  just  recited,  the 
first  Commissioners'  Court  for  Bond  County  was 
held  in  Greenville,  April  1G.  1821.  The  Com- 
missioners appointed  to  locate  the  county  seat 
for  Bond  County  made  their  report  to  said 
court,  fixing  upon  twenty  acres  of  land  in  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  10,  Township  5 
north,  Range  3  west,  of  Third  Principal  Merid- 
ian, and  near  the  center  of  which  the  said  Com- 
missioners fixed  a  stake  for  the  public  square. 
The  court  made  the  demand  upon  Samuel  Da- 
vidson, the  owner  of  the  land  upon  which  the 
location  had  been  made,  as  appears  by  their 
record,  to  wit : 

Wednesday,    18th    April.   1821.—  The  court  met 
cording  to  adjournment;   present.  William  Rus- 
sell, John  Kirkpatrick  and  Robert  McCord,  Judges. 


This  day  a  demand  was  made  by  the  court  upon 
George  Davidson,  for  twenty  acres  of  land  immedi- 
ately around  and  contiguous  to  a  stake  fixed  by  the 
Commissioners  authorized  to  locate  the  seat  of  justice 
for  Bond  County,  which  demand  was  decline 
words  hereafter  inserted.  It  is  considered  by  the 
court  that  the  statute  authorizing  the  location  of  tin- 
seat  of  justice  required  the  donation  of  twenty  ■ 
of  land  to  lie  in  a  body,  and  the  court  indulging  that 
construction  of  the  statute,  had  made  the  demand 
above  set  forth,  in  consequence  thereof.  John  Kirk- 
patrick, one  of  the  Judges,  dissenting  in  opinion 
from  the  court  with  regard  to  the  demand. 

To  which  Mr.  Davidson  made  the  following 
answer : 

"I,  George  Davidson,  in  answer  to  a  demand  this 
day  made  upon  me  by  the  County  Commissioners 
t'nr  a  quantity  of  land  around  the  stake  equal  to 
twenty  acres,  to  be  laid  off  in  lots  and  sold  for 
benefit  of  the  county,  present  to  the  Honorable 
Court  the  following  for  my  reply  to  the  above  de- 
mand (to  wit)  that  in  order  fully  and  entirely  to  sat- 
isfy the  requisitions  of  an  act  entitled  an  act  form- 
ing a  new  county  out  of  the  parts  of  counties  the 
mentioned.  I  duly  executed  to  the  Commissioners 
therein  named  a  bond  with  sufficient  securities  for 
the  gift  or  grant  to  the  Count}'  Commissioners  for 
the  county  of  Bond,  which  said  obligation  is  now  on 
the  files  of  the  County  Commissioners'  ( 'ourt  for  said 
county,  of  a  quantity  of  land  equal  to  twenty  acres, 
the  terms  and  conditions  of  which  said  writing  ob- 
ligatory I  am  now  perfectly  ready  and  willing  to 
fulfill.  George  Davidson.'' 

April  18.  1821. 

Mr.  Benjamin  Mills,  a  lawyer  of  some  o 
and  Probate  Judge  in    1822,  etc.,  acted  as  at- 
torney for  Mr.  Davidson. 

An  examination  of  the  records  and  papers 
pertaining  to  the  location,  shows  that  Mr. 
Davidson  had  previously  sold  a  small  portion 
of  the  land  (on  the  north  side)  included  in  the 
twenty  acres  fixed  upon  by  the  said  Commis- 
sioners for  the  county  seat  of  Bond  County,  to 
one  Samuel  Whitcomb,  and  was  thereby  unable 
to  comply  with  the  demand  for  the  donation. 
Two  members  of  the  court,  Russell  and  Mc- 
Cord, believing  that  the  donation  should  be  in 
a  square  around  the  stake  fixed  for  the  center 
of  the  public  square;    John    Kirkpatrick,  the 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


77 


other  member,  believing  that  the  statute  would 
be  fully  complied  with  if  the  land  was  adjoin- 
ing. The  court  met  again  on  the  4th  of  June, 
1821,  same  Judges  as  last  term.  Samuel  David- 
son was  allowed  to  withdraw  his  bond  given 
for  the  twenty  acres  of  land,  and  substitute  for 
the  bond  given  April  18,  1821.  a  bond  for  that 
amount  of  land 

in  the  form  of  a  square  as  near 
as  may  be,  of  which  said  square  the  stake  fixed  by 
the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  last  General 
Assembly  to  locate  a  permanent  seat  of  justice  for 
the  county  of  Bond,  shall  be  the  center,  by  or  be- 
fore the  first  Monday  in  December  next,  then  this 
obligation  to  be  void,  otherwise  to  remain  in  full 
force.  Provided,  nevertheless,  that  this  obligation 
shall  not  be  held  toobligate  the  above  bound  George 
Davidson  to  make  a  title  to  any  land  at  present 
■  omprised  within  a  tract  for  the  conveyance  of 
which  the  said  George  Davidson  lias  given  his  bond 
to  Samuel  Whitcomb. 

"Witness  our  hands  and  seals  this  oth  day  of 
June,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  Eighteen  Hundred 
and  Twenty-one. 

"Georhe  Davidson,  [seal.] 
"Samuel,  G.  Blanchard,  [seal] 
"Robert  G.  White,  [seal.] 
"Samuel  Whitcomb,  [seal.] 

his 
'Daniel    X    Ferouson.  [seal.] 

mark 
"Milo  Wood,  [seal.] 
"Samuel  Houston,  [seal.] 
"Witness,  Ben.iamin  Mills." 

More  than  two-thirds  of  a  century  has  elapsed 
since  the  first  white  settler  made  his  "  clear- 
ing," and  built  his  first  log  cabin  in  what  was 
for  many  years  called  "  East  Fork,"  now  Green- 
ville Precinct,  near  the  center  of  which,  nest- 
ling on  the  brow  of  the  highest  point  of  land 
between  Terre  Haute  and  St.  Louis,  sloping 
gently  to  the  south,  is  situated  the  beautiful 
city  of  Greenville.  Few  are  now  living  who 
can  recall  the  time  and  the  occasion  of  the  set- 
tler, his  clearing  and  his  cabin. 

That  settler  has  long  since  passed  from  the 
active  duties  of  this  life,  his  cabin  is  no  more 
but  his  eleariner  then  commenced,  is  now  wide- 


spread, and  truly  may  it  be  said  of  him.  "  his 
works  do  follow  him." 

And  afterward,  whilst  he  lived,  though  far 
removed  from  his  early  home,  it  has  been  said 
by  those  who  occasionally  met  him,  that  lie 
spoke  of  Greenville  as  a  fond  parent  would  of 
his  absent  child  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  at- 
tached. It  was  to  him,  as  the  childhood  home 
is  to  us  all.  to  be  recalled  with  grateful  and 
joyous  recollections. 

That  first  cabin  built  on  the  primitive  style 
of  logs,  with  clapboard  roof,  weight-poles  on 
same  to  hold  them  in  place,  with  puncheon 
floor  made  of  split  and  hewed  slabs,  the  entire 
structure  without  nails  or  glass  was  situated 
on  the  hillside,  between  the  present  residence 
of  the  family  of  J.  H.  Black,  in  the  extreme 
western  part  of  the  present  town,  and  the  "  tan- 
yard,"  was  the  first  home  of  George  Davidson 
in  1815  or  1816,  the  first  known  settler  and 
owner  of  the  land  upon  which  Greenville  has 
since  been  built, 

Mr.  Davidson's  family  consisted  of  himself, 
wife,  two  sous  and  two  daughters.  Mrs.  George 
Davidson  was  regarded  as  a  most  estimable 
woman,  and  an  excellent  nurse  for  the  sick. 
One  of  the  sons,  Samuel  Davidson,  married 
Miss  Violet  Enloe,  sister  of  James  and  Isaac 
Enloe,  and  died  in  1820.  He  was  taken  to  his 
father's  house  shortly  before  his  death,  that  he 
might  in  his  last  days  have  his  mother's  care 
and  sympathy.  The  widow  of  Samuel  David- 
son married  Thomas  L.  Waddle,  County  Treas- 
urer, in  1S27.  Vance  L.  Davidson,  the  other 
son,  married  Miss  Purse,  one  of  the  daughters, 
Saliy,  was  blind,  and  Caroline,  the  other  daugh- 
ter, married  William  Blundell.  Mrs.  Blundell 
now  resides  in  California  ;  letters  have  been 
received  from  her  within  the  past  three  years, 
in  which  she  speaks  with  happy  recollection  of 
her  early  home  and  friends  at  Greenville.  Mr. 
George  Davidson  laid  off  some  of  his  land  in 
Section  10,  Town  5  north,  Range  3  west,  in 
1819,  into  lots,  but  by  some  neglect  the  plat  of 


78 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY, 


the  town  was  not  recorded,  which  occasioned 
much  trouble  to  those  who  purchased  lots  in 
the  first  laid  out  town. 

Some  diversity  of  opinion  exists  as  to  how 
or  by  whom  Greenville  was  named.  The  de- 
scendents  of  Mr.  Thomas  White  (R.  O.  and 
Sprague  White),  affirm  that  when  the  town  was 
first  surveyed,  the  question  of  name  for  same 
came  up,  and  the  bystanders  said  "  we  will 
leave  it  to  Mr.  Thomas  White  for  a  name,  as  he 
is  the  oldest  man  present,"  and  Mr.  White  re- 
sponded as  he  cast  his  eyes  over  the  green 
woods  and  prairie  around — "  everything  looks 
so  nice  and  green,  we  will  call  it  Greenville." 
Rev.  Peter  Long,  who  came  t<>  Greenville  in 
1821.  and  still  lives  to  recount  the  incidents  of 
early  life  in  the  county,  heard  Mr.  John  Ellis 
(who  came  here  earlier  than  Mr.  Long),  say 
that  his  understanding  of  the  name  was.  that 
Mr.  Thomas  White  named  it  in  honor  of  Green- 
ville in  North  Carolina,  a  State  from  which 
Mr.  White  had  recently  emigrated. 

Mr.  James  Enloe.  who  came  to  Greenville  in 
February.  1818,  when  he  was  over  fourteen 
years  old.  and  more  than  a  year  before  the 
town  was  first  laid  out.  says  that  Greenville 
was  named  in  honor  of  Green  P.  Rice,  a  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  preacher,  who  resided  here 
at  an  early  day.  and  kept  the  first  store  ever 
kept  in  the  place,  and  was  Clerk  of  the  Com- 
missioners' Court  of  Bond  County  from  August 
15,  1822,  to  March  3,  1823.  For  a  number  of 
years  Mr.  Rice  lived  on  the  old  Stafford  prop- 
erty, where  Mr.  William  Morris  now  resides. 
Be  the  question  or  problem  of  the  origin  of  the 
name  as  it  may  be.  neither  of  the  gentlemen 
to  whom  the  honor  is  credited,  could  they  see 
it  to-day.  would  recognize  the  village  then  laid 
off  in  the  wilderness,  now  sixty-three  years 
ago. 

George  Davidson  is  recognized  as  the  pioneer 
settler  of  the  land  upon  which  Greenville  has 
since  been  built.  His  son.  Samuel  Davidson, 
had  the  second  store  in  Greenville,  on  the  north- 


west corner  of  Sixth  and  South  streets  ;  his 
health  failed  him.  and  he  sold  his  stock  of 
goods  to  Elisha  Blanchard,  and  he  sold  to 
Thomas  Long,  brother  of  Rev.  Peter  Long,  who 
kept  the  store  for  his  brother  until  he  sold  to 
Drake  &  Durley. 

George  Davidson  "  moved  up  into  tow;. 
they  termed  it.  from  his  residence,  at  or  near 
the  west  end  of  Main  street,  to  a  lot  just  south 
of  northwest  corner  of  Sixth  and  Main  streets. 
and  kept  what  was  then  known  as  a  tavern,  in 
1819-20.  and  until  September.  1821,  when 
Seth  Blanchard  became  his  successor,  and  kept 
and  enlarged  tavern  for  many  years,  who  was 
in  turn  succeeded  by  David  Berry  January  1. 
1828,  to  March  1.  1829,  when  he  moved,  and 
Thomas  Dakin  took  the  place  for  many  years. 
and  was  well  known  by  traveling  men,  who 
made  long  and  tedious  journeys  on  horseback. 
crossing  the  State,  and  going  to  and  from  St. 
Louis.  Mr.  Berry  removed  to  the  lot  just  west 
of  Birges  store  (No.  7),  where  he  kept  an  excel- 
lent hotel,  which  was  headquarters  for  the  St:  _ 
stand  for  a  great  many  years.  His  table  was 
well  supplied  with  the  best  the  county  afforded. 

Among  the  early  settlers  of  Greenville  and 
vicinity  may  be  mentioned  the  Kirkpatricks. 
who  came  at  least  as  early  as  1817.  Thomas 
Kirkpatrick  lived  about  one  and  half  miles 
southeast  of  Greenvile.  in  the  hewed  log  house 
in  which  uncle  Tommy  Brown  lived  for  many 
years  afterward  and  died.  He  was,  as  has 
been  stated  before  in  this  work,  a  member  of 
the  first  County  Court  held  in  the  county,  at 
Hills  Station  June  2,  1817,  and  also  a  mem- 
ber of  Constitutional  Convention  for  Bond 
County  in  1818.  John  Kirkpatrick.  a  Meth 
ist  preacher,  lived  northeast  of  Greenville, 
near  where  Madison  Alien  now  resides  a 
half  mile  north  of  Almira  College.  He  was 
one  of  the  members  of  the  first  Commission- 
ers' Court  held  at  Greenville  April  16.  1821. 
His  associate  members  of  that  court  v 
Robert  McCord  and  William  Russell. 


CITY   OF   GREENVILLE. 


;: 


Francis  Kirkpatrick,  brother  of  John  and 
Thomas,  above  mentioned,  lived  about  half  mile 
northeast  of  John  Kirkpatrick.  The  Kirk- 
patrick family  were  Methodists.  Capt.  Paul 
Beck  whilst  he  held  the  office  of  Captain,  and 
was  duty  qualified  as  such  May,  12.  1817,  also 
had  a  little  band  horse-inill  situated  some  forty 
rods  south  of  the  old  cemetery,  and  nearly  west 
of  the  present  cheese  factory.  His  mill  ground 
wheat  and  corn.  The  bolt  for  the  flour  was  turned 
by  hand,  as  was  common  for  many  years  at  the 
horse-mills  in  operation  throughout  the  county. 
Asahel  Enloe  settled  in  1818,  on  the  highest 
point  in  what  is  now  the  old  cemetery,  west  of 
Greenville.  A  short  time  afterward,  Asahel 
Enloe  and  his  son,  Ezekiel.  lived  just  southeast 
of  the  passenger  depot  at  Greenville,  about 
eighty  rods  therefrom — the  first  about  where 
the  old  Lansing  House  was  situated,  and  the 
latter  (Ezekiel)  a  few  rods  north  of  his  father; 
whilst  James  Enloe's  house  was  on  the  north 
side  of  southeast  quarter  of  northeast  quarter 
Section  15,  Township  5  north,  Range  3  west, 
about  fifty  rods  southwest  of  his  father's  house. 
He  sold  the  land  to  Daniel  Ferguson  a  few 
years  afterward.  Isaac  Enloe,  brother  of  James 
and  Ezekiel,  is  at  present  a  resident  of  the 
county.  Ezekiel  Enloe  died  about  twenty 
years  ago.  Mr.  A.  Enloe  and  his  sons  cleared 
off  a  tract  of  land  near  the  court  house  square, 
and  planted  the  same  in  corn  in  the  year  1819. 
Wyatt  Stubblefield  entered  land  east  and  ad- 
joining Greenville  in  1817,  and  remained  on 
same  until  the  time  of  his  death  somewhere 
near  1851.  He  had  a  horse-mill  and  a  cotton- 
gin  in  operation  many  years  near  his  residence. 
Mr.  Stubblefield  was  very  generously  disposed 
toward  those  who  came  from  a  distance  to  his 
mills.  He  had  three  brothers.  John.  William 
and  Jeremiah,  who  lived  much  of  their  time 
within  a  few  miles  of  Fairview  in  Bond  County. 
Thomas  White  and  his  sons,  John  B.,  James. 
Hugh  Alexander  and  Thomas  White  (tanner) 
came  into  the  count}-  about  the   year    1818, 


Only  one,  James  White,  is  still  living.  Sam- 
uel and  Eleazur  White,  sous  of  John  B.White, 
live  on  the  old  White  homestead.  R.  O.  and 
Sprague  White,  sons  of  James  White  (who  is 
also  alive),  live  in  Bond  County. 

Of  the  early  settlers  near  Greenville,  none 
are  more  worthy  of  mention  than  Mr.  George 
Donnell.  who  moved  into  the  county,  from 
North  Carolina,  about  1819,and  after  living  on 
Shoal  Creek,  near  Bilyew's  Mill  (northwest  quar- 
ter Section  23,  Town  5,  Range  4).  a  few  years, 
settled  on  a  farm  about  three  miles  north  of 
Greenville,  where  he  lived  many  years,  until  the 
burdens  of  farm  work,  the  privations  of  church 
privileges  and  advanced  age  admonished  him 
that  he  must  retire  from  the  farm.  He  sold 
his  farm,  came  to  Greenville,  where  he  spent 
the  last  dozen  years  of  his  life.  He  died  aboul 
1874.  Mr.  Donnell  was  an  active  man,  in  not 
only  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  he  be- 
longed— an  account  of  which  is  given  in  this 
history,  under  proper  headings — but  he  was  a 
co-worker  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  temper- 
ance with  all  denominations.  He  was  also  the 
leader  in  the  first  Sunday  school  ever  taught  in 
the  county,  and  scholars  came  often  eight  or 
ten  miles  to  attend.  The  writer  of  this  article 
heard  Mr.  L.  D.  Plant  say  that,  in  his  lifetime/. 
he  was  under  lasting  obligation  to  Mr.  Donnell 
for  the  Sunday  schools  he  organized  and 
taught,  as  a  large  part  of  his  education  was 
received  from  those  schools.  Mr.  Donnell  dis- 
played more  than  ordinary  wisdom  in  provid- 
ing homes  anil  farms  for  his  large  family  of 
sons.  His  family  consisted  of  Joseph  M.,  John 
D.,  William  N.,  Mary  J.,  James  M.,  Thomas  S .. 
George  W.,  Henry  C.  and  Emily  K. 

His  sons  worked  well  when  young,  and  their 
father  secured  for  himself  a  good  farm  of  good 
proportions,  and,  as  the  sons  reached  that 
period  when  they  would  need  a  farm,  he  bent 
his  energies,  with  the  help  of  the  sons  at  home 
and  the  savings  of  the  home  farm  soon  secured 
the    needed    farm.     Commencing   at  an    earh 


80 


HISTORY   OF    BOND   COUNTY. 


. l:iv.  as  he  did,  with  the  low  price  of  land  and 
his  good  judgment,  he  was  enabled  to  locate 
his  family  around  him  with  but  little  trouble. 
To  those  who  did  not  want  land,  he  gave 
money  and  his  own  notes,  as  a  matter  of  bus- 
iness. He  lived  to  see  the  largest  part  of  his 
family  settled  around  him,  happy  and  con- 
tented. 

Samuel  6.  Morse  was  also  an  early  settler. 
He  was  one  of  the  delegates  from  Bond  County 
to  Kaskaskia  that  made  for  Illinois  the  old 
Constitution,  adopted  August  26,  1818,  as  has 
been  stated  before.  He  was  the  first  Sheriff  of 
Bond  County,  in  1817  and  1818  ;  was  fond  of 
music,  and  taught  singing  schools  occasion- 
ally. 

The  following  persons  were  in  the  county 
more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and  their  faces  were 
familiar  in  the  streets  of  Greenville  whilst  they 
lived,  or  were  in  the  county,  viz.: 

Daniel  Converse,  first  County  Clerk,  and  half 
owner  of  water-mill  of  Converse  &  Lee,  where 
Brown's  Mill  now  stands. 

Samuel  Houston,  first  Deputy  Sheriff,  and 
member  County  Court.  August,  1826,  to  April 
111,  1827. 

James  B.  Rutherford,  first  hatter  in  Green- 
ville. 

Samuel  Whitcomb  owned  land  in  Davidson 
trad  before  county  seat  located. 

James  B.  McCord,  a  cabinet-maker  in  Mc- 
Cord  settlement. 

Andrew  Finley,  a  good  farmer  and  cooper  in 
the  northwest  part  of  county  ;  kept  a  store  in 
1835-36  at  his  home. 

James  Wafer  came  to  the  county  in  1818  ; 
was  anti-slavery  ;  Presbyterian  ;  died  February 
8.  1 873,  aged  more  than  eighty-seven  years. 

David  White  lived  in  the  fort,  near  the  cen- 
ter of  Section  6,  Town  4,  Range  3,  southwest  of 
Mr.  Patrick  Byrne's  residence,  as  early  as 
1816 — and  from  David  White  took  the  name 
of  "  White  Port,"  sometimes  called  Hill's  Sta- 
tion or  Fort — and  at   this  place  the  first  two 


County  Courts  were  held,  before  the  county 
seat  was  established  at  Perryville.  And  it  was 
at  this  fort  Tom  Higgins  was  so  terribly 
wounded,  and  William  Burgess  surprised  and 
cut  off  from  communications  by  the  Indians, 
as  they  were  out  for  water.  Mrs.  Pursley,  see- 
ing; the  danger  which  surrounded  them,  seized 
a  gun  and  shot  the  Indian  who  was  leader  in 
the  attack,  and  then  succeeded  in  getting  them 
into  the  fort  alive.  Tom  Higgins  lived  to  re- 
late the  adventure  and  thank  his  deliverer,  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  and  died  near  Yandalia 
about  1872.  Mr.  Burgess  lived  more  than 
forty  years  afterward,  and  died  at  his  home, 
near  Millersburg,  in  this  county.  Benjamin 
Henson  was  out  of  the  fort  on  horseback  at 
the  time,  but  by  good  luck  he  escaped  the 
Indian  bullet.  Mr.  White  had  a  little  band 
horse-mill  to  grind  for  those  stopping  in  the 
fort  during  the  war.  This  was  the  first  mill  in 
the  county.     Mr.  White  was  a  Methodist. 

John  Powers,  a  Methodist  preacher,  and 
preached  at  Jones  Station,  near  Andrew 
Green's,  in  February,  1816,  and  at  White's 
Fort  in  March  of  the  same  year.  These  were 
his  regular  preaching  places.  The  company 
who  came  with  the  Rev.  Powers  were  his  three 
sons,  Thomas,  Elijah  and  Samuel,  all  heads  of 
families,  Rev.  William  Hunter,  son-in-law  of 
John  Powers,  John  Hunter  and  James  Bolds. 

William  M.  Crisp,  first  Constable  in  1817. 
lived  in  Locust  Fork  Precinct. 

Henry  Rule,  appointed  Constable  same  time 
in  "East  Shoal."  now  Greenville  Precinct. 

Francis  Travis,  first  Treasurer  Bond  County. 
July  5,  1819.  No  record  of  any  Treasurer  be- 
fore that  date. 

Martin  Jones,  one  of  first  Judges  of  County 
Court,  member  of  Legislature,  owner  of  Perry- 
ville. 

James  Jones  (brother  of  Martin)  appointed 
County  Clerk  June  6  and  October  5,  1820  : 
was  Circuit  Clerk  same  time. 

John  D.  Alexander,  Constable  in  1821  ;  Tax 


CITY  OF   GREENVILLE. 


83 


Collector   afterward  ;    now   lives  near  Bethel, 
with  his  son. 

Elezarum  Ripley  Wheelock,  laid  out  Ripley; 
named  same  in  honor  of  his  uncle,  Gen.  Ripley. 

John  Powers,  a  Methodist  preacher  and  one 
of  the  first  County  Judges  of  Bond  County  ; 
built  water-mill,  east  of  Millersburg,  in  1818. 
Thomas  Powers  (son  of  above),  built  the  water- 
mill  near  John  A.  Smith's  old  residence,  in 
Section  25,  Town  5,  Range  4. 

Francis  Brown,  member  of  the  County  Court 
in  1820. 

Eleazur  M.  Townsend,  member  of  the  County 
Court  in  1820;  was  an  Eastern  man;  his  sister 
married  Dr.  Perrine. 

Green  P.  Rice,  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
preacher  ;  kept  first  store  in  Greenville. 

Samuel  Hill,  near  Ripley,  was  father  of 
Anderson  Hill. 

Hezekiah  Archer,  had  water  grist-mill  on 
Shoal  Creek,  near  Brown's  present  mill. 

John  and  Hubbard  Short,  intelligent  men. 
John  married  Robert  McCord's  daughter. 

Evan  Hinton,  first  wife,  sister  of  Rev.  Peter 
Long's  mother  ;  second  wife,  mother  of  James 
Bradford. 

David  Smith  lived  about  six  miles  southwest 
of  Greenville,  near  Hill's  Station. 

Jonathan  Berry,  from  Tennessee,  lived  in 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  6,  Town  6,  Range  3. 

Williamson  Plant,  Sr.,  from  Tennessee  in 
1818  ;  lived  and  died  on  his  farm,  one  mile 
northwest  of  Pocahontas. 

Charles  Johnson,  from  Tennessee,  settled  on 
land  now  laid  out  as  Pocahontas,  in  1817.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  County  Court  at  Perry- 
ville  from  July  5,  1819,  to  June  5,  1820. 

Benjamin  Johnson,  son  of  the  above,  brought 
the  first  drove  of  cattle  to  the  county  ;  was  an 
energetic,  thoughtful  man  ;  was  a  member  of 
the  Illinois  Legislature,  and  was  generally  con- 
sulted in  the  neighborhood  where  he  lived  for 
fifty  years.  He  built  Pocahontas  Academy, 
and  laid  out  Pocahontas  ;  his    home  adjoined 


Pocahontas    on   the  north  ;    he  died   April   G 
1862. 

John  Leeper,  Presbyterian,  was  a  member  of 
County  Court,  July  5,  1819,  to  June  5,  1820. 
also  from  August  15,  1822,  to  September  2, 
1823  ;  he  built  a  horse  grist-mill  about  four 
miles  south  of  Greenville,  near  James  Mc- 
Adams'  old  farm. 

Robert  Gillespie,  one  of  the  Commissioners 
who  located  county  seat,  Bond  County,  at  Per- 
ryville. 

James  and  Andrew,  sons  of  the  above,  lived 
ten  miles  west  of  Greenville  ;  James  having 
trouble  with  his  eyesight  from  infancy,  became 
quite  famous  for  his  remarkable  memory  ;  he 
had  a  clear  head,  and  was  often  consulted  on 
points  of  law. 

John  Laughlin,  one  of  the  Commissioners 
who  located  County  seat  Bond  County,  at  Per- 
ryville. 

John  Whitley,  Sr.,  one  of  the  Commissioners 
who  located  county  seat  Bond  County,  at  Perry  - 
ville. 

Hugh  Kirkpatrick  brought  Titus,  Jack,  Bob 
and  Haley,  respectively  ten,  six,  five  and  two 
years  old,  colored  children,  December  18,  1817, 
and  had  them  registered,  agreeable  to  the  act 
of  the  Illinois  Territory  of  September  17,  1807, 
to  serve  the  said  Kirkpatrick,  the  males  until 

they  are years  of  age,  and  the  girl  until 

she  is .     Mr.  Kirkpatrick    brought  two 

colored  women  and  had  them  indentured  by 
"  their  consent "  for  a  period  of  ninety-nine 
years — should  they  not  consent  to  the  inden- 
ture, Mr.  Kirkpatrick  had  the  privilege,  under 
the  law,  to  remove  them  to  a  Slave  State  at  any 
time  within  sixty  days. 

William  Vollentine,  son  of  Hardy  Vollentine, 
an  energetic  and  successful  farmer,  living  twelve 
miles  northwest  of  Greenville  ;  he  died  about 
sixteen  years  ago  ;  on  the  17th  day  of  June, 
1817,  he  had  Silas,  a  colored  boy,  registered 
under  the  law  of  1807  ;  Silas  was  registered  as 
five  years  old,  but  as  he  had  the  appearance 

E 


84 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


of  being  at  least  five  or  six  years  older,  he 
probably  served  longer  than  otherwise  would 
have  served,  had  his  age  been  certainly  known  ; 
Silas  took  the  name  of  Register  from  the  fact 
or  his  being  registered,  as  before  stated.  The 
sons  of  William  Vollentine,  W.  P.,  in  his  life- 
time, George  and  James  M.  Vollentine.  have 
furnished  many  substantial  comforts  for  old 
"  uncle  Si,"  as  he  has  been  called  for  the  past 
thirty-five  years  ;  Mr.  James  M.  Vollentine,  son 
of  William,  as  before  said,  has  cared  for  the 
wants  of  Silas  almost  as  his  own  family.  Silas 
was  the  last  survivor  of  all  the  ten  colored  per- 
sons "registered"  and  "indentured"  in  the 
count}'  so  far  as  known.  He  was  taken  sick 
some  two  weeks  before  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred on  Thursday,  June  22,  1882  ;  he  was 
about  seventy-six  years  old  at  his  death  ;  he 
was  an  exemplar}-  Christian,  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  more 
than  forty  years. 

Hardy  Vollentine  (father  of  William),  regis- 
tered a  colored  girl  fourteen  years  old,  on  June 
30,  1817,  named  Tisby. 

Isaac  Hill,  of  Okaw  Township,  indentured 
his  colored  man,  named  Peter,  to  serve  him 
ten  years. 

John  Hapton,  Sr.,  was  a  farmer  living  six 
miles  southwest  of  Greenville. 

John  Hapton,  Jr.,  inherited  a  competency 
from  his  father,  and  kept  it.  He  lived  many 
years,  before  moving  to  Missouri,  on  the  farm 
of  W.  Barker. 

Wilson  Brown  was  an  early  settler  and  good 
citizen,  living  near  White  Fort,  the  fort  being  a 
few  rods  south  ;  he  acquired  considerable  prop- 
erty, which  he  left,  by  will,  to  his  children. 

Stringer  Potts  was  neighbor  to  Hapton,  Sr., 
and  Wilson  Brown. 

Henry  Williams,  an  intelligent  farmer  for 
manj-  years  two  miles  northwest  of  Pocahon- 
tas, and  for  several  years  before  his  death  twelve 
miles  southeast  of  Greenville  ;  was  a  member 
of  the  County  Court  August  15, 1822  to  1824 ; 


he    served    in    later  years   in    the    same    ca- 
pacity. 

A.  C.  MacKay  was  for  considerable  part  of 
his  life  in  some  official  capacity  ;  was  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  and  was  member  of  the  Commis- 
sioners' Court  in  1834  and  1835,  and  also  in 
later  years  held  same  position. 

James  M.  Davis,  always  characterized  himself 
as  "  old  settler  ;"  he  was  an  active  Whig  ;  mem- 
ber of  County  Court  in  1834  and  1835  ;  was 
engaged  in  merchandising  in  Greenville. 

Thomas  M.  Davis,  brother  of  above,  now  liv- 
ing seven  miles  north  of  Greenville,  was  a  Cap- 
tain in  the  civil  war,  from  Bond  County  ;  resides 
on  his  farm. 

Richard  Bentley  was  a  member  of  the  County 
Court  in  1835  and  1836  ;  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  at  a  later  period  ;  many  anec- 
dotes were  related  bearing  on  his  official  posi- 
tion. 

Samuel  White  and  Thomas  White  (brothers). 
Samuel  had  the  first  tannery  just  west  of  Green- 
ville ;  he  sold  the  same  to  J.  Harvey  Black) 
who  manufactured  leather  for  many  years  ;  he 
kept  store  in  the  brick  building  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  Main  and  Sixth  streets,  in  1829. 
Mr.  White  retired  to  his  farm  adjoining  Green- 
ville on  the  east,  more  than  forty  years  ago, 
where  he  amassed  a  handsome  fortune,  aud 
died  much  respected  about  twelve  years  ago  ; 
his  sons  were  Edward  B  ,  John  B.  0.,  James 
W.  Samuel  G.  and  William  C.  White. 

William  and  John  Russell  (brothers).  William 
was  a  member  of  the  County  Court  from  April 
16,  1821.  to  June  4,  1822  ;  John  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  County  Court  from  August  7.  1827 
to  1833  ;  John  Russell  was  the  surveyor  who 
laid  out  Greenville,  June,  1821. 

Rev.  Peter  Long,  now  living  on  his  old  farm 
on  southeast  quarter  of  northeast  quarter  of 
Section  35,  Town  6,  Range  4,  some  four  miles 
northeast  of  Old  Ripley.  He  and  his  brother, 
Thomas,  came  with  their  father.  James  Long, 
a  Baptist  minister,  from  Indiana;  the  family 


CITY   OF   GREENVILLE. 


85 


were  orginally  from  Virginia.  Peter  Long  taught 
school  soon  after  coming  to  the  count}',  near 
the  house  of  Bonham  Harlan  (father  of  Will- 
iam and  Abner  Harlan),  he  also  clerked  in  his 
brother,  Thomas  Long's,  store,  who  had  bought 
the  stock  of  goods  of  Blanchard.  on  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Sixth  streets,  Greenville.  Mr. 
Long  did  not  continue  in  the  business  but  a  few 
months  when  he  sold  his  goods  on  hand  to  Dr. 
J.  B.  Drake  and  William  Durley,  who  continued 
the  business  for  a  few  years,  when  Dr.  Drake 
purchased  the  interest  of  Durley  and  carried 
on  the  same  for  more  than  twenty-five  years. 
Rev.  Peter  Long,  now  nearly  fourscore  years 
of  age,  has  been  a  faithful  and  consistent  Bap- 
tist minister  of  the  Gospel  for  nearly  sixty 
years  ;  continues  to  preach  within  the  circuit 
of  his  near  friends  once  each  week,  without 
compensation  from  his  hearers  ;  he  has  never 
used  tobacco  in  any  manner. 

Ransom  Gaer,  a  member  of  the  County  Court, 
from  August,  1824,  to  August,  1825. 

Robert  W.  Denny,  a  member  of  the  County 
Court  from  August,  1826,  to  August,  1832. 

Cyrus  Birge  kept  store  on  Lot  8,  Davidson's 
Addition  to  Greenville,  in  1819  to  1824. 

Ansel  Birge  boughthis  brother's  (C\tus)  stock 
of  goods  early  in  1825,  and  kept  same  stand  for 
at  least  eight  years  ;  he  removed  afterward  to 
his  beautiful  farm  one  and  a  quarter  miles  south 
of  Greenville.    He  died  over  twenty  years  ago. 

Williard  Twiss,  a  brother-in-law  of  Ansel 
Birge,  continued  the  sale  of  goods  from  same 
stand,  having  purchased  the  stock  of  Mr.  A. 
Birge.  Mr.  Twiss  was  also  clerk  of  the  County 
Court  in  1831.  to  March  9,  1836,  when  he  re- 
signed. 

William  S.  and  Thomas  W.  Smith  (brothers) 
had  a  store,  for  some  years  in  name  of  W.  S.  Smith, 
in  1833,  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Sixth  street, 
and  after  some  twenty  years  of  success  as  part- 
ners they  removed  to  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Fourth  street,  northeast  corner,  and  after  en- 
larging to  suit  their  trade  carried  on  a  heavv 


business.  Mr.  W.  S.  Smith  carried  on  the  mer- 
cantile business  after  the  death  of  his  brother 
in  1862,  to  1876  ;  was  County  School  Treasurer 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  served  one  term  in 
the  Legislature  of  Illinois  ;  he  also  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Greenville 
several  years,  at  present  holding  the  place  of 
Director  ;  he  is  also  one  of  the  Directors  in  the 
St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terra  Haute  Railroad 
Company.  Thomas  W.  died  about  twenty  years 
ago. 

J.  E.  Rankin  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Coun- 
ty Court,  in  place  of  Isaac  Murphy,  who,  by  non- 
attendance,  the  court  declared  out  of  office, 
June  1,  1829.  Mr.  Rankin  has  filled  several 
important  trusts  during  his  long  residence  in 
the  county  ;  he  is  quietly  living  on  his  farm,  at 
present,  in  Pleasant  Prairie,  at  a  ripe  old  age, 
much  respected. 

Space  cannot  be  allowed  to  give  further  de- 
tailed history  individually  of  "  old  settlers," 
but  we  will  give  a  concise  list  of  those  whose 
names  or  faces  are  familiar  to  those  who  have 
lived  in  the  county  for  the  past  forty  years, 
with  occasionally  some  repetition  of  previous 
mention  : 

Anderson,  Ignatius,  Beaver  Creek. 
Anderson,  James,  Beaver  Creek. 
Allen,  Benjamin,  large  fanner,  Beaver  Creek. 
Armstrong,  Joseph,  father  of  Wesley  and  Will 

iam. 
Armstrong,  Wesley,  died  in  Iowa. 
Armstrong,  William,  died  in  Bond  County. 
Armstrong,  Robert,  strong  Democrat  and  Pres- 

byterian,  died  in  Bond  County. 
Armstrong,  Thomas,  died  in  Missouri. 
Armstrong,  Joseph. 
Armstrong,  Mid.    These  four — Robert,  Thomas, 

Joseph  and  Mid.,  being  sons  of  one  man  and 

cousins  of  Wesley  and  William. 
Alexander,  Josiah  N. 
Alexander,  Jediah  F.,  State  Senator  ;  President 

Vandalia  Railroad,  Receiver  St.  L.  &  S.  E. 

Railroad,  etc.,  died  in  Greenville,  in  1876. 


88 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Alexander,  E.  J.  C,  State  Representative  and 
editor. 

Alexander,  J.  H.,  farmer.  These  three — Jediah 
F.,  E.  J.  C.  and  J.  H.,  were  brothers. 

Allen,  Albert,  merchant,  Greenville. 

Adams.  John  and  James  I.,  brothers,  Zion. 

Alexander,  John,  early  settler  in  Bond  County. 

Alexander,  M.  H.,  son  of  John. 

Allen,  Hector. 

Allen,  William,  Allery,  J.  M.,  A.  J.,  Daniel,  Jerry 
and  George,  sons  of  Hector,  and  the  first  four 
Whigs. 

Aduey,  William  D.,  peddler. 

Abbott,  Thomas  J.,  Hurricane,  father  of  John  B., 
Samuel  W.  and  William  H. 

Abbott,  John. 

Abbott,  Samuel  W.,  died  in  the  army,  at  St. 
Louis,  during  the  war. 

Abbott,  William  H.,  cabinet-maker  and  mer- 
chant, Fairview. 

Abbott,  John  B.,  brother  of  Thomas  J. 

Andrews,  John,  Beaver  Creek. 

Austin,  Josiah,  Okaw. 

Aldemau,  Henry,  pump-maker. 

Aldeman,  William  P.  and  James  W.,  broth- 
ers. 

Austin.  William  M.,  Zion. 

Alexander,  H.  B.  and  John,  brothers,  Green- 
ville ;  the  former  a  druggist,  latter  a  carpen- 
ter. 

Allen,  W.  A.,  physician,  Greenville. 

Abell,  J.  H,  North  Zion. 

Brown,  Tommy,  model  Christian,  near  Green- 
ville. 

Berry,  David,  kept  hotel  at  Greenville  and  died 
there. 

Berry,  James  W.,  David  P.,  George  F.  and 
Franklin,  sons  of  David,  Greenville,  the  first 
named  dying  at  Greenville. 

Beech,  Rufus. 

Bi-yant,  Thomas,  southwest  of  Pocahontas. 

Blizzard, 

Blizzard,  James  and  William,  sons  of  above. 

Blizzard,  J.  J.,  son  of  James. 


Blanchard,  Samuel  G.,  Elisha,  Seth  and  Lemuel, 
the  first  three  being  merchants  ;  Seth,  a  hotel- 
keeper  ;  Lemuel,  a  farmer. 

Brown,  Wilson. 

Brown,  Calvin,  Marion,  Charles,  Robert  and 
Kerney,  all  sons  of  Wilson. 

Bilyew,  Joseph,  who  had  a  horse-mill  south  of 
Pocahontas. 

Bilyew,  Jesse,  Joseph,  Isaac  S.  and  John,  sons 
of  Joseph,  the  two  latter  being  twins. 

Bilyew,  Louis  G.,  son  of  John. 

Bilyew,  W.  A.  and  Finis,  sons  of  Joseph,  Sr. 

Balch,  Amos  P.,  La  Grange. 

Balch,  Calvin,  son  of  Amos  P. 

Barr,  Isaac  G.,  S.  N.  and  W.  H,  Isaac  a  farmer, 
La  Grange  S.  N.,  La  Grange  ;  W.  H,  a  black- 
smith, Fairview. 

Bird,  John  H.,  Beaver  Creek. 

Birge,  Cyrus,  Ansel  and  James,  brothers. 

Birge,  Cyrus,  Edwin  and  William,  sons  of 
Ansel. 

Birge,  J.  H,  son  of  Cyrus,  Sr. 

Barlow,  J.  N,  Town  7,  Range  4. 

Barlow,  W.  Carroll,  son  of  J.  N. 

Buchanan,  Welsheir. 

Buchanan,  Othniel,  son  of  Welsheir. 

Buchanan,  John,  cousin  of  Othniel. 

Bunch,  Lambert. 

Baker,  Hiram. 

Booth,  James. 

Baldridge,  D.  C. 

Brown,  Simon. 

Brown,  Thomas  M.,  W.  W.  and  McCune,  sons  of 
Simon. 

Brown,  Benjamin,  William,  Matthias  and  Hen- 
ry, brothers  ;  the  first  three  farmers  ;  Benja- 
min, formerby  a  miller  ;  Henry,  near  Old  Rip- 
ley. 

Brown,  Thomas,  southeast  quarter  of  Section 
12,  Township  G,  Range  4. 

Bine,  Alexander,  merchant,  Greenville. 

Baits,  Anson,  Josiah,  Samuel  J.  and  Eliphalet, 
brothers  ;  the  first  two  were  farmers,  the  last 
two  carpenters,  as  well  as  Anson. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


87 


Baldwin,  Samuel. 

Baldwin,  William  T.,  S.  F.,  J.  P.,  John  and 
Charles,  all  sons  of  Samuel,  and  farmers. 

Brown,  J.  M.,  Zion. 

Brown,  J.  H. 

Bradford,  James,  County  Treasurer,  Clerk  Cir- 
cuit and  Count}'  Courts,  and  County  Judge. 

Badoux,  J.,  Beaver  Creek. 

Blankenship.  James  and  John,  brothers. 

Bass,  Henry  and  William,  brothers  ;  the  first  a 
stock-dealer  and  large  farmer,  the  latter  also 
a  farmer. 

Barth,  Jacob,  Okaw. 

Barth.  Joseph,  Millersburg. 

Bulkley,  Samuel  B.,  merchant,  1843,  Green- 
ville. 

Barber,  Rev.  John,  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
clergyman. 

Badoux,  F.  E.,  Beaver  Creek. 

Barber,  Rev.  D.  K.,  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  son  of  John. 

Barr,  John  T.,  Sr.,  merchant,  Greenville. 

Byrnes,  Patrick  O.,  large  land  owner  and  farm- 
er, died  about  ten  years  ago. 

Barker,  Joshua  and  Jordan,  sons  of  William, 
deceased. 

Barker,  Williamson,  son  of  Jordan. 

Briggs,  Henry. 

Briggs,  Kendall,  son  of  Henry. 

Briggs,  Richard,  brother  of  Henry. 

Brookman,  Garrett,  hatter  in  Greenville  in 
1836. 

Brooks,  Dr.  T.  S.,  died  of  suffocation  in  fire  at 
Greenville. 

Brown,  W.  P.,  physician. 

Brown,  J.  M.,  Mulberry  Grove. 

Blaze,  William,  Beaver  Creek. 

Coyle,  John  and  James,  brothers. 

Coyle,  Jeremiah,  son  of  James. 

Chisenhall,  Alexander,  Pocahontas. 

Cormack.  William. 

Cormack,  T.  Jeff,  son  of  William. 

Castle,  John  T.,  son  of  J.  H. 

Castle,  John  H. 


Comer,  Allen  and  James,  brothers  ;  the  former 
a  Methodist,  who  settled  in  the  county  in 
1817. 

Comer,  Thomas  F.,  Samuel  B.  and  Johnson 
sons  of  Allen. 

Coleman,  Isaac. 

Case}',  Green. 

Cochrane,  Henry  M. 

Clarage,  John. 

Cock,  Robert,  Constable  in  1826. 

Cawvey,  Conrad  and  Martin,  brothers. 

Cheesman,  William,  Mulberry  Grove. 

Curlee,  J.  W.,  Zion. 

dishing,  Roswell,  died  in  Indianapolis. 

Cushing,  Charles  and    Henry,  sons  of  Roswell. 

Callihan,  Alexander,  Greenville. 

Cole,  Rev.  A.  J.,  Methodist  clergyman,  Okaw. 

Coal,  C.  C,  brother  of  A.  J.,  merchant  at  Keys- 
port. 

Crosbie,  House. 

Corie,  Joseph. 

Corie,  Joseph  T.  and  Horatio,  sons  of  Joseph. 

Clark,  Solomon,  son-in-law  of  Isaac  Reed. 

Carson,  William  and  John  W.,  sons  of  Andrew. 

Carson,  Andrew. 

Cruthis,  James  and  John,  brothers. 

Cruthis,  Vincent,  William  and  Henry,  brothers. 

Cruthis,  Neely,  son  of  John. 

Clanton,  James. 

Clantou,  Wesley,  Chap.,  John  and  Alfred,  sons 
of  James. 

Camp,  Hosea  T.,  was  Sheriff  and  Clerk  ;  lived 
on  home  farm  of  Williamson  Plant. 

Clouse,  William  and  John,  brothers. 

Colcord,  Samuel,  William  S.  and  Otis  B., 
brothers. 

Carroll,  Mac. 

Carroll,  Tillman,  son  of  Mae. 

Clark,  William. 

Crichfield,  Joseph  and  James,  brothers. 

Crichfield,  William. 

Causey,  James  E.,  blacksmith  and  farmer, 
northwest  quarter  of  the  southeast  quarter  of 
Section  33,  Town  5,  Range  -4. 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Comeitus,  Zachariah,  exhorter. 

Dowler,  John  Q.  A.,  shoemaker  (lame). 

Chittenden,  M.  B.,  Police  Magistrate. 

Dixon,  Walton  B.,  Bethel. 

Challis.  S.    II.,  Representative   in    Legislature 

Downing,  James,  Beaver  Creek. 

and  merchant  at  Pocahontas. 

Duckworth,  Paden,   lived  northwest  of  Poca- 

Combs, J.  A.,  Justice  of  Peace,  Mulberry  Grove. 

hontas. 

Crutchley,  M.  W.  and  Samuel  E.,  brothers. 

Duckworth,  Thomas,  son  of  Paden. 

Coburn,  Reuben,  Fairview. 

Deuson,  Joseph,  Constable  in  1827. 

Dove,  David. 

Dwelly,  Alexander,  merchant,  Beaver  Creek. 

Duckworth,  Thomas,  Okaw. 

Donnell.  George. 

Daniels,  Eli  E.,  carpenter,  Pocahontas. 

Donnell,    T.  Carson,    S.  Rankin  and  John  P., 

Dormau,  L.  D.,  blacksmith.  Bethel. 

sons  of  George. 

Davis,  Joel  M. 

Dressor,  Rufus,  member  of  Circuit  Court  sev- 

Durham, Kindrick  and  Baldy,  brothers. 

eral  years. 

Durham,  Gideon  L.,  son  of  Bald}'. 

Dressor,  Nathaniel,  Hiram  and  Joshua  P.,  sons 

Der,  John. 

of  Rufus  ;  Nathaniel  is  President  First  Na- 

Der, Fred,  son  of  John,  Zion. 

tional  Bank  of  Greenville  ;  Hiram  was  mem- 

Dnnsmore, S.  L. 

ber  of  Legislature  ;  Joshua  a  farmer. 

Davis,   James   M.,    Thomas   M.  and    William, 

Douglas,  H.  B.,  son  of  James,  Sunday  school 

brothers  ;  James  died  at  Hillsboro. 

worker. 

Davis,  Robert  W.,  son  of  J.  M.,  died  at  Hillsboro. 

Douglas,  A.  B.,  son  of  Nathaniel. 

Drake,  J.  B.,  physician  and  merchant  at  Green- 

Davis, Ira  B.,  died  at  Bethel. 

ville. 

Dixon,  William,  died  northwest  of  Greenville. 

Denny ,  Robert  W. 

Dixon,  James  I.  and  William  A.,  sons  of  Will- 

Denny, George,  father  of  Jesse  Denny. 

iam  ;  southwest  quarter  Section  6,  Town  5, 

Denny,  Samuel. 

Range  3. 

Denny,  James. 

Durley,   William   and    James,   brothers  ;    the 

Denny,  John. 

former  of  firm  of  Drake  &  Durley  ;  the  lat- 

Denny, J.  S.  and  A.  S.,  sous  of  John  ;  the  former 

ter   Clerk   of  County    Court   in   1831,   also 

Treasurer  and  County  Clerk  many  years. 

Count}-  Treasurer. 

Denny,   M.  V.,  son  of  Samuel,   Cashier  First 

Donnell,  George,  a  Presbyterian  and  Sunday 

National  Bank. 

school  worker. 

Denny,  Imbert  H. 

Donnell.  Joseph  M.,  John  D.,  William  N.,  James, 

Denny,  J.  B. 

Thomas  S.  and  George  W.,  all  sons  of  George 

Drake,  William  and  John,  brothers. 

Donnell. 

Denny,  Alexander. 

Dale,  G.,  member  of  Constitutional  Convention 

Douglas,  Nathaniel   and   James  M.,  brothers — 

in  1848,  County  Judge,  etc. 

Bethel. 

Dakin,  Thomas,  hotel  keeper  at  Greenville  in 

Diamond,  Robert. 

183G,  etc. 

Diamond.  Samuel. 

Dewy,  R.  K.,  Greenville. 

Duncan,  Robert. 

Dugger,  Alfred. 

Duncan.    Elisha,  James  Riley  and  Abraham, 

Dugger,  James  A. 

sons  of  Robert ;  Elisha  in  Colorado  ;  James 

Davis,  William,  Jr.,  son  of  Major  Davis,  south- 

died  in  Okaw. 

eastquarter  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section 

Dulaney,  Aaron,  Dudleyville. 

22,  Town  5,  Range  2. 

CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


89 


Davis.  Major  William,  Greenville,  died  in 
1882. 

Dechenue,  Phillibert,  southeast  quarter  of  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  21,  Town  6, 
Range  2. 

Dewy,  Nelson,  Yankee  farmer. 

Dewy,  H.  C.  and  Theron,sons  of  Nelson,  south- 
west quarter  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 1 3,  Town  4,  Range  3. 

Driskill.  William,  Pleasant  Prairie. 

Dixon,  Bluford. 

Daggett,  Daniel. 

Edwards,  William  M.  and  John  N.,  old  set- 
tlers. 

Evans.  Edward,  large  land-owner,  Zion. 

Etchison,  W.  H.  southeast  quarter  of  Section 
1,  Town  6,  Range  2. 

Elam.  Alexander. 

Elam,  Josephus,  farmer. 

Elam,  Samuel. 

Elam,  James  N.,  Sr. 

Elam,  F.  M..  large  farmer. 

Elam.  David. 

Elam,  Moses. 

Elam,  James  N.,  Jr. 

Elam,  Edward,  blacksmith,  Greenville,  1819. 

Elam,  Joel,  brother  of  Edward. 

Elmore.  Hiram. 

Elmore,  Hardin,  son  of  Hiram. 

Elsworth,  George,  Wesley  and  Jerry,  brothers. 

Eldridge,  C.  L.,  Greenville. 

Edwards,  Charles. 

Etheridge,  Henry. 

Etheridge,  N.  B. 

Enloe,  Asahel,  settled  at  Greenville,  1818. 

Enloe,  Ezekiel. 

Enloe,  James. 

Enloe,  Isaac. 

Etzler,  John. 

Etzler,  George  B..  son  of  John. 

Ellison.  Price. 

Etheridge,  Burrell. 

Elligood,  Elijah. 


Essenpries,  Les,  large  farmer,  north  half  of 
Section  18,  Town  4,  Range  4. 

Ellis,  Ed.,  large  land-owner. 

Eblin,  Samuel. 

Elder,  John. 

Ellis,  John,  old  settler. 

Ellis,  Noah  A. ,  son  of  John. 

Ellis,  Joel,  Hurricane. 

Eyman,  Henry. 

Ewing,  Thomas,  Town  6,  Range  3. 

Ewing,  John  H. ,  son  of  Thomas. 

Eakin,  James,  son  of  Samuel. 

Eakin,  Ichabod  and  Samuel,  brothers  and 
farmers  near  Fairview. 

Fitch,  J.  W. ,  physician,  Greenville,  1835— 
1849. 

File,  Henry,  old  settler. 

File,  Daniel,  Moses,  Tobias,  George,  J.  Nel- 
son, Jacob  and  William,  sons  of  Henry. 

File,  John  N.  and  Thomas  B.,  sons  of  Moses ; 
the  former  southeast  quarter  of  the  south- 
west quarter  of  Section  16,  Town  5,  Range  4. 

File,  Ed  B.  and  E.  J.,  sons  of  Daniel. 

Fisher,  Charles,  cabinet-maker,  Greenville. 

Fuller,  Seth,  surveyor  and  carpenter,  Green- 
ville. 

Fuller,  H.  Lyman,  son  of  Seth,  died  in  Green- 
ville in  1881. 

Fuller,  Lucius,  hotel -keeper,  died  in  Mulberry 
Grove. 

Floyd,  John  W.  and  C.  Stewart,  brothers; 
former  a  Methodist,  and  died  in  Beaver 
Creek. 

Floyd,  George,  J.,  Wesley,  John  S.  and  Dr. 
Thomas  W.,  sons  of  John  W.;  George,  of 
Greenville;  J.  Wesley,  north  of  Green- 
ville; John  S.  died  on  Beaver  Creek; 
Thomas  W.  died  at  Gillespie,  111. 

Foster,  Edwin,  carpenter  and  farmer,  dead. 

Foster,  Charles,  son  of  Edwin. 

Fenton,  William,  dead. 

Foster,  Elijah,  Okaw. 

Ferguson,  Daniel,  settled  at  Greenville,  1819. 


!MI 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Ferguson,   William,  George  and  Horatio  N., 

sons  of  Daniel. 
Floyd,  Jonathan  C. — Okaw. 
Finley,  Michael — Pleasant  Prairie. 
Fouke,  Joseph  T.,old  settler,  Greenville. 
Garland,  B.   F.   and  John  P.,  brothers;  for- 
mer died  at  Patoka,  latter  resides  at  Green- 
ville. 

Gossage, . 

Gwyn,  Elisha.  died  near  Elm  Point. 
Gwyn,  H.    B.,  R.  H.,  Thomas  C.   and  John, 
sons  of  Elisha;  the  first  two  live  at  Elm 
Point,  the  last  one  in  Kansas. 
Graff,    Daniel    and    Peter,  brothers,  Beaver 

Creek. 
Gross,  Gustave.  northwest  quarter  of  Section 

25,  Town  5,  Range  3. 
Gill,  Francis,  early  settler,  Mulberry  Grove. 
Grigg.   Daniel,  Frederick,   Bowlin,  Samuel, 
Jesse,  J.  R.,  John  T.  and  Richardson — all 
Zion. 
Goodson,     John,    Spencer    M.    and    Urban, 
brothers;    first-named   died   south    Green- 
ville; last  one  died  west  Beaver  Creek. 
Goodson,  Preston. 
Goodson,  James  M.  and  J.  K.,  sons  of  Urban; 

James  M.,  Beaver  Creek. 
Goodson,  S.  Monroe  and  John,  sons  of  John. 
Gaskins,  E.,  County  Judge  and  County  Clerk 

many  years. 
Gaskins,  E.  V.,  son  of  E.  Gaskins. 
Gall,  J.,  southeast  quarter  of  southwest  quar- 
ter of  Section  32,  Town  4.  Range  4. 
Greenwood,  John,  cabinet-maker  and  farmer. 
Greenwood,  John  K.  and  A.  W. ,  sons  of  John. 
Goddard,  John  and  Alexander. 
Gillespie,  Samuel. 
Gillespie,  Robert,  settled  in  Bond  County  in 

1816. 
Gillespie,    James   Ma,  Andrew,  Robert    and 

John. 
Gillispie,  Nathaniel. 
Gilley,  James  C. 


Grotts,  Joseph  and  George  F.,  brothers, 
Okaw. 

Glaze,  William — Beaver  Creek. 

Gum,  Henry,  Isaac  J.,  Riley  and  J.  Finley, 
brothers;  first  named  died  northwest 
Greenville,  the  second  died  at  Okaw. 

Gill,  W.  R.  and  James,  brothers;  former  a. 
farmer,  latter  a  stage-driver. 

George,  Aaron — Hurricane. 

Gardenhire,  J.  M. — Mulberry  Grove. 

Gilliland,  S.  M—  Beaver  Creek. 

Gower,  A.  V.  S.  M.— Dudley vi lie. 

Gaston,  John. 

Green,  William,  Andrew,  George  and  Royal. 

Gracy,  Joseph  and  William. 

Gilmore,  John,  Treasurer  and  County  Judge. 

Gilmore,  J.  Mc.    son  of  John. 

Goodin,  Hezekiah  and  John,  brothers,  Okaw. 

Gullick,  A.  J.,  Sheriff  Bond  County  eight 
years. 

Harkey,  William,  Town  7,  Range  3. 

Helms,  Thomas,  second  County  Clerk. 

Herrin,  Moses,  Section  8,  Town  4,  Range  4. 

Huffstedler,  John,  Town  5,  Range  4. 

Hill.  Nathan,  colored,  originally  slave  of 
Samuel  Hill. 

Henry,  John,  farmer,  Beaver  Creek,  died  in 
Texas. 

Henry,  Andrew  G.,  William  D.,  Samuel  T. 
and  P.  C,  sons  of  John;  the  first,  a  mem- 
ber of  Legislature  and  County  Judge, 
Greenville;  second,  a  farmer;  the  third,  a 
farmer  and  stock-dealer;  the  last,  a  money- 
lender, Terre  Haute. 

Hug,  Martin,  farmer,  Town  4,  Range  4. 

Howell,  Joseph,   farmer    and    Presbyterian, 

Town  5,  Range  3. 

Howell,  J.  S.,  son  of  Joseph,  Presbyterian 
minister,  Elm  Point. 

Haisley,  Alexander,  Greenville. 

Hastings,  Sutton,  early  settler-  Zion. 

Hastings,  Joseph  W.  and  William,  sons  of 
Sutton. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


91 


Harper,  Robert,  farmer,  Zion. 

Harper,  James  R.,  Isaac  and  Samuel  W.,sons 
of  Robert;  James  died  in  Montgomery 
County;  Isaac  lives  near  Fairview,  and 
Samuel  near  Zion. 

Hawks,  Solomon  and  Drewry — Okaw. 

Hundley,  James — Hurricane. 

Hays,  W.  T.,  southwest  Mulberry  Grove. 

Harper,  Peter,  south  half  Section  10,  Town 
5,  Range  2. 

Harper,  J.,  Madison,  northwest  quarter  Sec- 
tion 22,  Town  5,  Range  2. 

Hameteaux,  Louis,  southwest  quarter  Section 
33,  Town  4,  Range  3. 

Harrison.  Daniel — north  Bethel. 

Hill,  Anthony — north  Elm  Point, 

Hill,  D.  W.  and  Joseph  S.,  sons  of  Anthony, 
north  Elm  Point. 

Huffman,  B.,  southwest  part  of  county. 

Hubbard,  David,  Peter  and  Philip,  brothers; 
the  first.  Mulberry  Grove;  second,  east 
Greenville;  last,  west  Greenville. 

Hubbard,  T.  S.,  L.  B.  and  George  W.,  Bons 
of  Peter;  first  two,  east  Greenville. 

Hubbard,  Simeon  W.  and  John,  sons  of 
Philip  ;  Simeon,  west  Greenville;  John, 
killed  in  Texas  during  the  war. 

Henry,  Matthew,  old  settler. 

Henry.  Johnson,  son  of  Matthew. 

Hull,  William  T.  and  S.  V.  R,  brothers;  for- 
mer died  in  St.  Louis  during  the  war;  lat- 
ter moved  to  Kansas. 

Harned,  William,  died  on  return  from  Cali- 
fornia. 

Harned,  John  W.  and  D.  B.,  sons  of  Will- 
iam. 

Hawley,  Milton,  lawyer  and  farmer. 

Hawley,  R.  M.,  Delavan  B.  and  Luther  C, 
sons  of  Milton;  R.  M.,  in  Northern  Illinois; 
Delavan.  southeast  of  Greenville;  Luther, 
attorney,  in  California. 
Hittle,  William  and  Jacob,  brothers,  Town 
7,  Range  2. 


Harris,  U.  B.  and  W.  C,  brothers;  former 
member  of  County  Court;  latter  a  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  minister. 

Hill,  George  W.,  merchant,  Greenville. 

Hurley,  Isaac. 

Hoffman,  Nicholas. 

Harlan,  Bonum — Beaver  Creek. 

Harlan,  William  and  Abner,  sons  of  Bonum. 

Hull,  Benjamin,  farmer,  Beaver  Creek. 

Hudson,  R.  H. ,  farmer,  Mulberry  Grove. 

Hunter,  David. 

Hunter,  William,  Methodist  clergyman. 

Hunter,  Samuel,  John  P.,  William  M.,  Mar- 
shall, W.  Mc,  Samuel  J.,  James  B.  and 
D.   N. 

Hunter,  John  B.,  Thomas  N.  and  T.  J.,  sons 
of  David;  the  first,  a  large  stock-dealer; 
the  last,  gone  West. 

Hutchinson,  Z.  K,  of  singing  family. 

Hazier,  V.  W.— Okaw. 

Hartley,  S.  P.— Okaw. 

Holsberry,  John — Okaw. 

Holcomb,  P.  J. — Greenville. 

Holcomb,  S.  B.  and  P.  E.,  sons  of  P.  J. 

Hunt,  Charles  W. 

Hagan,  John  T. 

Hutchinson,  W.  T.,  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
minister. 

Hoiles,  Charles,  banker  and  merchant,  Green- 
ville. 

Harmon,  Anderson  and  William. 

Hampton,  John  M. — Pleasant  Prairie. 

Holbrook,  Amos,  farmer  and  old  settler. 

Holbrook,  Jacob,  Methodist  and  great  hunter. 

Hilliard,  J.  C,  farmer. 

Harris,  James  H. 

Harris,  James  W.,  Charles  D.,  Patrick  H. 
and  Jacob,  sons  of  James  H ;  James,  Pat- 
rick and  Jacob,  farmers;  Charles  D.,  lum- 
ber-dealer. 

Hynes,  Thomas  W.,  Presbyterian  minister, 
Old  Ripley,  and  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction. 


92 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Hynes,  A.  W.,  merchant,  Greenville,  brother 

of  Thomas  W. 
Hess,  H.  W.,  northwest  quarter  of  northeast 

quarter  of  Section  32,  Town  4,  Range  4. 
Hugg,  S.,  southwest  quarter  of  the  southeast 

quarter  of  Section  32,  Town  4,  Range  4. 
Isley,  Stanford — Zion. 
Ives,  Myron,  farmer. 
Ives,  Charles,  son  of  Myron. 
Jackson,    Larkin,   James    W.,   John    C.   and 

George  W.,  brothers. 
Jones,  James,  second  County  Clerk,  1819. 
Johnston,  James. 

Jandt,  H.  G. ,  merchant,  Old  Ripley. 
Jandt,  H.  A.,  merchant,  son  of  H.  G. 
Jett,    John,  had    large    family,   died   in    La 

Grange. 
Jett,  Thomas,    Francis    and    Humphrey,   all 

died  north  Zion. 
Jett,  Thomas  A. 
Jett,  William  A.    and  Stephen    J.,    sons  of 

Thomas. 
Jett,  J.    Madison,  north    part  of   Section  4, 

Town  6,  Range  3. 
Jett,  T.  Jefferson. 
Jett,  Jacob  H.,  died  in  La  Grange. 
Jett,  B.  F.  and  James  W.,  live  in  La  Grange. 
Jett,  John  H.  and  Gabriel,  sons  of  Francis; 

the  former  on  northeast  quarter  of  Section 

31,  Town  5,  Range  2. 
Jett,  Stark  N.  and  Thos  N.,  sons  of  Humphrey. 
Jackson,  John. 
Jackson,    James   T. ,    Jonathan,   W.    H.    and 

Freling,  sons  of  John. 
Joy,  Samuel  N.  and  Sylvester. 
Jones,  Nathaniel  C.  and  Daniel  D.,  brothers 

and  twins;  the  former  died  in  the  army. 
Jarrard,  Abram,  runs  saw-mill. 
Jewett,  Benjamin,  near  Fairview. 
Johnson,  Israel,  died  north  Bethel. 
Jennings,  B.,  died  east  Greenville. 
Jennings,  W.  E.  and  C.  W.,  brothers;  former 

died  north  Bethel. 


Jay,  J.  A.,  blacksmith. 

Jones,  William,  north  Bethel. 

Johnson,  Charles,  member  County  Court, 
1820,  etc. 

Johnson,  Benjamin,  member  Legislature, 
Pocahontas. 

Johnson,  Charles,  died  in  Bond  County. 

Johnson,  Duncan,  died  at  Vandalia. 

Johnson,  J.  P.,  banker.  Highland,  Kan. 

Johnson,  Hugh,  killed  at  the  South. 

Johnson,  James,  died  in  California. 

Kershner,  Isaac,  died  in  Bond  County. 

Kirkpatrick,  William. 

Koonce,  Nicholas,  died  in  Bond  County. 

Koonce,  George,  Jacob,  Christ  H.  and  Joseph 
L. ,  sons  of  Nicholas;  George  moved  to 
Harper's  Ferry;  Jacob,  Sheriff  of  Bond 
County,  1852,  etc. ;  Joseph  a  farmer. 

Kelsoe,  Alexander,  Clerk  Circuit  Court. 

Kizer,  Henry,  Okaw. 

Kimbro,  Frederick,  Zion. 

Kirkham.  Jesse,  Pocahontas. 

Kirkland,  John. 

King,  John  B.,  Okaw. 

Kesner,  Jacob,  William  C.  and  Josiah,  Okaw. 

Kesterson,  Robert,  Okaw. 

Kuykendall,   Simon,  runs  saw-mill  and  farm. 

Kingsbury,  Ira,  farmer  and  surveyor. 

Kingsbury,  A.  N.,  Daviess,  A.  N.  and  John, 
sons  of  Ira;  all  attorneys,  and  the  latter, 
A.  N.,  Judge  of  Montgomery  County  Court. 

Kerr,  Lewis,  Zion. 

Keys,  Thomas,  merchant,  Keysport. 

Long,  James,  Baptist  clergyman;  came  in 
1822. 

Long,  Peter,  Baptist  clergyman,  son  of 
James. 

Long,  Thomas,  son  of  James,  merchant  and 
had  a  wool  factory. 

Long,    James,    Lemuel    B.,   Isham  V.    and 
Peter,  sons  of  Peter;  James,  a  farmer,  and 
Lemuel  a  merchant  at  Old  Ripley. 

Lindley,  Jacob,  an  old  settler. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


93 


Lindley,  Elisha,  Town  7,  Range  4. 

Lindley,  Urias,  Town  4,  Range  3. 

Lindley.  JDseph,  an  old  settler. 

Libbey,  W.  P.,  near  Elm  Point. 

Libbey,  W.  A.,  S.  H.  and  John,  sons  of  W.  P. 

Little,  James. 

Leaverton,  Noah,  Methodist  minister,  died 
in  Kansas. 

Leaverton,  John  A.  and  Wilson,  sons  of 
Noah;  former  died  in  Sangamon  County, 
a   large    land    owner;  the    latter    lives    at 

Chatham,  111.,  a  farmer. 

Lyttaker,  Moses,  a  brave  soldier. 

Lynch,  Henry. 

Lynch,  Henry  F.,  son  of  Henry. 

Lookinbill,  J.  H. 

Lucas,  William,  old  settler. 

Lister,  W.  W. 

Laws,  Fielding,  and  John  A  ,  brothers,  north 
of  La  Grange. 

Laws.  Thomas  A.,  James  and  Newman,  sons 
of  Fielding. 

Lawson,  Joseph,  Beaver  Creek. 

Lampkin,  P.  W.,  merchant  and  farmer,  Poca- 
hontas. 

Lampkin,  Benjamin  and  George,  sons  of  P. 
W. ;  former  died  at  Pocahontas. 

Lansing,  J.  D.,  died  at  Greenville. 

Littlefield,  L.  P.,  gone  West. 

Lester,  J.  L.  D. 

Lovet,  John  G.,  farmer. 

Lovet,  John  C,  son  of  John  G. 

Mains,  James,  died  near  Greenville. 

Moore,  Albert,  died  near  Beaver  Creek. 

Mills,  George  S.,  son  of  David. 

Miles,  David,  son  of  William. 

Miles,  William,  Methodist  minister,  Poca- 
hontas. 

Miles,  James,  Elijah  and  Morris,  brothers. 

Miles,  Irving,  Jonathan  and  William,  sons 
of  Elijah;  the  first  named  died  at  home, 
Beaver  Creek. 

Moss,  W.  W.,  died  near  Woburn. 


Moss,  Lemuel  S.  and  James  H,  sons  of  W. 
W. 

Malone,  John  M.,  harnessmaker,  Greenville. 

Moore,  Emery,  farmer,  Okaw. 

Meritt,  Isaac  N. ,  farmer,  Okaw. 

Murray,  Jordan,  farmer,  Okaw. 

Moore,  Joseph,  farmer,  Beaver  Creek. 

Moore,  William,  farmer,  son  of  Joseph. 

Metcalf,  Balaam,  died  on  Beaver  Creek. 

Metcalf,  William  and  Henry  H.  sons  of  Ba- 
laam, and  farmers. 

Mason,  Haywood, — Gillham  Creek. 

Maytield,  William  and  James,  brothers,  Gill- 
ham  Creek. 

Miller,  George  W.,  Mayor  of  Greenville. 

Mattinly,  J.,  eye  doctor,  Mulberry  Grove. 

Miller,  Rufus,  —Mulberry  Grove. 

Maxey,  Joel,  Fairview. 

Mathews,  Elisha,  north  of  Fairview. 

Mathews,  J.  J.,  John  F.  and  E.  P.,  sons  of 
Elisha;  J.    J.  moved  to  Fayette. 

Moore,  Daniel  and  Philip,  brothers,  early 
settlers;  the  former  a  brother-in-law  of 
Ned  Elam. 

McClung,  James,  north  of  Greenville. 

Mills,  Jonathan  and  Thomas  J.,  sons  of  Rev. 
William  Mills;  former  died  in  Texas. 

Mills,  W.  J.,  harness-dealer,  Greenville. 

May,  John, — north  of  Zion. 

Maxey,  William  O. 

Merry,  Prettyman,  David,  Robert,  Samuel, 
James  C,  Andrew  B.  and  David  W., 
brothers,  sons  of  David;  Robert  keeps 
livery-stable;  Samuel  southeast  quarter  of 
the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  33,  Town 
6,  Range  3;  James,  northeast  quarter  Sec- 
tion 20,  Town  6,  Range  3;  Andrew,  north- 
east quarter  Section  31,  Town  6,  Range  3; 
David,  northwest  quarter  Section  32,  Town 
6,  Range  3. 

McAdow,  S.  N.  and  David  K.,  brothers;  for- 
mer County  Judge  and  member  of  County 
Court. 


94 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


McAdow,  John  and  William,  sons  of  S.  N. 
Miller,  Lewis,  near  Ripley. 
Miller,  Charles,  founder  of  Millersburg. 
May,     Morris,    southeast   part    of    Pleasant 

Prairie. 
May,   Robert,  Isaac  J.    and   M.   V.,    sons  of 

Morris. 
McCulley,  Clinton  and  Clement,  brothers. 
McLean,  James  K.,  Captain  in  late  war. 
McManus,  B.  P. 

McVey,  Nathan,  died  at  Greenville. 
McVey,  Peter,  Cleaveland  and  Thomas,  sons 

of  Nathan. 
McAdoo,  D.  C,  farmer,  near  Fairview. 
McCollum,  William,  south  of  Pocahontas. 
McCollum,  Aaron,  A.  W.  and  Henry,  sons  of 

William;  A.  W.  lives  in  Pocahontas. 
McShawt,  William,  southwest  quarter  Section 

5,  Town  5,  Range  3. 
McKenzie,  George, — Bethel. 
McDonald,  F.  R.,— Okaw. 
McLearen,  John, — Okaw. 
McCaslin,  J.  O.  and  Hugh,  brothers;  former 

Beaver  Creek. 
McCaslin,  William  G.  and  Williamson,  sons 

of  J.  O. 
McAdams,   Jesse,   Robert,  James,   Sloss  and 

John,  brothers;  first  three  farmers;  Sloss  for 

many    years    Sheriff;     John    member    of 

County  Court. 
McAdams.  Jesse  and  Hiram,  sons  of  Jesse. 

McAdams,  Henry,  son  of  James. 
McLenny,  John  H. 
McAlilly,  James  J. 
Murphy,  John  and  Thomas. 
Morey,  Hiram, — Mulberry  Grove. 
Mayo,    Benjamin    F.,    Henry    and    Charles, 

brothers;  Benjamin  north  of  Fairview. 
Myatt,  Alexander,  member  County  Court. 
Myatt,   Wesley,   Alexander  B. ,  W.  C.  and  J. 

B. ,    sons   of    Alexander;    Wesley,    killed; 

Alexander  and  W.  C.  farmers,  Okaw. 
McNeill,  Noilly,   father  of   Abe  and  William. 


McNeill,  Abe,  large  land  owner. 

McNeill,  William,  farmer. 

Mills,  Andrew  G.,  old  settler,  Beaver  Creek. 

Mills,  Milton,  son  of  A.  G. 

Mackay,  A.  C,  member  of  County  Court  sev- 
eral years. 

Mackay,  Robert,  son  of  A.  C. ;  also  member 
of  County  Court. 

McCaslin,  JohnM.,  Sheriff,  1879-80. 

McCaslin,  Younger,  early  settler. 

McCracken,  James,  Nathan  and  John  P., 
brothers;  the  two  first  near  Bethel;  John 
southeast  quarter  of  southeast  quarter  Sec- 
tion 30,  Town  7,  Range  4. 

McCord,  John  H.,  Robert  E.  and  James  S., 
Bethel. 

McCord,  Elihu  R.,  hotel-keeper,  Greenville. 

Morgan,  Thomas,  Circuit  Clerk,  1833,  etc. 

Morgan,  W.  T.,  farmer. 

McFarland,  Robert,  died  near  Bethel. 

McFarland,  C.  C.  and  John  V.,  farmers,  sons 
of  Robert. 

McCulley,  James  I.  and  Joseph,  brothers,  the 
former  gone  to  Kansas;  the  latter  a  farmer. 

McCracken,  Eli,  Methodist  minister. 

McCurley,  Abraham. 

McCurley,  Hartwell,  son  of  Abraham. 

McCann,  William,  and  Joseph,  brothers, 
Pleasant  Prairie. 

Murray,  William  B.,  member  County  Court. 
Pocahontas. 

McReynolds,  John. 

Margrave,  John,  farmer  and  Presbyterian. 

Margrave,  Felix,  Treasurer  of  Bond  County. 

Mears,  Edward  A. 

Moody,  Richard. 

Moody,  Andrew,  son  of  Richard. 

McLain,  John  A.,  and  J.  Thomas,  brothers. 

McLain,  N.  W.,  C.  D.,  Thomas  R.,  A.  H.  and 
Milton  J.,  sons  of  John  A.;  N  W.  a  ma- 
chinist; C.  D.  and  Thomas,  farmers;  A. 
H.  and  Milton,  in  Kansas. 

Myres,  Joseph, — Beaver  Creek. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


95 


McAdams,  William. 

McAdams,    Samuel  G.,   son  of  "William,  Cap 
tain  Company  E,  Twenty-second  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  a  brave  soldier, 
killed  while  searching  for  deserters. 

McAdams,  J.  M.,  son  of  Captain  S.  G., 
Treasurer  of  the  county. 

McCaslin,  W.  R.,  northwest  quarter  Section 
29,  Town  7,  Range  3. 

Montgomery,  John. 

Newhall,  Horatio,  Greenville,  1824. 

Nowlin,  David,  Circuit  Clerk  in  1825. 

Nowlin,  John. 

Neathery,  G.  W.,  northeast  quarter  Section 
35,  and  northwest  quarter  Section  30,  Town 
7.  Range  2. 

Nesbit,  Robert,  north  of  Fairview. 

Nance,  Berick,  north  of  Old  Ripley. 

Neidhammer,  John,  east  of  Old  Ripley. 

Neifardt,  Jacob,  north  of  Old  Ripley. 

Near,  Alfred, — Greenville. 

Nicholson,  J.  F.  and  George  W.,  brothers; 
J.  F.,  Pleasant  Prairie. 

Orrusby,  Martin  P.,  Presbyterian  clergyman. 

Oates,  W.  S. ,  east  Greenville. 

Overstreet,  William — Kansas. 

Pritchett,  Thomas  J. — Fairview. 

Potts,  Stringer,  Amos,  Daniel;  F.  G. ,  north- 
west quarter  Section  7,  Town  4,  Range  3; 
Henry  and  Robert 

Potter,  J.  M.— Elm  Point. 

Pender,  Andrew. 

Pugh,  William  H. ,  east  Fairview. 

Price,  Jonathan,  Isaac  H. ,  Oliver  and 
Thomas. 

Powell,  Benjamin  E.  and  W.  C,  brothers. 

Page.  R.  G.  and  Jesse,  Town  7,  Range  4. 

Pierson,  Aaron,  Town  4,  Range  2. 

Purveyear,  James  A.,  Town  4,  Range  3. 

Petti  John,  Reuben,  an  early  Justice  of  Peace. 

Perry,  Joseph,  east  Elm  Point. 

Paine,  Elisha  and  William,  brothers,  Town 
5,  Range  4. 


Paine,  William  R.,  Thomas  and  John  B., 
sons  of  Elisha. 

Plant,  Williamson,  settled  in  county  1818, 
died  183-. 

Plant,  John,  William,  Robert,  Williamson, 
Lorenzo  D.  and  James,  sons  of  William- 
son; John  died  in  1805;  William,  at  New 
Orleans;  Robert  died  July  4,  1852;  Will- 
iamson died  of  cholera  May  12,  1833;  Lo- 
renzo died  May  21,  1801;  James  died 
March  22,  1850. 

Plant,  L.  B.,  son  of  Robert. 

Plant,  Lemuel  H.  and  Williamson,  sons  of 
L.  D. ;  former  died  on  the  way  to  Califor- 
nia in  1852;  latter,  Sheriff  of  Bond  County 
many  years,  and  Secretary  of  Vandalia 
Railroad  Company. 

Plant,  W.  L.,  James  D.  and  George  F.,  sons 
of  James;  W.  L.,  Town  5,  Range  4;  George, 
Town  5,  Range  3. 

Pool,  John,  settled  afterward  in  Putnam 
County. 

Perkins,  John,  north  Fairview. 

Perkins,  Ephraim,  Henry,  William  C.  and 
Thomas,  sons  of  John;  Ephraim — Fair- 
view;  William  and  Thomas,  Town  5, 
Range  2. 

Prater,  Brice  and  Samuel,  brothers,  north 
Zion;  Brice,  Town  6,  Range  2. 

Prater,  John  W.,  son  of  Samuel. 

Plant,  John  W.  and  Charles  B.,sons  of  John; 
John,  Section  1,  Town  5,  Range  4;  Charles, 
Section  33,  Town  5,  Range  4. 

Page,  William — Mulberry  Grove. 

Pigg,  Elijah — Mulberry  Grove. 

Polhtt,  John  W.,  drowned  in  Shoal  Creek, 
near  Pocahontas. 

Peterson,  Alexander,  northwest  part  of  Old 
Ripley. 

Plog,  Charles  F. ,  died  near  Old  Ripley. 

Plog,  John  and  Peter,  sons  of  Charles  F. 

Phelps,  S.  A.,  attorney,  Greenville. 


96 


HISTORY    OF  BOND  COUNTY 


Paisley,  William  and  Robert,  brothers;  for- 
mer died  at  Elm  Point;  latter  died  of  hy- 
drophobia. 

Paisley,  Robert  G.  and  "William  F.,  sons  of 
William;  Robert,  southeast  quarter  of 
northeast  quarter  Section  — ,  Town  6, 
Range  3;  William,  on  old  homestead. 

Parr,  Samuel,  had  a  water  grist-mill,  east 
Shoal  Creek. 

Pruitt,  Solomon,  early  settler. 

Pursley,  William. 

Peter,  W. 

Pruitt,  Fields,  came  to  county  in  1816. 

Ridgeway,  William,  northwest  Pocahontas. 

Ridgeway,  J.  S.  and  George  W.,  sons  of 
William. 

Rosebrough,  James. 

Rutherford,  James  B.,  first  hatter  in  Green- 
ville. 

Redfearn,  James  and  Ira. 

Ross,  J.  Milton,  Andrew  B.,  Thomas  and 
William  B.,  brothers. 

Rea,  Andrew. 

Rhea,  Henry  D.,  County  Commissioner  and 
farmer. 

Reavis,  Isham,  early  settler. 

Reavis,  Hiram,  Isham  T.  and  Ewing,  sons  of 
Isham. 

Redding,  Andrew  J. — Mulberry  Grove. 

Redding,  William  M.  and  James,  sons  of 
Andrew. 

Robinson,  James  W.  and  Isaac,  sons  of  Alex- 
ander. 

Robinson,  Alexander. 

Reneh,  Joseph. 

Rench,  David,  William,  John  and  Peter,  sons 
of  Joseph. 

Reeves,  John,  farmer,  north  Fairview. 

Reeves,  W.  B. ,  George  W.  and  James,  sons 
of  John. 

Rushton,  Gaius. 

Riley,  Barnabas,  farmer,  near  Mulberry 
Grove. 


Riley,  James,  John  and  William,  sons  of 
Barnabas  ;  James,  a  farmer  ;  John,  mem- 
ber of  County  Court. 

Robinson,  Gideon,  married  in  Bond  County, 
1817. 

Robinson,  Lawson  H.,  Sheriff  in  1828-29. 

Rodgers,  James,  farmer. 

Rodgers,  William  M.  and  F.  M.,  sons  of 
James. 

Reams,  William,  farmer,  Locust  Fork,  a  great 
hunter. 

Stout,  Samuel  and  Thomas,  brothers ;  the  lat- 
ter a  miller  and  hotel-keeper. 

Stout,  H.  E.,  son  of  Thomas. 

Senn,  John,  merchant,  Pocahontas. 

Stewart,  Robert,  Presbyterian  minister,  and 
W.  M.,  brothers. 

Stroube,  Jacob,  north  Zion. 

Snow,  James  and  WTilliam,  north  Zion. 

Seybert,  Henry,  west  Greenville. 

Seybert,  Morgan,  H.  V.,  Jacob  and  W.  B., 
sons  of  Henry;  first  two,  west  Greenville; 
Jacob,  north  Pocahontas. 

Sugg,  Aquila,  Josiah,  William  and  Lemuel, 
sons  of  Noah;  the  first  a  Methodist  clergy- 
man, west  Greenville;  the  second,  a  farmer 
near  Pocahontas. 

Sugg,  Howell  and  Noah,  sons  of  William. 

Sugg,  Noah  A.,  Thomas  W.,  W.  Fletcher 
and  Foushe  T.,  sons  of  Aquila;  Noah,  a 
Methodist  clergyman;  Foushe,  noted  for  a 
great  memory. 

Sugg,  William  T.  and  Josiah  F.,  sons  of  Jo- 
siah; latter  was  Treasurer  of  Bond  County 
1853-56,  and  Sheriff  1856-58. 

Sheirod,  Joel. 

Stoneburner,  Samuel  and  William,  brothers, 
near  Dudleyville. 

Stone,  James. 

Sellers,  Benjamin  E.,  Captain  in  Mexican 
war. 

Sellers,  L.  J.,  Sr.— Mulberry  Grove. 

Spradling,  James — Mulberry  Grove. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


<J7 


Spradling,  James  H.,  son  of  James. 

Taylor,  John  H. 

Sturgis,  Dr.  D.  B.,  laid  out  New   Hamburg. 

Thompson,  James  W.  and  Williamson,  broth- 

Scott, John,  south  New  Hamburg. 

ers. 

Segraves,  Bennett,  south  Mulberry  Grove. 

Thacker,  Abner,  Martin,  W.    H.,  Allen   and 

Segraves,  L.  J.,  son  of  Bennett. 

Elijah. 

Stubblefield,  Wyatt,  William,  Jeremiah   and 

Tabor,  D.  N.,  removed  to  Litchfield. 

John,  brothers  and  early  settlers;  "Wyatt — 

Tabor,  S.  M. ,  Captain  in  the  late  war. 

east  Greenville. 

Travis,  John  E. 

Stubblefield,  John  M.,  W.  H.  and  A.  H,  sons 

Toler,  Reuben. 

of  Wyatt;    John,  at  Stubblefield   Station; 

Ulmer.  Martin,  father  of  George,  Casper  and 

others,  Greenville. 

Martin,  Jr. 

Skelton,  John,  early  settler. 

Vanlaningham,  Zimri. 

Scott,  Moses,  southeast  Fairview. 

Van  Grundy,  John. 

Spratt,  William. 

Vaughn,  Newman,  John,  David  C,  William, 

Sargeant,  James  W. — Okaw. 

Samuel,    Sr.,    and    Samuel,    Jr.,    member 

Sturgenhofeeker,  G.  L.,  peddler. 

County  Court. 

Snodgrass,  Isaac,  member  of  County  Court. 

Vollentine,  Hardy. 

Stallard,  Samuel  D. — Pocahontas. 

Volleutine,  William,  son  of  Hardy. 

Stallard,  Rawley  E.,  son  of  Samuel  D. 

Vollentine',  J.  0.,  W.  P.,  George  W.,  Hardy, 

Shields,  Thomas — Okaw. 

James  M.,   Benjamin,   John  J.  and  C.  C, 

Savage,  Richard. 

sons  of  William;  J.  0.,  killed  by  falling  of 

Scott,  A.  E.,  carpenter  and  cabinet-maker. 

a   house;    W.    P.,    deceased;    George,    in 

Stephens,  Cyrus  H.  and  Alvan,  brothers. 

Christian  County;  Hardy,  in  Northern  Ill- 

Smith, John  and  James,  brothers;  the  former 

inois;  remaining  four  Methodists. 

a  nurseryman. 

Vest,  James,  Mulberry  Grove. 

Smith,  J.  J.,  son  of  James. 

Vest,  Thomas  L.  and  J.  E. ,  sons  of  James. 

Smith,  C.  J.,  T.  N.  and  James  M.,  sons  of  J.  J. 

Vawter,  Presley  G. 

Schneider,     Theodore,    member    of    County 

Watson,  Matthew,  carpenter  and  farmer. 

Court;    south  half    Section    19,   Town    5. 

Wood,  Charles,  large  farmer,  Town  7,  Range  3. 

Smith,  Elisha,  on  Hurricane. 

Wood,  Eli,  Ezra  and  John,  sons  of  Charles, 

Smith,  C.  T.,  George  M.,  Sowoll  and   Merit, 

and  farmers. 

sons  of  Elisha. 

Webster,  F.  M.,  George,  A.  J.  and  Levi. 

Sharp,  Henry. 

Willey,  John  F.,  Wilson  W.   and  James  W., 

Sharp,   Milton,   Treasurer  of   Bond    County 

brothers. 

1877-80. 

Watson,  Fielding. 

Smith,  Peter  and  Andrew. 

Widger,  James  D. 

Stoker,  Joseph. 

Williams,   Henry,   member  of  County  Court 

Sherwood,  David. 

several  years. 

Tatum,  Richard. 

Williams,  Henry  M. 

Teasly,  Jonathan. 

Walker,  Andrew,  north  Zion. 

Teasly,  William,  son  of  Jonathan. 

Wightman,  Charles. 

Tedrick.  Alvin — Hurricane. 

Washburn,  John  A.,  Nevils,  Lemuel,  Martin 

Tate,  Charles  F. 

and  J.  S. 

98 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


White,  Thomas,  Commissioner  to  locate 
Greenville  as  county  seat;  they  met  at  his 
house  in  1821. 

White,  Hugh  T.,  John  B.,  James,  Thomas 
(a  tanner),  and  Alexander,  sons  of  Thomas, 
and  Presbyterians. 

White,  Robert  G.  and  William,  brothers; 
north  Greenville;  Presbyterians. 

White,  S.  D.,  killed  by  falling  of  Shoal 
Creek  bridge. 

Wood,  Frederick,  shoemaker,  Greenville. 

Weathers,  Wilson,  west  Zion. 

Walker,  Richard,  north  Zion. 

Wright,  J.  J.,  north  Zion. 

Wollard,  James  B.,  Methodist  minister. 

White,  J.  C.    Stephen  and  Ambrose  B. 

Wilmarth,  Joel,  son  of  William. 

Watson,  Isaac  and  Joab,  brothers. 

White,  Richard,  a  Methodist. 

White,  Wesley  and  Thomas  M.,  sons  of  Rich- 
ard; former  a  farmer;  latter  a  Methodist 
minister. 

Williams,  Henry,  son  of  Henry. 

Wishon,  Ralph, — Okaw. 

Williamson,  William. 

Whitsides,  John,  Town  7,  Range  4. 

Wilson,  Samuel,  south  Greenville. 

West,  Alexander,  cabinet-maker. 

Williford,  James. 

Williford,  Robert,  J.  H.  and  Willis,  sons  of 
James;  Robert,  west  Old  Ripley;  Willis, 
east  Old  Ripley. 

Williford,  James  M. —Greenville. 


White,  Samuel,  east  Greenville. 
White,  Ed  B.,  Samuel  G.,  John  B.  O., 
James  W.  and  W.  C,  sons  of  Samuel;  E. 
B., — Greenville;  Samuel, — -Beaver  Creek; 
James  died  in  the  army;  W.  C,  east 
Greenville. 

White,  Thomas,  brother  of  Samuel. 

White,  John, — Beaver  Creek,  northwest  quar- 
ter Section  36,  Town  4,  Range  3. 

Wafer,  William,  Thomas,  Sr.,  and  James, 
brothers;  latter  came  to  the  county  in  1819. 

Wafer,  Thomas,  James  E,  and  John  F., 
sons  of  James;  Thomas  a  miller  and  far- 
mer; James,  a  machinist;  John,  Sheriff  of 
Bond  County  1869-70,  now  Sheriff  in 
Kansas. 

Wait.  Silas  Lee  and  William  S..  brothers; 
latter  a  large  farmer,  died  July  17,  1865. 

Wait,  William  S.,  Richard  S.,  Henry  W. 
and  Foster  F.,  brothers;  William, — Poca- 
hontas; Richard  in  California;  Henry,  east 
of  Greenville;  Foster,  southwest  Green- 
ville. 

Watson,  Hugh,  had  a  horse-mill,  Zion. 

Watson,  A.  W.  and  W.  P*,  sons  of  Hugh. 

Wait,  Stephen,  farmer. 

White,  Thomas  D.,  north  Greenville. 

Wait,  Lee,  son  of  S.  L. 

Young,  Tapley,  a  Methodist. 

Young,  William  M.,  Methodist  minister. 

There  may  be  omissions  in  the  foregoing  list, 
but  it  is  as  nearly  correct  as  can  now  be 
given. 


-——___ __ 


■#m 


§ 

M 


^rp^^z^^O^ 


LIBRARY 

OF  1HE 

UNIVEKSlTr  wflLUNu.; 


CITY  OF   GREENVILLE. 


101 


( 


CHAPTER  X.* 

GREENVILLE  — THE   SALE   OF   LOTS  — BUILDING  A   COURT   HOUSE  — PUBLIC   BUILDINGS  OF   THE 

COUNTY— TAVERNS  AND  THEIR  CHANGES— UNCLE  JIMMY'S  GROCERY— COUNTY  OFFICERS 

—  THE  WATER   SUPPLY  — WAR    HISTORY   OF   GREENVILLE   AND  BOND  COUNTY  — 

THE    DIFFERENT    REGIMENTS    IN    WHICH    THEY    WERE    REPRESENTED  — 

THE  1I1LLIARD   RIFLES,  ETC.,  ETC. 


AS  has  been  referred  to  heretofore,  Green- 
ville was  surveyed  and  platted  by  John 
Russell,  in  June,  1S21.  The  court  ordered 
June  5,  1821,  "  that  thirty  lots  be  sold  in 
the  town  of  Greenville  on  the  first  Monday  in 
July,  on  a  credit  of  six,  twelve  and  eighteen 
months,  payable  in  three  equal  installments, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  county;"  and  it  was 
further  "  ordered  that  the  Clerk  procure  the 
insertion  of  the  foregoing  advertisement  in 
the  Edwardsville  Spectator  and  the  Illinois 
Intelligencer,  for  three  weeks  successively." 
The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  lots  to  he  ap- 
plied toward  erecting  public  buildings  for  the 
county. 

At  a  court  held  September  4,  1821,  it  was 
"  ordered  that  the  court  house  of  Bond  County 
be  let  to  the  lowest  bidder  on  Wednesday, 
the  19th  inst.,  and  that  the  Clerk  give  due 
notice  by  advertisement  of  the  same."  The 
court  met  on  the  19th  of  September,  1821. 
When  the  bids  were  opened,  it  was  found 
that  Robert  G.  White  was  the  successful  bid- 
der, for  the  sum  of  $2,135,  and  he  imme- 
diately entered  into  bond  for  the  fulfillment 
of  the  contract,  with  Andrew  Moody,  Samuel 
Houston  and  ElishaBlanchard  his  securities, 
payment  of  same  to  be  notes  of  purchasers  of 
town  lots.  At  a  court  held  December  3, 
1821,  the  Commissioners  delivered  notes 
from  sale  of  lots  to  R.  G.  White  on  his  con- 

*  By  Williamson  Plant. 


tract  to  the  amount  of  $1,338.  The  lots  sold 
for  average  price  of  $44.60  per  lot,  provided 
the  thirty  lots  were  sold;  if  a  less  number 
sold,  the  average  would  be  larger.  Other 
lots  were  sold  at  various  prices  at  private 
sale.  By  agreement  between  the  court  and 
the  contractor,  some  change  was  made  in  the 
number  of  lights  to  be  put  in  the  windows; 
those  below,  twenty- four  lights  instead  of 
twenty,  and  those  above,  twenty  in  place  of 
sixteen,  as  per  contract,  and  only  to  have  two 
windows  in  each  end  to  correspond  with  those 
on  the  sides  in  size.  The  glass  in  the  win- 
dows were  8x10  inches,  and  to  have  but  one 
chimney  in  place  of  two,  as  first  designed,  and 
that  one  in  the  end  opposite  the  Judge's  seat. 
At  this  time,  and  for  several  years  after, 
there  was  not  a  stove  in  the  county,  the  old- 
fashioned  fireplace,  that  which  yet  brings  to 
our  minds  the  comforts  of  other  days,  was  in 
use  in  every  house,  many  of  them  being  from 
four  to  six  feet  in  length,  and  when  a  good 
fire  was  made  in  the  same,  resembled  the 
burning  of  a  log  heap,  such  as  are  made  when 
clearing  timber  fields  for  the  plow.  This 
house,  made  of  a  poor  quality  of  bricks,  was 
badly  damaged  by  storms,  wind  and  rain  be- 
fore it  was  completed.  In  fact,  it  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  ever  been  completed.  Com- 
menced in  1821,  it  was  so  nearly  completed 
on  June  4,  1822,  that  the  court  paid  to  Rob- 


102 


HISTORY   OF    BOND   COUNTY. 


ert  G.  White,  the  contractor,  nearly  the  bal- 
ance due. 

At  this  time  the  center  of  business  of  Green- 
ville was  at  the  crossing  of  Main  and  Sixth 
streets,  in  the  west  end  of  the  present  town. 
And  the  bad  boy,  of  which  there  is  sufficient 
evidence,  was  fully  represented  in  this  new 
town,  would,  for  pastime  and  comfort,  only 
understood  by  himself,  gravitate,  when  his 
convenience  was  suited,  near  that  public  in- 
stitution of  justice,  and,  with  his  sling  in 
hand,  under  cover  of  the  surrounding  bushes, 
would  watch  the  falling  stone  drop  on 
those  coveted  8x10  lights.  The  building, 
only  half  built  at  first,  greatly  perplexed  the 
court  to  get  and  keep  it  in  repair  for  the  few 
years  that  it  stood.  They  made  at  least  two 
orders  appointing  agents  at  different  times, 
to  prosecute  those  who  broke  the  glass, 
smashed  in  the  sash,  and  defaced  the  house 
generally.  Nothing  appears  on  the  record  to 
show  that  any  guilty  parties  were  brought  to 
justice.  In  the  building  of  the  next  court 
house,  which  was  commenced  in  1829,  and 
not  completed  until  about  1835  or  1836,  the 
court  had  the  benefit  of  the  experience  of  the 
court  who  superintended  the  building  of  the 
first  one.  On  consultation,  they  thought  best 
to  try  a  frame  building  this  time.  Instead 
of  the  letting  of  the  whole  contract  to  one 
man,  they  let  it  out  in  parts.  Thomas  Stout 
furnished  most  of  the  lumber,  others  hewed 
the  timbers,  some  furnished  the  shingles. 
Hosea  T.  Camp  engaged  to  haul  a  large  part 
of  the  lumber  from  Stout's  Mill,  and  James 
McGahey  contracted  to  "  lay  the  floor,  parti- 
tion the  upper  story  into  four  rooms,  run  up 
stairs,  make  ■  Judge's  seat  and  bar  agreeable 
to  the  draft,  previously  season  the  plank  in  a 
suitable  manner,  furnish  and  put  in  such 
joists  as  may  be  necessary,  make  suitable 
steps  of  hewn  timber  at  the  outside  doors, 
and  have  the  same  completed  on  or  before 


the  1st  day  of  September  next  (this  was 
April  6,  1829),  for  which  he  is  to  be  paid 
such  sums  of  money  as  may  be  ascertained 
and  fixed  by  three  disinterested  workmen, 
chosen  by  the  County  Commissioners,  to  be 
paid  on  or  before  the  first  Monday  of  Decem- 
ber next."  The  house  was  several  years 
under  contract  before  it  was  called  com- 
pleted, as  a  sale  of  window  sash,  with  glass, 
paints  and  oils,  was  made  at  public  sale  on 
the  25th  day  of  June,  1836. 

This  building  served  the  people  until 
1853,  when  a  contract  was  made  in  April, 
1853,  with  Mr.  Daniel  W.  Norris,  to  build 
the  present  court  house  of  brick,  at  a  contract 
price  of  $10,000.  Some  improvements  have 
been  added,  making  the  total  cost  about  §12,- 
000.  Those  who  witnessed  its  erection  can 
hardly  realize  that  it  is  now  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  since  it  was  completed. 
Could  the  court  have  fully  comprehended  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  Bond  County  at 
that  time,  they  would  have  built  more  with 
reference  to  fifty  than  twenty- seven  years. 
The  present  building  is  40x60  feet,  two  sto- 
ries high,  with  two  jury  rooms,  which  are  used 
outside  of  court  for  the  State's  Attorney  and 
Surveyor,  two  rooms  for  the  use  of  the  County 
Clerk,  Circuit  Clerk's  office,  with  vault  for 
records,  Sheriffs  office,  and  one  for  the  County 
Judge,  and  for  the  holding  of  County  Courts. 

Let  us  go  back  again  in  this  history  for  a 
moment.  Although  the  village  of  Greenville 
contained  but  few  inhabitants,  and  the  county 
was  sparsely  settled  from  the  time  of  its  or- 
ganization of  the  latter,  until  twenty  years 
had  rolled  by,  yet  we  find  that  the  number  of 
"  taverns  "  licensed  should  have  only  been 
called  for  if  the  necessity  for  such  could  be 
admitted  in  a  county  containing  many  times 
the  number  of  people  in  Bond  County. 

The  tavern  licenses  were  more  designed  for 
the  sale  of   liquors  than  for  the  accommoda- 


CITY   OF   GREENVILLE. 


103 


tion  of  "  man  and  beast;''  but,  with  the  grant- 
ing of  such  license,  a  lists  of  charges  that  the 
landlord  may  make  were  attached  to  each 
permit.  We  give  the  rates  made  by  the 
County  Court,  March  term,  1827.  These 
rates  varied  slightly  from  year  to  year: 

For  breakfast,  dinner  or  supper 25    cents. 

Bedding,  per  night 12*  cents. 

Feed  for  horse 12 J  cents. 

Stable  and  forage,  per  night 50    cents. 

Whisky  peach   or   apple  brandy,  per 

half  pint 12|  cents. 

Run,  French  brandy  or  wine,  per  half 

pint 25    cents. 

Gin,  per  half  pint 18f  cents. 

Whilst  but  few  can  be  found  who  can  go 
back  to  the  first  days  of  the  county,  when  we 
step  forward  fifteen  or  twenty  years  we  find 
many  who,  if  fifty-five  years  old  or  more,  and 
here  at  that  time,  cannot  forget  the  excite- 
ment generally  that  attended  "  court  week," 
"  election"  and  "  muster"  days.  The  men  of 
muscle  were  the  heroes  of  that  day.  Each 
militia  company  had  one  particular  man  who 
could  whip  any  man  in  any  other  similar  com- 
pany. Each  neighborhood  had  within  its 
borders  a  man  who  could  and  would,  on  any 
suitable  occasion,  whip  any  man  in  some  other 
neighborhood;  and  last,  though  by  no  means 
least,  one  political  party  had  each  a  particu- 
lar man  who  could  and  would,  on  any  pretext, 
whip  any  other  man  or  particular  man  be- 
longing to  that  other  party. 

The  writer  of  this  article,  when  a  boy,  say 
in  1835-36,  so  well  understood  these  matters, 
that  on  public  occasions  referred  to,  or  on 
Saturdays,  he  would  station  himself  upon  the 
fence  across  the  street  in  good  season  opposite 
"Uncle  Jimmy  Clark's"  "grocery,"  as  such 
places  were  then  called,  about  1  or  2  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  and  await  the  milling  fun  that 
was  sure  to  come,  especially  if  Chap  Clan- 
ton,  Cob  Coffee,  Allery  Allen,  the  Adamses, 
Washburnes,  Will  Coyle,  Henry  Harmon,  the 


Albertses,  Batemans  or  Dowds,  or  many  others 
that  might  be  named,  were  patronizing  Uncle 
Jimmy.  When  all  got  ripe,  the  first  intima- 
tion of  what  was  certain  to  follow  would  be 
first,  a  quick,  rumbling  sound,  "  like  a  small 
earthquake  in  close  proximity,"  then  out  they 
would  come,  piling  over  each  other  as  they 
came  out  of  the  door,  with  their  coats  flying 
thick  and  fast  in  the  air,  only  likened  by 
coming  out  of  bees  from  their  hives  to  swarm. 
As  soon  as  a  ring  could  be  formed,  they  raised 
or  lowered  their  names  with  their  friends, 
as  the  tide  of  battle  turned.  If  any  "  foul" 
was  called,  then  the  fight  became  general, 
and,  under  such  circumstances,  the  high  fence 
upon  which  the  writer  was  perched  as  a  wit- 
ness, would  have  to  be  abandoned  in  haste  to 
some  more  distant  place  of  safety.  In  later 
years,  in  1844,  in  the  high  political  excite- 
ment, when  Clay  and  Polk  were  candidates, 
the  Democrats  thought  they  had  a  man,  Mr. 
James  Adams,  who  could  whip  any  Whig  in 
the  county.  Of  course,  the  Whigs  could  not 
stand  such  a  challenge,  or,  perhaps,  the  chal- 
lenge came  from  the  Whigs  to  the  Democrats. 
With  many,  this  was  the  biggest  issue  in  the 
campaign,  when  and  where  would  it  take 
place?  The  mere  mention  of  the  subject  in 
any  crowd  was  enough  to  start  excitement. 
On  a  hot,  sultry  day,  when  a  great  gathering 
of  people  was  in  the  city  of  Greenville,  these 
two  giants  were  in  the  crowd  with  their 
friends.  They  seemed  slow  to  meet  each 
other  from  the  fact  that  both  kept  reasonably 
clear  of  that  which  both  knew  might  put  them 
out  of  condition;  but  suddenly  they  came  to 
gether,  in  the  cross  of  Main  and  Second 
streets  (between  Justice's  store  and  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  public  square),  they  struck 
(as  a  bystander  said),  like  "  horses  kicking." 
They  were  both  jiowerful  men.  When  the 
fight  was  over,  the  animosity  was  gone,  and 
thev  became  better  friends.      Of  all  this  long: 


104 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


list  of  men  whose  names  are  mentioned,  most 
of  them  were  as  honorable  men  as  the  com- 
munity afforded,  and  only  acted  in  harmony 
with  their  surroundings  of  the  times  in  which 
they  lived.  Those  who  have  lived  on  to  the 
present  time  find  no  satisfaction  in  allowing" 
a  stronger  man  than  they  to  whip  him,  or  for 
themselves  to  find  some  man  not  so  powerful 
as  themselves,  and  turn  upon  him  and  force 
him  to  cry  "  enough." 

Liquor  was  common  at  almost  every  house, 
and  a  store  without  it  would  be  as  hard  to 
find  as  the  average  retail  store  in  Greenville 
at  the  present  day  without  sugar  and  coffee. 
One  thing  may  be  said  in  its  favor  then,  it 
was  pure,  and  not  the  poisonous  compound 
made  at  present  under  the  name  of  liquor. 

As  we  have  said,  Daniel  Converse  was  the 
first  County  Clerk  for  Bond  County  in  1817- 
18;  Thomas  Helms  in  1819-20;  James  Jones, 
June  6,  1820;  Jonathan  H.  Pugh,  March  5, 
1822;  Green  P.  Rice,  August  15,  1822; 
James  M.  Johnson,  March  23,  1823;  Asahel 
Enloe,  March,  1825;  Joseph  M.  Nelson,  April 
10, 1827;  Isaac  Murphy,  March  2, 1829;  James 
E.  Rankin,  June  1,  1829;  James  Durley, 
June  30,  1830;  Willard  Twiss,  December 
31,  1831;  James  Bradford,  March  9,  1836; 
Enrico  Gaskins,  September  7,  1846;  J.  S. 
Denny,  November,  1865;  Robert  L.  Mudd, 
November,  1874,  the  present  County  Clerk. 

James  Jones  was  the  first  Circuit  Clerk, 
in  1819.  His  successor  was  James  M.  John- 
son, March  2,  1821,  Clerk  at  the  first  court 
hel  1  in  Greenville,  on  that  date;  next,  David 
Nowlin,  September  19,  1825;  Thomas  Mor- 
gan, June,  1833;  James  Bradford,  October, 
1836;  Alexander  Kelsoe,  1848;  John  B. 
Reid,  November,  1860;  J.  A.  Cooper,  No- 
vember, 1868;  George  S.  Phelps,  September, 
1872;  T.  P.  Morey,  November,  1876,  the 
present  incumbent. 

First  Sheriff,  Samuel  G.  Morse,  1817-18; 


second,  Samuel  Houston,  1819  and  1824; 
Hosea  T.  Camp,  1824  to  1827;  Lawson  H. 
Robinson,  1828-29;  Sloss  McAdams,  1830  to 
1846;  W.  K.  Mastin,  1846,  and  part  of  1848; 
S.  H.  Crocker,  balance  of  1848;  Richard 
Bentley,  1848  and  1850;  Samuel  H.  Crocker, 
1850,  and  1852;  Jacob  Koonce.  1852,  and 
1854;  Williamson  Plant,  1854,  and  1856; 
Josiah  F.  Sugg,  1856,  and  1858;  Samuel  H. 
Crocker,  1858,  and  1860;  William  Watkins, 
1860,  and  1862;  Williamson  Plant,  1862, 
and  1864;  James  L.  Buchanan,  1864,  and 
1866:  John  Fisher,  1866,  and  1868;  John 
F.  Wafer,  1868,  and  1870;  Williamson  Plant, 
1870,  and  1372;  Andrew  J.  Gullick,  1872  to 
1878;  John  M.  McCasland,  1878,  and  1880; 
Andrew  J.  Gullick,  18S0,  and  1882. 

Mr.  Francis  Travis  was  first  County  Treas- 
urer, appointed  June  5,  1819;  next,  James 
Galloway,  June  6,  1820;  James  Durley,  June 
5,  1821;  Felix  Margrave,  March  2,  1824; 
Leonard  Goss,  March  11,  1825;  Thomas  S. 
Waddle,  April  10,  1827  j  John  Gilmore, 
March  5,  1828;  James  Bradford,  March  9, 
1831;  Peter  Hubbard,  March.  1836. 

Peter  Larrabe,  Treasurer,  1845;  John  M. 
Smith,  November,  1851;  J.  F.  Sugg,  Novem- 
ber, 1853  to  1854;  J.  F.  Alexander,  1854  to 
1856;  J.  K.  McLean,  1856  to  1858,  J.  S. 
Denny,  1858  to  1864;  Milton  Mills,  1864  to 
1866;  Cyrus  Birge,  1866  to  1870;  R.  L. 
Mudd,  1870  to  1876;  M.  J.  Sharp,  1876  to 
1880;  J.  M.  McAdams,  1880  to  1882. 

One  of  the  first  difficulties  met  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Greenville  was  the  supply  of  water 
needed.  The  first  settlers,  Mr.  Samuel  Dav- 
idson, Capt.  Paul  Beck,  Asahel  Enloe,  with 
their  families,  settled  near  the  spring  on  the 
west  of  the  present  town  to  obviate  any 
trouble  for  water.  But  those  settling  up  in 
the  town  carried  all  the  water  they  used  from 
the  springs,  except  for  washing  clothes,  and 
for  that  purpose  went  to  Wash  Lake,    just 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


105 


west  of  town;  but  they  found  it  too  much  la- 
bor for  so  small  return.  About  March.  1822, 
the  subject  of  public  wells  was  discussed. 
Some  attempts  had  been  made,  and  failed  to 
find  water  within  a  reasonable  depth.  The 
depth  necessary  to  find  water  was  found  to 
be  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  feet.  Three 
wells  were  finally  dug  and  curbed  with  wood 
puncheon  or  plank,  the  part  under  water  was 
mulberry,  "charred  by  fire"  before  using,  to 
add,  as  was  supposed,  to  its  lasting  qualities. 
The  first  well  was  dug  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  where  Main  and  Sixth  streets  cross 
each  other,  in  the  west  end  of  town.  The 
next  one  was  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  where 
Third  and  College  streets  cross,  the  other  at 
the  crossing  of  Second  and  Main  streets.  The 
mode  of  drawing  water  was  with  the  old- 
fashioned  windlass,  a  brake  to  hold  on  the 
same  while  the  bucket  was  sent  down.  There 
was  a  frame  around  each  well  above  the 
ground  some  three  feet,  which  made  it  dan- 
gerous for  the  many  boys  of  ten  or  twelve 
years  that  often  had  to  draw  from  them.  In 
1836,  whilst  a  son  of  Mr.  Hildreth,  some 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  old,  was  looking  over 
the  curb  into  the  well,  when  his  feet  slipped 
out,  and  down  he  went  head  first.  It  was 
never  known  whether  he  ever  drew  breath 
after  striking  the  bottom.  An  accident  also 
occurred  at  the  well  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  near  the  southeast  corner  of  the  pub- 
lic square.  A  Mr.  William  Gray,  an  experi- 
enced well-digger,  was  employed  to  clean  out 
the  well.  Two  men  were  at  the  windlass. 
He  was  warned  by  some  bystanders  of  their 
fears  of  the  safety  of  the  rope,  but  he  fear- 
lessly stepped  into  the  bucket,  holding  to  the 
rope  or  chain  above,  and  had  only  made  a 
start  when  the  upper  part  of  the  rope  or 
chain  broke,  and  he  was  precipitated  to  the 
bottom,  a  distance  of  over  ninety  feet.  He 
received  internal  injuries,  beside  dislocation 


of  the  ankle.  He  lived  about  twenty-four 
hours,  and  died  in  great  pain.  In  time,  these 
wells  gave  evidence  of  caving  in,  and  were 
filled  up  to  prevent  accidents.  A  few  months 
ago,  the  filling  that  had  been  put  in  this 
well  more  than  twenty -five  years  before  sunk, 
leaving  a  hole  the  size  of  the  well,  eight  or 
ten  feet  deep. 

Cisterns  have  since  become  plentiful,  and 
the  water  is  so  much  preferred  to  the  limestone 
water  contained  in  the  former  wells,  that  no 
complaint  is  made  on  the  question  of  water, 
except  in  excessive  dry  seasons,  or  when  by 
some  cause  the  cistern  is  out  of  order.  Some  of 
the  best  natural  springs  immediately  north 
and  west  of  the  town  are  found,  and  the  day 
is  not  far  distant  when  they  will  be  utilized 
by  water-works  in  furnishing  the  town  with 
a  bountiful  supply  of  water. 

The  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute 
Railroad  is  supplied  with  water  from  two  of 
these  strong  springs.  Nearly  all  trains  take 
water  at  Greenville,  the  water  giving  the 
least  trouble  to  their  boilers  of  any  other 
along  the  line  of  the  road.  The  railroad 
company  have  made  some  very  substantial 
engine  houses,  tanks  and  dams  to  secure  the 
water. 

In  the  year  182T>.  the  Legislature  appro- 
priated $200  to  aid  in  constructing  a  bridge 
across  Shoal  Creek,  on  the  St.  Louis  wagon 
road.  Before  this  bridge  was  built,  Benja- 
min Henson  had  a  primitive  boat  at  his  house, 
a  short  distance  below  the  present  bridge,  that 
was  used  in  cases  of  high  water.  It  has  been 
stated  in  a  preceding  chapter  in  this  book, 
that  Mr.  Henson  was  thought  to  have  been 
the  first  white  settler  in  Bond  County,  having 
been  here  in  1812  or  1813,  and  for  a  consid- 
erable time  his  house  was  a  large,  hollow 
sycamore  tree,  not  far  from  the  cabin  he  after- 
ward built  and  lived  in  until  his  death,  about 
1848.     When  he  first  came  into  the   county 


10G 


HISTORY  OF   BOXD  COUNTY. 


the  Indians  were  in  some  parts  of  the  then 
large  county. 

At  a  session  of  the  County  Court  held  June 
3,  1822,  an  order  was  made  for  the  erection 
of  a  "  stray  pen  in  Greenville,  forty  feet 
square,  to  be  made  of  posts  and  railing,  each 
panel  six  feet  high  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  the  posts  let  into  the  ground  two 
feet  and  a  half."  In  this  "  stray  pen,"  the 
estray  stock  of  the  county  was  brought  during 
the  sessions  of  the  Circuit  Courts,  and,  per- 
haps, muster  and  other  public  occasions  in 
Greenville,  and  any  one  having  lost  stock 
would  go  to  the  estray  pen  on  these  days  and 
examine  for  his  missing  animal. 

When  the  county  was  first  formed,  not 
many  years  had  elapsed  since  the  straggle  of 
the  Revolution,  and  the  war  of  1812  and  1814 
had  only  just  preceded  the  tirst  settlement. 

It  would  be  but  natural  for  a  people  who 
had  so  signally  in  the  tirst  and  latter  struggle 
achieved  and  maintained  their  independence, 
to  call  together  their  comrades  in  arms,  with 
their  neighbors  and  friends  at  stated  periods, 
and  relight  those  battles,  and  thereby  infuse 
into  the  rising  generations,  who  are  always 
the  hope  of  a  country,  the  spirit  of  their 
fathers.  Actuated  by  a  spirit  of  patriotism, 
the  people  held  the  election  of  military  offi- 
cers, their  drills  and  muster,  as  their  highest 
privileges.  The  first  election  of  militaiy 
officers  was  held  as  other  elections  for  county 
officers,  but  in  later  years  the  mode  adopted 
was  for  the  candidates  for  whatever  office 
they  desired  to  elect,  to  step  out  of  the  crowd 
assembled  and  call  out,  "  All  who  will  join 

Company  fall  into  line.''     This  often 

led  to  much  excitement,  but  was  always  kept 
within  the  bounds  of  good  humor.  Paul 
Beck  was  made  a  Captain  as  early  as  May 
12,  1817,  and  Samuel  Davidson,  Ensign, 
same  date.  John  Laugh  lin  was  elected  Cap- 
tain June  14,  1817,  and  John  Hopton,  Lieu- 


tenant, and  John  Whitley,  Jr.,  Ensign,  same 
date.  The  troubles  with  the  Indians  in  some 
of  the  northern  counties,  and  anticipated 
trouble  within  the  borders  of  the  county,  fol- 
lowed soon  after  by  the  Black  Hawk  war  of 
1831-32,  kept  the  military  companies  through- 
out the  county  well  organized  until  about 
1840.  Since  that  time  it  declined  rapidly, 
until  a  Captain,  Major  or  a  Colonel  was  only 
a  thing  of  the  past,  until  revived  by  the  ac- 
tive military  movements  in  this  country  dur- 
ing the  late  civil  war.*  This  civil  war  in  a 
land  so  peculiarly  blessed,  between  a  people 
so  enlightned  aud  refined,  this  fratricidal  war, 
now  as  we  review  it  when  it  is  passed,  having 
seen  its  commencement,  its  continuarce  and  its 
close,  seems  only  as  a  dream  of  the  past;  yet  it 
was  to  many  hundred  thousands  a  fatal  dream. 

Bond  County  was  in  the  front  in  furnishing 
her  full  quota  of  brave  and  patriotic  soldiers 
to  defend  and  uphold  the  flag  and  honor  of 
our  whole  country.  They  went  promptly  at 
every  call  for  volunteers,  carrying  with  them 
the  prayers  of  sympathizing  friends  and  rela- 
tives, many  of  whom  never  returned,  some 
returning  with  lost  or  shattered  limbs,  or  a 
diseased  body,  as  can  be  attested  by  the  large 
pension  roll  in  our  Bond  County. 

The  volunteer  companies,  with  their  com- 
missioned officers  for  Bond  County,  may  be 
mentioned  as  follows: 

Company  D,  Twenty-second  Regiment  Illinois  Vol- 
unteers.— Captains,  James  A.  Hubbard,  John  H. 
Phillips  ;  First  Lieutenants,  E.  J.  C.  Alexander,  Lem- 
uel Adams,  John  H.  Phillips,  Enoch  J.  File  ;  Sec- 
ond Lieutenants,  Lemuel  Adams,  Edward  Stearns. 
J.  H.  Phillips,  Cyrus  M.  Galloway,  Enoch  J.  File, 
Joel  B.  Paisley. 

Company  E,  Twenty-second  Regiment  Illinois  Vol- 
unteers.—Captains,  Samuel  G.  McAdams,  George 
Gibson  ;  First  Lieutenants,  James  M.  Hamilton, 
George  Gibson,  J.  M.  McAdams  ;  Second  Lieuten- 
ants, George  Gibson,  J.  M.  McAdams. 

*  For  convenience  the  war  hiBtory  of  Bond  County  is  given  in  con 
nection  with  the  city  of  Greenville.— Ed. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


107 


Company  C,  Twenty-sixth  Regiment  Illinois  Volun- 
teers.— Captains,  George  M.  Keener,  James  A.  Dug- 
ger,  Owen  W.  Walls,  Isaac  N.  Enloe  ;  First  Lieu- 
tenants, Thomas  L.  Vest,  J.  A.  Dugger,  Owen  W. 
Walls,  James  Manes,  John  McCallister ;  Second 
Lieutenants,  J.  A.  Dugger,  E.  B.  Wise. 

Company  E,  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers. — Captains,  U.  B.  Harris,  W.  C. 
Harned  ;  First  Lieutenants,  William  Harlan,  Will- 
iam C.  Harned,  Charles  W.  Johnson  ;  Second  Lieu- 
tenants, W.  C.  Harned,  Charles  W.  Johnson. 

Company  F,  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Regiment 
lllnois  Volunteers. — Captains,  William  M.  Colby, 
John  D.  Dounell,  F.  D.  Phillips  ;  First  Lieutenants, 
John  D.  Donnell,  Charles  Ives,  Ficlden  D.  Phillips, 
John  Murdock  ;  Second  Lieutenants,  Charles  Ives, 
F.  D.  Phillips. 

Company  F,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteers. — Captain,  Samuel  G.  Mc- 
Adams  ;  First  Lieutenant,  James  A.  Hubbard  ;  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant,  Edward  Stearns. 

Company  F,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth  Regi- 
ment, enlisted  June  6,  1864,  and  discharged  Septem- 
ber 28,  1864  ;  served  one  hundred  days  ;  only  one 
man  died  during  the  time,  viz.:  James  McCann,  at 
Ironton,  Mo.,  July  25,  1864. 

The  Twenty-second  Infantry  Illinois  Volun- 
teers was  organized  at  Belleville,  111.,  May 
11,  1861,  and  was  mustered  into  service  for 
three  years  at  Caseyville,  111.,  June  25,  1861, 
by  Capt.  T.  G.  Pitcher,  U.  S.  A.  July  11, 
they  moved  to  Bird's  Point,  Mo.  November 
7,  seven  companies  engaged  in  battle  at  Bel- 
mont, three  being  left  to  guard  the  trans- 
ports; loss,  144  killed  and  missing.  At  Stone 
Biver,  December  31,  1862,  and  January  1, 
1863,  they  lost  199  men  out  of  342  going  in- 
to action.  At  Chickamauga,  September  19 
and  20,  they  lost  135  officers  and  men  out  of 
an  aggregate  of  less  than  300  men.  The 
severity  of  the  battle  was  such  on  the  19th 
they  lost  ninety-six  men  in  less  than  ten 
minutes.  They  were  engaged  in  many  hard- 
f  ought  battles  during  the  three  years  of  their 
service,  including  the  storming  of  Mission 
Bidge,  Besaca,  battle  of  Farmington,  Chick- 
amauga, etc.  Among  the  many  brave  officers 
and  men  who  had  their  names  inscribed  on 


the  roll  of  honor  in  Company  E,  may  be 
mentioned  that  of  our  lamented  Capt.  Samuel 
G.  McAdams. 

The  history  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Infantry 
of  Volunteers  would  be  almost  a  history  of 
the  war.  They  were  mustered  into  service 
at  Camp  Butler,  111.,  August  31,  1861,  and, 
after  serving  four  years,  were  discharged  or 
mustered  out  of  service  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
July  20,  1865.  The  company  was  paid  off 
at  Springfield,  111.,  July  28,  1865.  The 
commanding  General  ordered  the  placing  on 
their  banners  "  New  Madrid,"  "  Island  No. 
10,''  "Farmington,"  "Siege  of  Corinth," 
"Iuka,"  "Holly  Springs,"  "Vicksburg," 
"  Mission  Bidge,  "  "  Kenesaw,  "  "  Ezra 
Church,"  "  Atlanta,"  "  Savannah,"  "  Colum- 
bia," etc.,  etc.,  as  recognition  of  the  many 
hard-fought  battles  in  which  they  had  been 
engraved.  The  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
Begiment  of  Infantry  Illinois  Volunteers  was 
especially  noted  for  bravery,  of  which  Com- 
panies E  and  F,  from  Bond  County,  whilst 
in  the  service,  discharged  their  duty  nobly. 
They  were  engaged  in  the  battles  at  Port 
Gibson,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  siege  at  Jackson, 
Miss.,  battle  at  Sabine  Cross  Boads,  or  Mans- 
field, where  Col.  J.  B.  Beid  was  seriously 
wounded,  siege  of  Blakely,  Spanish  Fort, 
Ala.,  and  Mobile.  Maj.  J.  B.  Beid  was  pro- 
moted to  that  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  in  this 
regiment  for  meritorious  services.  Dr.  David 
Wilkins  was  First  Assistant  Surgeon,  and 
Bev.  W.  D.  H.  Johnson,  of  Greenville,  Chap- 
lain of  the  regiment. 

The  Third  Cavalry  was  organized  at  Camp 
Butler  by  Col.  E.  A.  Can-,  in  August,  1861. 
The  regiment  moved  to  St.  Louis  September 
25;  October  1,  moved  up  the  Missouri  Biver 
to  Jefferson  City,  aud  thence  marched  to 
Warsaw,  where  they  arrived  October  11;  on 
the  23d,  marched  toward  Springfield,  Me. ,  in 
Col.   Carr's  Brigade,   Brig.    Gen.    Ashboth'o 


108 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Division.  On  November  2,  Gen.  Hunter  took 
command  of  the  army.  November  13,  the  First 
and  Second  Battalions  moved  with  the  army  on 
Rolla,  Mo.  The  Third  Battalion,  Maj.  Riig- 
gles  commanding,  remained  with  Sigel's  Di- 
vision,  and  was  the  last  to  leave  Springfield. 

On  the  18th  of  February,  1862,  the  Third 
Battalion  participated  in  a  calvary  charge, 
routing  the  enemy.  The  regiment  moved 
rapidly  from  point  to  point  as  ordered  and 
the  interest  of  the  service  required,  and  were 
engaged  in  many  skirmishes  and  battles  dur- 
ing the  three  years  they  were  in  the  service. 
Their  active  duty  was  at  Pea  Ridge,  Hunts- 
ville,  Grenada,  Vicksburg,  Chickasaw  Bayou, 
Port  Gibson,  Tupelo,  Okolona  and  Gun 
Town,  Miss.  September  27,  1864,  six  com- 
panies crossed  the  Tennessee  at  Clifton,  and 
confronted  Hood's  army,  fell  back  skirmish- 
ing, and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Lawrence- 
burg,  Spring  Hill,  Campbellsville  and  Frank- 
lin. They  were  also  engaged  in  an  expedi- 
tion after  the  Indians  in  1865.  Capts.  Thomas 
M.  Davis,  J.  Iv.  McLean  and  S.  M.  Tabor,  all  be- 
longing to  Bond  County,  made  for  themselves  a 
noble  record.  The  regiment  was  mustered  out 
of  service  at  Springfield,  111.,  October  13, 1865. 
During  the  time  of  service,  a  large  number 
of   the  regiment  re-enlisted  as  veterans. 

Hilliard  Rifles.  — The  company  was  first  or- 
ganized with  a  view  of  entering  the  State 
militia,  entitled  the  National  Guards  of  Illi- 
nois. Charles  H.  Beatty  was  one  of  the  most 
active  in  securing  the  names  that  formed  the 
first  organization,  effected  December  30,1878. 
At  a  meeting  held  at  the  county  court  house 
the  above  date,  and  presided  over  by  Lieut. 
Col.  James  T.  Cooper,  of  Alton,  111.,  the  fol- 
lowing list  of  officers  was  elected:  Captain, 
P.  E.  Holcomb.  a  retired  Major  of  the  regu- 
lar army;  First  Lieutenant,  S.  M.  Inglis; 
Second  Lieutenant,  Charles  H.  Beatty.  The 
number  enrolled   in  this  first  company  was 


seventy-one.  Maj.  Holcomb,  being  a  retired 
army  officer,  consequently  skilled  in  milli- 
tary  science,  the  company,  under  his  com- 
mand, became  one  of  the  best  drilled  com- 
panies in  Southern  Illinois,  and  enjoyed  gen- 
eral prosperity.  In  December,  1878,  it  re- 
ceived the  title  of  Company  G,  Fifteenth 
Battalion,  I.  N.  G.,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Second  Brigade,  under  command  of  Brig. 
Gen.  J.  N.  Reece,  and  in  September,  1879, 
entered  encampment  at  Camp  Cullom,  near 
Springfield.  The  company  at  this  time  had 
been  recruited  to  the  number  of  forty -five 
members,  with  three  commissioned  officers. 
The  Hilliard  Rifles,  as  a  social  organization, 
by  this  time  had  gained  some  local  promi- 
nence. In  November,  18S0,  they  leased  and 
established  themselves  in  their  commodious 
and  well-equipped  armory  (hall),  in  which, 
from  time  to  time,  under  their  auspicies,  the 
public  was  treated  to  first-class  lectures, 
musical  and  other  entertainments,  festivals, 
etc.  In  the  fall  of  1881,  they  again  went 
into  encampment  near  Bloomington,  111., 
where  they  made  a  reputation  and  an  excel- 
lent record  in  target  practice,  Lieut.  Elam 
representing  his  battalion,  and  doing  excel- 
lent work.  February  18,  1882,  the  company 
was  re-organized  by  a  new  election  of  officers, 
the  term  of  service  of  the  first  elected  having 
expired.  Col.  George  C.  McCord,  of  Gov. 
Cullom's  staff,  and  a  resident  of  Greenville, 
presided  at  this  meeting,  and  Lieut.  S.  M. 
Inglis  was  elected  Captain,  C.  F.  Thraner, 
First  Lieutenant,  John  A.  Elam,  Second 
Lieutenant.  About  this  time  the  State 
militia  was  also  re-organized  into  ten  regi- 
ments, and  the  Hilliard  Rifles,  Company  G, 
Fifteenth  Battalion,  was  assigned  to  the 
Eighth  Infantry  as  Company  F.  It  has  been 
recruited  to  fifty-three  men,  with  three  com- 
missioned officers,  and  in  all  essential  respects, 
is  enjoying  prosperity. 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


109 


CHAPTER  XI.* 

GREENVILLE  — EDUCATIONAL  HISTORY— COMMON   SCHOOLS  —  ALMIRA   COLLEGE  — RELIGIOUS  - 

ORGANIZATION  OF   CHURCHES— THE   PRESBYTERIANS  AND  METHODISTS— THE  ERECTION 

OF   CHURCH   BUILDINGS  — SECRET  AND   BENEVOLENT   ORDERS  — MASONS 

AND  ODD   FELLOWS— OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS,  ETC.,  ETC. 

Greenville  District  employed  Samuel  M.  Inglis, 


'The  Church  and  State,  that  long  had  held 
Unholy  intercourse,  now  divorced 
She  who,  on  the  breast  of  civil  power,"  etc., 


etc. 


THE  education  of  children  at  an  early  day, 
all  over  the  country,  was  much  the  same, 
and  many  were  to  be  found  who  would  recognize 
the  necessity  of  any  special  effort  to  educate 
the  females.  They  were  quite  unanimous  forty 
years  ago  in  believing  that,  at  most,  they  might 
learn  to  read  and  write.  Arithmetic  and  gram- 
mar were  thought  to  be  quite  useless.  But 
however  much  the  parents  may  have  desired 
to  give  their  children  a  good  education  at  that 
time,  they  would  have  found  it  often  very  dif- 
ficult to  find  teachers  with  the  requisite  qualifi- 
cations to  teach  the  required  branches  to  enable 
them  to  draw  the  small  school-fund  distributed 
annually  by  the  State. 

The  first  schools  taught  at  Greenville,  so  far 
as  can  now  be  known,  was  by  Mr.  Enloe,  a  Mr. 
Beeman  and  White.  Miss  Elizabeth  Norton 
(afterward  Mrs.  Foster)  taught  a  school  in  1835, 
in  a  cabin  on  part  of  Lot  22,  Greenville,  nearly 
in  front  of  Mrs.  Larrabee's  present  residence. 
A  number  of  teachers  were  at  different  times 
employed  with  varying  success,  until  under  the 
free-school  system  the  present  brick  school 
building  was  erected  about  1859.  The  first 
teachers  in  the  new  building  as  principals, 
have  been  Messrs.  Cunningham,  Clark,  Hynes, 
Taylor,  Mudd,  Dean  and  Inglis. 

August    8,    1868,   the   School   Directors   of 

»  By  Williamson  Plant. 


at  a  salary  of  $100  per  month,  and  who  has 
also  been  employed  from  time  to  time  since, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  as  Principal  of 
the  school  he  had  the  pleasure  of  having  seven 
graduates.  The  sixth  year,  1874,  seven  more 
graduated;  in  1875,  nine  graduated;  in  1876, 
eight;  in  1877,  eleven;  in  1878,  six;  in  1879, 
nine;  in  1880,  fourteen;  in  1881,  eleven;  in 
1882,  twelve,  making  a  total  graduation  of 
ninety-four  for  the  ten  years  after  the  school 
was  brought  up  to  the  present  graded  system. 
The  same  Principal  is  employed  for  the  com- 
ing school  year,  making  fifteen  years  of  contin- 
uous principalship.  Ten  assistants  are  now 
necessary  to  aid  in  giving  instructions  in  the 
different  departments. 

This  school  is  very  popular  at  home  and  en- 
joys a  high  reputation  abroad. 

Almira  College.— In  1827,  two  lads,  Ste- 
phen Morse  and  John  B.  White,  attended 
school  together  at  a  public  institution  in  New 
Hampton,  N.  H.  One  year  later  they  entered 
Brown  University,  Rhode  Island,  where  they 
were  class  and  room  mates  during  their  colle- 
giate course.  After  a  few  years,  one  devoted 
himself  to  teaching,  and  the  other  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business.  These  boys  were 
raised  by  unusually  intelligent,  devoted,  Chris- 
tian parents,  and  each  sought  the  path  in  life 
that  seemingly  would  promise  the  most  useful 
and  lasting  results. 

Mr.   Morse  was  prospered  in  his   business, 


110 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


and  accumulated  wealth.  Occasional  letters 
passed  between  these  old  friends  and  class- 
mates, in  which  the  subject  of  education  was 
frequently  discussed.  Nothing  of  unusual  in- 
terest occurred,  however,  until  1854,  when  they 
arranged  to  meet  in  Greenville,  111.,  which  meet- 
ing resulted  in  the  initiatory  steps  for  founding 
the  much-talked-of  institution.  After  some 
days  of  consultation  and  study,  it  was  decided 
that  the  institution  should  be  for  the  higher  ed- 
ucation of  young  women.  That  it  should  not 
be  engaged  in  as  a  private  enterprise,  but  that 
an  act  of  incorporation  should  be  secured,  so 
that  the  contributions  could  be  held  in  perpe- 
tuity for  educational  purposes.  Mrs.  Alraira 
B.  Morse,  a  lady  of  thorough  and  accomplished 
education,  was  fully  in  sympathy  with  her  hus- 
band, and  seconded  every  effort  of  his  for  the 
advancement  of  the  worthy  enterprise,  aiding 
not  only  by  words  of  encouragement  and  cheer, 
but  with  a  generous  personal  money  gift;  and 
thus  the  institution  was  founded  in  1855-56,  a 
charter  being  obtained  in  1857.  The  work  of 
erecting  the  building  was  immediately  begun, 
and  one  wing  completed  and  occupied  in  May, 
1858.  Work  was  gradually  carried  on  and  the 
main  structure  was  finished  in  1864.  It  pre- 
sents a  frontage  of  160  feet;  width,  forty-eight 
feet;  is  four  stories  high,  and  contains  seventy- 
two  large  and  elegant  rooms.  The  college 
grounds  contain  twelve  acres,  consisting  of  a 
park,  a  yard  front  of  the  building,  and  land  in 
the  rear  for  domestic  and  ornamental  purposes. 
In  honor  of  the  lady,  Mrs.  Almira  Blanchard 
Morse,  who  endowed  it  with  her  little  fortune 
of  $6,000,  this  college  was  appropriately  named 
Almira. 

From  its  foundation,  the  institution  has  been 
under  the  instruction  and  general  management 
of  Prof.  White,  and  his  wife  as  assistant,  except 
for  three  years  during  the  rebellion,  during 
which  time  the  Rev.  D.  P.  French  and  Mr. 
Morse  assumed  control.  Prof.  White  severed 
his  connection  with   the  institution    in    1879, 


when  Prof.  J.  B.  Slade,  of  Springfield,  took  con- 
trol. 

Mrs.  Almira  B.  Morse  died  at  her  home  in 
Palva,  Kan.,  in  August,  1881.  Her  remains 
were  returned  to  Greenville  and  interred  in  Mt. 
Rose  Cemeteiy. 

The  ladies  of  Greenville  and  vicinity,  desir- 
ous of  promoting  social  intercourse  and  of  aid- 
ing in  the  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  of 
society,  met  on  the  19th  of  January,  1856, 
and  organized  a  society  for  the  aforesaid  pur- 
pose and  adopted  a  constitution  and  by-laws. 
It  was  called  the  Social  Circle,  and  its  object 
was  the  purchase  of  a  library.  The  ladies  pres- 
ent at  the  meeting  for  organization  were  Mrs. 
A.  Morse,  Mrs.  M.  Shields,  Mrs.  L.  Stewart, 
Mrs.  E.  Hutchinson,  Mrs.  S.  Morse,  Mrs.  E.  G. 
Smith,  Mrs.  S.  Sprague,  Miss  J.  Merriam  and 
Miss  E.  M.  White. 

The  meetings  were  held  once  a  week.  In 
the  afternoon,  the  ladies  sewed,  and,  in  the  even- 
ing, gentlemen  came  in  and  some  literary  enter- 
tainment was  given.  An  idea  of  the  energy 
and  labor  bestowed  upon  the  project  may  be 
seen  from  a  single  quotation  from  the  records: 
'•  Work  on  hand  for  January  28 — Knitting,  a 
cradle  quilt,  three  sun-bonnets,  two  pairs  of 
pantalets,  infants'  dresses,  caps  and  aprons, 
three  shirts  finished  and  price  for  making  the 
same  $2.25. 

An  attractive  feature  in  the  evening  enter- 
tainments for  years  was  the  reading  of  The  Ga- 
zette, a  collection  of  articles  and  essays  written 
by  the  members  of  the  society.  Many  of  the 
papers  contained  productions  that  reflected  no 
discredit  upon  their  composers,  indeed  some 
evinced  more  real  literary  merit  than  much 
that  appears  in  the  leading  periodicals  of  to- 
day. 

Besides  the  labor  thus  bestowed,  we  note  a 
supper  given  April  25,  1858,  at  which  $61.88 
were  realized  ;  also,  June  25,  a  concert,  the  pro- 
ceeds of  which  were  $21.  The  first  purchase 
of  books   was    made   August   26,    1856  ;    the 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


in 


amount  invested,  $100.  October  22  of  the 
same  year,  by  vote,  the  name  was  changed  to 
Ladies'  Library  Association.  Thus  we  Snd  the 
little  germ,  planted  and  nurtured  by  the  ladies, 
and  supported  by  the  good  wishes  and  patron- 
age of  the  gentlemen,  steadily  growing. 

In  the  year  18G7,  through  the  instrumental- 
ity of  Hon.  J.  F.  Alexander,  a  charter  was  ob- 
tained. About  this  time,  the  need  of  a  town 
hall  being  greatly  felt  in  Greenville,  a  number 
of  ladies,  many  of  them  being  also  members  of 
the  Library  Association,  determined  to  raise 
money  to  build  one  and  connect  with  it  a 
room  for  the  public  library,  which  had  been 
kept  at  the  residence  of  some  member  of  the 
society.  After  nearly  81,000  had  been  ob- 
tained, the  project  was  abandoned,  and  a  dona- 
tion of  $712.40  was  made  to  the  Library  Asso- 
ciation on  the  13th  of  February,  1873. 

The  interest  of  this  fund  is  annually  ex- 
pended in  the  purchase  of  books.  The  serv- 
ices of  librarian  having  always  been  gratuitous, 
the  institution  is  self-supporting,  and  has  added 
some  to  the  permanent  fund. 

The  twenty-fifth  anniversary  was  celebrated 
on  the  19th  of  January,  1881,  at  the  residence 
of  Dr.  William  Allen.  The  event  proved  an 
important  epoch,  in  that  it  revived  much  of  its 
history  that  had  never  been  put  on  record,  and 
awakened  new  zeal  in  the  work.  Letters  were 
read  from  absent  members,  an  historical  sketch 
of  the  society  was  given,  some  poems  of  merit, 
good  music  and  an  elegant  repast,  combined  to 
form  a  delightful  re-union. 

At  present  the  library  consists  of  1,500  vol- 
umes. Seventy-five  or  one  hundred  new  books 
are  added  yearly,  and  it  furnishes  patrons  the 
best  magazines  of  the  day.  The  library  room 
is  large,  pleasantly  situated  in  Bennett's  Block, 
well  furnished,  and  kept  open  every  Saturday 
afternoon. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  officers  at  the 
present  time  : 

Mrs.  F.  C.  Mudd,  President ;  Mrs.  E.  Denny, 


Vice  President ;  Mrs.  J.  W.  Hoiles,  Secretary  ; 
Miss  A.  E.  White,  Treasurer  and  Librarian  ; 
Misses  E.  Birge  and  G.  Blanchard,  Assistant 
Librarians. 

Presbyterian  Church.— On  the  10th  day  of 
March,  1819,  a  church  was  formed  in  Bond 
County,  called  the  "  Shoal  Creek  "  Church,  em- 
bracing all  the  Presbyterians  in  the  county  at 
that  time,  with  thirty-three  members  enrolled. 
On  the  15th  of  September,  1825,  the  committee 
appointed  by  the  Presbytery  of  Missouri,  at  a 
meeting  held  for  that  purpose,  divided  this 
church  into  three  separate  churches,  known  as 
the  Bethel,  Shoal  Creek  and  Greenville  ;  and 
the  following  list  of  male  members  was  assigned 
to  Greenville  at  that  time :  John  Gilmore, 
Hugh  T.  White,  James  White,  John  B.  White, 
Samuel  White,  John  Russell,  John  Short, 
George  Donnell,  Robert  G.  White,  John  White, 
Joseph  Howell  and  William  Nelson. 

The  location  of  Shoal  Creek  Church  was  in 
what  was  then  known  as  the  Ohio  Settlement, 
some  four  or  five  miles  northwest  of  Green- 
ville, where  the  Union  Grove  Church  now 
stands.  The  Bethel  Church  was  about  ten 
miles  northwest  of  Greenville.  These  churches 
maintained  a  separate  existence  until  April  7, 
1832.  At  this  time,  the  Shoal  Creek  Church 
had  become  so  enfeebled  by  removals  and 
deaths,  it  seemed  necessary  for  them  to  unite 
with  the  Greenville  Church.  The  Greenville 
Church  was  organized  by  Messrs.  Giddings 
and  Lacy  and  Elder  Collins,  of  Collinsville, 
September  15,  1825,  with  twenty -nine  mem- 
bers. As  before  stated,  the  two  branches  of  the 
church  were  consolidated  April  7,  1832.  Up 
to  this  time,  no  house  of  worship  had  been 
built  at  Greenville,  but  soon  after  the  churches 
had  united  they  built  a  house  about  two  miles 
northwest  of  Greenville,  as  a  more  central  and 
convenient  point  for  all  the  members.  The 
members  of  the  united  church  hauled  and 
hewed  the  logs,  sawed  the  timber,  split  the 
boards  and  shingles,  and  did  all  the  work  for 


112 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


the  completion  of  the  same  within  the  member- 
ship. From  1825  to  1829,  the  church  had  no 
stated  pastor,  hut  was  served  from  time  to  time 
by  transient  ministers  whose  names  are  un- 
known. From  1829  to  1831,  Rev.  Solomon 
Hardy  was  the  minister  in  charge  ;  in  1832, 
Rev.  W.  J.  Fraser  ;  then  followed  the  labors  of 
Revs.  A.  Ewing,  T.  A .  Spillman,  W.  K.  Stewart; 
Rev.  J.  Stafford,  from  1837  to  1838,  and  again 
from  1840  to  1850.  In  1847.  the  pastor  was 
absent,  and  P.  D.  Young  supplied  the  place 
for  six  months.  In  1851  and  1852,  Rev.  Will- 
iam Hamilton,  and  from  1852  to  1867,  Rev. 
Thomas  W.  Hynes  were  the  stated  supply  ; 
1867  to  1868,  Rev.  Arthur  Rose,  1869  to 
1872,  Prof.  George  Frazier,  were  the  ministers 
in  charge.  About  this  time,  eighteen  members 
withdrew  from  the  New  School  or  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  joined  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Greenville.  Rev.  N.  S.  Dickey  was 
the  stated  supply  from  1873  to  1880,  since 
which  time  the  Rev.  Hillis  has  been  their  very 
acceptable  miuister  of  the  Greenville  Presby- 
terian Church.  In  1S73,  the  building  of  the 
church  had  become  so  dilapidated,  having  been 
built  and  occupied  since  about  1845,  that  the 
members  and  friends  enlarged  the  same  with 
cupola,  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,000.  It  was  re- 
dedicated  July  13,  1873,  free  from  debt.  And 
now  to-day  it  stands,  as  it  has  stood  for  more 
than  fifty-seven  years,  like  a  city  set  upon  a 
hill,  radiating  its  light,  shedding  its  beneficent 
influence  on  all  around,  in  harmony  with  the 
community  for  good,  and  in  fellowship  with  its 
sister  churches.  Its  large  membership  and  its 
admirable  Sunday  school  speak  well  for  its 
continued  usefulness  in  the  future. 

Congregational  Church.— The  origin  of  the 
Congregational  Church  was  with  the  divis- 
ion of  the  Presbyterian  Church  about  1836, 
into  the  old  and  the  new  school  churches.  Dr. 
Lansing  from  New  York  came  to  Greenville  in 
1839,  and  through  his  influence  a  house  of 
worship  was  commenced  soon  after,  which  was 


not,  however,  completed  and  dedicated  until 
January  1,  1843.  Rev.  Thomas  Lippincott 
preached  the  dedicatory  sermon. 

Up  to  this  time  no  Presbyterian  Church  for 
the  old  division  of  the  church  had  been  built 
at  Greenville,  and  many  of  both  branches  of 
the  church  held  their  membership  together 
with  a  number  of  Congregatioualists.  By  an 
act  of  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  in  1844,  the 
worshipers  of  the  new  building  were  afterward 
known  as  the  Congregational  Church  of  Green- 
ville. About  this  time  the  old  Presbyterian 
branch  had  built  for  themselves  a  house  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  churches  exchanged  and  withdrew 
from  time  to  time  according  to  their  peculiar 
ideas — the  Congregational  society  making  some 
payment  to  the  Presbyterians  withdrawing  from 
their  church  for  their  interest,  and  aid  in  build- 
ing the  Congregational  Church.  Considering 
the  early  period  in  which  it  was  built,  the  Con- 
gregational Church  to-day  is  quite  an  imposing 
structure,  standing  as  it  does  on  Lots  No.  27 
and  28,  Davidson's  Addition  to  Greenville. 

The  church  was  for  many  years  prosperous,  es- 
pecially so  during  the  time  Rev.  Robert  Stew- 
art, Rev.  George  C.  Wood  and  Rev.  M.  M. 
Longley  were  pastors,  since  which  time  the 
church  has  so  often  been  without  a  regular  pas- 
tor that  its  spiritual  interests  have  not  advanced 
as  it  otherwise  would.  Rev.  John  Ingersoll, 
father  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  of  infidel  noto- 
riety, preached  to  this  church  about  six  months 
about  the  year  1852.  Since  that  time  Rev. 
Longley  was  for  a  time  a  stated  supply,  as  also 
have  Rev.  Isaac  Godell  and  Rev.  M.  A.  Craw- 
ford not  labored  in  vain  for  the  short  time  they 
each  occupied  the  pulpit,  The  present  pastor, 
Rev.  Joseph  Wolfe,  sustains  well  the  position 
assigned  him,  and  the  outlook  of  the  church  is 
brightening. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — It  is  impos- 
sible to  give  anything  like  a  complete  his- 
tory of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in    Greenville,  because,  as  its  present   pastor, 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


113 


Rev.  E.  A.  Hoyt,  states,  Methodism  sets 
little  value  ou  the  formalities  of  organization. 
Its  methods  are  simple  ;  those  who  desire  a 
home  in  her  communion  are  enrolled  as  a  class, 
and  one  of  the  number  appointed  her  leader. 
No  official  minutes  of  the  transactions  are 
kept  or  recorded,  except  incidentally  ou  the 
class  books.  The  first  sermon  perhaps  preached 
ill  the  county  bj*  the  minister  of  any  denomi- 
nation was  that  by  Rev.  John  Powers,  a  Meth- 
odist minister  at  Jones  Fort,  in  February,  1816. 
His  next  appointment  was  at  White's  Fort  or 
Hill's  Station  in  March,  1816,  and  for  a  time 
these  two  forts  or  stations  were  his  regular 
preaching  places.  Jones  Fort  was  in  the  Green 
neighborhood,  and  White's  Fort  was  a  few  rods 
southeast  of  the  old  residence  of  Wilson 
Brown  in  Section  6,  Town  1,  Range  3.  The 
first  Methodist  meetings  at  Greenville  were  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  John  Kirkpatrick,  assisted  oc- 
casionally by  Rev.  John  Powers,  Joshua  Barnes, 
John  Dew  and  others.  The  several  Kirkpat- 
rick families  were  Methodists.  The  first  Meth- 
odist Church  was  built  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
southwest  of  Greenville  where  camp-meetings 
were  held  for  several  years,  at  which  an  old  neg- 
lected burying  ground  some  eight  or  ten  rods 
northwest  of  the  southeast  corner  of  north 
half  of  northwest  quarter  of  southeast  quarter 
of  Section  16,  Town  5,  Range  3,  is  yet  visable. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  after  the  first  set- 
tlement of  the  count}*,  Methodist  services  were 
very  irregular.  Mr.  J.  E.  Travis,  now  living  in 
Greenville,  remembers  of  Methodist  preaching 
at  the  house  of  his  grandfather,  Tapley  Young, 
where  the  old  cemetery  is  now  located,  and 
heard  their  family  relate  of  those  attending 
church  bringing  their  guns  and  stacking  them 
at  the  door  whilst  two  sentinels  stood  watch 
outside  the  door  to  give  the  alarm,  if  any 
Indians  made  their  appearance.  His  first  rec- 
ollection was  associated  with  class  meeting, 
being  held  at  the  house  of  oue  Knapp,  in  Green- 
ville, by  Rev.  John  H.  Benson,  an  early  circuit 


rider  of  Carlisle  Circuit  in  1839.  His  appoint- 
ment at  Greenville  was  once  in  four  weeks,  and 
continued  one  year  ;  only  four  of  that  class 
are  obtainable.  Knapp  and  wife,  Elizabeth 
Drake  and  Elizabeth  Stubblefield.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  Brown  was  the  next  to  take  up  the 
work,  just  at  what  date  cannot  be  stated,  but 
he  held  services  once  in  four  weeks  until  the 
fall  of  1844,  when  he  died,  having  left  a  good 
name.  For  the  next  three  or  four  years  serv- 
vices  were  only  held  by  transient  preachers. 
The  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  built  in 
Greenville  on  Lot  No.  15.  Davidson's  Addition 
to  Greenville,  in  the  years  1848  and  1849.  For 
several  years  previously  meetings  were  held  in 
the  old  court  house,  and  in  the  Odd  Fellows 
hall,  which  was  the  upper  story  of  the  present 
residence  of  William  Evans. 

Before  the  building  was  erected,  the  "  cir- 
cuit riders  "  were  unceasing  in  their  labors  to 
increase  the  membership  of  the  church,  and  to 
that  end,  one  of  them,  a  Mr.  Falkner,  would 
at  the  close  of  every  service,  "  open  the 
doors  of  the  church."  On  one  occasion,  after 
the  usual  services  in  the  Odd  Fellows  hall, 
whilst  the  brethren  were  singing  a  familiar 
hymn,  the  minister  calling  loudly  and  earnestly 
for  any  "  who  desired  to  unite  with  the  church 
to  manifest  the  same  by  coming  forward,  and 
give  to  him  their  hand,  and  God  their  hearts." 
As  they  were  singing  the  chorus  of  the  sec- 
ond verse,  and  manifestly  a  deep  feeling  pre- 
vailing through  the  audience,  two  well-known 
females  of  not  the  most  unblemished  char- 
acter came  forward,  and  gave  to  the  minister 
their  hands,  who  took  them,  but  without  that 
cordiality  sometimes  discernible,  and  with  a 
queer  and  much-puzzled  expression  on  his 
countenance,  remarked,  as  he  released  that  slight 
grasp:  "  Occasionally,  when  the  fisherman  casts 
in  his  net  he  brings  in  a  gar."  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  add,  that  the  records  of  the  church 
next  da}'  did  not  show  any  increase  of  mem- 
bership for  the  meeting  of  the  previous  night 
to  the  Methodist  society  in  Greenville. 


114 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


For  more  than  thirty  years  past  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  in  Greenville  has  en- 
joyed a  reasonable  degree  of  prosperity  under 
the  charge  of  the  many  preachers  sent  by  the 
conference  of  the  church  to  minister  to  her 
people.  A  few  familiar  names  of  some  of 
those  worthy  men  are  called  to  the  mind  of 
those  acquainted  with  the  church  for  half  of 
a  century  or  more,  such  as  Kirkpatrick,  Pow- 
ers, Barnes,  Benson,  Johnston,  Falkner,  Lin- 
genfelter.  Munson,  Moore,  Vaucleve,  Morrison, 
Taylor,  Waggoner,  House,  Massey,  Van  Treese, 
Gibson,  Robinson,  down  to  the  present  min- 
ister, E.  A.  Hoyt. 

Some  six  years  ago,  the  old  church  was  sold, 
the  title  to  the  property  being  made  to  some 
of  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
the  Methodists  by  the  aid  of  many  friends 
outside  the  church,  have  built  a  handsome 
brick  edifice  on  Lot  No.  50,  on  Second  and 
Sumer  streets,  which  was  finished  and  dedi- 
cated some  five  years  since.  The  membership 
of  this  church  is  steadily  increasing,  and  their 
congregations  and  Sunday  schools  rank  with 
the  first  in  the  city. 

Greenville  Baptist  Church — Was  organized 
September  18,  183G,  by  Revs.  James  Lemen 
Elijah  Dodson,  Joseph  Taylor,  Joseph  Lemen 
and  A.  W.  Coole}\  The  church  comprised  six 
members,  namely,  Lemuel  Blanchard,  Charles. 
Eunice,  A.  N.  and  Elizabeth  C.  Norton  and 
Sibbel  Blanchard.  Within  a  year  of  its  organ- 
izing, although  without  a  pastor,  and  having 
preaching  only  occasionally,  the  number  of 
members  had  increased  to  twenty,  and  up  to 
1842  twenty-two  had  been  received  by  experi- 
ence and  baptism,  and  fourteen  by  letter,  mak- 
ing the  total  membership  forty-two.  From  this 
date,  July,  1842,  no  additions  were  made,  but 
on  the  contrary  the  church  declined  in  nu- 
merical strength,  until  in  May,  1847,  the  church 
relations  were  dissolved.  This  was  done  at  a 
meeting  held  by  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Rogers, 
who  acted  as  moderator.     At  a  meetiuar  held  in 


July,  1847,  a  new  organization  was  effected, 
under  the  title  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Christ 
of  Greenville.  The  Revs.  B.  Rogers  and  I.  D. 
Newell  assisted,  and  the  following  persons 
signed  the  roll  :  K.  P.  and  Elizabeth  Morse, 
Sibbel  Blanchard,  Elizabeth  Foster  and  others. 
During  the  year,  seven  others  were  added,  mak- 
ing in  all  twenty-two.  Like  most  churches  or- 
ganized in  early  days,  this  one  had  to  depend 
for  preaching  for  years  on  such  occasional 
supplies  as  could  be  obtained.  Among  those 
who  occupied  the  pulpit  from  time  to  time  were 
Revs.  John  M.  Peck,  James  and  Joseph  Lem- 
en, Joel  Sweet,  Elijah  Dodson,  Joseph  Taylor, 
Ebeu  Rogers  and  Jonathan  Merriman,  all  now 
deceased. 

The  first  regular  pastor  was  the  Rev.  Thomas 
W.  Hynes.  He  served  two  months,  from  June 
to  August,  1838,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
E.  Dodson,  et.  al. 

Lemuel  Blanchard  and  M.  P.  Ormsby  were 
ordained  the  first  Deacons,  and  served  until 
their  deaths,  1838  and  1845,  respectively.  Ben- 
jamin Floyd  and  K.  P.  Morse  succeeded  them. 
Prior  to  April,  1854,  meetings  of  the  church 
were  held  in  private  houses  or  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  In  1839,  the  subject  of  erecting 
a  Baptist  meeting-house  in  Greenville  was 
agitated,  but  nothing  was  accomplished,  and 
the  courtesies  of  the  Presbyterian  Society  were 
gladly  extended  and  accepted,  until  the  present 
church,  32x50,  was  completed  in  April,  1854. 
at  a  cost  of  $2,500.  In  the  summer  of  1856, 
Mr.  Charles  Perry  donated  $200,  to  be  used  in 
procuring  a  bell.  The  sum  was  made  sufficient 
by  additions,  and  the  present  bell,  weighing 
1,500  pounds,  was  cast  in  St.  Louis.  Much 
more  might  be  said  of  this  flourishing  Chris- 
tian organization,  but  space  forbids  more  than 
that  it  is  firmly  established,  and  is  uow  doing  a 
good  work. 

Catholic  Church  of  Greenville — Was  organ- 
ized in  April,  1877.  First  mass  was  celebrated  on 
Sunday,  May  6,  following,  Rev.  Father  Quitter, 


CITY   OF   GREENVILLE. 


115 


of  Vandalia,  officiating.  There  were  but  a  few 
Catholics  in  the  Greenville  district,  and  those 
living  remote  from  Catholic  divine  service  had 
become  lukewarm  in  the  faith.  A  few  of  the 
faithful,  feeling  the  need  of  religious  culture  and 
astrengthened  faith,  had  accustomed  themselves 
to  meet  in  a  small  hall  on  the  third  floor  of  the 
First  National  Bank  building.  In  this  room 
services  were  conducted  for  about  three  years. 
The  subject  of  a  more  suitable  place  of  worship 
was  from  time  to  time  discussed  and  a  building 
fund  started.  The  citizens  of  Greenville  were 
all  afforded  an  opportunity,  and  many  responded 
with  liberal  donations.  Protestants  not  excepted. 
In  November,  1879,  a  contract  for  the  building 
of  their  present  commodious  edifice,  situated 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city,  was  awarded, 
the  good  work  pushed  to  completion.  On  the 
first  Sunday  in  June,  1880,  Father  Quitter,  as- 
sisted by  Mr.  James  Henry  and  others  from 
Vandalia,  celebrated  the  first  High  Mass.  This 
congregation  was  made  up  of  Catholics  of 
many  nationalities,  but  all  met  upon  the  one 
religious  plane  for  one  and  the  same  purpose. 
The  same  harmony  and  true  fellowship  still 
prevail,  and  while  the  church  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy, it  is  thought  that  a  permanent  pastor 
will  in  the  near  future  be  engaged  and  a  larger 
church  needed. 

Protest/ 1 a t  Episcopal  Church. — Up  to  the 
year  1878,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
had  not  been  known  in  Bond  County.  There 
had  been  several  Episcopalians  in  Green- 
ville for  years  past,  but  uo  effort  had  been 
made  to  secure  the  services  of  the  church.  Feel- 
ing the  importance  of  a  Christian  education  for 
their  families  they  had  worshiped  with  other 
religious  societies. 

July  20.  1878,  Messrs.  C.  K.  Denny,  M.  B. 
Chittenden,  W.  S.  Ogden,  Henry  Howard  and 
Henry  Chittenden  met  at  Squire  Howard's 
office,  and  there  decided  to  organize  a  parish 
to  be  known  as  Grace  Church.  To  the  above 
list  the  names  of  about  seventeen  persons  were 


added,  who  had  been  baptized  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  also  names  of  twelve  others  who  were 
not  connected  with  any  church,  and  seemed 
inclined  to  aid  in  sustaining  this.  The  Bev. 
Mr.  Van  Duzen,  then  officiating  at  Paris,  Edgar 
Co.,  111.,  heard  of  this  movement  and  visited 
Greenville,  and  about  the  1st  of  August,  1878, 
and  for  the  first  time,  services  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  were  held  in  Greenville,  at 
the  Congregational  Church.  It  was  found  that 
the  Canons  of  the  Diocese  did  not  permit  the 
organization  of  a  parish  to  so  limited  a  number 
of  communicants.  W.  S.  Ogden  was  sent  to 
attend  the  annual  Diocesan  Convention  of 
1879,  at  Springfield,  111.,  and  to  confer  with 
Bishop  McLaren,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese.  He 
carried  with  him  a  petition  embracing  some 
thirty -odd  names.  The  petition  was  favorably- 
acted  upon,  and  Messrs.  Ogden  and  Denny 
appointed  Senior  and  Junior  Wardens ;  M. 
B.  Chittenden,  Treasurer,  and  H.  A.  Ste- 
phens, Clerk,  with  Henry  Chittenden  Li- 
censed Recorder.  In  July,  1879,  Rev.  R.  E. 
G.  Huntington  was  called  as  Rector  of  Christ's 
Church.  Collinsville,  and  as  Missionary  to 
Grace  Mission,  Greenville,  and  thereafter,  fort- 
nightly, services  were  held  until  May,  1881, 
when  Mr.  H.  resigned  and  removed  to  Kansas. 
During  these  two  years,  quite  a  number  were 
added  by  baptism  and  confirmation.  The 
church,  however,  lost,  by  death  and  removals, 
more  than  she  had  gained.  For  about  one 
year,  the  church  was  without  a  rector ;  but 
April  1,  1882,  the  Rev.  Joseph  G.  Wright,  of 
Altamont,  took  charge  of  the  Mission,  and  the 
life  of  the  church  much  revived.  Measures 
have  been  taken  looking  toward  the  erection  of 
a  church  edifice,  and  it  is  now  believed  that  a 
pretty  Gothic  structure,  sufficiently  large  to 
seat  some  two  hundred  worshipers,  will  be 
built  at  a  cost  not  to  exceed  $2,000,  and  com- 
pleted this  coming  fall  of  1882.  Everything 
connected  with  the  Mission,  owing  to  the  zeal 
and  energy  of  the  rector,  is  in  a  flourishing 


116 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


condition,    and    no   doubt   but   that   a   bright 
future  is  before  it. 

The  Plymouth  Brethren  (so  called).  By  one  of 
the  Brethren. — Those  people  who,  for  about 
twenty-eight  years,  have  met  together  in  this  citj 
as  Christians,  are  not  connected  in  an}'  way  with 
any  of  the  other  denominations  of  Christians, 
as  they  meet  on  quite  different  ground  than 
they  do.  First  of  all,  they  have  no  creed ;  (and 
as  one  of  them  expressed)  our  creed  is  the 
word  of  God.  They  take  into  fellowship  any 
believer  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  doc- 
trine is  sound  according  to  God's  word,  and 
whose  walk  in  the  world  is  in  accordance  with 
the  teachings  of  God's  word,  as  to  how  a  be- 
liever should  behave  himself,  who  has  been 
redeemed  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  As 
to  their  ground  of  meeting  together,  they  do  so 
as  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  after  he  had  left 
them  to  go  in  the  glory ;  that  is,  meeting 
every  Lord's  Day  morning  to  break  bread  in 
remembrance  of  their  Lord,  as  He  told  them, 
before  He  departed,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me."  They  do  not  believe  in  ordination, 
accepting  only  the  word  of  God,  which  says 
that  He  has  given  the  church  gifts,  some 
apostles,  some  doctors,  evangelist  teachers, etc.; 
not  educated  by  man,  but  by  God  alone.  They 
meet  without  preachers,  and  any  member  of 
the  body,  led  by  the  spirit,  is  free  to  offer  a 
prayer  or  give  a  word  of  exhortation,  or  words 
of  thanks  to  the  Lord.  If  the  Lord  sends  them 
one  of  His  gifted  servants  from  time  to  time, 
they  gladly  receive  him,  as  from  the  Lord,  to 
either  teach,  exhort  or  comfort,  or  preach 
the  Gospel  to  sinners.  Those  gifted  servants 
receive  no  fixed  salary,  but  depend  entirely  on 
the  Lord,  thus  walking  by  faith,  and  they  are 
generally  better  cared  for  than  those  who  are 
depending  on  man  for  support,  though  surely 
man  is  the  instrument  that  God  uses.  This  is, 
in  short,  the  history  of  those  people,  so  called, 
Plymouth  Brethren.  The  building  in  which 
they  meet  was  built  by  Mr.  George  Rutchley, 


for  the  purpose,  and  the  assembly  pays  rent 
for  it  to  him  with  money  put  in  a  box  even- 
Lord's  Day  morning,  b}'  those  whose  heart  is 
opened,  and  are  able  to  thus  contribute  not 
only  to  expenses  of  rent,  light,  and  so  on,  but 
also  For  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  who  are  trav- 
eling from  place  to  place,  working  for  the  Mas- 
ter. 

A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Greenville  Lodge,  No.  245, 
received  a  dispensation  October  28,  18(36,  and 
the  following  list  of  officers  were  elected  :  W. 
H.  Collins,  W.  M.;  T.  W.  Hutchinson,  S.  W.; 
W.  T.  White,  J.  W.;  W.  A.  Allen,  Secretary  ; 
J.  Burchsted,  Treasurer  ;  Neely  McNeely,  Ti- 
ler. Charter  for  this  lodge  was  issued  October 
7,  1857,  and  was  signed  by  J.  H.  Hibbard,  G. 
M.;  William  Lane,  D.  G.  M.;  Harrison  Dills, 
S.  G.  W.;  F.  M.  Blair,  J.  G.  W.;  Harmau  G. 
Reynolds,  Grand  Secretary.  Charter  members 
were:  W.  H.  Collins,  P.  W.  Hutchinson,  W.  T. 
White,  John  Burchsted,  W.  A.Allen  and  Neely 
McNeely.  According  to  last  report,  the  lodge 
contained  sixty-five  members. 

/.  0.  O.  F.,  Clark  Lodge,  No.  3,  was  insti- 
tuted January  10,  1839  ;  chartered  August  1, 
same  year.  The  following  were  the  charter 
members,  of  whom  only  one,  James  E.  Star,  of 
Elsah,  Jersey  County,  111.,  is  now  living.  James 
Clark,  Patrick  O'Byrne,  David  P.  Berry,  George 
Files,  Thomas  Dakin.  Charter  was  signed  by 
S.  C.  Pierce,  M.  W.  G.  M.;  M.  Botkin,  D.  G. 
M.;  Daniel  Ward,  G.  W.;  John  M.  Krum.  G. 
T.;  Alfred  Shannon,  G.  S.;  J.  11.  Woods,  P.  G; 
James  E.  Star,  P.  G.;  A.  W.  Chenoweth,  P.  G.; 
John  R,  Batterton,  P.  G.  Original  officers 
were;  James  Clark.  N.  G.;  Patrick  O'Byrne, 
V.  G.;  James  Bradford,  Secretary  ;  R.  F. 
White,  Treasurer.  Present  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  lodge  is  fift3r-three. 

1.  0.  0.  F.,  Greenville  Encampment,  No.  39, 
was  instituted  February  5, 1869.  First  officers 
were  :  Henry  Howard,  C.  P.;  C.  W.  Holden,  H. 
P.;  L.  Adams,  S.  W.;  J.  F.  Bowman,  J.  W.; 
G.  A.  Collins,  Scribe  ;  E.  Reidemann,  Treasurer. 


££ufiu^ii&U 


C^^     jfi^**-  e^C^-^^s/^L. 


LIBRARY 

OF  1HE 

UNIVERSITY  yf  ILLINOIS 


CITY  OF  GREENVILLE. 


119 


Charter  was  issuer!  October  12,  1869,  and  was 
signed  by  J.  J.  Tichner,  Grand  Patriarch  ;  N. 
C.  Nason,  Grand  Scribe.  Present  number  of 
members,  twenty-five. 

Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars,  Green- 
ville Lodge,  No.  44.6,  chartered  May  2,  1870, 
with  the  following  members  and  officers  :  C.  W. 
Moore,  Wyatt  Canse}-,  J.  H.  Hallarn  and  thirty- 
one  others  signed  the  call.  First  officers 
elected:  S.French,  W.  C.  T.;  Mrs.  E.  C.  Smith, 
W.  V.  T.;  Rev.  M.  N.  Powers,  W.  C;  J.  J. 
Clarkson,  W.  S.;  George  Perryman,  W.  A.  S.; 
W.  C.  Brown,  W.  F.  S.;  Mrs.  Alice  Phelp.  W. 
T.  R.  E.  A.;  Munroe  Mc Adams,  W.  M.;  Miss 
Alice  Alexander,  W.  D.  M.;  Mrs.  C.  Larabee, 
W.  I.  G.;  H.  H.  Hughes,  W.  D.  G.;  Miss  Kate 
Kelso,  W.  R.  H.  S.;  Miss  Flora  Larabee,  W.  L. 
H.  S.;  H.  H.  Smith.  P.  W.  C.  T.  Original 
number  of  members  in  good  standing  was 
forty-six.  and  present  number  is  sixt}'.  The 
lodge  is  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  accom- 
plishing much  good. 

The  title,  Women's  Christian  Temperance 
Union,  is  strikingly  suggestive  of  the  laudable 
object  of  the  society.  A  union  of  Christian 
women  representing  the  different  evangelical 
churches,  organized  so  as  to  systematically,  and 
with  the  blessings  of  God,  aid  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  intemperance  in  their  midst,  working  in 
harmony  with  the  State  and  National  organi- 
zations of  their  order.  The  Greenville  Union 
was  constituted  April  1,  1879,  with  officers  as 
follows  : 

.Airs.  E.  W.  Dewey,  President  at  Large:  Mrs. 
Dr.  R.  C.  Sprague,  Vice  President  at  Large; 
Mrs.  A.  B.  Byram,  from  the  Presbyterian 
Church;  Mrs.  S.  Perry,  from  the  Baptist  Church; 
Mrs.  W.  S.  Dann,  from  the  Methodist  Church; 
Mrs.  Charles  Clark,  from  the  Congregational 
Church;  Caroline  Phelps,  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary; Mrs.  Samuel  Colcord,  Recording  Secre- 
tary; Miss  Allie  Robinson,  Treasurer.  The 
Union  is  in  a  prosperous  condition  and  accom- 
plishing much  good,  and  at  their  last  election. 


April  11,  1882,  the  following  officers  were 
elected:  Mrs.  A.  E.  Haven,  President;  Mrs.  P. 
C.  Reed,  Vice  President;  Mrs.  N.  H.  Jackson, 
Recording  Secretary;  Mrs.  Mary  Murdock, 
Treasurer.  The  Union  has  about  thirty  en- 
rolled members. 

A  temperance  society  that  accomplished 
much  good  was  organized  April  6,  1848,  by  J. 
R.  Woods,  A.  D.  G.  W.  P.  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois, with  the  following  charter  members: 
Robert  F.  White,  John  Burchsted,  John  T. 
Barr,  Otis  B.  Colcord,  Daniel  Detrick,  John 
Waite,  Franklin  Berry,  John  A.  Dowler,  S.  B. 
Holcomb,  George  Ferguson.  Nathaniel  Maddux, 
Lonson  Lane,  Joseph  T.  Fouke,  Samuel  H. 
Crocker,  E.  Gaskins  and  James  Stafford.  The 
following  officers  were  elected  and  installed: 
Franklin  Berry,  W.  P.;  John  T.  Barr,  W.  A.; 
John  Waite,  R.  S.;  S.  B.  Holcomb,  A.  R.  S.; 
Joseph  T.  Fouke,  F.  S.;  Daniel  Detrick.  F.;  R. 
F.  White,  C;  George  Ferguson,  A.  C;  Nathaniel 
Maddux,  I.  S.;  O.  B.  Colcord,  O.  S.;  E.  Gas- 
kins,  P.  W.  P.  James  Stafford  was  appointed 
Chaplain,  and  John  Waite  alternate.  During 
the  remainder  of  April  sixteen  more  were 
added  to  the  membership,  making  thirty -two. 
This  number  increased  rapidly,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  order  was  unbounded.  Many 
men  joined  who  had  been  for  years  habitual 
drunkards,  came  for  miles  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings, and  in  most  cases  were  prosperous  in 
their  business  whilst  they  were  members,  and 
often  testified  to  their  enjoyment  during  those 
several  years  of  their  membership.  It  gave 
way  to  other  temperance  societies,  its  last  meet- 
ing being  April  29,  1853.  Its  enrollment  was 
over  200  members. 

Integrity  Lodge,  No.  72,  ^4  0.  U.  W.,  was 
instituted  April  28,  1877,  with  the  following 
officers:  S.  M.  Inglis.  P.  M.  W.;  George  S. 
Phelps,  M.  W.;  Henry  Howard,  F.;  William 
Ballard,  0.;  Cyrus  Birge,  Recorder;  George  C. 
Scipio,  Financier;  M.  V.  Denny,  Receiver;  C. 
W.  Holden,  G.;  Samuel  Werner,  I.  W.;  S.  M. 

G 


120 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Tabor,  0.  W.  Henry  Howard  was  the  first 
representative  to  the  meeting  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  at  Ottawa,  111.,  February,  1878.  The 
lodge  now  has  sixty-three  members,  and  is  in 
a  prosperous  condition. 

I.  0.  M.  A.  was  organized  September  20, 
1880,  with  the  following  officers  :  J.  J.  Clark- 
son,  P.;  C.  W.  Sawall,  P.  P.;  John  Kingsbery, 
V.  P.;  Henry  Rammel,  R.  S.;  J.  M.  Mc Adams, 
F.  S.;  H.  T.  Powell,  T.;  E.  C.  Stearns,  J.  J. 
Clarkson,  H.  T.  Powell,  Trustees  ;  A.  T.  Reed) 
0.j  C.  H.  Beatty,  I.  G.;  0.  L.  Lupton,  O.  G. 

The  I.  0.  M.  A.  is  a  State  organization,  and 
the  Greenville  branch  contains  twenty-seven 
members. 

The  Greenville  Band  consists  of  thirteen 
public-spirited  and  enterprising  young  men  of 
esthetic  musical  tastes,  who  have,  by  enduring 
perseverance,  accomplished  much  in  the  way  of 
musical  culture,  and  rendered  themselves  a 
credit  to  their  city,  county  and  State. 

The  band  was  organized  October  10,  1879  ; 
chartered  November  12,  1880,  with  John  A. 
Elam  as  their  leader  ;  Adel  Albright,  first  E 
flat  cornet ;  Ward  Reid,  second  E  flat  cornet ; 
Will  E.  Robinson,  clarionet  ;  Charles  Thraner, 
piccolo  ;  Wallace  Barr,  first  B  flat  cornet  ;  Will 
Johnson,  second  B  flat  cornet ;  Will  Donnell, 


third  B  flat  cornet  ;  Robert  Johnson,  first 
solo  alto  ;  Jesse  Watson,  second  solo  alto  ; 
Walter  Powell,  third  solo  alto  ;  Rome  Sprague, 
first  tenor  ;  Jesse  Smith,  second  tenor  ;  Frank 
Shaw,  baritone  ;  Louis  Derleth,  tuba  bass  ; 
Frank  Boughman,  tenor  drum  ;  Will  White, 
bass  drum  and  cymbals. 

Of  the  above  only  five  were,  according  to 
law,  old  enough  to  have  their  names  appear  on 
the  charter,  namely,  Leader  Elam,  Messrs.  Al- 
bright, Johnson,  Shaw  and  Boughman.  Messrs. 
Reid,  Robinson,  Albright  and  Smith  have  re- 
signed and  their  instruments  are  at  present  si- 
lent, but  a  movement  is  on  foot  that  will  un- 
doubted!}' result  in  filling  their  places. 

On  the  evening  of  September  20,  1880,  the 
band  was  treated  to  a  most  happy  and  appro- 
priate surprise  by  the  loyal  ladies  of  Green- 
ville, who  presented  them  with  an  elegant  flag 
of  our  country,  twelve  feet  long  and  six  feet 
wide,  mounted  on  a  substantial  staff,  and  sur- 
mounted with  a  gold  gilt  American  eagle  with 
extended  pinions.  The  stars  are  worked  in 
silk  floss,  and  among  them  appear  the  letters 
G.  B.  The  cost  of  this  flag  was  $50.  The 
band  is  in  constant  practice,  and  bids  fair  to 
soon  become  one  of  the  best  in  Illinois. 


CITY   OF   GREENVILLE. 


121 


CHAPTER   XII* 

GREENVILLE— A  RETROSPECTION— BUILDING  OF  JAILS— SITUATION  OF  THE  CITY— MORE  OF  THE 

EARLY  BUSINESS   AND  BUSINESS   MEN.  STORES,  ETC.— GRIGG.  BARR,  DAVIS.  ELLIOTT  AND 

OTHERS— AGRICULTURAL   WAREHOUSES— THE    BANKING    BUSINESS-SHOPS    AND 

MECHANICS— SUMMARY,  ETC.,   ETC. 


HPO  what,  extent  the  early  settlers  of  Bond 
-^-  County  believed  in  the  existence  of 
ghosts,  no  official  record  has  been  left;  but 
they  have  recorded  their  belief  in  that  mys- 
terious healing  art  where  faith  is  the  active 
agent  as  late  as  June  2,  1829.  In  that  rec- 
ord is  found  that  Polly  Harness,  "  in  conse- 
quence of  a  canser  or  ulser  is  unable  to  earn 
a  livelihood;''  whereupon  the  court  makes  the 
following  order:  "  Ordered,  that  Thomas 
Hunter  be  appointed  Agent  to  convey  Polly 
Harness  to  a  Dutch  Doctor,  living  about  ten 
miles  below  Herculanium,  in  Missouri,  and 
that  the  sum  of  $30  be  paid  to  said  Thomas 
Hunter  to  defray  said  expenses. "  The  record 
in  due  time  shows  that  the  said  Thomas  Hun- 
ter reported  to  the  court  the  delivery  of  the 
said  Polly  Harness  to  one  "  William  Neiil, 
and  took  his  receipt  for  the  cure  and  main- 
tanence"  of  the  said  Harness  "near  Harkale- 
naum,"  and  that  the  $30  was  duly  expended; 
after  that  announcment  the  record  is  silent. 
At  least  two  jails  have  been  built  in  Green- 
ville before  the  one  now  in  use,  which  was 
built  in  1859.  The  first  was  built  by  Andrew 
Moody  and  Thomas  Stout,  of  square  logs,  ac- 
cording to  specifications,  at  a  cost  of  $2-1450, 
in  State  paper.  It  was  built  somewhere 
near  the  present  house  of  Samuel  Bradford. 
The  contract  is  dated  July  4,  1829,  to  be 
completed  by  the  first  Monday  in  December 

*  By  Williamson  riant. 


following.  The  second  jail  was  built  by 
Richard  Tatom,  on  the  public  square,  for 
$321.74,  payment  made  for  same  July  4, 
1835,  that  probably  being  the  date  of  receiv- 
ing the  building.  The  present  jail  is  a  very 
respectable  building,  having  none  of  the  for- 
bidding outward  appearances  often  attending 
that  class  of  buildings.  It  was  built  at  a  cost 
of  about  $5,000,  with  the  cells  since  fitted  up 
on  the  west  side.  But  few  persons  have  es- 
caped from  the  same  since  it  was  finished. 

The  city  of  Greenville,  containing  a  popu- 
lation of  2,500  inhabitants,  is  located  on  the 
highest  point  of  land  on  the  line  of  the  St. 
Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad, 
fifty  miles  from  St.  Louis,  gently  sloping  to 
the  south,  with  woodland  in  close  proximity 
on  the  north  and  west,  through  which  nu- 
merous springs  of  pure  water  flow  continu- 
ously, giving  early  promise  of  furnishing  for 
the  city  and  manufactories,  to  be  established, 
a  bountiful  supply  of  water. 

Beginning  as  the  towu  did  in  1819,  with 
one  small  building  made  of  unhewed  logs,  in 
which  Green  P.  Rice  measured  his  first  yard 
of  cotton  goods  to  the  early  settler;  next,  to 
the  time  when  it  was  made  the  county  seat, 
in  1821,  when  he  had  retired  from  the  trade, 
and  his  successor,  Samuel  Davidson,  was  no 
more;  then  the  erection  of  county  buildings, 
and.  within  the  next  ten  years,  the  increased 
number  of  stores  in  the  hands  of  Blanchard, 


122 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


Birge,  Long,  Durley,  Drake  and  White,  al- 
though frequently  changing  in  the  time. 
Then  George  Davidson  with  his  small  cabin 
entertains,  as  best  he  can,  man  and  beast. 
Next,  Seth  Blanchard,  his  successor,  and 
David  Berry,  each  with  enlarged  cabins,  gave 
ample  accommodations  for  shelter,  and  their 
ever  well  loaded  tables  (of  which  tradition 
speaks  in  praise),  fed  the  weary  traveler  as 
he  wended  his  way  on  horseback  through  the 
new  country  to  the  West.  The  next  ten 
years  bring  an  increased  population,  more  ex- 
tensive business  in  every  department.  The 
first  old  court  house  had  returned  to  the 
ground  if  not  to  the  dust.  The  old  jail  failed 
of  its  purpose,  and  both  were  condemned  as 
unsuitable  longer  for  usefulness. 

We  have  now  reached  1841.  The  business 
houses  have  increased  not  only  in  number, 
but  their  stocks  of  merchandise  have  been 
greatly  enlarged.  Within  this  last  ten  years 
we  find  Seth  Blanchard,  J.  B.  Drake,  Ansel 
Birge,  Williard  Twiss,  W.  S.  Smith,  L.  D. 
Plant,  William  Davis,  Gooding,  Morse  &  Bros, 
and  James  M.  Davis  have  been  selling  goods, 
not  all  at  one  time,  for  many  changes  were 
made  within  that  time.  The  hotels  in  the 
meantime  had  made  further  improvements 
under  the  management  of  Blanchard;  then 
his  successor,  Thomas  Dakin,  and  David 
Berry  at  his  old  stand,  second  house  west  of 
Drake's.  A  new  court  house  has  also  been 
built,  of  wood,  in  place  of  the  old  crumbled 
brick,  and  a  new  jail  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  public  square. 

During  all  these  years,  many  times  without 
building  for  Clerk's  offices  and  places  for 
holding  courts,  among  the  first  places  for 
holding  the  courts  was  in  a  building  west  of 
Elam's  old  blacksmith  shop,  southwest  of 
Joel  Elam's  present  residence;  then  in  the 
house  of  Wyatt  Stubblefield;  then  in  the  old 
Berry   Tavern,   where  the  difficulty  between 


two  lawyers  occurred  during  session  of  court. 
One  twisted  the  nose  of  the  other,  which  he 
resented  with  his  cane.  If  we  move  up  ten 
years  more,  to  1851,  living  witnesses  are  nu- 
merous who  know  of  the  changes.  We  have 
some  of  the  old  merchaots,  with  many  that 
are  new.  The  list  now  is  covered  by  W.  S. 
&  Thomas  W.  Smith,  J.  B.  Drake,  Morse  & 
Bros.,  Charles  Hoiles,  George  W.  Hill,  S.  B. 
Bulkley,  P.  J.  Holcomb  and  L.  D.  &  W. 
Plant. 

The  hotels,  by  David  Berry,  Thomas  Stout, 
J.  B.  O.  White,  the  latter  where  Mrs.  McCord's 
hotel  is  now  kept,  and  who  that  lived  within 
the  last  period  named  does  not  remember  the 
private  boarding  house  of  Mi-,  and  Mrs.  John 
Ackerige,  next  house  east  of  Dr.  Drake's  ?  what 
nice  meals  at  "  moderate  prices  ' '  they  pre- 
pared! During  court  week,  their  table  was 
always  crowded  by  jurors,  witnesses  and  those 
interested  in  court,  living  in  the  county, 
whilst  the  Judge  and  most  of  the  members 
of  the  bar  from  abroad  stopped  at  the  Berry 
House.  The  tables  of  these  houses  were 
abundantly  supplied  with  wild  game,  such  as 
venison,  prairie  chickens,  quail,  etc.,  which 
were  plentiful  and  very  cheap.  The  common 
price  for  "  venison  saddle"  (the  hind  quarters 
with  the  loin),  would  sell  for  37i  cents  per 
pair.  The  average  weight  would  be  from 
thirty  to  fifty  pounds  each,  making  the  meat 
average  about  1  cent  per  pound.  'What  boy 
now  living  that  was  in  Greenville  during 
this  time  does  not  remember  the  ginger  cakes 
made  by  old  Mother  Allred?  The  next  ten 
years  takes  us  to  1861.  Increased  business 
on  every  hand.  We  find  during  this  time 
that  the  merchants  are  covered  by  the  follow- 
ing list:  W.  S.  &  T.  W.  Smith,  Morse  & 
Bros.,  Charles  Hoiles,  E.  A.  Floyd,  Alexander 
Buie,  G.  W.  Hill,  Samuel  A.  Blanchard,  El- 
liott &  Kershner,  A.  W.  Hynes,  and  Barr  & 
Elliott. 


CITY   OF  GREENVILLE. 


123 


The  hotels  are  now  all  removed  to  near  the 
public  square.  Tho  St.  Charles  Hotel,  by  E. 
R.  McCord,  Franklin  House,  by  Franklin  G. 
Morse,  from  whom  it  took  its  name.  "Within 
this  last  period  a  new  jail  has  been  built,  of 
brick,  where  it  now  stands  on  Third  street,  and 
the  present  court  house  completed  in  1855. 

Now  let  us  pass  from  18(31  to  the  present, 
1882,  covering  a  period  of  twenty-one  years, 
as  the  town  has  grown  until  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  make  mention  in  detail  of  many 
changes  and  occurrences.  The  greatest  im- 
petus given  to  Greenville  since  it  was  first 
named,  was  the  building  and  completion  of 
the  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Rail- 
road through  the  southern  line  of  the  city. 
The  first  passenger  train  from  Greenville  to 
St.  Louis  was  on  the  morning  of  December 
8,  1868.  and  from  that  date  we  mark  the  first 
march  of  improvement.  As  has  been  shown 
by  an  article  in  this  book  covering  a  history 
of  the  Vandalia  Railroad  that  the  citizens  of 
Greenville  and  Bond  County  have  more  than 
ordinary  interest  in  the  success  of  this  road. 

The  stores  that  have  been  in  operation  in 
that  time,  but  have  closed  out,  are  as  follows: 
W.  S.  Smith  &  Co.,  J.  M.  Smith,  Morse  & 
Bros.,  C.  Hoiles,  G.  W.  Hill,  A.  Buie,  Will- 
iam M.  Evans  &  Co..  J.  G.  Sprague,  H.  Y. 
Schell,  J.  W.  Elliott,  P.  C.  Reed,  McLain  & 
Wafer,  John  B.  Reid,  Samuel  B.  Hynes,  E. 
V.  Buchanan,  George  F.  Salisbury. 

If  a  stranjrer  visiting  Greenville  for  the 
first  time  should  desire  detailed  information 
in  regard  to  the  business  transacted  in  the 
city  at  the  present  time,  and  ask  to  be  shown 
first  the  merchant  longest  in  the  trade,  any 
one  of  whom  the  request  was  made  would 
conduct  him  to  the  well-tilled  "  U.  S."  store 
of  John  T.  BaiT,  successor  of  Messrs.  Barr  & 
Elliott,  on  Main  street,  south  side  of  the  pub- 
lic square.  This  house  has  always  had  a  good, 
regular  trade. 


He  would  next  be  shown  the  store  of  Daniel 
R.  Grigg,  on  Lot  31,  corner  of  College  and 
Second  streets.  Mr.  Grigg  has  well  proved 
the  old  adage  to  be  correct,  that  "  He  who  by 
the  plow  would  thrive,  himself  must  either 
hold  or  drive. "  Mr.  Grigg  has  succeeded  well 
by  his  personal  attention  to  his  business.  He 
would  next  be  shown  north  across  the  street 
to  the  large,  well-filled  house  of  W.  S.  Dann 
&  Co.  This  house  speaks  for  itself,  the  pro- 
prietors having  the  happy  faculty  of  pleasing 
their  numerous  customers,  and  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  their  trade  have  recently  en- 
larged their  already  commodious  building. 

The  firm  of  Berry  &  Davis,  Third  street, 
west  side  of  the  public  square,  would  claim 
his  attention  next.  The  business  of  this  firm 
has  increased  until  they  now  stand  in  the 
front  ranks  with  their  worthy  competitors; 
the  range  of  their  trade  is  varied,  keeping  a 
general  stock  of  dry  goods;  they  have  bought 
and  sold  grain,  wool,  etc.  Adjoining  their 
store  on  the  north  is  the  well  and  favorably 
known  house  of  Jandt  &  Weise,  successors  to 
Jandt  &  Reed.  This  house  is  connected  in 
some  degree  with  the  house  at  Pocahontas, 
under  the  name  of  H.  A.  Jandt  &  Co.,  and, 
by  concert  of  action  by  the  two  houses,  have 
now  a  lucrative  business. 

These  five  stores  of  general  merchandise 
are  all  in  a  prosperous  condition,  each  house 
having  their  friends,  makes  a  good  division 
in  the  trade,  and,  the  competition  being  close, 
each  stands  as  a  guard  on  prices,  to  keep 
them  within  proper  bounds. 

Only  three  clothing  houses  are  in  opera- 
tion at  present ;  a  fourth,  however,  is  in  pros- 
pect. 

The  New  York  Clothing  House,  on  Lot  42, 
corner  of  Third  and  Main  streets,  first  made 
its  bow  to  the  public  some  fifteen  years  ago, 
with  Mr.  S.  Stearn  as  proprietor.  Mr.  Stearn 
was  lost  whilst  crossing  the  Atlantic  on  the 


124 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


steamer  Schiller,  iu  company  with  Mr.  John 
Suppiger  and  family.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Louis 
Kaufman  took  charge  of  the  store  and  con- 
ducted it  successfully  until  recently.  Mr. 
E.  B.  Wise  became  associated  with  him  under 
the  name  of  Kaufman  &  Wise.  They  have 
always  had  a  good  trade. 

The  store  of  A.  Abrams,  on  Lot  41,  corner 
of  Main  and  Second  streets,  under  the  name 
of  "  Golden  Eagle,"  though  not  one  of  the 
largest,  is  well  assorted  for  the  trade.  This 
store  was  broken  into  one  night  a  few  months 
since  by  two  tramps,  strangers  to  the  town, 
and  several  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  goods 
taken.  The  thieves  were  captured  soon  after, 
the  goods  recovered,  and  are  now  serving  out 
their  sentence  in  the  Chester  Penitentiary. 

Theodore  W.  Coverdale  is  proprietor  of 
the  "  Elephant"  clothing,  boot  and  shoe  house 
on  Lot  61,  corner  of  Second  and  South 
streets.  Commencing  some  eight  years  ago 
with  a  small  stock  of  boots  and  shoes,  he  now 
enjoys  a  large,  prosperous  trade  from  his  new 
stand  with  his  large  stock  of  clothing,  as  well 
as  boots,  shoes,  etc. 

Mr.  H.  T.  Powell  is  just  fitting  up  his 
building  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Lot  47, 
on  Main  street,  with  a  new  stock  of  ready- 
made  clothing.  He  has  been  a  successful 
business  man  in  the  past,  which  argues  well 
for  him  in  the  future. 

Of  the  grocery  stores  there  are  five,  all  ap- 
parently doing  a  flourishing  business.  The 
oldest  is  that  of  Mr.  E.  P.  Justice,  on  Lot 
48,  corner  of  Main  and  Second  streets;  has 
held  a  good  trade  for  many  years  past.  Mr. 
John  Perryman's  comes  next.  Mr.  Perry- 
man's  business  has  been  conducted  for  several 
years  by  his  son  George,  who  has  made  a 
first-class  grocery  house  of  it.  It  is  situated 
in  his  new  building,  built  recently  on  his  lot 
for  the  business  for  which  they  are  so  suc- 
cessfully using  it.    It  is  located  on  the  south 


side  of  the  public  square.  Robinson  &  Son, 
just  north  of  Abram's  clothing  store,  have 
had  their  share  of  the  grocery  business  during 
the  several  years  they  have  been  in  business, 
always    keeping   reliable  goods. 

The  firm  of  Watson  &  Jett,  although  only 
some  two  years  in  business,  have  a  trade  that 
often  takes  many  years   to  secure  its  equal. 

|  They  were  not  new  men  in  the  trade,  but 
had  had  several  years'  experience  in  business 

I  at  another  point.  Their  trade  is  all  they 
should  desire. 

Mr.  Warren  B.  Beedle,   successor  to  E.  V. 

,  Buchanan,  on  the  west  side  of  the  public 
square,  enjoys  his  share  of  the  grocery  trade. 
He  is  well  located,  and  his  pleasant  address 
will  not  fail  to  add  to  his  already  increasing 
business. 

Four  drug  stores  adorn  the  town.  The 
health  of  the  county  and  city  is  so  good  that 
did  they  depend  on  the  sale  of  medicines 
alone  for  a  support,  one  would  easily  satisfy 
every  demand;  but  these  stores  include,  be- 
sides their  drugs  and  medicines,  a  great  va- 
riety of  fancy  and  toilet  goods,  cutlery,  paints, 
oils,  dye  stuffs  and  some  medicinal  liquors, 
to  which  they  add  the  soda  fount,  etc.,  etc., 
and  with  a  full  line  of  these,  each  establish- 
ment, although  of  good  proportions,  find  a 
paying  business  throughout  the  year. 

C.  B.  Bennett  may  be  found  at  his  old 
stand,  on  Lot  23,  corner  of  Third  and  Col- 
lege streets.  Mr.  M.  Ouyden,  with  a  compar- 
atively new  stock  of  goods,  just  south,  across 
the  street,  on  the  opposite  corner.  C.  W. 
Watson  &  Co.,  successors  of  H.  T.  Powell, 
one  door  east  of  the  First  National  Bank, 
and  George  W.  Seaman,  on  the  corner  of  Lot 
47,  corner  of  Main  and  Second  streets. 
These  four  drug  houses  are  all  first-class. 

Only  two  tin  and  hardware  shops  are  lo- 
cated in  Greenville,  but  they  have  ample  fa- 
cilities to  meet  the  requirements  that  may  be 


CITY   OF  GREENVILLE. 


125 


made  upon  them.  Mr.  Theodore  Smith  ha9 
been  in  business  more  than  twenty-live  years; 
is  proprietor  of  one  of  the  shops.  He  is  now 
located  on  Lot  45,  on  Third  street,  in  a  large, 
commodious  room,  well  suited  to  his  busi- 
ness. The  other  is  owned  and  conducted  by 
Messrs.  F.  Seewald  &  Co. ,  on  Lot  49,  Green- 
ville, on  Main  street.  A  double  building  was 
found  necessary  to  give  sufficient  room  for 
their  work  and  trade. 

There  are  two  furniture  stores,  one  kept 
by  Gerichs  &  Norman,  on  Third  street,  who 
also  keep  undertakers'  goods.  The  other,  in 
charge  of  Mr.  Gus  Tripod,  on  Second  street; 
besides  which  there  is  the  cabinet  shop  of  Mr. 
Barbey,  who  includes  in  his  stock  picture 
frames,  undertakers'  goods,  etc. 

Three  regular  agricultural  warehouses, 
with  partial  hardware  stores  attached,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  city — one  on  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Third  streets,  kept  by  Messrs.  J. 
J.  Glarkson  and  G.  W.  Lowrance,  under  the 
name  of  Clarkson  &  Lowrance.  They  handle 
many  manufactures  of  plows,  several  self 
binders,  and  keep  a  good  stock  of  hardware, 
seeds,  etc.  Another,  and  quite  similar  estab 
lishment,  is  first  door  north  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church,  kept  by  Jonathan  Seaman  and 
Hubbard,  under  the  style  of  Seaman  &  Hub- 
bard. The  third  agricultural  house  is  kept 
by  William  Leidel.  He  keeps  everything 
belonging  to  a  first-class  agricultural  estab- 
lishment,  and  is  located  across  the  street, 
west  from  his  residence,  near  the  railroad 
depot.  Other  agricultural  implements  are 
sold  by  parties  who  have  no  regular  house  for 
their  sale. 

Three  millinery  and  fancy  stores  may  be 
named.  McLain  &  Co.,  on  Lot  49,  Main 
street,  is  a  house  that  has  been  established  a 
number  of  years,  and  has  always  had  the  con- 
fidence of  the  public.  The  millinery  parlors 
kept  by  Misses  Jennie  F.  and  May  Barr,  on 


Second  street,  one  door  south  of  the  Thomas 
House,  is  well  filled  with  fashionable  goods; 
and  the  St.  Louis  Bazaar,  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Hynes, 
one  door  east  of  E.  P.  Justice's  grocery  store. 
This  last  is  more  of  a  fancy  store,  with  rare 
fruits,  than  to  be  called  a  millinery  establish- 
ment. These  houses  have  careful  attendants, 
and  are  getting  good  trade. 

Five  blacksmiths  are  scattered  through  the 
town.  John  Schlup,  who  also  makes  a  spe- 
cialty of  manufacturing  wagons,  has  his  shop 
on  Third  and  Summer  streets,  T.  B.  Savage, 
aid  to  N.  W.  McLain's  machine  shop,  is  also, 
on  Third  street;  J.  E.  Travis'  shop  is  on 
Summer  street,  and  W.  W.  Williams  is  lo- 
cated on  Main,  on  Lot  50.  J.  D.  Dorsey, 
"the  village  smith,"  makes  a  specialty  of 
horseshoeing,  on  what  is  claimed  to  be  an  im- 
proved system;  is  located  between  the  Baptist 
and  Christian  Churches. 

Three  banks  have  been  in  successful  oper- 
ation from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  each.  The 
first  was  under  the  style  of  W.  S.  Smith  & 
Co.,  which  was  succeeded  by  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Greenville,  located  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  Lot  4(3,  Main  and  Third  streets, 
with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  which  has  since 
been  reduced  about  one-third.  Its  officers 
are:  Nathaniel  Dressor,  President;  Abe  Mc- 
Neil, Vice  President;   M.  V.  Denny,  Cashier. 

Mr.  Charles  Hoiles  having  retired  from  the 
bank  bearing  his  name  some  two  years  ago, 
the  same  is  now  very  successfully  conducted 
by  his  two  sons,  C.  D.  and  S.  M.  Hoiles,  under 
the  old  firm  name  of  Hoiles  &  Sons.  Their 
bank  is  located  on  the  southeast  corner  of 
Lot  47,  on  Second  street.  The  bank  of  James 
Bradford  and  Samuel  Bradford,  under  the 
style  of  Bradford  &  Son,  is  situated  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Lot  31,  Second  street. 
Each  of  the  banks  has  the  confidence  of  the 
people  as  regards  their  solvency. 

Two  large  lumber  yards  are  located  within 


126 


HISTORY  OF  BONO  COUNTY. 


the  corporation,  that  of  Messrs.  G.  W.  Flint 
&  Co.,  successors  to  Gerichs  &  Koch,  on 
Fourth  and  Washington  streets,  and  that  of 
C.  D.  Harris  &  Co.,  successors  to  Mudd  & 
Harris,  opposite  the  public  school  buildings. 
The  lumber  trade  of  Greenville  is  very  large. 
The  hotels  should  not  be  overlooked.  The 
Franklin  House,  by  L.  Silverman,  is  well  lo- 
cated on  College  and  Third  streets.  The 
house  ,was  built  in  1840,  by  L.  D.  Plant,  for 
a  hotel,  but  was  not  used  as  such  for  many 
years  after.  It  has  undergone  considerable 
repairs  and  additions  since  building.  The 
hotel  on  the  east  side  of  the  public  square, 
by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  McCord,  is  the  same  build- 
ing in  which  J.  B.  O.  White  kept  hotel  over 
twenty-five  years  since.  Mrs.  McCord  has  at- 
tended closely  to  her  duties,  and  has  kept  up 
the  name  of  her  house.  She  has  many  old 
traveling  friends. 

The  Thomas  House,  kept  by  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Thomas,  deserves  special  notice.  She  com- 
menced some  ten  years  since,  keeping  her 
first  hotel  in  the  old  Sargeant  House;  then 
the  Franklin;  next  the  new  Empire.  Her 
success  in  these  houses  enabled  her  to  pur- 
chase the  house  she  now  occupies,  which  she 
has  been  keeping  for  the  past  three  years, 
under  the  name  of  the  Thomas  House.  She 
has  shown  more  than  ordinary  executive  abil- 
ity in  conducting  her  hotel  business  in  the 
past,  which  is  a  sure  guaranty  for  success  in 
the  future.  Her  table  is  loaded  with  the  del- 
icacies of  the  season,  as   the  market  affords. 

Three  jewelry  stores  are  at  present  in 
Greenville.  That  of  G.  S.  Haven,  on  Lot 
32,  northwest  corner  of  court  house  square,  is 
the  oldest,  Mr.  Haven  having  been  in  the  busi- 
ness about  thirteen  years.  The  other  two  stores 
are  situated  side  by  side  on  Lot  47,  south- 
east corner  of  the  square,  one  kept  by  Mr. 
Charles  Derleth,  the  other  by  Mr  Phillip 
Freeh.      Both  make  attractive  exhibits  of  their 


wares.  There  is  but  one  machine  shop  in 
the  city,  and  is  kept  on  Lot  11,  Third  street, 
where  ordinary  repairs  to  machines  needing 
experts  are  repaired. 

A  number  of  shops  for  the  manufacture  of 
boots  and  shoes  can  be  found  by  walking 
through  the  town.  Across  the  street,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  square,  may  be  seen  the 
shop  of  Messrs.  Flaharty  &  Sala.  Just  south 
of  Mr.  Justice's  store  the  shop  of  Mr.  Jacot, 
and  south,  on  the  same  street,  on  Lot  53,  the 
well-known  shop  of  August  Brunning:  and 
the  shop  of  Louis  Derleth,  in  the  basement 
of  Hoiles  Block,  has  had  a  good  run  of  trade 
since  he  has  been  conducting  the  same.  Mr. 
James  Lyon's,  two  doors  west  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  is  the  convenient  shop  for  those  liv- 
ing at  the  west  end  of  the  city.  He  has  not 
been  known  to  refuse  to  sell  or  work  for  those 
living  in  any  other  part  of  Greenville. 

For  a  number  of  years  three  elevators  have 
been  in  operation  in  Greenville,  buying  and 
shipping  grain,  besides  the  mill  of  Plant  & 
Wafer.  The  proprietors  of  the  largest  of 
these  elevators  have  recently  retired  from  the 
business,  but  the  business  will  probably  con- 
tinue under  another  management. 

Adolphe  Breuchand  and  his  brother  Mark 
Breuchand  have  each  an  elevator  on  the  line 
of  the  railroad,  some  forty  rods  distant  from 
each  other.  The  buying  of  wheat  for  ship- 
ping and  grinding  at  Greenville  annually 
amounts  to  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
bushels,  in  good  seasons. 

There  are  three  steam  ilouring-niiUs  at 
Greenville — one  situated  half  a  mile  north  of 
the  city,  near  the  creek,  from  which  the  sup- 
ply of  water  needed  in  running  the  mill  is 
taken.  A  similar  mill,  though  not  so  large, 
was  burned  on  the  spot  where  the  present  one 
stands,  by  one  Page,  some  forty  years  ago, 
for  which  he  suffered  the  penalty  of  the  law. 
Mr.  W.  S.  Smith  is  the  owner  of  the  property 


CITY   OF  GREENVILLE. 


127 


at  present.  On  account  of  its  having  been 
built  on  the  ashes  of  the  old  mill,  it  was  for 
years  known  as  the  Phoenix  Mills.  The  small 
mill  immediately  north  of  the  railroad,  known 
as  the  Star  Mills,  was  built  some  ten  years 
ago  by  J.  E.  Walls  and  W.  M.  Evans.  It 
was  designed  for  a  custom  or  exchange  mill. 
Mr.  E.  Tinkey,  its  present  proprietor,  has 
made  some  improvements  in  the  same  during 
the  past  two  years  he  has  owned  it,  and  he 
runs  it  to  the  extent  that  business  justifies. 

The  mill  on  the  south  side  of  the  railroad, 
known  as  the  Greenville  City  Mills,  was  built 
some  fourteen  years  ago  by  N.  W.  McLain 
and  James  E.  Wafer,  who  ran  it  for  a  number 
of  years,  when  John  B.  Eeid  became  their 
successor,  added  some  improvements,  and 
sold  it  to  its  present  owners,  Williamson 
Plant  and  Thomas  Wafer,  who  have  recently 
expended  several  thousand  dollars  putting  in 
improved  machinery  to  enable  them  to  man- 
ufacture a  superior  grade  of  flour  for  their 
large  and  growing  trade.  They  have  opened 
up  a  good  shipping  trade  within  the  past  two 
years  with  Belfast,  Ireland,  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land, Liverpool  and  London,  having  shipped 
to  those  points  within  that  time  over  thirty 
car  loads  of  flour,  at  prices  in  advance  of 
any  market  in  the  United  States.  This  mill 
also  does  a  general  exchange  business  with 
farmers  the  same  as  the  other  two  mills  before 
referred  to.  The  water  for  running  this  mill 
is  abundant  in  a  good  well  in  the  mill.  In 
addition  to  the  above,  Messrs.  Elam  &  Sons 
are  putting  up  a  mill  on  the  railroad  near  the 
stock  pens  for  sawing  walnut  blocks  into  legs 
for  tables,  and  hickory  butts  into  carriage 
and  wagon  spokes,  etc. 

The  perplexities  and  uncertainties  of  the 
law  iD  Greenville  is  explained  and  argued  if 
necessary,  for  a  proper  fee,  by  Messrs.  S.  A. 
Phelps,  D.  H  Kingsbury,  A.  G.  Henry,  W. 
H.    Dawdy,    John  Kingsbury,    W.    A.  North- 


cott  (Mr.  Northcott  at  present  being  State's 
Attorney),  and  L.  H.  Craig.  Robinson  & 
Reid,  over  the  post  office,  are  engaged  in  an 
abstract,  loan  and  insurance  business. 

The  citizens  of  Greenville  claim  that  the 
health  of  their  city  and  surrounding  country 
has  been  so  good  that  they  will  need,  if  such 
continues,  a  list  of  the  names  of  their  resident 
physicians  placed  in  some  conspicuous  place 
that  they  may  not  forget  them.  If  such  a 
list  was  posted  in  the  order  in  which  they 
came  to  the  city,  it  would  be  in  the  following 
order:  Drs.  W.  P.  Brown,  R.  C.  Sprague, 
J.  A.  Slaughter,  David  Wilkins,  James  Gor- 
don. D.  R.  Wilkins,  Prank  Brown,  W.  H 
H.  Beeson  and  Miss  Florence  B.  Holden. 

The  above  list  will  not  need  to  have  the 
name  of  our  excellent  dentist,  Dr.  N.  H. 
Jackson,  inscribed  on  it  for  fear  we  may  for- 
get him,  as  each  one,  sooner  or  later,  will 
have  occasion  to  know  of  him  or  his  brethren 
in  the  profession  elsewhere.  He  is  at  pres- 
ent located  pleasantly  in  rooms  above  the 
Elephant  Clothing  House. 

The  three  harness  shops  will  not  be  over- 
looked by  the  farmer,  or  those  in  need  of  +heir 
goods.  That  of  T.  B.  Wood,  one  door  south 
of  Bradford's  Bank,  of  W.  J.  Mills,  on  Lot 
25,  northwest  corner  of  the  public  square, 
and  last,  but  not  least,  that  of  Will  Holdz- 
kom,  on  Lot  32,  west  side  of  the  square.  All 
these  men  give  personal  attention  to  their  bus- 
iness. 

The  pleasure-seekers  will  always  be  glad 
to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  good  natured 
livery  stable  man.  When  you  step  out  of 
the  Thomas  House,  on  the  first  lot  to  your 
left  you  will  find  the  Empire  Stable,  kept  by 
Mr.  James  W.  Whittaker,  and  he  keeps 
many  new  buggies  to  sell  to  those  who  do  not 
want  to  ride  in  his. 

Capt.  S.  M.  Tabor,  in  the  Francisco  Stables, 
has  had  an  excellent  run  of  business.     Capt. 


128 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Tabor's  friends  are  loud  in  praise  of  the 
speed  of  some  of  his  horses. 

Mr.  Kobert  Merry,  successor  to  Wood  & 
Merry,  has  found  it  necessary  to  own  two 
stables  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  his  large 
and  growing  business — one  just  west  from 
Gapt.  Tabor's,  and  the  other  across  the  street 
north.  Mr.  Merry  has  some  good  rigs  for 
the  business.  All  seem  to  do  a  good  busi- 
ness. 

The  tonsorial  art,  in  the  hands  of  Messrs. 
C.  R.  Jones,  Thomas  Barbee,  Mr.  Kepler  and 
Joseph  Jones  has  had  the  tendency  of  smooth- 
ing the  faces  and  shortening  the  locks  of 
their  numerous  visitors,  adding  largely  to 
their  personal  appearance  in  proportion  as 
they  remove  this  surplus  growth. 

No  one  should  shun  Messrs.  Hurley  &  Co., 
on  Third  street,  below  the  First  National 
Bank,  because  their  home  and  business  is 
among  the  tombstones.  A  call  upon  them 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  work  that  may 
stand  as  a  sentinel  at  your  last  resting-place. 

No  business  list  of  Greenville  would  be 
complete  that  did  not  include  the  bakeries  of 
Messrs.  Frank  Parent  and  Nicholas  Faust; 
and  they  know  how  to  make  a  good  lunch  or 
square  meal. 

Mr.  C.  R.  Brenning  makes  a  specialty  of 
his  restaurant,  and  knows  how  to  please  his 
patrons  by  keeping  a  nice,  clean  house.  The 
ice  cream  saloon  and  fancy  bakery  of  Mrs. 
Heffer  &  Sons  commands  the  attention  of  not 


only  the  young  man  and  his  girl,  but  older 
people  find  real  comfort^in  those  dishes  they 
know  so  well  how  to  serve.  In  closing  our 
Greenville  notes,  mention  must  be  made  of 
the  "  boy  merchant, "  Lincoln  Reid,  son  of 
Col.  J.  B.  Reid,  a  mere  lad,  yet  he  has  been 
in  business  about  three  years,  beginning  at 
first  selling  stationery  on  a  small  scale  from 
a  counter  in  the  corner  of  the  post  office  in 
Greenville.  His  business  is  steadily  in- 
creasing, until  now  it  is  developing  into  a 
business  of  larger  proportions.  Such  enter- 
prise gives  hopeful  promise  in  the  future. 
To  write  of  incidents  of  a  foreign  land  as 
they  fall  under  our  observation  or  related  to 
us  by  others,  is  largely  of  the  nature  of  ma- 
chine work.  But  to  write  of  one's  home, 
early  associations  and  recollections,  of  inci- 
dents of  days  that  are  passed  never  to  return 
and  bring  back  those  happy  inspirations  of 
youth,  cannot  but  bring  its  share  of  sadness. 
But  let  these  be  as  they  may,  the  writer  has 
honestly,  but  perhaps  too  hurriedly,  given  in 
the  proceeding  pages  (or  at  least  that  part 
allotted  to  him),  which  came  under  his  per- 
sonal knowledge,  or  was  derived  from  official 
records  of  the  different  events  as  they  oc- 
curred, faithfully  and  impartially,  knowing 
full  well  that  some  errors  may  have  crept  in 
unobserved,  for  which  great  care  has  been 
used  to  make  the  number  of  such  as  few  as 
possible. 


RIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


129 


CHAPTER   XIII* 

RIPLEY  PRECINCT  —  TOPOGRAPHICAL   AND   DESCRIPTIVE  —  EARLY  SET  I'LEMENT  —  PIONEER   LIFE 

AND   HARDSHIPS  — THE  WHEELOCKS  —  THE  ANCIENT  TOWN  OF  "OLD  RIPLEV"— OLD 

SPANISH  TRADITION— CHURCHES— SCHOOLS— VILLAGES,  ETC. 


"  The  past  and  present  as  herein  told, 
Form  topics  of  thought  for  young  and  old." 

— Riley. 

~^T~ATURE  in  her  green  mantle  is  nowhere 
-L.  '  more  lovery  than  in  that  portion  of  Bond 
County  set  aside  by  survey  and  known  as 
"  Ripley  Precinct."  Cozy  farmhouses  nestle 
in  somber  quietude  amid  the  green  orchards 
which  dot  the  landscape  in  every  direction. 
Though  it  has  every  appearance  of  newness,  this 
country  has  been  settled  for  many  years.  Scenes, 
familiar  to  many  of  the  older  residents,  are  fast 
passing  from  view,  and  the  old  landmarks  are 
disappearing  with  those  to  whom  they  owe  their 
existence,  and  mention  must  be  made  of  them 
before  the  places  which  once  knew  them  shall 
know  them  no  more.  Only  too  frequently  it  is 
the  case,  that  people  do  not  see  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  their  own  lives,  and  items  of 
private  and  public  interest  are  neglected  and 
allowed  to  drift  into  the  channel  of  the  forgot- 
ten past.  A  great  many  important  facts  con- 
nected with  the  earlier  history  of  Ripley  Pre- 
cinct are  irrecoverably  lost,  but  a  few  have 
been  found  by  careful  research,  which  will  be 
appropriately  mentioned. 

Ripley  Precinct  lies  almost  directly  west  of 
Greenville,  and  is  somewhat  irregular  in  shape, 
very  much  resembling  in  form  an  inverted  L. 
It  extends  from  the  western  limits  of  Green- 
ville Precinct  to  the  Madison  County  line,  with 
Cottonwood  Precinct  extending  along  its  north- 
ern boundary  and  Pocahontas  Precinct  bound- 
ing it  on  the  south.     The  entire  surface  is  suf- 

*  By  Taylor  J.  Riley. 


ficiently  rolling,  so  that  artificial  means  of 
drainage  is  unnecessaiy.  Some  of  the  land, 
however,  along  the  creeks  is  low,  or  so  very 
rugged  that  it  can  only  be  used  for  grazing 
purposes,  and  is  not  susceptible  of  cultivation, 
but  the  farming  lands  are  nearly  level,  or  but 
slightly  undulating.  The  soil  is  of  the  finest 
quality,  and  yields  abundant  harvests  of  all 
crops  usually  grown  in  this  latitude.  The 
principal  products  are  wheat,  corn  and  oats, 
which  indeed  are  almost  the  only  products. 

The  residences  throughout  this  precinct  are 
mostly  good,  substantial  buildings,  though  ver}- 
little  attempt  is  made  at  the  elegance  displayed 
in  older  and  longer  settled  countries,  but  the 
finely  cultivated  farms  bespeak  the  success 
which  has  attended  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  secure  a  footing  here,  when  land  was 
much  cheaper.  The  original  timber  consisted 
of  hickory,  oak,  ash,  poplar,  walnut,  sugar  ma- 
ple, and  the  present  growth  is  much  the  same, 
though  a  great  deal  of  the  original  timber  has 
fallen  before  the  industrious  hand  of  the  set- 
tlers. The  water-courses  flowing  through  Rip- 
ley Precinct  are  Shoal  Creek,  the  only  one  of 
any  importance  which  enters  from  the  north 
and  Bows  across  the  precinct  in  a  southeasterly 
direction.  There  are  also  two  small  creeks, 
both  known  as  Dry  Fork,  one  coming  from  the 
south  and  the  other  from  the  north,  and,  unit- 
ing, flow  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  into 
Shoal  Creek.  Shoal  Creek  has  a  number  of  other 
small  tributaries,  hardly  worth  mentioning. 

The  early  settlement  of  Ripley  Precinct  is 


130 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


somewhat  involved  in  obscurity,  but  promi- 
nent among  those  of  whom  anything  is  known 
was  Anderson  Hill,  who  came  from  South  Caro- 
lina, in  the  time  of  the  Indians,  and  settled 
upon  the  farm  now  owned  by  John  Davis.  His 
son,  Anderson  Hill,  Jr.,  then  but  a  child,  came 
with  his  father  and  afterward  settled  upon  the 
farm  now  owned  by  William  Brown,  where  he 
lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1853. 
Moses  File  was  also  among  the  early  settlers, 
coming  from  North  Carolina  and  settling  about 
seven  miles  west  of  Greenville  in  1818.  His 
son,  John  N.  File,  now  owns  the  old  home  farm. 
The  Wheelock  Brothers  came  from  the  East,  in 
1812,  and  founded  the  town  known  as  "Old 
Ripley,"  which  in  early  times  was  quite  a  trading 
post,  people  coming  from  within  a  radius  of 
fifty  miles  to  do  their  trading.  The  town  was 
founded  upon  a  farm  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Lust 
of  Edwardsville,  now  owned  by  William  Brown, 
and  numerous  signs  are  still  visible,  though  the 
buildings  have  long  since  been  torn  down  or 
moved  away,  the  ruins  of  old  blacksmith 
shops  and  several  old  wells  alone  remaining  to 
mark  the  site  of  this  once  prosperous  village. 
Dr.  Baker  came  about  this  time,  and  occupied 
the  house  now  owned  by  the  Widow  Jandt. 
He  was  the  first  person  buried  in  the  old  Brown 
Graveyard,  where  many  wear3-  mortals  are  now 
resting.  Numerous  descendants  of  the  above- 
named  early  settlers  still  live  in  this  precinct, 
and  the  farms  of  their  forefathers,  which  were 
then  a  wilderness,  have  indeed  been  made  to 
"  blossom  as  the  rose."  Other  families  con- 
tinued to  move  into  the  community  just  de- 
scribed, until  the  war  of  1812  put  a  slight 
check  on  immigration  for  a  time,  but  after  its 
close  it  commenced  again  with  renewed  vigor. 
Glowing  accounts  were  carried  back  to  the 
older  settlements  of  the  richness  and  fertility 
of  this  new  country,  which  brought  many  of 
the  sturdy  backwoodsman  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  accustomed  from  their  earliest 
childhood  to  lives  of  self-dependence,  and  in 


whom  had  been  generated  a  contempt  of  dan- 
ger and  a  love  for  the  wild  excitement  of  an 
adventurous  life.  "We  of  the  present  day, 
accustomed  to  the  luxuries  and  conveniences  of 
a  highly  civilized  state  of  society,  lapped  in  the 
soft  indolence  of  a  fearless  security7,  accustomed 
to  shiver  at  every  blast  of  winter's  wind,  and  to 
tremble  at  every  noise,  the  origin  of  which  is 
not  perfectly  understood,  can  form  but  an  im- 
perfect idea  of  the  motives  and  influences  which 
could  induce  the  early  pioneers  of  the  West  to 
forsake  the  safe  and  peaceful  settlements  of 
their  native  States  and  brave  the  unknown 
perils  and  undergo  the  dreadful  privations  of 
a  savage  and  unreclaimed  wilderness." 

In  early  times,  the  procuring  of  bread  was  a 
source  of  great  anxiety  to  the  settlers,  and 
when  the  first  white  people  came  to  this  coun- 
try they  found  none  of  the  conveniences  of  to- 
day. An  enterprising  settler  named  Lee  was 
the  first  to  erect  a  mill.  It  was  built  on  Shoal 
Creek,  where  Brown's  Mill  now  stands,  over 
sixty  years  ago,  and  for  many  years  supplied 
the  settlers  of  Ripley  Precinct  with  corn  meal 
and  a  scanty  supply  of  flour.  All  signs  of  this 
mill  have  entirely  succumbed  to  the  lapse  of 
time,  and  where  it  once  was  there  now  stands 
a  thriving  grist-mill,  which  was  erected  in  the 
year  1840,  by  Benjamin  and  Henry  Brown. 
When  this  mill  was  first  built,  it  was  used  only 
for  sawing  lumber,  but  in  1847  William 
Brown  purchased  the  interest  of  Henry  Brown 
(his  cousin),  and  he  and  Benjamin  Brown  put 
in  machinery  for  grinding  grain,  and  for  thirty- 
five  years  this  vicinity  has  been  filled  with  the 
merry  din  of  the  wheels  of  "  Brown's  Mill."  A 
few  years  later  a  saw  and  grist  mill  was  built 
on  Shoal  Creek,  about  three  and  one-half  miles 
below  Brown's  Mill,  by  William  Hunter,  which 
was  afterward  purchased  by  Wesley  Bilyew 
who  ran  it  for  several  years.  No  traces  of  this 
mill  at  present  remain.  At  an  early  date  a 
tannery  was  built  on  the  farm  now  owned  by 
William    Brown,    though    the    builder's    name 


RIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


131 


could  not  be  ascertained,  and  only  an  old  vat, 
or  two  remain  to  mark  the  place  where  it  once 
stood.  A  distillery,  supposed  to  have  been 
built  by  the  Wheelocks  about  1813,  once  stood 
near  where  Brown's  Mill  now  stands,  though 
one  looking  at  the  place  to-day  would  scarcely 
imagine  it  ever  to  have  been  the  scene  of  an 
active  industry. 

One  particular  in  which  Ripley  Precinct  is 
sadly  deficient  is  its  roads,  which  are  very  lit- 
tle superior  to  the  early  day  "  trails "  or 
"  traces."  The  first  road  of  any  importance 
was  the  old  "  Vandalia  road,"  which  is  but  lit- 
tle better  now  than  it  was  then,  being  the  same 
old,  unimproved  dirt  road,  and  in  the  spring 
becomes  almost  impassable.  It  is  an  old  road, 
and  as  there  are  no  pikes  in  the  precinct,  it  is 
very  much  used.  Another  road  which  has  been 
used  as  a  highway  since  an  early  date,  is  the 
"  Pocahontas  and  Ripley  road,"  but  its  unim- 
proved condition  renders  travel  upon  it  any- 
thing but  comfortable. 

The  first  bridge  constructed  in  this  precinct 
was  over  Shoal  Creek,  on  the  "  Vandalia  road," 
and  was  made  of  wood.  It  has  been  washed 
away  twice  and  rebuilt  of  wood,  and  it  was 
washed  away  the  third  time  in  1875,  and  re- 
built of  iron,  the  same  3-ear.  In  April  of  the 
present  year  (1882),  this  iron  bridge  was  washed 
away,  but  was  caught  and  replaced  in  June, 
without  any  material  damage  having  been  done. 
This  bridge  is  the  only  one  ever  built  in  the 
precinct. 

For  many  years,  an  old  tradition  has  been 
going  the  rounds  in  this  vicinity  to  the  effect 
that  the  Spanish,  who  lived  here  at  a  very  earl}' 
date,  had  buried  three  barrels  of  silver  dollars 
in  that  portion  of  Ripley  Precinct  known  as 
"  Shoal  Creek  bottom,"  on  land  now  owned  by 
Thomas  B.  File.  So  much  credit  has  been 
placed  in  this  tale  that  the  three  barrels  of 
Spanish  dollars  have  been  often  sought  for,  and 
numerous  places  give  evidence  of  having  been 
dug  up,  in  the  vigorous  search  for  this  mythi- 


cal fortune.  An  old  gentleman  named  Bates 
living  near  New  Berlin,  claims  to  know  where 
this  "  hoard  "  is  located,  but  the  thinking  por- 
tion of  the  inhabitants  place  no  credit  in  it.  It 
is  also  stated  that  the  Indians  who  inhabited 
this  region  in  an  early  day  have  been  heard  to 
say  that  "  if  the  people  of  Shoal  Creek  bottom 
knew  what  they  did,  they  could  shoe  their 
horses  with  silver." 

The  precinct  of  Ripley  cannot  boast  of  many 
churches.  The  first  one  erected  was  "  Mount 
Nebo,"  built  by  the  Baptists,  in  1835.  The  church 
was  organized  on  the  9th  of  February,  1832,  at 
the  residence  of  John  Coyle,  on  Round  Prairie, 
by  Rev.  Peter  Long,  assisted  by  Thomas  Smith, 
of  Madison  County,  and  with  twenty-three  mem- 
bers, several  of  whom  were  subsequently  turned 
out  for  unfaithfulness.  At  a  meeting  in  March 
of  the  same  year,  Rev.  Peter  Long  was  chosen 
pastor,  in  which  capacity  he  served  for  over 
forty  years,  and.  in  1874,  in  his  seventieth  year 
of  age,  on  account  of  his  enfeebled  condition,  he 
resigned  his  pastorate,  though  he  is  still  a  mem- 
ber of  the  same  church.  Since  its  organization, 
the  membership  has  run  up  as  high  as  130,  and 
during  this  time  two  other  churches  have  been 
organized  out  of  it.  Since  the  resignation  of 
Rev.  Peter  Long,  the  pastors  have  been  :  Rev. 
W.  C.  Harvey,  A.  J.  Sitton,  John  H.  Jones,  who 
filled  the  pulpit  for  about  three  years,  and  J. 
B.  White,  who  is  the  present  pastor,  with  a 
membership  of  about  sixty.  Their  first  church 
building  was  constructed  of  hewn  logs,  and  was 
an  enormous  affair,  said  to  have  been  the  larg- 
est log  building  ever  built  in  thecount}-.  About 
1850,  it  was  replaced  by  a  frame  house,  which 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1S52,  by  ashes  being 
put  in  a  keg  and  igniting.  Late  the  same  year, 
the  frame  edifice,  which  at  present  occupies  the 
site,  was  erected.  No  other  churches  have  been 
built  in  Riple}-  Precinct,  until  the  present  year 
(1882),  when  the  Presbyterians,  led  by  Rev 
Thomas  Hvnes.  erected  a  beautiful  little  church 
of  brick   in   the  village  of  New  Berlin.     This 


132 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


organization  is  as  yet  quite  small,  but  supports 
a  very  good  Sunday  school,  and  is  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition.  Quite  recently,  also,  the  Regular 
Baptists  have  built  a  frame  church  on  the 
"  Vandalia  road,"  about  two  miles  east  of  New 
Berlin.  Their  membership  only  numbers  about 
twenty  souls,  and  their  church  is  presided  over 
by  no  regular  pastor.  For  nearly  twenty  years 
the  African  Baptists,  numbering  about  twenty 
members,  have  been  worshiping  in  a  little  log 
church  on  "  Shoal  Creek  Hill,"  near  New 
Berlin,  but  have  never  had  a  regular  pastor. 

The  subject  of  education  and  the  building  of 
schoolhouses  were  paid  very  little  attention  to 
by  the  early  settlers  in  Ripley  Precinct.  For 
many  years  school  was  had  in  a  small  way 
around  at  the  houses  of  the  settlers.  The  first 
schoolhouse  erected  in  this  precinct  was  built 
on  the  old  "  Lee  Wait  farm,"  in  1830.  For 
some  time,  it  was  taught  by  Thomas  Arm- 
strong, and  afterward,  the  tutorship  was  as- 
sumed by  Peter  Long.  At  present,  nothing 
remains  to  show  where  this  old  pioneer  school- 
house  was  located.  The  instruction  given  the 
pupils  at  this  time  was  of  the  most  primitive 
character,  embracing  only  the  most  common  of 
the  school  branches,  such  as  reading,  writing, 
spelling  and  a  knowledge  of  the  rudimentary 
principles  of  mathematics.  There  are  at  present 
six  schoolhouses  in  Ripley  Precinct,  namely  : 
Round  Prairie  Schoolhouse,  present  teacher,  F. 
W.  Fritz  ;  Ray's  Schoolhouse,  present  teacher, 
Henry  Dixon  ;  the  Baker  Schoolhouse,  presided 
over  by  Miss  Bunn  ;  the  Ripley  Schoolhouse, 
teacher,  George  H.  Donnell ;  the  Mount  Vernon 
Schoolhouse,  teacher,  R.  O.  White,  and  the  Terra- 
pin Ridge  Schoolhouse,  presided  over  by  Millard 
Dixon.  Of  late  years,  the  subject  of  education 
has  received  much  more  attention  than  it  did 
in  an  earlier  day  ;  efficient  teachers  are  em- 
ployed at  reasonable  salaries  and  many  of  the 
higher  branches  are  taught. 


New  Berlin,  the  post  office  name  of  which  is 
Old  Ripley,  is  the  only  village  in  this  precinct. 
It  was  founded  in  September,  1850,  by  Charles 
Plog  and  Mathias  Brown,  and  is  located  on  a 
part  of  the  south  half  of  Section  No.  8,  Town  5 
north,  of  Range  4  west,  of  the  Third  Principal 
meridian,  near  the  old  "  Vandalia  road."  The 
originial  plat  contained  twenty-four  lots.  50x120 
feet  in  dimensions,  and,  in  June,  1866,  H.  G. 
Jandt  made  an  addition  of  sixteen  lots,  of  the 
same  dimensions  as  those  in  the  original  plat. 
Mr.  Jandt  was  among  the  first  residents  in  New 
Berlin,  and  for  probably  twenty  years  kept  a  gen- 
eral merchandise  store.  I.  V.  Long  also  was  en- 
gaged in  the  general  merchandising  business 
about  this  time.  William  Lytle  built  and  ran 
the  first  tavern,  and  kept  in  connection  with  it 
a  small  stock  of  groceries,  and  retailed  liquors. 
The  monotonous  quiet,  which  always  exists 
about  a  small  village,  was  relieved  in  New 
Berlin  by  the  merry  clanging  of  the  hammer  of 
Ferdinand  Gauzer,  the  first  village  blacksmith, 
and  every  Sunday  divine  service  was  held  in 
his  shop,  led  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hynes.  H, 
G.  Jandt  kept  the  first  post  office  in  the  rear 
end  of  his  store.  The  present  Postmaster  is 
R.  0.  White,  who  is  also  engaged  in  teaching 
the  " young  idea  how  to  shoot"  at  the  Mount 
Vernon  Schoolhouse.  At  present,  New  Berlin 
is  a  thriving  little  hamlet  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  inhabitants,  mostly  Germans,  and  is 
considerable  of  a  trading-point,  the  business 
enterprises  consisting  of  two  general  merchan- 
dise stores,  one  brick  drug  store,  two  black- 
smith-shops, two  wagon-makers'  shops,  two 
shoe  shops,  two  saloons,  a  steam  grist  and  saw 
mill,  owned  by  Mrs.  Cox,  and  a  neat,  comforta- 
ble hotel,  owned  by  Mrs.  Mary  Arnold.  No 
secret  societies  exist  in  New  Berlin  as  yet, 
though  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  are  mem- 
bers of  organizations  in  the  neighboring 
towns. 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


133 


CHAPTER   XIV.* 

MULBERRY  GROVE  PRECINCT  — PHYSICAL,  TOPOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  — EARLY  SETTLE- 
MENT—REV. J.  B.  WOOLARD  AND  OTHER  PIONEERS— FIRST  BIRTH,  MARRIAGE,  ETC.— THE 
BEGINNING  OF  ALL  THINGS— CHURCHES  AND  SCHOOLS— VILLAGE  OF  MULBERRY 
GROVE— WHEN  LAID  OUT— GROWTH,  DEVELOPMENT,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"  A  song  for  the  early  times  out  West, 
And  our  green  old  forest  home." 

—  The  Old  Pioneer. 

MULBERRY  GROVE  PRECINCT  is 
rather  diminutive  in  size,  and  its  cit- 
izens, as  has  been  said  of  those  of  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  when  they  want  to 
communicate  with  each  other,  do  not  write 
letters  or  send  messages,  but  go  out  in 
the  yard  and  call  to  them.  Though  small  in 
extent,  it  is  fine  land,  well  adapted  to  cultiva- 
tion, and  numbers  some  excellent  farms.  It  is 
mostly  level  prairie,  with  a  few  hills  along  the 
small  water-courses  which  intersect  it.  It  con- 
tains a  fractional  part  of  two  townships  ;  a  por- 
tion lying  in  Township  5,  the  remainder  in 
Township  6,  Range  2  west,  and  is  bounded  on 
the  north  b}-  Zion  Precinct,  on  the  east  by  Fay- 
ette County,  on  the  south  by  Fairview  Pre- 
cinct, and  on  the  west  by  Greenville  and  Zion 
Precincts.  The  land  is  watered  and  drained  by 
Owl  Creek,  Lick  Creek,  Town  Branch,  Sea- 
graves'  Branch,  and  a  few  smaller  streams  that 
are  nameless  on  the  maps.  The  streams  drain 
the  land  sufficiently,  without  the  farmers  hav- 
ing to  resort  to  artificial  means.  More  or  less 
timber  bordered  the  water-courses,  consisting 
of  the  species  common  to  this  section.  The 
precinct  has  the  advantage  of  the  Vandalia 
Railroad,  which  passes  nearly  across  the  cen- 
ter, with  a  station  at  the  village  of  Mulberry 
Grove,  whence  large  shipments  are  made  of  the 

•By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


surplus  products  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Upon  the  whole,  this  little  division,  called  Mul- 
berry Grove  Precinct,  ranks  among  the  best 
and  most  prosperous  portion  of  Bond  County. 

The  first  settlement  or  improvement  made  in 
what  is  now  known  as  Mulberry  Grove  Pre- 
cinct was  made  about  the  year  1826  b}'  Zopher 
Foster,  on  the  place  now  occupied  by  Rev. 
James  B.  Woolard.  The  next  settlers  after 
Foster  were  John  Bilvew  and  Duncan  Johnson, 
who  came  in  about  1829-30,  and  were  from 
Tennessee.  Rev.  James  B.  Woolard,  from 
North  Carolina,  was  the  next  permanent  settler. 
He  came  to  the  country  in  1831,  and  pur- 
chased the  improvements  of  Zopher  Foster, 
where  he  has  resided  ever  since — a  period  of 
more  than  fifty  years. 

Mr.  Woolard  has  lived  an  active  life,  and 
been  closely  identified  with  Bond  County 
throughout  a  long  period  of  time.  From  a 
published  sketch  of  his  life,  we  extract  a  few 
facts  and  incidents  that  will  probably  interest 
the  reader,  and  without  which  a  history  of 
Bond  County  would  scarcely  be  complete.  He 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but  brought  up 
principally  in  Tennessee,  and,  as  we  have  said, 
came  to  Bond  County  in  1831,  locating  upon 
the  place  where  he  still  lives.  In  the  spring  of 
1832,  the  next  year  after  he  came  here,  upon 
the  call  of  Gov.  Reynolds  for  volunteers  for  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  he  enlisted  as  one  of  the  fifty 
men  comprising  the  quota  of  Bond  County. 
For  the  money  received  for  his  services  in  the 


134 


HISTORY   OF  BOXD  COUXTY. 


campaign,  he  entered  his  first  forty  acres  of 
land,  being  that  upon  which  he  lives,  and  to 
which,  in  a  few  years,  by  industry  and  econo- 
my, he  was  enabled  to  add,  until  he  was  the 
owner  of  600  acres  in  a  body.  He  was  one  of 
the  Judges  of  the  first  election  held  in  his  part 
of  the  county,  and  when  a  post  office  was  es- 
tablished in  1834-35,  he  was  appointed  Post- 
master. 

Of  his  religious  life,  much  might  be  said 
which  space  will  not  permit.  In  the  summer 
of  1823,  he  made  a  profession  of  religion,  joined 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  served  as  class 
leader  and  licensed  exhorter.  In  the  fall  of 
1829,  was  licensed  a  local  preacher  ;  his  first 
license  was  signed  by  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright, 
Presiding  Elder.  In  1834,  was  ordained  Dea- 
con by  Bishop  R.  R.  Roberts.  In  the  fall  of 
1836,  was  received  as  an  itinerant  in  the  Illi- 
nois Conference,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Car- 
lyle  Circuit,  in  the  bounds  of  which  he  lived. 
In  1837,  to  Grafton  Circuit,  and  in  1838  to  Car- 
linville.  In  1839,  was  ordained  Elder  by  Bish- 
op Morris,  and  appointed  to  the  Carliuville  Sta- 
tion ;  1840,  to  Staunton ;  1841  again  to  Carlyle, 
1842  to  Shelbyville,  1843,  to  Sharon.  On  ac- 
count of  his  aged  and  feeble  parents  and  young 
family  depending  upon  him,  in  1844  he  asked 
and  obtained  a  location  from  the  annual  con- 
ference. He  continued  laboring  diligently  as  a 
local  preacher  until  the  fall  of  1853;  after  he 
had  buried  his  aged  father,  who  died  in  his 
eighty-fifth  year,  and  made  comfortable  pro- 
vision for  his  mother,  he  again  entered  the  itin- 
erancy in  the  Southern  Illinois  Conference,  was 
appointed  agent  for  McKendree  College,  and  re- 
moved to  Lebanon.  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year,  was  appointed  to  Trenton  Circuit ;  1854  to 
Shiloh,  and  again,  in  1855,  to  Shiloh.  In  1856, 
to  Fillmore  ;  1857  and  1858,  to  Salem;  1859  and 
1860,  to  Middleton.  In  1862,  was  appointed 
Chaplain  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Eleventh 
Illinois  Volunteers,  J.  S.  Martin,  Colonel,  in 
which   capacity    he    served    three    years,    but 


through  exposure  and  fatigue  of  camp  life,  his 
health  failed,  and  he  came  home  at  the  close  of 
the  war  with  a  broken  constitution,  not  able  to 
perform  the  labors  of  an  itinerant  minister. 
Yet  his  friends  of  the  Conference  continued 
him  on  the  itinerant  list  as  a  superannuated 
member  of  the  Southern  Illinois  Conference, 
and  now,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age, 
his  voice  still  clear  and  strong,  he  frequently 
preaches  and  attends  funerals. 

Since  his  first  settlement  in  the  county,  his 
home  has  been  a  welcome  stopping-place  for 
friends,  and  especially  for  ministers  ;  none  were 
ever  turned  away  from  his  door.  And  now, 
full  of  years  and  full  of  honors,  the  hero  of  two 
wars,  he  is  calmly  awaiting  the  summons, 
"  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  serv- 
ant," etc. 

Other  early  settlers  in  Mulberry  Grove  Pre- 
cinct were  Richard  Moody,  James  Dunaway, 
James  Spradling,  Mark  Dunaway,  Joseph  Arm- 
strong, Bennett  Seagraves,  Arthur  Sherard, 
Drury  Petty,  Durham,  Henry  Inman,  John 
Perkins  and  others.  Durham  settled  on  Sec- 
tion 12,  and  was  from  Tennessee.  He  has  a 
son  and  a  daughter  living  in  Fayette  County. 
Inman  settled  on  Section  1,  about  the  year 
1S30  ;  Perkins,  about  the  same  year,  settled  on 
Section  10,  and  has  several  sons  living  in  the 
county.  Moody  settled  on  Owl  Creek,  and  was 
from  the  southern  part  of  the  State  ;  the  Dun- 
aways  settled  east  of  Moody  ;  also,  Petty.  The 
latter  sold  out  to  Spradling  about  1830.  Arm- 
strong was  a  Tennesseean,  and  bought  out 
Mark  Dunaway.  Sherard  was  also  from  Ten- 
nessee, and  settled  on  Section  36,  in  1833.  In 
illustration  of  the  healthfulness  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Mr.  Woolard  says  that  the  first  fifteen 
years  he  lived  there,  he  did  not  pay  $15  in 
doctors'  bills,  and  although  more  than  twenty 
different  families  have  lived  on  the  farm  at  dif- 
ferent times,  there  has  never  been  but  one 
death  on  it  since  it  was  settled. 

This    comprises  the  sum  and   substance  of 


: 


SZ^L 


C&Vi/ 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  ot  ILLINOIS 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


137 


what  we  have  obtained  of  the  early  settlement 
of  this  portion  of  Bond  County.  The  story  of 
the  early  trials  of  the  pioneers  may  be  found  in 
other  chapters  of  this  work.  What  applies  to 
them  in  one  section  of  Southern  Illinois  is  com- 
mon in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Their  life  for 
years  was  hard,  and  beset  with  dangers  and 
difficulties,  but  patience  and  perseverance, 
coupled  with  an  indomitable  will,  carried  them 
over  safe,  and  wafted  them  on  to  wealth  and 
prosperity. 

John  Bilyew,  who  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  the  precinct,  and  who  built  his 
cabin  near  where  the  village  of  Mulberry  Grove 
now  stands,  erected  a  horse  mill  at  a  very  early 
day,  upon  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  Meth- 
odist Church,  which  he  operated  for  a  good 
many  years.  It  was  a  great  benefit  to  the 
neighborhood,  and  continued  to  do  good  service 
until  enfeebled  by  age,  and  it  had  became  so 
frail  and  rickety  that  the  customers  had  to 
withe  in  the  cogs  with  hickory  withes  so  that 
they  could  grind  their  corn.  But  it  finally 
went  "the  way  of  all  the  earth,"  and  a  good 
steam  mill  now  occupies  its  place  in  the  busi- 
ness of  the  community. 

Evervthing  must  have  a  beginning,  and  in 
Mulberry  Grove  Precinct,  the  increase  of  pop- 
ulation began  bj  the  birth  of  a  daughter  to  the 
wife  of  Zopher  Foster,  the  first  settler,  and 
was  the  first  birth  in  the  precinct.  The  first 
marriage  was  a  daughter  of  Arthur  Sherard. 
She  was  married  by  Duncan  Johnson,  who  was 
the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace,  but  who  she  mar- 
ried we  did  not  learn.  The  first  election  was 
held  in  the  neighborhood  under  a  tree,  near  the 
dwelling  of  Bennett  Seagraves,  about  1833-34. 
Rev.  J.  B.  AVoolard  and  Drury  Petty  were  the 
Judges  of  this  election,  and  John  Russell  and 
William  Hunter  were  candidates  for  the  Leg- 
islature. The  first  sermon  preached  was  by 
Rev.  E.  R.  Ames,  afterward  Bishop  Ames. 
The  first  post  office  was  established  about  the 
year  1834-35,  and  J.  B.  Woolard  was  appoint- 


ed Postmaster.  From  the  great  number  of 
mulberry  trees  standing  around  his  cabin  in 
which  the  post  office  was  held,  he  gave  it  the 
name  of  Mulberry  Grove,  a  name  it  still  bears. 
and  which  has  been  given  both  to  the  village 
and  precinct. 

As  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  people  had 
settled  in  the  neighborhood,  a  schoolhouse 
was  built  and  a  school  established.  This 
schoolhouse  was  of  the  regular  pioneer  type, 
being  of  the  rudest  architecture,  and  having 
the  usual  puncheon  floor,  stick  chimney,  and 
great,  wide  fire-place.  The  school  was  taught 
on  the  subscription  plan,  as  was  the  custom 
then,  but  the  name  of  the  first  teacher  was  not 
obtained.  On  Sunday,  the  building  was  used 
as  a  temple  of  worship,  where  the  pioneers 
gathered  to  hear  the  word.  Near  this  house  a 
cemetery  was  laid  out,  and  the  first  person  who 
died  in  the  precinct  (Mrs.  Margaret  Riley)  was 
buried  in  it.  Since  then,  many  of  the  pioneers 
have  been  buried  there.  Arthur  Sherard  was 
one  of  the  early  school  teachers,  but  we  do  not 
know  if  he  was  the  first  one.  There  are  now 
three  schoolhouses  in  the  precinct,  besides 
that  in  the  village  of  Mulberry  Grove.  Educa- 
tion has  advanced  considerably  since  the  build- 
ing of  the  rude  schoolhouse  described  above, 
as  the  present  handsome  and  comfortable 
houses  now  in  use,  and  the  excellent  schools 
taught  annually  iu  them  truthfully  attest. 

Bethlehem  Baptist  Church  was  originally  or- 
ganized July  10,  1830,  ou  Hurricane  Creek,  in 
Fayette  County.  Among  the  first  members 
were  D.  E.  Deane,  James  Street,  Willis  Dod- 
son,  Larkin  Cragg  and  Henry  Sears.  Iu  a  few 
years,  a  great  many  others  united  and  it  became 
strong  in  numbers.  Elder  Dodson  preached 
the  first  sermon  ;  the  first  Clerks  were  Joseph 
Williams  and  James  Ferrell.  The  first  meet 
iugs  were  held  at  the  houses  of  the  brethren 
alternately.  The  church  was  "dissolved"  in 
Fayette  County,  June  11,  1835,  and  in  1837 
the  first  meeting  of  the  congregation  was  held 


138 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


in  Bond  County,  the  church  to  be  called  Beth- 
lehem. The  church  house  was  built  in  the  fall 
of  the  same  year.  Elder  John  Crouch  was  the 
first  minister;  the  present,  Elder  John  Lawler, 
and  the  present  Clerk,  J.  H.  Taylor  ;  meetings, 
the  second  Saturday  of  each  month. 

The  village  of  Mulberry  Grove  was  surveyed 
and  laid  out  April  28,  1841,  by  Asahel  Enloe, 
for  Francis  Gill,  the  proprietor  of  the  land  upon 
which  it  stands.  It  is  the  second  largest  town 
in  the  county,  and  from  the  records  seems  to 
have  been  first  called  Houston,  but  afterward 
changed  to  Mulberry  Grove.  It  is  situated  on 
the  Vandalia  Railroad,  about  eight  and  a  half 
miles  from  Greenville.  Contiguous  to  it  on  the 
east  (in  Fayette  County),  and  lying  on  Hurri- 
cane Creek,  is  a  fine  body  of  timber,  while 
north,  west  and  south  is  a  thickly  settled  coun- 
try, in  a  fine  state  of  cultivation,  rendering  this 
an  excellent  shipping  point  for  grain,  stock  and 
other  products  of  the  farmers. 

The  first  house  in  Mulberry  Grove  was  built 
by  David  Hubbard,  several  years  prior  to  the 
laying-out  of  the  towu.  In  this  house,  he  and 
a  man  named  Dewelby  kept  a  store,  the  first  in 
this  part  of  the  county.  Hubbard  also  built  a 
steam  mill  in  the  fall  of  1837,  which  succeeded 
Bilyew's  old  horse-mill,  already  described.  It 
was  a  custom  mill,  and  did  a  good  business. 
A  saw-mill  was  added,  and  the  two  were  car- 
ried on  until  about  1850.  In  April,  1869,  the 
present  mill  was  built.  It  was  first  started  as 
a  saw-mill  by  E.  W.  and  C.  E.  Dee,  brothers. 
The  saw-mill  was  sold  in  1872,  and  moved 
to  Fairview,  flour-mill  machinery  having  been 
put  in  by  the  Dees  in  1870.  C.  E.  Dee  is  the 
present  proprietor,  having  bought  the  remain- 
ing half-interest  in  1873.  The  mill  is  operated 
by  a  twenty-five  horse-power  engine,  has  two 
run  of  buhrs,  and  makes  "  straight  grade  "  flour 
only.  The  first  blacksmith  was  David  Elam, 
just  across  the  line.  He  did  all  the  work  for 
this  neighborhood,  as  well  as  a  large  portion  of 
Fayette  County.     The  first  school  in  the  village 


was  taught  by  Arthur  Sherard,  and  the  first 
church  society  was  that  of  the  Methodists. 
The  town  at  present  shows  the  following  busi- 
ness :  Three  or  four  general  stores,  grocery 
stores  and  drug  stores,  blacksmith,  wagon,  car- 
penter and  shoe  shops,  flour  and  saw-mill,  sev- 
eral physicians,  two  churches,  and  an  excellent 
school.     The  population  is  about  500  souls. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Mul- 
berry Grove  was  organized  by  Rev.  J.  B. 
Woolard,  about  the  year  1830,  with  a  member- 
ship of  six,  besides  himself  and  wile ;  the 
others  were  Duncan  Johnson  and  wife,  John 
Bilyew  and  wife  and  Zopher  Foster  and  wife  ; 
Duncan  Johnson  was  the  first  class-leader,  and 
Revs.  William  Chambers  and  Wilson  Pitman 
the  first  ministers.  This  church  has  since 
grown  to  a  large  congregation  from  which 
several  other  churches  have  been  formed.  The 
old  log  schoolhouse,  already  mentioned,  was 
the  first  place  of  worship,  and  served  as  a 
church  for  several  years.  The  first  church 
building  was  erected  in  1841,  on  the  site  of  the 
present  church,  and  occupied  by  the  congrega- 
tion until  1866,  when  the  present  brick  church 
was  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000.  The  pres- 
ent pastor  is  Rev.  J.  W.  McGriff,  and  John 
Riley,  class-leader.  The  first  Sunday  school 
was  organized  by  Duncan  Johnson  in  1834,  and 
has  been  kept  up  pretty  nearly  ever  since  ;  the 
present  superintendent  is  John  Riley,  the 
school  is  well  attended,  and  both  it  and  the 
church  are  prosperous  and  healthy.  This 
church  was  included  in  the  first  circuit  ever 
traveled  by  Rev.  E.  R.  Ames,  afterward  Bishop 
Ames,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  Christian  Church,  or  "  Church  of  Christ," 
as  it  is  called,  was  organized  in  the  3'ear  1865, 
by  Elder  John  A.  Williams  of  Salem,  111.  The 
only  two  members  living  here  at  the  time  of 
the  formation  of  the  church  were  A.  J.  Leigh 
and  Elizabeth  Hensle}',  but  this  did  not  deter 
them  from  organizing  a  societ}',  on  the  Bible 
principle  perhaps,  that   "  where  two  or  three 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


139 


are  gathered  together  in  my  name,"  etc.  Elder 
Williams  preached  for  the  church  about  seven 
years  after  it  was  formed,  and  is  now  preach- 
ing for  it.  The  membership  is  about  eighty, 
with  a  good  attendance.  A  large  and  flourish- 
ing Sunday  school  is  maintained,  of  which  J. 
B.  Rodecker  is  Superintendent. 

Charity  Lodge,  No.  1,733,  Knights  of  Honor, 
was  organized  in  August,  1879,  and  has  been 
in  operation  ever  since.  The  meetings  are  held 
in  Prather's  Hall  on  the  first  and  third  Satur- 
days of  each  month.     The  present  officers  are  : 


C.  Ormsworthy,  Dictator  ;  C.  A.  Ragland,  Past 
Dictator ;  W.  B.  Hutchison,  Financial  Reporter ; 
S.  G.  Gillian,  Guide  ;  C.  C.  Simmons,  Vice 
Dictator  ;  have  about  twenty-six  members. 

Mulberry  Grove  village  is  provided  with  ex- 
cellent schools.  The  school  has  been  graded 
for  the  past  eight  years.  There  are  two  school 
buildings — one  brick  and  the  other  a  modern 
frame,  two  stories  high,  costing  about  $2, GOO. 
Three  teachers  are  employed,  and  the  average 
general  attendance  is  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  children. 


140 


HISTORY   OF  BOND  COUNTY 


CHAPTER   XV.* 

POCAHONTAS  PRECINCT— TOPOGRAPHY  AND  DESCRIPTION— ITS  EARLY  SETTLEMENT— FIRST  PIO- 
NEERS—THE  PLANTS  AND  JOHNSONS— THE  QLD  METHODIST  CHURCH— THE  TOWN  OF 
POCAHONTAS— OTHER  VILLAGES— SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES,  ETC. 


"  O  sprecht !   warum  zogt  ilir  von  donuen  ? 
Das  Neckarthal  hat.  Weill  und  Korn  ; 
Der  Schwarzwald  steht  voll  finstres  Tannen, 
Im  Spessart  kliugt  des  Alplers  Horn." 

THE  Precinct  of  Pocahontas  lies  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  Bond  County,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Ripley  Precinct,  on 
the  east  by  Beaver  Creek  Precinct,  on  the 
south  by  Clinton  County,  and  on  the  west  by 
Madison  County.  Most  of  the  surface  of  this 
precinct  is  level  prairie  land,  especially  the 
western  half.  The  eastern  portion,  however,  is 
somewhat  higher  and  more  rolling,  and  well 
adapted  to  agriculture.  The  only  broken  or 
rough  land  is  found  along  the  borders  of  the 
creeks  and  water  courses,  and  is  mostly  devoted 
to  grazing. 

The  timber  consists  of  oak,  ash,  elm,  walnut, 
hickory,  etc.  The  original  timber  has  been 
mostly  cut  down  for  building  and  various  other 
purposes,  and  the  present  timber  is  a  younger 
growth.  The  water-courses  of  Pocahontas  Pre- 
cinct are  all  small.  The  most  important  stream 
is  Shoal  Creek,  which  flows  in  rather  a  south- 
erly direction  across  the  precinct,  near  its  cen- 
ter. It  has  a  number  of  branches  and  tribu- 
taries, all  of  which  are  small  and  of  but  little 
importance.  A  small  stream  called  Locust 
Fork  flows  through  the  southern  part,  and  near 
it  is  Dry  Branch  ;  both  of  these  are  verj'  small. 

Prominent  among  the  pioneers  who  first  lo- 
cated in  this  precinct  was  William  Burgess, 
who  came  in  shortly  after  the  war  of  1812,  and 

*  By  T.  J.  Riley. 


settled  just  south  of  where  Millersburg  now  is, 
on  Sections  22  and  27.  He  was  a  volunteer  in 
this  war,  and  has  no  descendants  living  here  at 
present.  Joseph  Critchfield,  another  very  early 
settler,  came  in  about  the  same  time,  and  lo- 
cated on  Section  25.  His  wife  was  for  some 
time  an  inmate  of  the  old  fort  (in  Beaver  Creek 
Precinct,  and  referred  to  elsewhere).  He  has 
still  one  descendant,  Mrs.  Prichett,  living  in  the 
county.  Joseph  Bilyew,  another  early  pioneer, 
came  to  this  State  prior  to  the  war  of  1812,  and 
settled  in  Madison  County.  In  1817,  he  moved 
to  this  precinct  and  settled  on  Section  1 0.  He 
has  several  great-grandchildren,  at  present  re- 
siding in  this  county.  A  family  named  Coles 
settled  east  of  where  Millersburg  now  is,  about 
1820.  John  Bilyew  came  in  as  early  as  1822, 
and  settled  on  the  land  where  Frank  Meyers 
now  lives  (near  Pocahontas).  He  afterwards 
sold  this  farm  to  William  Mills.  James  Nance 
settled  on  Section  27,  in  1820.  Samuel  Lee- 
came  in  prior  to  Nance,  and  located  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  William  Reams  came  in  1830, 
and  settled  in  Section  28.  A  man  named 
Rolten  settled  southwest  of  where  Millersburg 
now  is,  about  1822,  but  on  account  of  ill  health 
he  soon  after  moved  away.  John  Powers  set- 
tled on  Section  25  in  1820,  but  at  present  has 
no  descendants  living  here. 

About  this  time  three  brothers,  Andrew 
George  and  James  Green,  located  on  Shoal 
Creek,  a  little  above  Powers.  Daviil  White, 
after  whom  White's  Fort  received  its  name,  set- 
tled near  them   late  in  the  same  year.     Isaac 


POCAHONTAS    PRECINCT. 


141 


Reed  settled  a  little  farther  up  the  creek  on 
Section  10  in  1820.  The  Johnsons  and  Will- 
iamson Plant  settled  near  where  Pocahontas 
now  is  during  the  same  year. 

About  1833,  Benjamin  Johnson,  accompanied 
by  five  brothers,  Duncan,  Charles,  James  P., 
Hugh  and  John  P.,  came  in  and  located  near 
where  the  town  of  Pocahontas  now  stands. 
Benjamin  was  a  large  land  owner,  and  at  one 
time  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  from  this 
district.  He  lived  here  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1861.  There  are  a  number  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Johnsons  living  here  at 
present.  About  this  time,  came  the  Sugg 
family  and  the  Gillespie  family,  from  Tennes- 
see, and  the  Ridgeways  from  Ohio.  Two  men, 
named  Weise  and  Stockley,  settled  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  precinct  in  1833.  Josiah  File 
came  in  1837,  and  was  followed,  in  1840,  by 
Edward  Ellis,  who  is  now  the  largest  land 
owner  in  the  precinct. 

The  early  industries  in  Pocahontas  Precinct 
were  of  the  most  primitive  pattern.  Among 
the  first  was  a  mill,  built  on  Shoal  Creek  by 
Thomas  Stout  about  the  year  1S31.  It  was  a 
saw-mill,  run  by  water-power,  but  a  small  attach- 
ment for  grinding  purposes  was  afterward  put 
in,  which  did  not  prove  much  of  a  success.  The 
mill  ceased  operations  in  1870,  and  has  done 
nothing  since.  William  Burgess  ran  a  small 
copper  still  on  a  spring  branch  on  Section  26, 
but  it  ceased  to  live  in  1828.  About  the  time 
the  town  of  Pocahontas  was  laid  out,  Duncan 
Johnson  built  a  mill  on  Shoal  Creek,  but  it  has 
long  since  ceased  to  exist. 

In  early  times,  a  great  excitement  was  created 
on  account  of  a  belief  that  gold  and  silver  was 
to  be  found  in  Bond  County.  To  add  to  this 
excitement,  Robert  Gillespie,  a  settler  who  lived 
on  Shoal  Creek,  a  few  miles  above  where  the 
town  of  Pocahontas  now  stands,  found  some 
shining  particles  in  a  spring  near  his  house  and 
gathering  them  carefully  together,  he  took  them 
to  St.  Louis,  and  showed  them  to  a  fellow  who 


pronounced  them  gold.  For  some  time  after 
this  the  fever  ran  high,  but  as  time  gradually 
elapsed  and  no  more  was  found,  the  search  was 
finally  abandoned. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  denomination  or- 
ganized a  church  at  the  house  of  Charles  John- 
son about  the  year  1820.  Among  the  earlj' 
members  were  Charles  Johnson,  the  Plant  fam- 
ily, the  Williams  family,  Harley  Valentine  and 
wife,  and  a  part  of  the  Bilycw  family.  Among 
the  first  class  leaders  was  Henry  Williams. 
The  first  church  was  built  south  of  where  the 
town  of  Pocahontas  is  now  located,  near  where 
the  depot  now  stands,  sometime  during  the  year 
1826.  It  was  a  log  building  of  the  most  primi- 
tive structure.  About  1835,  this  organization 
erected  a  new  frame  church  three  and  one- 
quarter  miles  west  of  the  old  log  church.  The 
next  church  was  built  in  the  village,  in  1854. 
It  was  a  frame  building,  50  feet  long  and  34 
feet  in  width,  and  cost  about  $1,500.  The  ground 
was  donated  by  Benjamin  Johnson,  with  the 
proviso  that  it  should  be  open  to  all  denomina- 
tions, except  Catholics  and  Mormons. 

The  town  of  Pocahontas  was  surveyed  on 
the  21st  day  of  March,  183S,  by  T.  S.  Hubbard, 
for  Benjamin  Johnson,  the  proprietor.  It  is 
located  in  Section  3,  Township  4  north,  Range 
4  west,  nine  miles  southwest  of  Greenville,  on 
the  Vandalia  Railroad.  The  town  was  first 
called  Amity,  and  the  post-office  name  was 
Hickory  Grove.  When  this  town  was  laid  out 
Mr.  Johnson  (the  founder)  made  provision  that 
no  lots  were  to  be  sold  to  any  one  unless  they 
would  agree  not  to  handle  liquors  of  any  kind 
in  any  way.  It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  the 
Germans  like  their  beer,  and  as  most  of  the  set- 
tlers were  Germans,  instead  of  locating  in  Poca- 
hontas, they  went  to  Highland,  a  neighboring 
village,  and  settled  there.  The  plau  proved  to 
be  a  bad  one,  and  after  a  few  years  it  was 
abandoned. 

Benjamin  Johnson  was  the  first  Postmaster, 
and  the  first  hotel  was  run  by  P.  W.  Lampkins 


142 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


in  1837.  Benjamin  Johnson  owned  the  first 
blacksmith  shop,  and  it  was  run  by  a  smith 
named  Hereon.  The  first  store  was  a  general 
merchandise  establishment  owned  by  Benjamin 
Johnson  and  Dr.  Fitch,  in  1836.  Dr.  Griffith 
was  the  first  physician,  about  1843,  and  the  first 
church  building  was  erected  in  1852  by  the 
Methodist  denomination. 

At  present  Pocahontas  is  a  flourishing  village 
of  a  little  over  four  hundred  inhabitants.  It 
contains  three  churches,  a  flouring  mill,  owned 
by  W.  S.  Wait,  one  furniture  store,  one  agri- 
cultural implement  store,  the  Union  Hotel,  kept 
by  William  Justi,  and  the  Western  Hotel,  kept 
by  Henry  Idler,  three  blacksmith  shops,  two 
wagon-maker's  shops,  one  harness  shop  run  by 
Frank  Senn,  two  millinery  establishments,  one 
barber  shop.  Leopold  Knobel  and  Joseph 
Leibler  buy  grain,  and  John  Snyder  and  John 
Meyers  deal  in  stock.  There  are  also  two  dry-  i 
goods  stores  and  one  grocery  store.  A.  A. 
Simms  is  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  Drs, 
John  Gordon  and  J.  R.  Clinton  represent  the 
medical  fraternity.  The  present  Postmaster 
is  H  C.  Challis. 

But  little  need  be  said  concerning  the  schools 
of  Pocahontas.  The  land  on  which  the  first 
school  building  was  erected  was  donated  by  i 
Benjamin  Johnson  for  the  purpose  of  building 
an  academy  thereon.  At  its  completion,  in 
1854,  it  waa  put  in  the  charge  of  Prof.  Cav- 
anaugh   (a  minister),  of  Lebanon. 

The  first  Trustees  were  Benjamin  Johnson, 
N.  Leaverton,  W.  Mills,  B.  Kavanaugh,  P. 
Lampkins,  D.  Johnson  and  L.  D.  Plant,  who  ' 
gave  it  the  name  of  Amity  Academy.  The 
academy  was  run  according  to  the  original  plan 
for  some  time,  but  on  account  of  its  being  so 
far  in  advance  of  the  times,  it  was  not  suffi- 
ciently patronized  to  warrant  the  management 
in  continuing  it  as  an  academy,  and  finally  the 
project  was  given  up.  At  present  the  building 
is  used  as  the  public  school  in  District  No.  4,  and 
is  the  only  school  in  the  village  of  Pocahontas. 


The  "  Gordon  Lodge,"  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was 
organized  at  Millersburg  October  3,  1866,  by 
Grand  Master  Bromwell,  but  in  1867  was 
moved  to  Pocahontas.  The  first  officers  were  : 
James  Gordon,  W.  M.;  Edward  Teter,  S.  W.; 
Robert  Elegood,  J.  W.;  R.  J.  Collin,  Treasurer, 
and  A.  J.  Gullick,  Secretary.  The  charter  mem- 
bers were  :  Sidney  and  Harvey  Cole,  William 
Casey,  Robert  Elegood,  Bellfield  Featherston, 
James  Gordon,  A.  J.  Gullick,  Edward  Teter, 
John  C.  Gordon,  Isaac  Howell,  Jacob  Lindley, 
J.  M.  Lucas,  James  Pigg,  Franklin  Pressgrove 
and  P.  C.  Reed.  The  present  officers  are  :  S.  H. 
Challis,  W.  M.;  Joseph  Dever,  S.  W.;  J.  M. 
Minor,  J.  W.:  George  Powell,  Secretary  ;  John 
Gordon,  Treasurer  ;  Morris  Margood,  S.  D.,  and 
Joseph  Hunter,  J.  D.  The  lodge  at  present 
has  a  membership  of  about  twenty,  is  in  a 
flourishing,  prosperous  condition,  and  has  about 
$800  in  the  treasury.  For  some  time  after  the 
removal  of  the  lodge  from  Millersburg  to 
Pocahontas,  they  held  their  meetings  in  the 
the  schoolhouse,  but  since  1873  they  have  occu- 
pied a  large,  convenient  lodge  room  of  their  own. 

Lodge  No.  177,  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  was  organized  on  the  12th  da}' 
of  October,  1855,  by  James  Starr,  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  State.  The  charter  members 
were  :  R.  K.  Dewey,  George  H.  Dewey,  A.  W. 
Greenwood,  R.  T.  Sprague  and  J.  F.  Sugg.  The 
first  officers  were  :  R.  K.  Dewey,  N.  G.;  R.  C. 
Sprague,  V.  G. ;  A.  W.  Greenwood,  Secretary  ; 
and  J.  F.  Sugg,  Treasurer.  The  lodge  held  their 
meetings  in  the  schoolhouse,  until  in  the  fall  of 
1873.  when  they  moved  into  the  hall  the}'  now 
occupy.  The  lodge  is  at  present  in  good  con- 
dition, having  about  twenty-two  members,  and 
$700  in  the  hands  of  their  Treasurer.  They 
built  their  hall  in  1873,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$3,000,  but  the  building  has  since  been  pur- 
chased by  S.  H.  Challis.  The  present  officers 
are  :  H.  E.  Reed,  N.  G.;  Joseph  Neathammer, 
V.  G.;  John  Robinson,  Treasurer,  and  W.  S. 
Wait,  Secretary. 


POCAHONTAS   PRECINCT. 


143 


The  A.  0.  of  U.  W.  was  organized  by  C.  W. 
Sewell,  District  Deputy,  in  June,  1880.  The 
charter  members  were  :  W.  M.  Haj-s,  F.  E 
Jaudt,  William  Justi,  Frank  Meyer,  James, 
Chiswell,  J.  M.  Minor,  Joseph  Lawrence  and 
John  Neathammer,  L.  B.  Long,  William  Bolt, 
Jacob  Segar,  Harmon  Treadbar,  Hartman 
Gruner.  Perry  Reed,  Fred  File,  Philip  Leibler, 
Frank  Hochdafer,  H.  E.  Reed,  W.  E.  Smith,  D. 
C.  Heston  and  J.  A.  Hamptou.  The  officers 
who  have  filled  the  places  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  lodge  are  :  W.  M.  Hays,  M.  W.;  F. 
E.  Jandt,  Recorder  ;  J.  M.  Minor,  Financier  ; 
H.  E.  Reed,  Receiver ;  W.  E.  Smith,  P.  M.  W.; 
Fred  File,  Overseer,  and  William  Justi,  Fore- 
man. At  present,  the  lodge  is  in  a  thriving 
condition,  and  is  growing  steadily  in  popular- 
ity and  members.  They  hold  their  meetings 
in  the  Odd  Fellows  hall,  and  have  a  regular  at- 
tendance of  about  twent3'-two  members. 

The  Good  Templar  Lodge  was  organized 
February  9, 1881,  with  ninety  charter  members. 
The  first  officers  were  :  Z.  T.  Hendricks,  Worthy 
Chief ;  Miss  Laura  Stevens,  Vice  Worthy 
Chief;  E.  Balch,  P.  W.;  H.  Hatchet,  Secretary; 
Miss  Jennie  Harned,  Assistant  ;  C.  Phelps, 
Financial  Secretary  ;  Joseph  Dever,  Chaplain  ; 
E.  Alderman,  Marshal ;  Fannie  Savage,  assist- 
ant ;  John  Savage,  Outside  Guard,  and  Miss 
Hannah  Challis,  Inside  Guard.  The  lodge  has 
at  present  a  membership  of  about  forty-five, 
and  meetings  are  held  regularly  every  Thurs- 
day evening  in  Itemick's  Hall.  John  Jett  is 
the  present  Worthy  Chief;  E.  Alderman  acts 
as  Secretary,  and  Mrs.  Bridgewater  is  Treasurer. 

The  Catholic  Church  was  organized  in  the 
spring  of  18G9,  by  Father  Peter  Peters.  Among 
the  first  members  were  :  John  M.  Gilmore  and 
wife,  Louis  Loux  and  wife,  Mr.  Schwedenmau 
and  wife,  George  Hochdefer  and  wife,  George 
Arnold  and  wife,  George  Hansilman  and  wife, 
father  and  two  sons  ;  Charles  Kuebel  and  wife, 
Tom  Ryan  and  wife,  Charles  Rovolt  and  Frank 
Rudolph  and  wife.     The  society  worshiped  in 


a  private  house,  which  they  purchased  and 
used  as  a  place  of  worship  until  the  erection  of 
their  present  church  building  in  1872.  It  is  a 
frame  buildiug  fifty  feet  long  and  twenty-six  feet 
in  width,  and  cost  about  $2,400.  It  was  dedi- 
cated by  Bishop  Battles.  For  some  time  after 
the  organization  of  this  church,  it  was  under  the 
care  of  the  Franciscan  priests  of  Teutopolis,  111., 
but  of  late  years  it  has  been  under  the  pastorate 
of  regular  priests.  The  first  Trustees  were  Leo 
Eisenpris  and  John  Senn.  The  present  Trus- 
tees are  Baptist  Eisenpris,  Timothy  Coffee, 
Frank  Senn  and  Fred  Eisenpris.  The  Treas- 
urer is  Frank  Senn,  and  the  priest  now  in  charge 
is  Rev.  A.  Kersting.  About  forty  families  now 
belong  to  the  church. 

The  United  Baptist  Church  was  organized 
on  the  10th  day  of  January,  1873,  by  Peter 
Long.  The  church  was  formed  from  members 
of  the  old  Mount  Nebo  Church  in  Ripley  Pre- 
cinct. The  first  members  were  Albert  Ray 
and  wife,  S.  N.  Jett,  Agnes  E.  Jett,  Mildred 
Wait,  Mary  Bridgewater,  Catharine  Harvey 
and  W.  C.  Harvey.  Albert  Ray  and  S.  N.  Jett 
were  the  first  Deacons,  and  W.  C.  Harvey  was 
the  first  clerk.  The  society  worshiped  at  the 
houses  of  the  members  until  in  the  spring  of 
1874  ;  a  church  fifty  feet  long  and  thirty  feet 
wide  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,400.  The 
first  Trustees  were  Lee  Wait,  J.  G.  Scott  and 
S.  N.  Jett.  The  present  Trustees  are  N.  Bridge- 
water  and  Louisa  C.  Gilmore.  The  church  at 
present  is  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  J.  H. 
Jones,  has  about  twenty-five  members,  and  is 
in  good  running  order.  It  belongs  to  the  Ap- 
ple Creek  Association,  over  which  Peter  Long 
is  Moderator.  A  flourishing  Sunday-school  is 
conducted  in  connection  with  the  church,  under 
the  superintendency  of  Lawrence  Stevens.  An 
interesting  Bible  school  of  about  fifty  scholars 
is  also  taught  regularly  every  Sunday. 

Millersburg  is  a  small  village  situated  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  precinct.  It  was  laid 
off  by  William  Burgess   from  Kentucky,  and 


144 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


received  its  name  from  a  man  named  Charles 
Miller,  who  built  the  first  mill.  The  first  store 
was  run  by  David  C.  Baldridge,  who  built  the 
first  house  erected  in  the  village.  Fritz  Haek- 
ick  was  the  first  blacksmith.  At  present  it  is  a 
flourishing  little  hamlet  of  between  one  and 
two  hundred  inhabitants.  It  contains  one  store 
run  by  Peter  Minges,  three  blacksmith  shops, 
one  wagon  shop,  run  by  John  Dishouser  ;  one 
schoolhouse  and  one  saloon.  The  postoffice 
name  is  il  Baden  Baden,"  and  Clem  Williams  is 
the  present  Postmaster.  Only  three  mails 
are  received  each  week.  The  mill  is  run  at 
present  by  Peter  Strife,  and  is  doing  only  a 
moderate  business.  There  are  no  churches  in 
the  town.  Recently,  for  the  convenience  of  cit- 
izens living  in  the  southern  part  of  the  precinct, 
a  sub-voting  place  has  been  established  at  Mill- 
ersburg.  This  sub-votiug  precinct  includes  a 
part  of  the  southern  portion  of  Pocahontas 
Precinct,  and  a  couple  of  tiers  of  sections  off 


the  western  side  of  Beaver  Creek  Precinct,  but 
as  yet  no  lines  have  been  made  ou  our  maps 
to  indicate  it,  and  it  was  doubtless  made  more 
for  convenience  than  anything  else. 

Pierron,  a  small  village  of  about  one  hun- 
dred inhabitants,  is  situated  near  the  midway  of 
the  western  boundary  line  of  the  county,  a  part 
of  it  lying  in  Bond  County  and  a  part  in  Madi- 
son County,  though  most  of  the  business  por- 
tion lies  in  this  county.  It  was  laid  off  in  1868, 
by  J.  Pierron,  who  built  and  ran  the  first  store. 
August  Pierron  was  the  first  Postmaster.  At 
present  the  town  is  in  a  prosperous  condition, 
and  contains  one  store  run  b3T  Suppiger  &  Uti- 
ger  ;  two  blacksmith  shops,  one  on  each  side, 
of  the  county  line  ;  two  wagon  shops;  one  ele- 
vator owned  by  Kuebel  &  Co.;  three  hotels, 
only  one  of  which  is  in  this  county,  namely,  the 
"  Oak  Dale  House."  A.  A.  Pierron  and  Louis 
Sehuert  handle  agricultural  implements,  and 
A.  A.  Suppiger  is  the  present  Postmaster. 


BEAVER    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


145 


CHAPTER   XVI.* 

BEAVER   CREEK    PRECINCT  — DESCRIPTION  AND    GENERAL   TOPOGRAPHY —TIMBER  AND  WATER 

COURSES— EARLY    SETTLEMENT— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS   OF  THE  PIONEER  TIMES— THE 

FIRST  POST  OFFICE,  BLACKSMITH,  STORES,  ETC.— MILLS  AND  CARDING  MACHINES 

—VILLAGES— EDUCATIONAL  AND   RELIGIOUS— CHURCHES,  ETC. 


THE  precinct  of  Beaver  Creek,  to  which 
this  chapter  is  devoted,  lies  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  Bond  County,  directly  south  of 
Greenville,  and  comprises  Township  4  north, 
Range  3  west,  together  with  a  tier  of  fractional 
sections  along  Shoal  Creek  on  the  western  side 
of  the  precinct ;  thus  giving  it  these  fractional 
sections  more  than  a  regular  Congressional 
township.  The  surface  of  the  land  is  generally 
level,  much  of  it  originally  being  prairie. 
Along  the  margin  of  the  streams  it  is  some- 
what hill}'  and  broken,  and  was  covered 
with  timber  when  the  country  was  first  settled. 
The  timber,  which  was  that  common  in  this 
section,  has  been  considerably  thinned  out,  and 
that  plauted  by  the  settlers  themselves  now 
makes  nearly  as  much  show  as  the  original  I 
growth.  The  precinct  is  drained  by  Shoal  and 
Beaver  Creeks,  and  their  tributaries.  Beaver 
Creek  flows  through  the  eastern  part  in  a 
southerly  direction,  receiving  numerous  small 
streams  in  its  course,  while  Shoal  Creek  drains 
the  western  portion.  The  precinct,  as  at  pres- 
ent laid  off,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Green- 
ville Precinct,  on  the  east  by  Okaw,  on  the 
south  by  Clinton  County  and  on  the  west  by 
Pocahontas  Precinct.  It  is  as  fine  an  agricult- 
ural district  as  can  be  found  in  this  section  ; 
the  people  are  an  intelligent  and  industrious 
class,  well  educated,  and  rank  among  the  best 
citizens  of  the  county.  The  surplus  products 
of  the  precinct  find  a  market  over  the  Vandalia 

*By  W.  H.    Perrin. 


Railroad,  which  passes  near  the  northwest 
corner,  but  does  not  come  within  the  limits.  It 
has  no  lack  of  churches,  schoolhouses  and  vil- 
lages. 

Settlements  were  made  very  early  in  the 
present  precinct  of  Beaver  Creek.  The  first 
white  man  of  whom  we  have  any  account  of 
making  a  settlement  here  was  James  Blizzard, 
in  the  winter  of  1817-18,  unless  we  except 
"  Old  Kenson,"  as  he  was  called,  and  Cox,  who 
was  murdered  by  the  Indians  near  the  present 
town  of  Dudleyville.  Of  Old  Kenson  there  is 
nothing  but  a  vague  tradition.  It  is  said  that 
he  lived  in  a  hollow  sycamore  tree  in  Shoal 
Creek  bottom,  near  where  the  Vandalia  Rail- 
road now  crosses  (whether  the  "  hollow  syca- 
more" stood  in  this  precinct  or  not  we  are 
unable  to  say),  and  that  he  was  there  during 
the  war  of  1812.  When  the  few  people  then 
living  in  Bond  County  fled  to  the  forts  for 
safety  from  the  Indians,  "  Old  Kenson "  re- 
mained in  his  "  den,"  looking  after  his  hogs, 
and  hunting.  When  the  war  closed,  and  the 
people  returned  to  their  cabins,  "  Old  Kenson," 
like  the  Arab,  pulled  up  his  hollow  sycamore, 
or  his  tent — 

"And  as  silently  stole  away," 

leaving  no  trace  behind.  What  became  of  him 
or  whither  he  went  no  one  ever  knew.  He 
utterly  refused  to  go  into  the  fort  with  the 
other  whites,  alleging  there  was  no  real  danger, 
and  that  the  Indians  would  not  molest  him. 
Mr.  Blizzard  made  the  first  permanent  set- 


146 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


tlement,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  winter  of 
1817-18.  He  settled  on  the  northwest  part  of 
Section  7,  near  where  the  school  house  now 
stands.  He  has  two  sons  living  here,  J.  J.  and 
William  M.  Blizzard  ;  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Harriet 
A.  Gower,  lives  in  Missouri.  A  Mr.  James 
settled  on  Section  3,  about  1825,  and  a  man 
named  Harlan  settled  near  Dudleyville,  on  a 
place  since  owned  by  his  son.  A  Mr.  Hoffman, 
John  Henry  and  A.  G.  Mills  also  settled  near. 
Wilson  Brown  came  in  soon  after  Blizzard  and 
settled  on  Section  6.  Abraham  McCurley  and 
family  settled  on  Section  3,  in  1830.  Richard 
Briggs  came  in  with  Wilson  Brown  and  settled 
in  the  same  neighborhood.  McCurley  has  a 
daughter  still  living  in  Bond  County — Mrs. 
Mary  Woolard,  wife  of  Rev.  J.  B.  Woolard,  of 
Mulberry  Grove.  Wilson  Brown  has  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Marion,  living  in  the  county. 
Andrew  Green  settled  on  Section  18,  and  was 
a  blacksmith — the  first  perhaps  in  the  precinct. 
James  Kirkpatrick  and  Samuel  G.  Morse 
settled  a  little  south  of  Harlan,  and  William 
Burgess  settled  on  the  west  side  of  Beaver 
Creek,  near  the  county  line.  As  early  as  1826, 
the  Crutchfield  brothers,  Joseph  and  Jacob, 
settled  on  Section  30  ;  they  have  descendants 
still  living  here.  The  Drake  family,  who  were 
from  Tennessee,  settled  on  the  same  section. 
Durham  and  Phipps  came  in  about  1820; 
Phipps  has  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Goodsou,  and 
Durham  a  son,  Gideon  Durham,  living  in  the 
neighborhood.  John  Henry  was  an  early 
settler,  and  the  first  Postmaster  in  the  pre- 
cinct. The  "old  fort,"  mentioned  so  exten- 
sively in  preceding  chapters  of  this  work, 
*  stood  on  Section  7,  the  land  now  owned  b}'  the 
Byrnes  heirs. 

About  the  year  1S26  or  1827,  the  McCas- 
lands,  James  McCasland,  and  his  sons,  John 
and  Hugh,  came  into  the  precinct.  They  were 
from  Kentucky,  and  John  settled  on  Section 
11  ;  Hugh  settled  on  Section  23,  but  afterward 
moved  on  to  Section  11.     He  finally  moved  to 


Montgomery  County,  where  he  now  lives.  A 
Mr.  Harlan  settled  on  Section  15  in  1825  and 
1826.  Andrew  Mills  and  family,  from  Tennes- 
see, settled  on  Section  14.  Joseph  Mills,  a  de- 
scendant, still  lives  in  the  precinct.  A  family 
of  Browns  came  in  early  and  settled  on  the 
same  section  with  Mills.  Balaam  Metcalf,  from 
Tennessee,  settled  on  Section  14  about  the  year 
1S28.  He  has  a  son,  Henry  Metcalf.  still  living 
in  the  precinct.  William  Downing  settled  on 
Section  24,  and  afterward  sold  out  to  Allen. 
Joseph  Meyers  settled  on  Section  22.  This 
comprises  a  list  of  the  eariy  settlers  so  far  as 
we  have  been  able  to  learn  anything  concerning 
them. 

The  first  years  in  a  new  country  are  years  of 
toil  and  hardship.  It  was  particularly  so  in 
the  early  settling  of  Southern  Illinois.  There 
were  no  railroads  then;  no  improved  agricult- 
ural implements  ;  no  mills  deserving  of  the 
name,  and,  indeed,  no  luxuries,  and  veiy  few  of 
the  necessaries  of  life.  Log  cabins  with  punch- 
eon floors  ;  "  hog  and  hominy  ;"  the  bar-shear 
plow,  reaping-hook,  and  scythe  and  cradle  were 
things  with  which  the  pioneers  were  altogether 
familiar  fifty  years  ago  in  Bond  County.  Wej 
in  this  age  of  civilization  and  refinement  and 
of  peace  and  plenty,  know  little  of  what  the 
early  settlers  had  to  contend  with.  The  fol- 
lowing incident  will  illustrate,  to  some  extent, 
the  dangers  they  were  exposed  to  in  the  early 
days  of  this  country  :  A  man  named  Cox,  who 
had  built  a  cabin,  near  or  a  little  below  where 
the  village  of  Dudleyville  now  stands,  notwith- 
standing the  remonstrances  of  the  people,  re- 
fused to  take  refuge  in  the  forts  during  the  war 
of  1812,  but  remained  at  his  cabin  several 
miles  distant.  He  was  a  brave  man,  a  cele- 
brated Indian  fighter  (considering  himself  a 
match  at  any  time  for  half  a  dozen  "  red  skins  "), 
and  a  thorough  frontiersman.  One  day,  during 
his  absence,  a  party  of  Indians  attacked  his 
cabin,  and,  among  other  depredations,  carried 
off  his  daughter  a  captive.     She  was  rescued! 


BEAVER    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


147 


however,  a  few  hours  later,  without  injury  other 
than  a  severe  fright.  After  this,  he  deemed  it 
prudent  to  remove  his  family  to  the  fort,  but  he 
persisted  in  visiting  his  cabin  every  day  "  to  look 
after  things,"  until  the  Indians  finally  looked 
after  him.  Going  to  his  cabin  one  day  as  usual, 
accompanied  03-  his  little  son,  they  were  fired 
upon  by  a  party  of  Indians,  who  had  concealed 
themselves  in  the  house,  and  were  both  killed. 
Their  fate  was  a  sad  one,  but  was  nothing  more 
than  had  been  anticipated  and  predicted  by  his 
friends.  The  incident,  with  its  attending  cir- 
cumstances, is  more  particularly  noticed  in  a 
preceding  chapter. 

The  first  settlers  in  this  section  had  to  go  to 
Edwardsville  to  mill,  au  undertaking  that  some- 
times occupied  several  da}'s  or  weeks.  The 
first  mill  in  this  precinct,  of  which  we  have  any 
account,  was  a  horse-mill  built  by  William 
Downing,  and  was  one  of  the  early  institutions 
of  the  community.  For  a  number  of  years,  it 
did  good  service,  and  was  a  great  accommoda- 
tion to  the  people.  A  carding-mill,  or  cardiug- 
machine,  as  they  were  more  commonly  called, 
was  built  by  Milton  Mills  on  Section  13,  about 
1823  and  1824,  and  was  the  first,  not  only  in 
this  precinct,  but  the  first  in  the  county.  Be- 
fore it  was  put  in  operation,  the  people  carded 
their  wool  themselves  on  hand  cards,  or  took  it 
to  Edwardsville.  This  mill  was  shipped  here 
from  Kentucky,  and  was  successfully  operated 
for  a  great  many  years.  Other  pioneer  indus- 
tries were  confined  to  blacksmith  shops,  stores, 
and  such  other  business  as  the  wants  of  the 
time  demanded.  As  the  country  settled  up 
and  improved,  roads  were  laid  out  through  the 
precinct  to  the  different  towns,  bridges  were 
built  over  the  largest  water-courses,  which  com- 
bined very  materially  to  facilitate  locomotion 
and  transportation.  The  latter,  in  those  days, 
was  a  very  serious  undertaking,  as  everything 
had  to  be  transported  by  teams,  and  ox-teams 
at  that,  and   several    weeks,  according  to   the 


state  of  the  roads,  were  required  to  make  a  trip 
to  St.  Louis,  then  the  principal  market. 

In  18G9,  a  circumstance  occurred  near  the 
little  village  of  Dudley  ville,  which  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  entire  community.  We  allude  to  the 
brutal  murder  of  Mrs.  Louisa  McAdams,  in 
July  of  that  year,  b}-  John  Moore,  a  near  neigh- 
bor. He  went  to  her  residence  in  the  absence 
of  her  husband,  grossly  insulted  her,  and  when 
she  attempted  to  escape  from  him,  he  pursued 
her  and  cruelly  murdered  her  by  cutting  her 
throat  from  ear  to  ear.  For  this  crime,  lie  was 
arrested,  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  be 
hanged  by  Judge  Gillespie.  He  made  a  full 
confession  of  his  guilt,  which  was  afterward 
published,  and,  on  the  23d  of  October,  1869,  he 
expiated  his  crime  upon  the  gallows,  under  the 
sentence  of  the  court — the  only  execution  that 
has  ever  taken  place  in  Bond  County. 

There  are  two  villages  in  Beaver  Creek  Pre- 
cinct, viz.  :  Dudleyville  and  Wisetown.  The 
former  was  surveyed  and  laid  out  by  R.  K. 
Dewe}-,  for  John  Dudley,  the  proprietor  of  the 
laud,  March  14, 1857.  It  is  situated  on  Section 
3  of  Township  4,  Range  3,  and  is  five  miles 
from  Greenville  on  the  Carlyle  road,  surrounded 
b}'  an  excellent  farming  region.  It  bears  the 
name  of  Dudleyville,  for  its  founder  and  pro- 
prietor, and,  for  a  small  place,  does  considera- 
ble business.  Mr.  Dudley  inherited  the  land 
upon  which  the  town  stands,  through  his  mar- 
riage with  Fanny  Blizzard,  daughter  of  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  the  precinct.  He  kept  the 
first  store  opened  in  Dudleyville.  Fred  Kahn 
was  the  first  blacksmith  ;  H.  C.  Dunham  was 
probably  the  first  physician  of  the  place,  and 
F.  Thraner  was  the  first  Postmaster.  Thraner 
was  among  the  very  first  settlers  in  Dudley- 
ville, and  built  the  best  storehouse  in  the  place, 
and  which  is  still  in  use  by  W.  D.  Rockwell,  the 
present  merchant.  About  this  time,  a  number 
of  German  families  settled  in  the  village,  and 
opened    shops   of  different   kinds.     F.    Geries 


148 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


built  a  cooper  shop,  and  John  Schlup,  a  wagon 
shop.  R.  W.  Chapman  and  brother  came  in 
soon  after  Kahn,  and  remained  several  years. 
There  are  now  two  blacksmith  shops  kept  by 
Albert  Keagy  and  A.  W.  Reed.  The  town  now 
has  about  twelve  families,  comprising  some 
fifty  inhabitants. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Dudley  - 
ville  was  organized  so  long  ago  (about  1820  it 
is  believed)  that  no  one  now  can  give  the  names 
of  the  original  members,  except  James  Bliz- 
zard and  several  members  of  his  family.  The 
church  was  originally  organized  at  his  house 
by  (it  is  believed)  Rev.  Simeon  Walker.  Serv- 
ices were  held  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Blizzard  for 
several  years,  then  at  Rebecca  Hoffman's,  his 
daughter,  and  subsequently  at  schoolhouses. 
The  church  building  was  erected  about  1856- 
57,  and  was  a  frame  26x40  feet.  It  cost  $900, 
and  was  built  upon  land  donated  by  John  Hud- 
ley  for  the  purpose.  There  were  about  fifty 
members  when  the  church  was  built  at  Dudley  - 
ville,  and  the  Rev.  Daniel  Oglesby  was  the 
minister,  and  J.  J.  Blizzard  the  class-leader. 
The  membership  is  still  about  fifty  ;  the  Trust- 
ees, J.  J.  Blizzard,  Thomas  Harlan,  Jesse  Mc- 
Adams  and  H.  W.  Blizzard ;  and  the  pastor, 
Rev.  J.  H.  McGriff.  A  Sunday  school  continues 
the  year  round,  of  which  J.  J.  Blizzard  is  Su- 
perintendent, and  which  has  a  regular  attend- 
ance of  about  sixty  persons. 

The  Free  Methodist  Church  of  Dudleyville 
was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1880  by  Rev.  F. 
M.  Ashcraft,  and  was  originally  composed  of 
eight  members  as  follows  :  P.  M.  Rogers  and 
wife,  Wilford  Hockett,  Ellen  Upchurch,  Charles 
Mayfield  and  wife,  John  Upchurch  and  James 
Garrett.  The  church  edifice  was  built  in  the 
summer  of  1881,  is  a  frame  28x40  feet  in  size, 
and  cost  about  $800.  The  first  class-leader 
was  Wilford  Hockett ;  Trustees,  P.  M.  Rogers, 
Wilford  Hockett  and  James  Garrett.  The 
church  has  a  membership  at  present  of  about 
twenty-five,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  C.  C. 


Brunei'.  Sunday  school  organized  when  the 
church  was  built  ;  the  first  Superintendent  was 
James  Garrett ;  the  present  one,  P.  M.  Rogers  ; 
attendance  good. 

The  village  of  Wisetown,  or  Beaver  Creek,  as 
it  is  sometimes  called,  was  surveyed  and  laid 
out  March  14,  1860,  by  R.  K.  Dewey,  for  David 
W.  Wise,  the  proprietor  and  founder.  It  is 
located  on  Section  26,  about  ten  miles  nearly 
south  from  Greenville,  and  five  miles  from  Dud- 
leyville. Although  christened  Wisetown  for 
its  founder,  the  post  office  is  called  Beaver 
Creek,  after  the  name  of  the  precinct,  and  first 
one  name  and  then  the  other  is  applied  to  the 
village.  It  is  quite  a  business  little  place,  and 
is  surrounded  by  a  class  of  enterprising  farm- 
ers. No  saloon  has  ever  been  opened,  which 
speaks  well  for  its  morals.  There  were  a  few 
houses  here  long  before  it  was  laid  out  as  a 
town.  A  post  office  was  early  established,  with 
John  Henry  as  Postmaster  ;  Samuel  Avis  was 
the  first  blacksmith,  Peter  Bostock  the  first 
wagon-maker,  and Delkhaus  the  first  shoe- 
maker. Dr.  O.  E.  Hornedy  was  the  first  phy- 
sician of  the  village,  and  the  first  drug  store 
was  opened  by  Dr.  Powell  Gordon.  The  next 
physician  of  the  place  was  Dr.  D.  A.  Bailey, 
then  came  Dr.  J.  A.  Warren,  still  here  in  prac- 
tice. The  place  now  has  one  store,  kept  by  N. 
B.  Harues  &  Company  ;  two  blacksmith  shops, 
A.  J.  Sapp  and  T.  J.  Sapp,  each  running  a  sep- 
arate establishment ;  W.  A.  McNeil,  undertaker, 
and  also  wagon-maker;  drug  store,  kept  by  J. 
M.  Harlan,  and  an  excellent  schoolhouse.  The 
place  consists  of  some  twenty-five  houses,  and 
has  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants. 

Union  Church,  in  the  village  of  Wisetown,  is 
composed  of  the  following  denominations,  viz.: 
Methodist,  Cumberland  Presbyterian  and  Mis- 
sionary Baptist,  members  of  which  had  be- 
longed to  no  organized  body  until  the  formation 
of  this  church,  except  the  Methodists,  who 
worshiped  at  a  schoolhouse.  The  church  build- 
ing was  erected  iu  the  summer  of  1878,  and  is 


BEAVER    CREEK   FRECrNCT. 


149 


32x48  feet.  The  ground  upon  which  it  stands 
was  donated  and  deeded  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Warren, 
on  the  following  conditions  :  That  the  Method- 
ists have  it  the  first  and  third  Sundays  of  each 
month,  commencing  at  6  o'clock  P.  M.,  preced- 
ing, and  ending  at  6  o'clock  P.  M.  on  Friday 
following  these  Sundays  ;  the  Baptists  to  have 
the  same  privilege,  including  the  second  Sun- 
day, and  the  Presbyterians  the  fourth.  The 
four  extra  Sundays  in  each  year  are  divided  up 
on  the  same  principle.  This  plan  was  adopted 
by  the  donor  of  the  land  that  no  discord  might 
arise  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  church.  The 
building  cost  $1,200  ;  the  Trustees  are  N.  B. 
Harnes,  I).  C.  Baldridge,  J.  M.  Myers,  A.  J. 
Miller,  E.  B.  Wise.  J.  A.  Warren  and  Jesse 
Burch.  A  good  Sunda3'  school  is  kept  up  all 
the  year  round. 

The  precinct  paid  early  attention  to  matters 
of  education,  and  schools  were  established  as 
soon  as  the  couutry  was  sufficiently  settled  to 
justify  the  expense  of  paying  teachers.  The 
first  schoolhouse  of  which  we  have  any  ac- 
count was  built  on  the  present  site  of  the 
town  of  Dudleyville,  just  in  the  rear  of  the  old 
Methodist  Church.  It  was  a  log  building  of 
the  pioneer  pattern,  with  puncheon  floor,  and 
the  first  school  taught  in  it  was  by  a  man 
named  Babcock.  Another  of  the  early  school- 
houses  was  built  on  Section  26,  a  little  south  of 
the  spring  of  the  old  camp-ground.  The  first 
school  in  it  was  taught  by  a  man  named  P.  G. 
Vawter.  A  school  was  taught  about  three 
miles  west  of  Wisetown,  in  1835,  by  a  man 
named  Tobey.  There  are  now  seven  school- 
houses  in  the  precinct,  all  of  which  are  com- 
fortable and  commodious  buildings,  well-fur- 
nished and  ventilated,  and  in  which  good  schools 
are  taught  for  the  usual  term  each  year  by 
competent  teachers. 

The  people  of  Beaver  Creek  Precinct  are  a 
religious  people,  if  one  may  judge  from  its 
number  of  handsome  churches,  of  which  there 
are  several  in  the  precinct,  outside  of  the  vil- 
lages of  Dudleyville  and  Wisetown. 


The  first  house  in  the  precinct  built  exclu- 
sively for  church  purposes,  and  used  also  for  a 
schoolhouse,  was  built  at  the  old  camp-ground 
on  Section  26.  The  Baptists  organized  a  church 
society  here  very  early,  and  their  church  for 
some  time  had  no  floor  except  the  ground  ;  the 
pulpit  was  6x8  feet  in  size,  raised  (the  plat- 
form) about  a  foot  above  the  ground,  and  the 
whole  thing  boarded  up  about  to  the  preacher's 
shoulders,  so  that  while  speaking,  only  his  head 
and  arms  could  be  seen.  The  people  attended 
this  church  for  miles  and  miles  away.  Camp- 
meetings  were  held  here,  when  the  worshipers 
came  and  camped  upon  the  grounds  until  the 
meetings  closed.  Among  the  first  ministers  at 
this  church  were  Revs.  Arnot,  Joseph  Taylor, 
Semons,  Jesse  Ford,  etc.  The  congregation 
worshiped  here  for  many  years,  and  then  moved 
into  a  schoolhouse.  Several  denominations 
worshiped  here  also,  but  about  1866,  religious 
services  were  discontinued,  and  the  house  was 
removed  to  Wisetown,  where  it  is  yet  standing, 
being  used  for  a  dwelling.  The  members  went 
elsewhere  to  worship,  and  joined  themselves  to 
other  churches. 

The  German  Methodist  Church  was  built  in 
18G5,  and  cost  about  $1,400.  The  society  was 
first  organized  in  1850,  and  consisted  of  the 
following  original  members,  viz.:  George  Ul- 
mer  and  wife,  John  Hilde  and  wife,  Elizabeth 
Dollanbach,  Charles  Dollanbach,  Elizabeth 
Tishruser,  Mary  Dollanbach,  John  Danler  and 
wife,  Mathias  Huffman,  Elizabeth  Barnridher 
and  Conrad  Peters.  The  first  Trustees  of  the 
church  were  John  Thoman,  Henry  Garke,  Fred- 
erick Schubert,  George  Barnridher  and  Chris- 
tian Dollanbach.  The  first  minister  was  Rev. 
W.  Fiegenbaum,  who  organized  the  church  ;  the 
membership  is  now  about  twenty-eight.  A  Sun- 
day school  was  organized  in  1870,  of  which 
George  Ulmer  was  the  first  Superintendent.  It 
continues  the  year  round,  and  is  at  present  under 
the  superintendence  of  Henry  Garke  and  Mr 
Thoman. 


150 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


Mount  Carrnel  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
stands  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  20, 
and  was  organized  in  the  early  part  of  18(32,  by 
J.  J.  Blizzard.  The  first  regular  minister  was 
the  Rev.  Simeon  Walker.  Among  the  first  mem- 
bers were  J.  J.  Blizzard,  Samuel  J.  Gilleland 
(class-leader),  and  others,  amounting  in  all  to 
about  fifteen.  The  church  edifice  was  erected 
in  the  fall  of  1866,  and  was  built  of  brick, 
costing  about  $960,  and  is  a  handsome  little 
church  building. 

The  Camp  Ground  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  quite  early  in  the  field — believed 
by  some  to  have  had  a  society  here  about 
1826.      Among   the   first    members    were   the 


McAdamses,  Goodsons,  John  Harris,  William 
Harlan,  etc.  Early  ministers  were  William 
Finley,  Joel  Knight,  John  Barber  and  Joseph 
Barlow.  The  society  first  worshiped  in  a  log 
cabin,  purchased  of  one  of  the  first  settlers 
named  Durham.  This  house  was  used  for  sev- 
eral years,  when  the  present  house  was  built, 
probably  about  1835,  and  is  24x30  feet  in  size. 
The  organization  is  still  kept  up.  The  church 
property  is  deeded  to  the  Board  of  County 
Commissioners  for  the  benefit  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterians.  The  present  minister  is 
Rev.  Allison  Hunter ;  the  Sabbath  school  ia 
kept  up  all  the  year. 


FAIRVIEW  PRECINCT. 


151 


CHAPTER    XVII* 

FAIRVIEW  PRECINCT-INTRODUCTORY  AND  DESCRIPTIVE -THE  NAME  •■  FAIR  VIEW  --TOPOGRA- 
PH Y  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES  — SETTLEMENT— ISAM  REAVES  AND   OTHER  PIONEERS— 
THE  FIRST  ELECTION-EARLY  SCHOOLS  AND   SCHOOLHOUSES— RELIGIOUS— "  OLD 
HURRICANE"  AND  OTHER  CHURCHES— VILLAGE  OF  FAIRVIEW,  ETC. 

"  The  fairest  among  ten  thousand, 
And  altogether  lovely." 

ONE  iu  traveling  through  that  part  of  Bond 
County  known  as  Fairview  Precinct, 
would  scarcely  realize  that,  less  than  a  century 
ago,  over  these  same  rolling  prairies,  the  red 
man  roamed  in  all  his  savage  glory,  undis- 
turbed save  by  rival  tribes  of  his  own  race. 
That  where  now  maj>-  be  seen  in  every  direc- 
tion beautiful  and  well-improved  farms,  he 
hunted  the  buffalo,  chased  the  deer,  and  shout- 
ed his  blood-curdling  war-whoop  as  he  dashed 
in  pursuit  of  his  fleeing  enemy.  Since  that 
time,  the  light  of  civilization  has  spread  o'er 
the  land.  The  "  wigwam  blaze  "  has  been  ex- 
tinguished, and  the  red  man  has  folded  up  his 
"  tepee "  and  followed  after  the  retreating  j 
herds  of  buffalo.  This  precinct  as  well  as  the 
other  precincts  of  Bond  County,  partook  of  the 
change,  and  the  vast  prairie  was  transformed 
into  blooming  fields,  and  beautiful  homes.  Be- 
cause of  the  beautiful  view  this  precinct  pre- 
sents, it  received  the  name  of  "  Fairview," 
which  appellation  it  rightfully  deserves,  being 
without  doubt  one  of  the  prettiest  landscapes 
in  this  portion  of  the  "  Sucker  State." 

Fairview  Precinct  comprises  sixteen  sections 
in  the  southeast  corner  of  Township  5,  Range 
2  west,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Green- 
ville and  Mulberry  Grove  Precincts,  on  the  east 
by  Fayette  County,  on  the  south  by  Okaw 
Precinct,  and  on  the  west  by  Greenville  Pre- 


*By  W.   H.  Perrin. 


cinct.  Its  surface  is  mostly  prairie,  being 
gently  rolling  or  undulating,  except  that  por- 
tion which  borders  the  water-courses,  it  being 
quite  broken  and  very  rugged  in  places.  In 
some  portions  of  the  precinct,  however,  arti- 
ficial means  of  drainage  is  necessary,  but  it  is 
as  fine  an  agricultural  region  as  any  part  of 
Bond  County,  the  land  being  rich  and  fertile 
and  growing  in  value  yearly.  There  is  more 
timber  in  this  section  than  there  was  originally, 
considerable  having  been  planted  by  the  early 
settlers.  The  original  timber,  very  little  of 
which  is  now  left  standing,  is  found  almost  ex- 
clusively along  the  numerous  streams  through- 
out the  precinct,  and  consists  principally  of 
oak,  ash,  hickory,  walnut,  etc.  Most  of  the 
precinct  is  devoted  to  agriculture  and  grazing, 
the  principal  crops  produced  being  corn,  oats 
and  wheat. 

Until  recently,  very  little  attention  has  been 
paid  to  stock-raising  in  this  section,  but  the 
fine  grazing  facilities  of  the  country  induced 
some  of  the  more  enterprising  residents  to  em- 
bark in  this  branch  of  farming,  and  of  late 
years  the  stock  has  been  very  much  improved. 

Numerous  small  streams  contribute  to  the 
productiveness  of  the  soil  of  this  precinct,  the 
most  important  of  which  is  Sanders'  Branch, 
which  rises  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
precinct,  and  flowing  a  little  south,  and  then 
directly  east,  leaves  the  precinct  near  the  sec- 
tion line  dividing  Sections  13  ami  24.  Its 
strongest  tributary  is  Booker's  Branch,  which 


152 


HISTORY   OF   BOXD  COUNTY. 


rising  in  the  northern  part  of  Section  10.  of 
Greenville  Precinct,  flows  in  a  southeaster!}' 
direction  into  Sanders'  Branch,  which  it  enters 
in  the  southeast  corner  of  Section  14  of  Fair- 
view  Precinct.  Several  other  streams  flow 
through  various  parts  of  the  precinct,  but  they 
are  so  small  as  to  scarcely  deserve  being 
named. 

The  settlement  by  white  people  of  Fairview 
Precinct  extends  so  far  back  into  the  past  that 
it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  obtain  reliable  data 
in  regard  to  the  original  pioneers.  Among  the 
first  white  men  to  locate  here,  probably,  was 
Isam  Reaves,  who  came  here  from  Maryland 
with  his  family  prior  to  the  war  of  1812.  Some 
time  after  this  the  gReaves  family  removed  to 
Kentucky,  near  Bowling  Green,  and,  after  re- 
maining there  for  awhile,  again  moved  to  this 
State  and  settled  in  Madison  County,  near  Col- 
lins ville.  In  1832,  Isam  Reaves  again  moved 
to  this  county  and  settled  in  what  is  now  Fair- 
view  Precinct.  He  died  on  the  old  Reaves 
farm,  which  he  entered  at  a  cost  of  50  cents 
per  acre.  He  participated  in  the  war  of  1812, 
on  the  Beaver  Creek  side.  In  one  of  the  bat- 
tles, two  of  his  comrades  named  Prewitt  and 
Gratis  were  killed  by  the  Indians,  and  Joseph 
Gratts'  father,  Thomas  Higgins  and  William 
Burgess  were  wounded.  Gen.  Whitesides  was 
also  wounded  at  the  same  time.  This  occurred 
about  the  close  of  the  war.  Hiram  Reaves,  the 
son  of  Isam  Reaves,  was  born  in  this  county, 
four  miles  south  of  Greenville,  and  within  one 
mile  of  the  old  fort  on  Shoal  Creek,  on  the  10th 
of  June,  1816,  and  is  probably  the  oldest  resi- 
dent now  living  in  the  county  who  was  born 
in  it.  He  resides  in  the  southeast  corner  of 
Fairview  Precinct,  and  is  totally  blind.  Some 
time  after  the  advent  of  Isam  Reaves,  in  1S29, 
came  William  Harper,  Thomas  L.  Harper,  Elisha 
Mathews  and  John  Reaves,  all  from  Tennes- 
see. John  Reaves  settled  on  Section  14,  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Booker.  William 
Harper  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Sec- 


tion 22,  where  J.  M.  Harper  now  resides.  John 
Reaves  and  William  Harper  both  died  in  this 
township,  and  both  have  descendants  now  liv- 
ing here.  Reaves  has  two  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters at  present  residing  in  this  county.  Among 
the  early  settlers  were  also  Jerry  Stubblefield, 
Henry  Brown  and  thrt  5  brothers  named  Jor- 
dan, Morgan  and  William  Murray.  About 
this  time  came  the  Long  family.  There  were 
three  brothers  of  them,  namely,  Abner,  Joseph 
and  John,  who  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter 
of  Section  22.  They  afterward  separated,  Jo- 
seph settling  on  Section  15  on  land  now  owned 
by  J.  M.  Harper,  and  John  settling  on  the 
land  now  owned  by  D.  Cable.  Abner  being  a 
"potter"  and  a  maker  of  earthenware,  floated 
about  from  place  to  place,  plying  his  trade, 
until  1840,  when  they  all  "pulled  up  stakes" 
and  moved  to  Missouri,  leaving  no  descendants 
in  this  county. 

Isaac  Snodgrass  came  in  with  the  Longs  and 
located  on  Section  15,  on  land  now  owned  by- 
Charles  Bowman.  He  was  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  was  probably  the  first  Justice  in 
this  section  of  the  county,  but  ho  has  no  de- 
scendants living  here  now.  In  the  spring  of 
1832,  the  Bates  family,  headed  by  Anson,  came 
and  settled  on  Section  22.  He  had  a  brother 
Samuel,  who  came  shortly  after  him,  and  set- 
tled on  the  same  section.  John  Crouch,  a  Bap- 
tist minister,  also  came  at  an  early  day  and 
settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  23, 
on  the  land  now  owned  bj'  E.  Perkins.  He 
was  followed  soon  afterward  by  James  Clark 
and  Maj.  William  Pavis,  who  settled  on  Sec- 
tion 22,  and  John  II.  Taylor,  who  settled  on  the 
east  half  of  Section  13.  In  the  spring  of  1830, 
two  men  named  Fisher  and  McKee  came  in 
and  settled  on  Section  22.  Ben  Jewett  entered 
Section  27,  and  Andy  and  John  Williams 
settled  on  Sections  36  and  25,  respectively. 
In  1S20,  Isaac  Jones  and  John  Williams 
came  with  their  families  from  Virginia,  the 
former  settling  near  the  Fayette  Count}'   line, 


JIcui^.      £>jyj 


LIBRARY 

Of    1K{ 

UNIVEKbilt  vl  luiwuia 


FAIRVIEW   PRECINCT. 


155 


on  the  east  half  of  Section  24,  and  the  latter 
settled  on  Section  13.  They  have  no  descend- 
ants in  this  county  now,  except  one  nephew 
named  Winslow  Taylor.  Then,  in  1827.  John 
Lockhart  came  from  Maury  County,  Tenn., 
and  settled  on  Section  11,  on  the  farm  where 
L.  J.  Segraves  now  lives,  where  he  resided  un- 
til 1841,  when  he  removed  to  Arkansas.  He 
has  one  daughter.  Nancy,  the  wife  of  L.  J.  Sel- 
lers, residing  at  Mulberry  Grove,  this  county 
Then  came  Bennett  Segraves,  from  Georgia,  in 
the  spring  of  1829,  and  located  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  Section  11,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1868.  His 
son,  Lockhart  J.  Segraves,  succeeded  him,  and 
now  lives  on  the  old  home  farm. 

The  first  election  ever  held  in  Township  5, 
Range  2,  was  held  in  the  brush,  near  the  cabin 
of  Bennett  Segraves,  in  August  of  1835.  The 
people  cast  their  votes  in  the  old-fashioned 
manner,  by  calling  out  the  name  of  the  candi- 
date whom  they  desired  to  vote  for,  and  their 
own  name,  a  register  of  the  same  being  kept  by 
a  clerk,  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

It  is  not  known  at  this  day  who  taught  the 
first  school  in  Fairview  Precinct,  but  the  one 
said  to  have  been  the  first,  was  taught  by  Joseph 
Williams,  the  schoolhouse  built  about  1831,  on 
the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  13.  It  was  a 
log  building,  the  crevices  between  the  logs  be- 
ing plastered  up  with  mud,  and  the  pupils  were 
accommodated  with  seats  upon  a  slab,  the  ends 
of  which  were  stuck  into  chinks  between  the 
logs  on  either  side  of  the  building.  The  school 
was  taught  on  the  subscription  plan,  the  teach- 
er receiving  a  small  remuneration  (usually 
from  $1  to  $1.50  per  term  of  three  months)  for 
each  pupil  placed  in  his  charge. 

The  first  minister,  of  whom  anything  authen- 
tic can  be  learned,  was  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
minister  named  Rev.  James  B.  Woolard,  who 
came  to  Fairview  Precinct  about  the  year  1830, 
perhaps  sooner.  Usually  divine  services  were 
held  at  the  house  of  John  Reaves,  on  Section 


14,  and  it  was  his  custom  to  gather  up  his  con- 
gregation on  his  road  to  the  meeting.  as  they 
were  generally  to  be  found  in  the  woods  engaged 
in  hunting  or  fishing. 

Another  church  which  figured  quite  promi- 
nently in  the  early  church  history  of  Fairview 
Precinct,  is  the  one  known  as  "  Hurricane 
Church."  It  is  of  the  German  Baptist  order, 
and  the  present  organization  was  established  in 
1858.  For  a  number  of  years  after  the  organi- 
zation of  this  church,  meetings  were  held  in 
schoolhouses,  in  barns,  and  at  the  residences  of 
the  different  members,  and  the  first  minister 
was  the  Rev.  D.  B-  Sturges,  who  was  assisted 
in  his  ministerial  duties  by  George  Beanblos- 
som.  Rev.  Sturgis  was  some  time  after  this 
made  a  bishop,  and  the  Rev.  John  Heckman 
succeeded  him  as  pastor  of  Hurricane  Church, 
and  he  was,  in  turn,  succeeded  by  Rev.  William 
Elam.  After  this,  the  church  was  taken  charge 
of  by  Elder  John  Metzsger,  after  whom  Elder 
John  Wise  assumed  the  pastorate.  The  first 
Deacons  of  this  church  were  William  and 
Edward  Elam  and  Jacob  Cripe.  In  1874,  this 
organization  built  a  neat  frame  church  build- 
ing, at  a  cost  of  about  $1,500,  on  land  donated 
for  that  purpose  by  Henry  Jones,  who  is  the 
present  minister.  The  present  Deacons  are 
Jacob  Root,  Daniel  NofTsinger  and  Cornelius 
Kessler.  The  church  has  at  present  a  member- 
ship of  about  seventy,  is  in  a  highly  prosperous 
condition,  and  regular  meetings  are  held  every 
first  and  third  Sunday  in  each  month. 

In  1833.  a  number  of  the  old,  original i:  Hard- 
shell "  Baptist  denomination  organized  a  con- 
gregation, and  built  a  log  church  on  Section  12, 
and  Rev.  Crouch  was  installed  as  pastor.  This 
building  still  remains  standing,  and  at  present 
is  occasionally  used  as  a  place  for  holding 
divine  service.  Among  the  first  members  of 
this  organization  were  John  Crouch  and  wife. 
Mrs.  Mary  Rushton,  Polly  Rushton  and  her 
daughter  Susie,  Elisha  Mathews,  John  Taylor, 
etc. 


156 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


Another  church  of  the  German  Baptist 
denomination,  and  probably  the  first  church  of 
this  kind  in  Fairview  Precinct,  was  organized 
by  Joseph  Bench  and  George  Beanblossom, 
prior  to  the  establishment  of  "  Hurricane 
Church,"  in  1858,  and  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
were  explained  by  Rev.  Isam  Gibson.  Its 
early  membership  was,  of  course,  very  small, 
but  among  those  who  were  the  first  to  join, 
were  :  George  Beanblossom  and  wife,  AVilliam 
Rench  and  wife,  John  Rench  and  wife,  Aaron 
Rench  and  wife,  Joseph  Rench  and  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Rhoda  Sutton,  Hiram  Reaves  and  wife, 
Jacob  Cripe  and  wife,  Charles  Edwards  and 
wife,  etc.  This  church  gradually  drifted  out  of 
existence,  and  most  of  its  old  members,  now  liv- 
ing, have  united  themselves  with  "  Hurricane 
Church." 

About  1848,  a  Pennsylvanian  named  Dr. 
Daniel  B.  Sturgis,  laid  off  a  town  uear  the 
section  line,  between  Sections  23  and  24,  and 
gave  to  it  the  name  of  Hamburg,  his  idea  being 
that  the  name  would  induce  German  emigrants  to 
come  there  and  locate.  It,  however,  being  located 
on  low  ground,  those  came  who  did  not  take 
to  it  readily,  and  pointed  to  the  hill  near  by, 
significant  of  its  superiority  as  a  place  of  settle- 
ment. The  first  store  and  dwelling  house  in 
this  village  was  erected  by  the  Perkins  Brothers, 
in  1854.  They  also  ran  a  blacksmith-shop. 
This  little  hamlet  had  only  about  five  families 
in  it,  and  all  the  dwellings,  excepting  one,  were 
rudely  constructed  of  logs. 

In  1856,  the  Perkins  Brothers  accepting  an 
offer  of  four  lots  to  build  upon  if  they  would 
come,  removed  to  what  is  now  the  village  of 
Fairview,  and  Hamburg  virtually  met  its  death, 
most  of  the  inhabitants  removing  to  Fairview. 

The  town  of  "  Fairview "  lies  eight  miles 
nearly  east  of  Greenville,  in  Section  23,  Town- 
ship 5,  Range  2.  It  was  surveyed  by  R.  K. 
Dewey  for  the  proprietors,  E.  P.  Mathews  and 
John  Reaves,  on  the  28th  day  of  January, 
1857.     It  is  situated  on  a  high  ridge,  affording 


a  magnificent  view  in  ever}'  direction,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  best  and  most  beautiful  portion 
of  Bond  County.  (Hence  its  name.)  In  1857, 
the  Perkins  Bros,  traded  their  store  to  J.  P. 
Mathews,  for  land  on  Section  28.  He  contin- 
ued the  business  for  one  j'ear,  when  he  died, 
and  his  brother,  J.  J.  Mathews,  succeeded  him, 
and  run  the  store  for  about  two  years,  when  he 
sold  out  to  Elisha  Matthews  and  Ephraim  Per- 
kins, who  were  succeeded  by  W.  C.  Perkins  and 
J.  H.  Perkins  (brothers).  These  gentlemen 
finally  sold  out  to  Owen  Walls,  who  soon  after- 
ward sold  out  to  J.  H.  Pahlman.  He  ran  the 
store  some  time,  when  he  was  bought  out  by 
J.  S.  Gorline,  who  continued  the  business  about 
one  year,  when  Elisha  Mathews  again  pur- 
chased it,  and  after  running  it  some  time  it  was 
repurchased  by  J.  H.  Pahlman,  who  is  the 
present  incumbent.  The  first  blacksmith  shop 
was  owned  by  the  Perkins  Bros.,  and  was  run 
by  a  German  named  Fred  Kahn.  Emmet 
Roberts  was  the  first  wagon  maker.  The  first 
mill  was  run  by  Stephen  D.  Bouraer  and  Dan- 
iel Faulkner.  It  was  a  wind-mill  and  ground 
mostly  corn,  and  some  little  wheat.  This  mill 
was  not  a  success,  and  as  a  wind-mill  it  was  run 
about  one  year,  when  steam  power  was  put  in. 
It  has  made  several  changes  of  ownership,  and 
at  present  is  run  by  Hammond  &  Tompkins, 
who  have  attached  a  saw-mill  to  the  grist  or 
grinding  part,  but  as  it  is  behind  in  the  way  of 
improvements,  it  is  doing  only  a  moderate  busi- 
ness. 

There  were  at  one  time  two  stores  in  the  vil- 
lage, but  in  1879,  the  second  one,  run  by  Wel- 
lington Bourner,  was  closed  out,  and  since  that 
time  no  goods  have  been  kept  there.  The  first 
shoemaker  was  William  Rench.  Allen  Caylor 
ran  the  first  drug  store  in  1876,  and  the  present 
drug  store  is  run  by  S.  D.  Bourner.  The  first 
Postmaster  was  Reuben  Coburn,  in  1862,  and 
the  present  Postmaster  is  J.  H.  Pahlman. 
There  are  two  churches  in  Fairview,  the  United 
Baptists  and  the   Cumberland    Presbyterians. 


FAIRVIEW    PRECINCT. 


157 


The  latter-named  church  was  founded  about 
1840.  and  their  first  minister  was  Rev.  Barber. 
Meetings  were  held  around  at  the  houses  of  the 
members,  until  in  1849  a  schoolhouse  was 
built  on  Section  23,  on  land  owned  by  John 
Reaves,  and  meetings  were  held  in  it  from  that 
time  forward,  under  the  spiritual  guidance  of 
Rev.  William  Hutchinson.  The  church  was 
re-organized  in  April  of  1866,  and  a  frame 
building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,300, 
and  Rev.  William  Turner  was  installed  as  min- 
ister. The  first  regular  minister,  however,  was 
the  Rev.  William  B.  Poland.  The  first  Elders 
were  George  F.  Berry,  John  H.  Minor  and  Will- 
iam Davis,  Jr.  The  first  Trustees  were  John  H. 
Minor,  D.  H.  McAdoo  and  Thomas  L.  Reaves. 
At  the  time  of  its  re-organization  in  1866,  the 
membership  of  the  church  numbered  about 
thirty,  and  the}'  have  had  preaching  regularly 
ever  since  until  within  the   past  year  (1881). 


At  present  there  is  a  Sunday  school  conducted 
in  the  church,  under  the  superintendency  of 
»i.  S.  Duff.  It  is  a  recent  affair,  having  been 
organized  in  April  of  this  year  (1882),  and  as 
vet  they  have  no  library. 

The  United  Baptist  Church  was  first  organ- 
ized December  30,  1869.  The  first  members 
were  E.  P.  Mathers,  Mary  J.  Mathews,  W.  C. 
Perkins,  John  H.  Perkins,  Martha  A.  Perkins, 
Amanda  Perkins,  Amanda  Stubblefield,  Anna 
Perkins  and  Catharine  Shipby.  Their  first 
minister  was  Rev.  R.  B.  Reaves  and  the  first 
Clerk  was  W.  C.  Perkins.  The  Deacons  in  Feb- 
ruary of  1870  were  E.  P.  Mathews  and  John 
Perkins.  At  this  time  they  worshiped  in  the 
building  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  after- 
ward in  an  old  dwelling-house  belonging  to 
J.  H.  Perkins,  where  they  continued  to  wor- 
ship until  the  erection  of  their  own  church 
building  in  1877. 


158 


HISTORY   OF   BOND   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   XVIII.' 

LA  GRANGE  PRECINCT— TOPOGRAPHY,  BOUNDARIES  AND  PHYSICAL  FEATURES— SETTLEMENT   BY 

WHITE  PEOPLE  — THEIR    TRIALS,    TROUBLES    AND   TRIBULATIONS  —  AN  INCIDENT   WITH 

WILD  HOGS— NO  TOWNS,  VILLAGES  NOR  MILLS  — BUT  PLENTY  OF  CHURCHES 

AND    SCHOOLS— A     PRIMITIVE    SCHOOLHOUSE  — THE    DIFFERENT 

CHURCH    ORGANIZATIONS,  ETC. 


LA  GRANGE  PRECINCT,  the  subject  of 
the  following  pages,  is  situated  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  count}',  adjoining  the 
Montgomery  line,  and  is  comprised  of  frac- 
tional portions  of  Townships  6  and  7  north,  in 
Range  3  west.  It  has  something  like  about 
thirty-two  sections  of  laud,  which  are  well  wa- 
tered and  drained  by  the  East  Fork  of  Shoal 
Creek,  Indian  Creek  and  Panther  Branch. 
East  Fork  flows  through  the  eastern  part  a  lit- 
tle west  of  south,  receiving  a  few  small  tribu- 
taries within  the  precinct,  while  Indian  Creek 
and  Panther  Branch  drain  the  southwestern 
portion.  The  land  is  diversified  with  hills  and 
prairie,  the  latter  predominating,  the  hills  being 
contiguous  to  the  water-courses,  and  were  orig- 
inally well  timbered.  As  now  formed,  it  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Montgomery  County, 
on  the  East  by  Zion  Precinct,  on  the  south  by 
Greenville  Precinct,  and  on  the  west  by  Cotton- 
wood Grove  Precinct.  It  has  no  towns,  villages 
railroads  nor  manufacturing  establishments,  but 
is  dotted  here  and  there  with  churches  and 
schoolhouses.  affording  to  the  people  excellent 
religious  and  educational  facilities. 

Settlements  were  not  made  in  what  is  now 
La  Grange  Precinct  as  early  as  in  some  other 
portions  of  Bond  County.  Among  the  pioneers 
of  the  precinct  may  be  mentioned  John  Ber- 
neathy,  Jonathan  Teasley,  John  A.  Laws  and 
Fielding  Laws,  Abner  and  Allen  Thacker,  Rich- 

*By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


ard  Savage,  Elizabeth  Mallard,  John  and  George 
Denny,  T.  G.  McCasland,  James  White,  Thomas 
Wafer,  C.  D.  McLean,  Charles  Wood,  a  Mr. 
Parr,  Humphrey  Jett  and  others.  Who  of 
these  are  entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  the  first 
settler  we  do  not  know  ;  most  of  them  settled 
prior  to  1830.  Berneathy,  Teasley,  the  Laws, 
Thackers,  Savage  and  Elizabeth  Mallard  were 
from  Kentucky,  and  some  of  them  still  have 
descendants  in  the  county.  The  Penuys  came 
from  North  Carolina  and  settled  on  Section  33 ; 
McCasland  settled  on  the  northeast  quarter  of 
Section  29  ;  Wood  settled  also  on  the  same 
section  in  the  fall  of  1828  ;  Wafer  and  McLean 
settled  on  Section  30,  and  Parr  on  Section  35. 
Settlers  were  now  coming  in  too  rapidly  to  keep 
track  of  them.  And  after  this  long  lapse  of 
time,  it  is  not  strange  if  names  have  been  over- 
looked that  are  entitled  to  mention  in  the  list 
of  early  settlers. 

The  first  decade  or  two  after  the  whites  oc- 
cupied this  country  the}*  lived  in  constant  dan- 
ger, exposed  to  marauding  bands  of  Indians 
and  the  depredations  of  wild  beasts.  Incidents 
are  related  in  other  parts  of  this  work,  of  per- 
sons slain  in  what  is  now  Bond  Count}-,  by  the 
savages,  before  the}-  were  finally  removed  to 
distant  reservations  in  the  West.  Other  dan- 
gers, as  well  as  from  savage  foes,  surrounded 
the  earl}-  settlers.  Wolves,  panthers,  bears  and 
other  wild  beasts  were  numerous,  that,  when 
made  furious  by  hunger,  did  not  hesitate  to  at- 


LA   GRANGE    PRECINCT. 


159 


tack  human  beings.  Add  to  these  actual  dan- 
gers the  troubles  and  annoyances  that  the  peo- 
ple were  exposed  to  from  the  "  ager  "  and  other 
malarial  diseases  ;  from  mosquitoes,  buffalo- 
gnats,  "  greenhead  "  flies  ;  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
curing supplies,  and  a  hundred  other  drawbacks 
which  stood  in  the  way  as  large  and  bold  as 
Don  Quixote's  windmills,  and  we  conclude  that 
the  pioneer's  lot  was  not  cast 

"On  flowery  beds  of  ease." 
But  little  stock  was  kept  for  many  years  ex- 
cept cattle  and  hogs,  and  the  latter  were  reared 
principally  in  the  woods,  where  they  lived  on 
the  "  mast,"  otherwise  nuts  and  acorns.  By 
the  time  the}-  were  wanted  for  meat,  they  were 
almost  as  wild  as  the  native  animals  of  the  for- 
est, and  quite  as  fierce  and  dangerous  when 
a  little  angered  and  excited.  Mr.  White  relates 
an  incident  illustrative  of  their  savage  nature 
when  half  wild  and  provoked  to  anger  by  a  re- 
striction of  their  liberty,  which,  although  it  was 
quite  dangerous,  was  ludicrous  in  the  extreme. 
A  drove  of  large,  half-wild  hogs  had  been  driven 
into  an  inclosure  in  the  spring  of  the  year  for 
some  purpose,  when  the  sap  was  running  and 
the  bark  peeled  easily  from  the  trees.  Several 
men  were  present  with  dogs  by  which  the  wild- 
est of  the  hogs  had  been  caught  in  order  to  get 
them  in  the  inclosure,  and  this  had  served  to 
madden  the  entire  drove  to  quite  a  degree- 
The  inclosure  contained  several  acres,  in  which 
stood  a  number  of  trees.  The  men  were  all  in- 
side endeavoring  to  drive  the  hogs  through  a 
gap  into  another  lot,  but  the  more  they  tried  to 
drive  them  the  more  they,  hog-like,  wouldn't 
drive,  while  all  were  more  or  less  afraid  of 
them.  At  last,  one  fellow  who  had  made  much 
sport  of  the  others  on  account  of  their  timidity, 
swore  he  was  not  afraid  of  any  hog  "  that  ever  \ 
wore  har,"  and  so  boldly  started  toward  the 
gang,  waving  his  hat  at  the  excited  porkers. 
Not  one  moved  until  he  was  in  twenty  paces  of  ! 
them,  when  a  large  male  started  right  at  him 
with  an  angry  snort,  displaying  an  array  of  long 


white  tusks  that  did  not  look  at  all  pleasant. 
Quick  as  thought  the  brave  man  dropped  his 
hat,  turned  tail,  and  made  for  the  nearest  tree, 
which  chanced  to  be  a  small  elm,  not  over  six 
inches  in  diameter,  and  from  which  the  bark 
had  lately  been  peeled,  rendering  it  about  as 
sleek  as  if  it  had  been  smeared  with  soft  soap. 
The  sapling  was  perfectly  straight,  and  it  was 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  up  to  the  first  limb,  and 
when  the  luckless  individual  reached  it  the  hog 
was  in  ten  feet  of  him.  The  exertions  he  put 
forth  in  trying  to  climb  that  tree  was  probably 
never  excelled  by  mortal  man.  He  gave  a 
bound  and  sprang  as  far  up  the  tree  as  possible, 
clasping  it  with  his  arms,  legs  and  feet,  and 
clinging  for  dear  life,  tried  to  hold  fast,  but  de- 
spite his  efforts  down  he  went  to  the  ground. 
But  the  hog,  as  it  happened,  passed  the  tree 
while  he  was  up  out  of  reach,  and,  missing  its 
enemy,  kept  on  beyond.  The  man,  however, 
unaware  of  that  fact,  continued  his  efforts  to 
climb  the  tree,  believing  that  his  life  depended 
upon  his  accomplishing  it,  until  he  fell  ex- 
hausted. His  companions  were  in  convulsions 
of  laughter,  but  he,  even  after  he  discovered 
the  danger  was  past,  failed  to  see  the  least  bit 
of  fun  in  the  matter.  It  cured  him  effectually, 
however,  of  his  boasted  bravery  among  wild 
hogs. 

This  precinct,  as  we  have  said,  has  no  vil- 
lages nor  manufacturing  enterprises.  It  is  an 
agricultural  region,  and  is  devoted  wholly  to 
that  calling.  The  early  settlers  went  to  other 
neighborhoods  to  do  their  milling,  and  even 
follow  the  same  example  to  the  present  day. 
The  first  roads  through  the  precinct  were  but 
trails,  which  were  improved  as  the  couutry  set- 
tled up,  and  finally  made  into  good  roads.  In 
later  years,  these  have  been  further  improved 
by  bridges  over  the  largest  streams,  which 
tend  to  facilitate  travel.  The  people  go  to  the 
neighboring  villages  and  to  Greenville  to  do 
their  trading,  and  to  purchase  their  supplies. 

The  pioneers  of  La  Grange  were  alive  to  the 


160 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


value  of  education,  aud  established  schools  at 
an  earl\T  day.  The  first  school  of  which  we 
have  an}-  reliable  account  was  taught  in  a  small 
log  cabin  on  Section  2S.  This  primitive  temple 
of  learning  was  without  floor  other  than  the 
ground,  and  had  a  chimney  of  mud  and  sticks. 
When  the  pupils  practiced  writing,  it  is  said, 
they  sat  on  a  sycamore  pole,  the  ends  of  which 
were  placed  in  the  cracks  between  the  logs. 
The  first  teacher  in  this  cabin  was  McCasland, 
and  he  taught  at  $1  and  $1.25  per  scholar  for  three 
mouths.  If  the  youth  of  the  present  da}-  de- 
serve credit  for  educating  themselves,  what  did 
they  not  deserve  in  those  days  for  obtaining  an 
education  under  the  circumstances  such  as  de- 
scribed above ? 

Another  of  the  early  schools  of  this  precinct 
was  taught  by  Rev.  John  Barber  on  Jett  Prai- 
rie. It  was  also  taught  in  a  small  log  house, 
which  has  disappeared  with  other  pioneer  land- 
marks. To  note  the  advancement  in  educa- 
tional matters,  we  have  but  to  look  around  us 
at  the  neat  schoolhouses  to  be  found  in  every 
neighborhood,  which  afford  ample  evidence  of 
the  present  perfect  school  sjstem.  There  are 
about  nine  schoolhouses  in  the  precinct  as  at 
present  laid  off.  These  are  comfortable  houses, 
well  furnished,  in  which  good  schools  are  main- 
tained during  the  school  year. 

On  the  land  of  Thomas  Booker  in  this  pre- 
cinct is  a  mound,  supposed  to  have  been  made 
by  the  pre-historie  races.  Bones,  it  is  said, 
have  been  dug  up,  which  show  their  owners  to 
have  been  of  extraordinary  large  size.  This 
corresponds  with  many  writers  upon  the 
Mound-Builders,  who  are  represented  as  a  race 
large  in  stature. 

If  the  citizens  of  La  Grange  Precinct  are  not 
a  God-fearing  people,  it  is  certainly  their  own 
fault,  and  not  for  any  lack  of  church  facilities. 
There  seem  to  be  almost  as  many  churches  in 
the  precinct  as  schoolhouses.  Nothing  speaks 
more  loudly  for  the  civilization  of  a  communi- 
ty than  its  churches  and  schoolhouses.     Where 


plenty  of  these  evidences  of  enlightenment  ex- 
ist, the  people  cannot  be  very  bad  or  very  igno- 
rant. One  of  the  first  churches  organized  in 
the  north  part  of  Bond  County  was  by  the  Old 
School  Presbyterians  in  this  precinct  in  1825. 
Among  the  principal  members  of  this  pioneer 
organization  were  George  Donnell,  Newton  and 
Joseph  Laughlin,  Robert  Stewart  and  John 
Benny  These  were  from  Ohio.  Benny  was  a 
prominent  member  of  the  church  from  its  or- 
ganization, an  Elder,  and  an  upright  and  zealous 
Christian.  Robert  Stewart's  remains  lie  buried 
in  the  cemetery  adjacent.  He  was  the  first  per- 
son buried  there,  about  1826  ;  one  of  the 
Laughlins  is  also  buried  there.  This  was  an 
old  log  building,  aud  stood  upon  the  site  of  the 
present  Union  Grove  Church.  It  was  heated 
bj'  a  charcoal  fire  in  the  center  of  the  building, 
and  the  floor  and  "  loft "  were  laid  with  broad 
puncheons.  A  Sunday  school  was  organized 
about  the  time  the  church  was,  which  was  kept 
up  for  a  number  of  years.  Services  were  final- 
ly discontinued  at  the  church  about  1831, 
when  the  building,  grounds,  etc.,  were  vacated 
until  the  organization  of  Union  Grove  Church. 
The  church  originally  known  as  "  Union 
Grove  Church"  was  organized  January  12, 
1855,  under  the  superintending  care  of  the 
Yaudalia  Presbytery  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian  Church.  The  minister  at  this  time- 
was  Rev.  William  T.  Hutchinson  ;  the  Elders 
were  Thomas  Cline,  S.  N.  Jett  and  Thomas  M. 
Bavis.  The  members  were  William  T.  and  M. 
C.  Hutchinson,  Thomas  N.  and  Jane  Bavis, 
Thomas  and  Sarah  Cline,  S.  N.  aud  Agnes  E. 
Jett,  John  M.  and  Sarah  Johnson,  Thomas  and 
Elizabeth  Scott,  Henry  C,  Elizabeth  and  Patty 
Hutchinson,  James  Hunter,  Isaac  and  Minerva 
Kershner,  Caroline  Crocker,  Newton  Barr,  J.  L. 
and  Martha  Mathersou,  Maiy  Enloe,  Maria 
B:ik'h,and  William  and  Lucy  Bavis.  The  soci- 
ety occupied  the  house  known  as  the  Union 
Grove  Church  and  grounds,  which  had  been 
deeded  by  William  T.   Hutchinson  to  four  de- 


LA  GRANGE    PRECINCT. 


101 


nominations,  viz.:  The  Old  School  Presbyteri- 
ans, United  Baptists,  Cumberland  Presbyteri- 
ans and  the  Methodists.  This  organization 
continued  until  the  formation  of  Maple  Grove 
Church,  since  which  time  the  other  three  de- 
nominations have  occupied  Union  Grove  until 
recently.  It  is  now  occupied  by  the  Free  Meth- 
odists. The  church  is  a  frame  structure,  about 
20x30  feet,  and  was  built  in  1854-55  by  volun- 
tary labor  of  the  people. 

Maple  Grove  Church  alluded  to  in  the  above 
sketch,  was  organized  by  Rev.  William  T. 
Hutchinson,  and  worshiped  at  Union  Grove 
until  their  church  here  was  built  in  18t!8.  It 
is  a  frame  building,  30x40  feet,  and  cost  about 
$800.  The  present  officers  are  N.  A.  Hughey, 
Wm.  Smith,  D.  D.  Jones  and  J.  M.  Jett,  Elders  ; 
Madison  Jett,  D.  D.  Jones  and  W.  H.  Vaughn, 
Trustees.  Rev.  Thomas  McDavid  is  the  pres- 
ent minister,  who  preaches  twice  a  month,  and 
has  a  membership  of  about  sixty-live.  A  Sun- 
day school  was  organized  at  the  same  time  of 
the  church,  and  it  is  still  maintained. 

Hopewell  Christian  Church  was  organized  in 
1869,  of  scattering  members — some  from  Wal- 
nut Grove  Church  and  some  from  other  points. 
Among  the  original  members  were  Jacob 
Young  and  wife,  James  Baker  and  wife,  Charles 
Baker  and  wife,  John  Davis  and  wife,  Mrs. 
Rahm.  William  T.  Gwiun  and  wife,  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Jett,  William  Clouse  and  wife,  Miss  Mary 
Oaks,  Mrs.  Eliza  Harris,  Miss  Caroline  Laugh- 
lin,  Miss  Jennie  East,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Sharp, 
Mrs.  Nancy  J.  White  and  John  Haley.  The 
society  first  worshiped  in  the  brick  school- 
house  at  Elm  Point,  then  at  the  schoolhouse  on 
Section  33,  where  they  remained  until  they 
built  their  church  in  1870.  The  first  minister 
was  Elder  O.  Hulen,  J.  G.  Baker  and  W.  T. 
Gwinn,  Elders;  present  Elders,  Ezra  Wood, 
Hiram  Crocker  and  William  Vaughn.  The 
Sunday  school  was  organized  since  the  church 
was  built,  and  is  flourishing  at  present. 

The  Mount  Carmel  congregation  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church  was  first  organ- 


ized by  Rev.  Joel  Knight,  in  Montgomery 
County,  HI.,  February  24,  1868,  and  after 
one  or  two  changes  in  reference  to  name  and 
place  of  worship,  said  congregation  having 
erected  a  house  of  worship  in  Pleasant  Prairie, 
Bond  County,  they  therefore  petitioned  Van- 
dalia  Presbytery  at  the  regular  session  at  Blue 
Mound  (in  Bond  County)  in  the  fall  of  1868,  to 
change  the  name  of  the  congregation,  so  that  it 
should  be  known  as  the  Pleasant  Prairie  Congre- 
gation of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.* 
After  leaving  Mount  Carmel,  the  church 
worshiped  at  Willow  Spring  Schoolhouse  until 
the  erection  of  their  house  of  worship.  The 
trustees  of  the  Pleasant  Prairie  Church  are  Jas. 
E.  Rankin,  James  F.  Nicholson  and  Imbert  H. 
Denny.      The  church  is  in  a  goodcondition. 

Mount  Tabor  Baptist  Church  was  organized 
about  the  year  1857  by  Richardson  Grigg.  J. 
G.  Davis,  Gabriel  Jett  and  Kinley  Hittle  were 
the  first  Deacons,  Robert  Horton,  Clerk.  Among 
the  original  members  were  J.  G.  Davis  and 
wife,  Gabriel  Jett  and  wife  and  daughters, 
Kinley  Hittle  and  two  sisters,  Richard  Savage 
and  wife,  Parmela  and  Mary  Teasley  and 
others.  The  church  was  built  by  the  voluntary 
labor  of  the  neighbors,  and  was  30x40  feet  in 
size.  It  has  prospered  since  organization,  and 
at  present  has  some  sixty-five  members,  under 
the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Duff.  The  present 
Trustees  are  Thomas  Jett,  James  T.  Davis  and 
George  Sharp  ;  Deacons,  John  G.  Davis  and 
Martin  Nelson,  and  Robert  Savage,  Clerk.  A 
Sunday  school  has  been  in  existence  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  the  first  Superintendent  was 
Elijah  Thacker  ;  the  present  Superintendent  is 
Jesse  Denny,  and  the  school  is  in  a  flourishing 
state.  This  church  was  built  by  three  denomi- 
nations, viz. :  Baptist,  Methodist  and  Presby- 
terian ;  but  is  now  only  used  by  the  Baptists. 
Thus  we  see  from  the  foregoing  that  the 
people  of  La  Grange  Precinct  have  no  lack  of 
religious  facilities,  and  if  they  are  not  good 
Christians  it  can  certainly  be  the  fault  of  none 
but  themselves. 

*  From  the  Church  RecordB. 


102 


HISTORY   OF    BOND   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   XIX.* 

ZION   PREOINcT— TOPOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE— EAKLY   SETTLEMENT— EARLY    1'IONEEES- 
LIFE  ON  THE  FRONTIER  —  PIONEER  INDUSTRIES  — "  OLD  ZION"  (AMP  GROUND- 
VILLAGE  OF  WOBURN— SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES.   ETC. 


TTTHEN  that  section  of  Bond  County  known 
'  *  as  Zion  Precinct  was  first  settled,  the 
brave  men  who  undertook  its  subjection  were 
exposed  to  cold,  hunger  and  savage  brutality. 
They  commenced  clearing  the  wilderness,  and 
thus  laid  the  foundation  of  the  beautiful  coun- 
try, thickly  dotted  over  with  comfortable,  lux- 
urious homes  that  we  find  there  to-day.  The 
pioneers  of  fifty  years  ago  are  gone,  and  "  Old 
Time  "  with  his  scythe  has  made  sad  havoc 
among  the  children  of  men.  They  sleep  in  the 
quiet  graveyard,  beneath  the  sighing  elms  and 
weeping  willows,  where  the  balm}7  breath  of 
summer  brings  beautiful  blossoms  and  luxuri- 
ant verdure.  We  know  comparatively  little  of 
their  trials  except  as  they  are  handed  down  to 
us  through  family  traditions.  To  the  early 
settlement,  and  to  the  pioneers  of  that  portion 
of  Bond  County  now  forming  Zion  Precinct, 
this  chapter  will  be  devoted. 

It  lies  in  the  northeast  corner  of  Bond  Coun- 
ty, and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  La  Grange 
Precinct  and  Montgomery  County,  on  the  east 
by  Fayette  County  and  Mulberry  Grove  Pre- 
cinct, on  the  south  by  Mulberry  Grove  Precinct 
and  Greenville  Precinct,  and  on  the  west  by 
La  Grange  Precinct.  It  is  well  watered  by  nu- 
merous small  streams,  the  most  important  of 
which  probably  is  Zion  Creek,  which  rises  in 
the  northern  part  of  Section  10,  and  flowing 
first  south  and  then  directly  west,  leaves  the 
precinct  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Section  19. 
Its  most  important  tributary  is  the  Dry  Creek, 

*  By  T.  J.  Rile). 


which,  rising  near  the  center  of  Section  30. 
Township  7,  takes  its  course  a  little  west  of 
south,  and  enters  Zion  Creek  in  the  southern 
part  of  Section  19,  uniting  with  it  about  a  mile 
from  where  it  leaves  the  precinct.  A  number 
of  other  small  brooks  and  rivulets  flow  through 
various  parts  of  the  precinct,  rendering  the 
rich  soil  still  more  productive,  and  very  little 
artificial  drainage  necessary. 

At  one  time  this  precinct  was  known  as 
■■  Dry  Fork  "  Precinct,  but  in  1857  or  1858  the 
voting  place  was  changed  from  Sutton  Hast- 
ing's,  where  elections  had  previously  been  held, 
to  what  is  now  Newport,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  name  of  the  precinct  was  changed  to 
"Zion,"  in  honor  of  the  old  Zion  Church  and 
camp-ground. 

The  early  settlement  of  Zion  Precinct  is  very 
interesting,  it  being  one  of  the  first-settled  pre- 
cincts in  Bond  County.  Sutton  Hastings  came 
in  from  North  Carolina  earl}-  in  the  year  1818, 
the  same  year  that  Illinois  was  admitted  into 
the  Union  as  a  State.  Two  years  later  (in  1820), 
Daniel  Moore  and  family,  also  from  North 
Carolina,  came  and  settled  in  Section  19.  His 
father,  Philip  Moore,  came  at  the  same  time. 
He  raised  a  large  family  of  boys,  all  of  whom 
are  either  dead  or  have  left  the  precinct.  In 
1817.  Horatio  Durley  came  from  Kentucky, 
and  in  1819  he  entered  about  one  thousand 
acres  of  land,  a  part  of  which  is  the  farm  now 
owned  by  James  H.  Moss.  Mr.  Durley  was 
considered  a  very  wealthy  man.  He  ran  the 
first  horse-mill  in  the  precinct,  about  1820.     It 


ZION    PRECINCT. 


163 


was  a  grist-mill,  but  at  that  time  was  used 
mostly  for  grinding  corn  ;  it  was  located  near 
where  the  old  Enloe  place  now  is.  A  family 
named  Stubblefleld  came  in  1818,  and  in  Au- 
gust of  1819  John  Stubblefield  entered  the 
farm  now  owned  by  John  Griggs.  Daniel 
Griggs  came  from  North  Carolina  in  1825,  and 
settled  in  Section  31.  He  was  accompanied  by 
his  brothers  Samuel  and  Richardson,  both  Bap- 
tist ministers,  and  Bolin  Griggs,  another  brother, 
who  at  present  resides  in  Section  4,  and  is  the 
oldest  man  in  the  precinct  (ninety-two  years 
old).  There  was  a  large  family  of  Griggs,  and 
numerous  descendants  at  present  reside  in  Bond 
County.  Prior  to  the  war  of  1812,  a  man 
named  Truitt  came  from  Kentucky,  and  settled 
on  what  is  now  known  as  the  "  Old  Kline 
place."  but  about  the  time  of  the  war  the  In- 
dians became  so  bad  that  he  was  compelled  to 
leave,  and  he  returned  to  Kentucky.  He  after- 
wards returned  to  Illinois,  and  lived  until  his 
death  near  Edwardsville  in  Madison  County, 
where  he  became  quite  a  prominent  man.  and 
accumulated  considerable  wealth. 

The  Diamond  family  came  from  South  Caro- 
lina in  1820,  about  the  time  the  Watsons  came. 
The  father,  John  Diamond,  was  a  very  old 
man,  and  deserves  especial  mention,  from  the 
fact  of  his  having  been  a  soldier  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war.  He  died  soon  after  removing  to 
this  precinct,  and  was  buried  in  the  "  Old  Dia- 
mond Graveyard,''  near  Zion  Spring,  in  the 
northwest  corner  of  Section  29.  His  son  Rob- 
ert lived  in  the  precinct  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1850.  He  was  a  very  old  man, 
and  has  three  brothers  still  living  in  Arkansas. 
William  W.  Moss  came  in  1835,  and  located  in 
Section  21.  His  son,  James  H.  Moss,  came 
with  his  father,  and  also  settled  in  same  sec- 
tion. He  at  present  resides  in  Section  30,  and 
is  considered  one  of  the  best,  most  industrious 
and  responsible  citizens  in  Zion  Precinct. 

On  the  "Old  Kline  place "  there  is  an  im- 
mense  spring,  known  as  "  Zion  Spring,"  and 


when  the  earliest  settlers  came  to  this  region, 
a  widow,  named  "  Clarey,"  and  her  sons,  occu- 
pied a  cabin  near  this  spring.  She  is  said  to 
have  come  from  Kentucky,  though  nothing 
definite  concerning  her  can  be  learned.  She 
must  have  been  a  courageous  woman,  however; 
to  brave  alone  the  dangers  and  perils  of  the 
wilderness.  Alex  Glenn  came  from  North  Caro- 
lina about  1828,  and  located  in  Section  17.  He 
was,  for  many  years,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
appointed  by  common  consent,  to  settle  the 
grievances  of  the  settlers  of  this  region. 
Thomas  Kline  came  with  Glenn,  and  settled  in 
Section  30.  His  widow  at  present  resides  in 
the  village  of  Newport.  William  Hunter  set- 
tled near  the  Cross  Roads,  in  1820.  He  was 
the  first  Methodist  minister  in  this  section  of 
the  county  ;  and  was  a  very  popular  and  good 
man,  and  very  highly  respected.  Hugh  Wat- 
son also  came  in  1820,  from  North  Carolina 
and  entered  the  land  on  which  the  village  of 
Newport  now  stands.  His  son  Wilson,  who 
died  last  summer,  was  about  the  first  merchant 
in  that  town.  Daniel  Moore  came  from  North 
Carolina  in  1825,  and  settled  in  Section  31 
His  widow,  Jennie  Moore,  who  is  now  more 
than  eighty  years  of  age,  at  present  resides 
with  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Henry  Hill,  about  four 
miles  west  of  the  town  of  Greenville.  It  was 
at  her  residence  and  at  the  residence  of  Sutton 
Hastings  that  the  first  Methodist  preaching  in 
Zion  Precinct  was  held.  Asa  Oliver  came  from 
Tennessee  about  the  year  1830,  and  settled  on 
Section  29.  John  Griggs  came  from  North 
Carolina  in  1829.  and  located  on  Section  30. 
Lemuel  Scroggins  came  from  the  same  State  in 
1833,  and  settled  in  Section  17.  Three  or  four 
miles  north  of  the  village  of  Mulberry  Grove, 
a  Frenchman,  named  St.  John,  kept  a  trading 
post,  which  was  established  prior  to  the  year 
1816.  Some  of  the  first  white  settlers  used  to 
haul  furs  and  skins  from  that  place  to  Cahokia. 
Another  Frenchman,  named  La  Croix,  lived 
near  St.  John,  and  also  dealt  in  furs.     When 


161 


HISTORY   OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


horses  belonging  to  any  of  the  settlers  strayed 
away,  they  were  sometimes  taken  up  by  the 
Indians.  In  such  cases  the  settlers  would  em- 
ploy these  Frenchmen  to  recover  them,  by  giv- 
ing such  rewards  as  they  could  afford.  A  few 
years  subsequent  to  this  time,  settlers  came  in 
so  fast  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep  trace  of  them. 

The  first  church  built  in  this  precinct  was 
the  "  Old  Zion  Church,"  reference  to  which  is 
made  elsewhere.  It  was  built  on  Section 
19,  about  the  year  1828  ;  was  a  log  building 
twenty-four  feet  in  length,  by  twenty  feet  wide. 
It  was  built  facing  the  south,  and  on  the  west 
side  was  an  immense  fire-place.  The  only  win- 
dow in  the  building  was  on  the  east  side, 
and  was  sixteen  feet  feet  long,  and  two  panes  of 
glass  in  width.  It  had  puncheon  floors,  and  the 
congregation  was  accommodated  with  seats  up- 
on slab  benches,  made  by  splitting  a  log  in  two 
and  putting  peg  legs  in  each  end.  In  1833,  the 
camp  ground  was  cleared  off,  and  regular  camp 
meetings  were  held  there  until  late  years. 
About  1840,  the  old  log  building  was  torn  down 
and  a  neat  frame  church,  twenty-four  by  thirty- 
sis  feet,  was  built  in  its  stead,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$500.  In  1861,  the  society,  which  was  of  the 
Methodist  denomination,  removed  to  Newport, 
the  Zion  Church  was  torn  down,  and  a  new  edi- 
fice erected  in  that  village,  which  they  now  oc- 
cupy. Among  the  original  members  of  this 
church  were  Robert  Stewart  and  wife,  Philip 
Moore  and  wife,  Rev.  William  Hunter  and  wife, 
Arthur  Sherrad,  Asa  Oliver,  Jane  McCracken, 
Eli  McCracken,  Ephraim  McCracken,  and  Dan- 
iel and  Jane  Moore. 

In  1881,  the  Free  Methodists  built  a  church 
on  the  camp-ground,  on  the  site  of  the  "  Old 
Zion  "  Church.  It  is  a  frame  building,  forty- 
two  feet  in  length  and  twenty-eight  feet  in 
width.  On  the  site  of  the  Zion  Camp  Ground, 
there  is  at  present  a  cemetery,  where  repose 
the  last  remains  of  many  of  those  who,  in  an 
early  day,  attended  meeting  on  that  same  spot. 

Schools  were  taught  in  the  precinct  as  soon 


as  there  was  sufficient  population  to  support 
them,  but  where,  when  and  by  whom  the  first 
schools  were  taught,  we  are  now  unable  to 
state.  They  were  of  the  primitive  pioneer  pat- 
tern, being  constructed  of  logs  and  having 
either  puncheon  floors  or  no  floors  at  all.  The 
advancement  made  in  the  schools  in  this  pre- 
cinct is  observable,  however,  in  the  number  of 
good,  comfortable,  commodious  school-buildings 
which  may  be  seen  there  to-day,  in  which  schools 
are  taught  for  the  usual  term  each  year. 

The  village  of  Woburn  was  first  called  New- 
port, but  on  account  of  there  being  another 
post  office  of  the  same  name  in  the  State,  the 
name  was  changed  to  Woburn.  In  this  section, 
it  is  more  generally  known  as  the  Cross  Roads, 
the  name  it  bore  in  early  days.  It  was  laid 
out  by  John  Hughes,  of  Virginia,  who  owned 
the  land,  about  the  year  185G.  The  first  store 
was  built  and  run  b\*  William  Harper.  The 
first  Postmaster  was  A.  W.  Watson.  His  father, 
Hugh  Watson,  ran  the  first  blacksmith  shop. 
John  Hughes  was  the  first  miller,  and  Abraham 
Jarred  was  the  first  wogon-maker.  Dr.  Har- 
nady  first  administered  to  the  ailments  of  the 
settlers  in  this  precinct.  The  first  mill  of  any 
importance  in  the  precinct,  was  erected  here  in 
I860.  It  was  a  saw-mill,  but  was  afterward 
purchased  by  the  Moss  Brothers,  who  took  out 
the  saw-mill  and  put  in  two  run  of  buhrs  for 
grinding  purposes.  These  brothers  run  the 
mill  for  several  years  and  finally  sold  out  to 
Porter  McKay,  who,  after  running  it  about  one 
year,  sold  out  to  J.  W.  Daniels  and  William 
Davidson.  These  gentlemen,  after  continuing 
the  business  for  some  time,  sold  the  mill  to  its 
present  owner,  George  Force,  and  at  present  it 
is  doing  a  fair  business.  Melton  Phillips  was 
the  first  shoemaker.  At  present  there  are 
about  150  inhabitants  in  the  village;  two  stores, 
one  run  by  Joseph  Isle}-  and  the  other  by 
Eugene  Enloe,  who.  is  also  the  present  Post- 
master; three  blacksmith  shops,  doing  a  good 
business,  though  Thomas  White   has  the  best 


ZIOX    PRECINCT. 


105 


trade.  Dr.  Poindextcr  is  the  present  doctor, 
and  has  the  best  practice  of  any  physician  who 
ever  did  business  here. 

The  Protestant  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  organized  here  about  the  time  of  the  laying- 
out  of  the  village,  through  the  influence  of 
Samuel  Glenn,  of  North  Carolina.  He  and  his 
wife  had  been  members  of  this  church  in  North 
Carolina.  His  family  formed  the  nucleus 
around  which  this  organization  formed.  Their 
first  minister  was  Rev.  William  II.  Collins. 
Among  the  first  members  were  Samuel  Glenn, 
wife  and  two  daughters;  Thomas  Kline,  wife 
and  two  daughters;  Mrs.  Thomas  Enloe  and 
Mrs.  Joseph  Washburn.  The  society  at  first 
had  no  church,  and  for  several  years  worshiped 
at  the  houses  of  the  members,  and  afterward  in 
the  schoolhouse.  In  1871,  a  church  building, 
forty  feet  in  length  and  twenty-eight  feet  in 
width,  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,400.  At 
present,  the  membership,  which  has  been  as 
high  as  forty,  numbers  but  nineteen.  The 
present  minister  is  Rev.  Edward  Bache,  and 
services  are  held  semi-monthly.  A  flourishing 
Sunday  school  is  at  present  held  in  the  church 
under  the  Superintendency  of  Saburn  Mid- 
dleton. 

The  United  Raptist  Church,  commonly  called 
"  Liberty  Church,"  was  established  about  1856. 
The  first  minister  was  Richard  Keel.  Among 
the  first  members  were  Richardson,  Samuel  and 
Bolin  Griggs,  James  Elam,  Gabriel  Jett  and 
wife,  and  Charles  Messenger  and  wife.  At  that 
time  there  were  only  eight  members,  all  told. 
Samuel  Griggs  and  James  Elam  were  the  first 
Deacons.  Their  first  meeting  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Gabriel  Jett,  and  afterward  at  the  res- 
idences of  the  several  members,  until  in  1859, 
when  they  erected  their  present  church,  which 
is  a  frame  building  thirty-six  feet  long  and 
twenty-six  feet  in  width,  and  cost  about  $600. 


In  this  building,  Richardson  Griggs  preached 
the  first  sermon,  and  was  succeeded  by  Samuel 
Griggs,  who  is  the  present  minister.  The  Dea- 
cons are  R.  S.  D.  Roberts,  Joseph  Bigham  and 
Anderson  101am,  and  the  Clerk  is  R.  B.  Griggs. 
The  membership  is  at  present  215.  Regular 
services  are  held  ever}-  third  and  fourth  Sab- 
bath, and  prayer  meetings  on  the  first  and  sec- 
ond Sabbaths  in  each  month.  The  first  Sunday 
school  was  established  in  18G0,  with  John 
Fisher  as  Superintendent,  and  at  present  a  large 
and  flourishing  Sunday  school  is  conducted 
here. 

The  Church  of  God  in  Christ,  or  Christian 
Church,  was  organized  at  Newport  in  1859. 
They  experienced  considerable  difficulty  in  es- 
tablishing a  church,  but  through  the  exertions 
of  Jonathan  Skates,  who  located  here  in  the 
sluing  of  1858,  they  finally  succeeded.  Among 
the  early  members  were  Jonathan  Skates  and 
wife,  Miranda  Lemert,  Henry  Allen,  Daniel 
Tabor,  James  Adams,  John  Curlee,  etc.  In 
August,  1860,  by  vigorous  efforts,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  erecting  a  church,  and  Brothers 
Adams,  Skates  and  Tabor  were  chosen  Deacons. 
At  present  the  church  is  in  a  veiy  prosperous 
and  thrifty  condition,  having  a  good  member- 
ship, regular  services,  and  maintaining  a  good 
Sunday  school.  From  the  foregoing  church 
history,  it  will  be  seen  that  Ziou  Precinct  is  well 
supplied  with  religious  instruction.  That  it  is 
not  only  well  supplied  at  present,  but  ever 
since  the  settlement  of  the  country  it  has  had 
no  lack  of  church  facilities.  If  the  people  are 
not  moral  and  religious,  it  is  certainly  nobody's 
fault  but  their  own,  and  nobody  but  themselves, 
perhaps,  will  be  held  to  account  for  their  short- 
comings. With  this  finale  on  the  moral  influ- 
ence of  this  favored  section,  we  close  our  chap- 
ter on  Zion  Precinct. 


/ 


1(JG 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XX.* 

COTTONWOOD  GROVE  PRECINCT  — ITS    EARLY    HISTORY— WHITE     SETTLEMENT  — THE     McCORDS 

AND   ROBINSONS— OLD  SHOAL  CREEK  CHURCH— THE  VILLAGE  OF 

"BETHEL"  — SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES,  ETC 


THE  early  pioneers  of  "  Cottonwood  Grove 
Precinct,"  notwithstanding  all  the  uncom-' 
fortable  circumstances  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded, were  contented,  and  enjoyed  life  to  its 
utmost.  They  knew  nothing  of  railroads,  and 
had  never  heard  the  whistle  of  a  locomotive. 
The  present  improved  mode  of  farming  was  far 
beyond  their  most  extravagant  expectations. 
To  chronicle  the  changes  and  note  the  vast  im- 
provements made  within  the  past  fifty*  years,  is 
the  most  interesting  part  of  the  historian's  work. 
Notwithstanding  these  vast  changes,  numerous 
indications  and  landmarks  remain  to  mark  the 
primitiveuess  of  the  early  pioneers  in  this  sec- 
tion. 

Cottonwood  Grove  Precinct,  to  which  this 
chapter  is  devoted,  lies  in  a  northwesterly  di- 
rection from  the  town  of  Greenville,  in  the 
northwest  corner  of  Bond  County,  and  well 
adapted  to  agriculture.  It  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Montgomery  County,  on  the  east  by 
the  precinct  of  La  Grange,  on  the  south  by  La 
Grange  and  Ripley  Precincts,  and  on  the  west 
•  by  counties  of  Madison  and  Montgomery.  It 
is  well  watered  bjr  numerous  small  streams. 
The  most  important  of  which  is  "  Shoal  Creek," 
which,  entering  near  the  middle  of  the  northern 
line  of  Section  3,  winds  its  tortuous  course  en- 
tirely across  the  precinct  near  its  center.  An- 
other stream  of  considerable  importance  is  Dor- 
ris  Creek,  which  enters  the  precinct  near  the 
southeast  corner  of  Section  12,  and,  taking  first 
a  westerly  course  and  then  directly  south,  leaves 

*  By  T.  J.  Riley. 


the  precinct  at  the  southern  boundary  line  of 
Section  34.  These  streams  have  several  small 
branches  or  tributaries,  most  of  them  of  such 
diminutive  size  as  to  be  considered  scarcely 
worth}-  of  mention. 

The  early  settlement  of  what  is  now  Cotton- 
wood Grove  Precinct  cannot  be  given  with  per- 
fect correctness.  The  precise  date  of  the  building 
of  the  first  cabin  by  a  white  man  within  its  lim- 
its is  obscured  in  the  shadows  of  half  a  century, 
and  we  are  left  to  conjecture  to  a  certain  extent 
as  to  the  commencement  of  its  settlement  by 
white  people.  Alexander  Robinson,  from  Ten- 
nessee, settled  here  about  the  year  1816,  and 
still  has  descendants  living  in  the  precinct.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Robert  and  Daniel  Mc- 
Cord  from  Virginia.  These  men  came  togeth- 
er from  Tennessee  to  Bond  County  and  made  a 
settlement  in  Cottonwood  Grove  Precinct,  in 
the  spring  of  1816.  They  made  their  first 
camping  ground  where  the  cemetery  now  is, 
and  kneeling  upon  the  ground  dedicated  the 
land  to  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  called  the 
place  "  Bethel."  In  later  years,  about  1825,  a 
church  was  built  here,  which  still  remains.  It 
was  a  log  structure,  with  no  fire-place  or  stove. 
The  only  warmth  was  afforded  by  means  of  a 
raised  place  of  dirt  in  the  center  of  the  room 
on  which  charcoal,  which  the  members  were  re- 
quired to  furnish,  was  burned,  the  only  escape 
for  the  smoke  being  a  hole  in  the  roof  immedi- 
ately above  the  mound.  Robert  McCord  set- 
tled on  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  11. 
He  has  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Mears,  living 


COTTON  WOOD    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


107 


in  Greenville,  and  a  son,  Blackburn,  living  in 
Iowa.  David  McCord  settled  on  the  east  half 
of  Section  1 1 ,  where  J.  T.  McCracken  now  lives, 
in  1820.  James  Wafer  was  an  early  pioneer  in 
this  section.  He  located  northwest  of  Bethel 
in  1817.  James  Denny  settled  on  Pleasant 
Prairie,  about  1819.  During  the  same  year, 
George  Donnell  settled  near  the  mouth  of  Indi- 
an Creek.  George  and  John  Denny,  sons  of 
James  Denny,  settled  on  the  east  side  of  Shoal 
Creek,  in  the  north  part  of  the  precinct,  in  1820 
or  1821,  and  about  the  same  time  the  Jetts, 
Vaughns  and  Thackers  settled  in  the  same 
neighborhood,  on  both  sides  of  the  creek.  Will- 
iam and  Lawrence  Stewart  settled  on  the  west 
side  of  Shoal  Creek  about  1821.  Jesse  Mar- 
graves and  others  also  located  along  the  west 
side  of  Shoal  Creek  about  this  same  time.  In 
1819,  Newton  Coffee  came  in  and  settled  on 
Jetts  Prairie. 

In  February  of  1880,  a  church  was  organ- 
ized in  this  precinct  by  the  Free  Methodist  de- 
nomination. The  first  minister  chosen  by  them 
was  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Colt.  Among  the  first  mem- 
bers were  James  Robb,  J.  F.  Nicholson,  John 
Parmalee,  John  McCracken,  Daniel  F.  Justice, 
John  F.  Humphrey  and  Winnie  Singleton. 
James  Robb  was  chosen  Class-Leader,  and  John 
Parmalee  was  chosen  Steward.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  the  present  year  (1882),  a  neat  frame 
church,  thirty-six  feet  long  and  twenty-eight 
wide,  was  erected  on  Section  31,  at  a  cost  of 
about  1700,  and  John  Parmalee,  James  Robb 
and  J.  F.  Nicholson,  were  appointed  as  Trust- 
ees. This  organization  has  grown  in  strength 
from  the  beginning,  and  at  present  has  a  mem- 
bership of  about  thirty-five,  and  maintains  a 
good  Sunday  school. 

In  noticing  the  early  churches  of  Cotton- 
wood Grove  Precinct,  one  church  stands  out 
prominently,  and  seems  to  be  to  a  ureal 
extent  the  "  mother "  of  all  the  Presby- 
terian Churches  in  this  section.  We  refer 
to    the    "Old    Shoal    Creek     Church."      The 


original  church  was  organized  by  Rev.  Solomon 
Sidings,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  on  the  10th  of  March, 
1819,  and  is  more  particularly  referred  to  in  a 
preceding  chapter. 

The  "  Pleasant  Prairie  Presbyterian  Church" 
in  Township  7,  Range  4,  was  formed  from  the 
Mt.  Carmel  society  of  the  same  denomination, 
then  existing  in  Montgomery  Count}',  on  the  24th 
day  of  February,  1828.  Through  the  exertions 
of  Rev.  Joel  Knight,  Andrew  Finley  and  Jos- 
eph Barlow  were  chosen  Elders,  at  its  organiza- 
tion, and  C.  G.  Keown  was  their  first  regular 
pastor.  The  first  Clerk  was  Andrew  J.  Finley. 
Among  the  first  members  were  William,  Eliza- 
beth, Andrew  and  Rebecca  Finley  ;  Joseph  and 
Harriet  Barlow  ;  Elizabeth,  Sarah,  Emily  and 
Polly  Barlow  ;  Sarah  Keown  ;  William  and  Pol- 
ly Pitman  ;  William  and  Jane  Kline;  Nelly 
Breance ;  Catharine,  Polly  and  Joseph  Buck  ; 
Michael,  Elanor,  Sinah,  Catharine,  Polly  and 
Palsey  Finley;  Andrew  Keown,  James  E.  Ran- 
kin, Eli  Covvdon  and  James  Driscol.  They 
have  at  present  a  good  frame  church  building 
sixty  feet  long  by  forty  feet  wide,  which  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,200,  and  the  pres- 
ent membership  is  about  thirty  in  all.  James  E. 
Rankan,  the  first  Superintendent,  organized  a 
good  Sunday  school,  which  has  been  conducted 
here  for  man}'  3'ears. 

In  an  early  day,  some  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
section  built  a  "  sod  fence  "  for  some  purpose, 
out  of  which  sprouted  a  beautiful  grove  of  Cot- 
tonwood trees.  It  is  from  this  grove  that  the 
village  of  "  Bethel,  or  Cottonwood  Grove,"  ob- 
tained its  name.  It  was  originally  called  "  Au- 
gusta," but  the  name  was  afterward  changed  to 
"  Cottonwood  Grove,  or  Bethel."  It  was  sur- 
veyed on  the  9th  day  of  June,  1836,  by  Asahel 
Enloe,  for  John  Mitchell  &  Co.,  the  proprietors, 
and  is  located  in  Section  11,  Township  6  north, 
Range  4  west,  about  eight  miles  northwest  of 
the  county  seat  (Greenville).  It  is  a  flourish- 
ing little  village,  and  is  surrounded  by  an  intel- 
ligent and  industrious  community. 


108 


HISTORY  OF  BOND  COUNTY. 


The  Bethel  Presbyterian  Church  was  estab- 
lished here  on  the  15th  day  of  September,  1826, 
several  years  prior  to  the  laying-out  of  the 
town.  It  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  church 
already  alluded  to,  as  the  first  church  in  the 
county,  called  Shoal  Creek  Church.  The  orig- 
inal church  was  in  1S25  divided  into  three 
churches — Shoal  Creek  Church,  Bethel  Church 
and  Greenville  Church.  Of  these  three,  the 
two  last  named  still  exist.  The  Bethel  Church 
was  organized  with  sixty-two  members,  and 
their  first  house  of  worship  was  a  log  building 
20x26  feet.  It  was  heated  in  a  novel  manner. 
A  space  about  six  feet  in  diameter  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  house  was  left  without  flooring,  thus 
securing  an  earthen  hearth.  A  bushel  of  char- 
coal was  laid  there  and  then  set  on  fire,  render- 
ing the  house  quite  comfortable.  Among  the 
ministers  in  Bethel  Church  for  the  past  fifty 
years  are  the  following  :  Thomas  A.  Spillman, 
Albert  Hale,  E.  L.  Huntington,  Thomas  Lippin- 
cott,  Samuel  Foster,  Charles  L.  Adams,  Charles 
Barton,  E.  B.  Olmstead,  N.  A.  Hunt,  Robert 
Stewart,  William  Rankin,  William  H.  Bird,  J. 
S.  Davis,  Charles  Barton  (a  second  term),  James 
H.  Spillman,  etc.  Some  years  later,  when  the 
church    had    become  strong   in    numbers  and 


wealth,  a  new  church  was  built  a  few  rods 
from  the  old  one.  It  was  a  frame  building  well 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  church  and  the 
times.  A  large  volume  might  be  written  of 
this  pioneer  church,  but  our  space  is  limited 
and  only  this  brief  sketch  can  be  given.  A 
large  and  interesting  Sunday  school  of  both 
young  and  old  has  always  been  maintained  in 
old  Bethel  Church. 

In  1838,  the  town  of  Harrisonville  was  sur- 
veyed by  T.  S.  Hubbard,  for  Andrew  Finley, 
proprietor.  It  was  situated  on  Section  32, 
Township  7  north,  Range  4  west,  on  Pleasant 
Prairie,  about  twelve  miles  northwest  of  Green- 
ville. For  some  time  this  village  gave  consid- 
erable promise,  but  it  gradually  died  out  until 
nothing  now  remains  of  it  except  the  records 
of  the  platt. 

On  the  17th  of  May,  1856,  the  town  of  Elm 
Point  was  laid  out  by  Anthony  Hill,  for  William 
P.  Libby.  It  is  located  on  Section  31,  Town 
7,  Range  3,  about  nine  miles  in  a  northwesterly 
direction  from  the  town  of  Greenville.  It  is 
on  the  prairie,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  well 
cultivated  country,  but  has  never  made  much 
improvement,  and  at  present  there  is  scarcely 
what  might  be  called  a  town  remaining. 


OK  AAV    PRECIXCT. 


lfin 


CHAPTER   XXL* 

OKAW  PRECINCT— DESCRIPTION  AND  TOPOGRAPHY— EARLY  SETTLEMENTS— THE  FIRST  PIONEERS 
—THEIR  EARLY  LIFE  AND  HABITS— SCHOOLS,  SCHOOLHOUSES,  CHURCHES,  ETC. 


IN  giving  the  history  of  Okaw  Precinct,  there 
is  probably  less  to  tell  than  of  any  other 
precinct  in  Bond  County,  from  the  fact  that  it 
was  settled  at  a  much  later  day  than  any  other 
portion  of  the  county.  For  many  years  the 
land  was  held  almost  exclusively  by  large  land- 
owners, and  this  is  still  the  case  to  a  consider- 
able extent.  These  land-owners  would  not  sell, 
except  at  such  exorbitant  prices  as  deterred 
settlers  from  purchasing,  especially  as  other 
lands  at  that  time  were  sold  at  a  very  low 
figure.  Thus  it  was  that  settlers  who  might 
have  located  here  purchased  elsewhere,  and  at 
present  we  find  that,  though  there  are  a  number 
of  good  farmers  in  this  locality,  it  is  settled 
mainly  by  squatters,  or  farmers  on  a  small 
scale,  who  have  come  in  at  a  comparatively 
late  day  and  purchased  small  tracts  of  land. 

Okaw  Precinct  lies  in  a  southeasterly  direc- 
tion from  the  county  seat  ( Greenville ),  and 
comprises  thirty-six  sections  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  county.  It  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  precincts  of  Greenville  and  Fair- 
view;  on  the  east  by  Fayette  County;  on  the 
south  by  Clinton  County  and  on  the  west  by 
Beaver  Creek  Precinct.  Almost  the  entire 
surface  of  the  land  is  very  low  and  level,  so 
that  artificial  drainage  is  largely  resorted  to. 
The  low,  flat  nature  of  the  most  of  the  land  is 
another  reason  why  it  was  not  settled  sooner. 
In  the  southern  part,  however,  near  the  Clinton 
County  line,  it  rises  into  nice  rolling  land,  well 
adapted  to  agriculture,  and  it  was  here  that  the 
earliest  settlers  located.     There  is  very  little  of 

*  By  T.  J.  Riley. 


the  land  but  is  susceptible  of  cultivation,  the 
soil  is  of  the  richest  quality,  and  yields  abun- 
dant harvests  of  all  the  crops  usually  grown  in 
this  section.  The  principal  crops  are  corn, 
wheat  and  oats.  This  precinct  is  not  very 
thickly  wooded,  though  along  the  creeks  may 
be  found  an  abundance  of  hickoiy,  ash,  maple, 
walnut,  etc. 

Numerous  small  streams  flow  through  Okaw 
Precinct,  and  among  them  is  one  of  consider- 
able importance,  namely,  the  "Kaskaskia," 
commonly  known  as  the  "  Okaw,"  which  flows 
just  across  the  southeastern  corner,  through 
Section  30.  This  stream  abounds  in  large 
numbers  of  the  finny  tribe,  and  is  a  great  re- 
sort for  fishing  parties.  Another  stream  is  "  Flat 
Creek,"  which  takes  its  rise  in  "  Calamus  Lake," 
a  small  body  of  water  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  Section  16,  and.  flowing  a  little  west  of  south, 
leaves  thf  precinct  near  the  line,  between  Sec- 
tions 31  and  32.  Little  Beaver  Creek,  another 
small  stream,  flows  across  the  northwest  corner, 
through  Sections  5  and  6.  Another  stream  de- 
serving of  mention  is  "  Keysport  Creek," 
which,  rising  in  the  northern  part  of  Section  14, 
flows  directly  south  and  leaves  the  precinct  at 
the  southern  boundary  line  of  Section  35. 

It  is  sweet,  yet  sad,  to  recall  the  scenes  of 
the  past  ;  sweet,  because  we  see  the  faces  of 
dear  ones  ;  sad,  because  the  picture  is  unreal, 
and  will  vanish  like  the  mists  of  the  morning. 
Though  the  early  settlement  of  Okaw  Precinct 
is  not  so  remote,  still  most  of  the  earliest  set- 
tlers have  been  laid  away  in  the  quiet  grave- 
yards, and,  "  though  lost  to  sight,  are  to  memory 


170 


HISTORY  OF   BOND  COUNTY. 


dear."  Among  the  first  settlers  who  located  in 
Okaw  Precinct  was  Josiah  Austin,  who  came  in 
1833,  and  located  in  the  southern  part,  on  Sec- 
tion 32.  Two  men,  one  named  Bateman  and 
the  other  named  Martin,  settled  near  him  about 
the  same  time. 

John  Butler  came  in  prior  to  the  coming  of 
Josiah  Austin,  and  located  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  precinct.  Alexander  Myatt  came  in  an 
early  day,  and  settled  in  the  west  half  of  Sec- 
tion 33,  and  about  the  same  time  a  man,  named 
Fix,  settled  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  pre- 
cinct. Among  the  earliest  settlers  in  this  sec- 
tion was  Mathew  Henry,  who  first  settled  in 
Greenville  Precinct,  about  four  miles  west  of 
the  county  seat,  and  after  remaining  there  some 
time,  located  in  this  precinct,  where,  at  present, 
a  number  of  his  descendants  reside.  On  his 
way  to  Bond  County,  Mr.  Henry  came  through 
St.  Louis,  and  it  is  said  that,  while  there,  he  was 
offered  five  lots  where  the  Southern  Hotel  now 
stands  for  a  little  pony  mare,  which  he  refused. 
Mr.  Henry  also  was  the  possessor  of  one  of  the 
first  "  cook  stoves  "  in  this  county. 

But  little  can  be  said  of  the  early  schools  in 
Okaw  Precinct,  and  for  many  years  after  its 
settlement  but  little  attention  was  given  to  the 
subject  of  education,  but  of  late  years  a  great 
improvement  has  been  made  in  this  direction, 
and  at  present  there  are  several  schoolhouses 
in  the  precinct,  in  which  school  is  taught  by 
efficient  instructors  for  the  usual  term  each 
year. 

At  present,  there  are  two  churches  in  this 
precinct,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran.  The  former  was  established 
early  in  the  year  1842.  For  some  time  after  the 
organization  of  this  church,  meetings  were  held 
at  the  residence  of  Alexander  Myatt.  Among 
the  first  members  were  Alexander  Myatt  and 
wife,  Joshua  Sharp  and  wife,  Micajah  Bowen, 
Mr.  Zimmerman,  Mrs.  Rainey,  Mrs.  Gillespie, 
Robert  Tucker,  wife  and  mother,  and  the  Skel- 
ton  family.     About  the  first  minister  was  the 


Rev.  Joshua  Barnes.  Their  present  church 
building  was  erected  about  the  year  1856,  on 
the  southwest  quarter  of  Section  33.  It  is  a 
frame  building  forty-four  feet  long  and  thirty- 
four  feet  wide,  and  was  built  at  a  cost  of  about 
$1,000.  The  first  minister  who  assumed  the  pas- 
torate, after  the  building  of  this  new  church,  was 
the  Rev.  J.  W.  Low.  The  Trustees  were  A.  L. 
Cole,  William  Hoppock,  B.  F.  Taylor  and  A.  J- 
Cole,  and  the  first  Class-Leader  was  A.  L.  Cole. 
Alexander  Myatt  was  chosen  the  first  Steward. 
The  church  is  now  in  a  highly,  prosperous  and 
flourishing  condition,  and  the  present  Class- 
Leader  is  J.  D.  Blackwell,  and  J.  B.  Myatt  and 
1).  L.  Reynolds  are  acting  as  Stewards.  A  good 
Sunday  school  is  and  has  been  maintained 
ever  since  the  organization  of  this  church. 

The  last  named,  the  Evangelical  Lutheran,  or 
St.  Peter's  Church,  was  built  in  the  fall  of  1874, 
on  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  33.  Among 
the  men  who  were  instrumental  in  getting  the 
church  built  were,  Frederick  Meyer,  J.  H.  Pah- 
man,  Julius  Meyer,  Conrad  Kromer,  Henry 
Shumaker,  Henry  Brauchmiller,  etc.  Their  first 
minister  was  Rev.  Kornbeaun.  Prior  to  the 
erection  of  their  church  building,  the  society- 
worshiped  at  the  private  residences  of  its  mem 
bers,  and  continued  thus  until  their  present 
church  was  built.  It  is  a  frame  building,  thirty 
feet  long  and  twenty-four  feet  wide,  and  was 
built  at  a  cost  of  about  $600. 

No  regular  meetings  were  held  here  until  in 
1880,  but  before  this  time,  Rev.  H.  Wolfman, 
who  had  dedicated  the  church,  preached  at  in- 
tervals. Since  November,  1880,  they  have  been 
having  meetings  every  Sunday,  and  Rev.  H. 
Baker,  the  present  minister,  is  employed  at  a 
yearly  salary  of  $300,  which,  it  may  be  said  to 
their  credit,  is  always  promptly  paid.  At  pres- 
ent the  church  is  in  a  prosperous,  thriving  con- 
dition, and  maintains  a  large  and  very  interest- 
ing Sunday  school.  The  Trustees  at  present 
are  Julius  T.  Brauchmiller  and  John  Turenck. 


■'.-    ■■-,■..•"•,■    ,."„lJ 


o-^z^!-^ 


LIBRAR/ 

OF  The 

UNIVEKSlTy  wf  ILLINOIS 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


173 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  L* 

MONTGOMERY     COUNTY  —  INTRODUCTORY  —  DESCRIPTION     AND     GENERAL     TOPOGRAPHY  —  THE 
VARIETIES  OF  TIMBER  — GEOLOGICAL  FEATURES  — LIMESTONE  AND  SANDSTONE— COAL 
MEASURES  — QUALITY  OF  THE  COAL  — QUARRIES  OF  BUILDING  STONES- 
OBSERVATIONS— CLIMATOLOGY— THE  CHANGES  OF  SEASONS— 
NOW,  AND  FIFTY  YEARS  AGO. 


"  When  rust  shall  eat  her  brass,  when  Time's  strong 

hand 
Shall  bruise  to  dust  her  marble  palaces, 
Triumphant  arches,  pillars,  obelisks  ; 
When  Julius'  temple.  Claudius'  aqueducts, 
Agrippa's  baths,  and  Pompey's  theater  ; 
Nay.  Rome  itself  shall  not  be  found  at  all, 
Historians'  books  shall  live." 

THE  annals  of  time  are  marked  by  various 
ages  under  different  denominations.  The 
ancients  had  their  fabled  ages  of  iron  and  of 
gold.  To  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  Empire 
succeeded  the  Dark  Ages,  with  their  dismal 
concomitants  of  superstition  and  crime.  Next 
came  the  age  of  the  Revival  of  Letters,  which 
was  followed  by  that  of  the  Reformation  of 
Religion.  Great  men  have  also  stamped  their 
names  on  ages,  as  their  likenesses  have  been 
perpetuated  by  statues  and  medals.  Egypt 
had  her  age  of  Sesostris,  Greece  of  Pericles, 
and  Rome  of  Caesar,  Pompey  and  Cicero.  Brit- 
ain boasts  of  her  age  of  Alfred  the  Great,  and 
France  that  of  Henry  the  Fourth.  History 
will  yet  speak  of  the  age  of  Washington, 
Franklin  and  Jefferson,  and  that  of  Napoleon 
will  also  be  commemorated.  In  splendor,  use- 
fulness, the  wonders  of  scienoe,  and  the  power 
of  art,  the  present  age  far  surpasses  all  that 


>Bv  W.  II.  Pen-in. 


have  preceded  it,  and  may  lie  fitly  denominated 
the  age  of  improvement.  Instead  of  the  monk 
laboring  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  man  by 
the  dreams  of  his  dusky  and  secluded  closet, 
the  real  philosopher  now  walks  abroad  in  open 
day.  looks  at  things  around  him  as  they  are, 
consults  nature  as  his  oracle,  receives  her  re- 
sponses as  pure  emanations  from  the  fountain 
of  truth,  and  employs  them  successfully  for  the 
benefit  of  his  race. 

In  the  wonderful  changes  which  the  present 
age  has  witnessed,  the  period  of  vision  and  hy- 
pothesis has  gone  by.  Fact  has  assumed  the 
place  of  abstract  theory,  and  practice  has 
ejected  speculation  from  her  seat.  All  this  and 
much  more  has  been  accomplished,  but  we  will 
not  follow  up  the  subject.  In  nothing  are  the 
changes  of  the  present  age  more  strikingly 
illustrated  than  in  the  wonderful  improvement 
and  advancement  of  our  country,  and  especially 
the  great  West.  But  a  few  decades  ago.  and 
this  country  was  the  home  of  the  red  man  and 
his  kindred  ;  these  broad  prairies  his  hunting- 
grounds,  where  he  chased  the  buffalo  and  deer. 
Less  than  a  century  has  passed  ;the  Indian  of 
the  haughty  bearing  and  the  falcon  glance  has 
disappeared,  and  Cooper's  "Last  of  the  Mohi- 
cans "  preserves  in  romance  a  story  of  the  race. 


174 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


From  a  wilderness,  infested  with  savages  and 
wild  beasts,  the  country  has  been  reclaimed, 
and  transformed  into  an  Eden  of  loveliness, 
unsurpassed  in  glory  and  beauty,  nowithstand- 
ing  the  poet  has  sung  of 

" a  clime  more  delightful  than  this  ; 

The  land  of  the  orange,  the  myrtle  and  vine." 

The  history  which  attaches  to  every  portion 
of  our  countiy  increases  in  interest  as  time 
rolls  on.  Its  wonderful  development  and  ad- 
vancement are  more  like  magic  tales  than  act- 
ual occurrences,  and  its  vast  resources  the  won- 
der of  all  nations.  No  section  but  has  its  tra- 
ditions and  memories;  no  spot,  however  small, 
but  is  more  or  less  historical.  Montgomery 
County,  which  forms  the  subject  matter  of  the 
pages  following,  bears  no  mean  part  in  the  his- 
tory or  the  importance  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
as  she  bears  no  inconsiderable  part  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  common  country. 

Topography. — The  county  of  Montgomery,  as 
formed  at  present,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Sangamon  and  Christian  Counties,  on  the  east 
by  Christian,  Shelby  and  Fayette,  on  the  south 
by  Fayette,  Bond  and  Madison,  on  the  west  by 
Macoupin,  and  has  an  area  of  702  square  miles. 
Of  its  topography,  timber  growth,  prairies  and 
general  surface  features,  the  following  has  been 
published,  which  we  give  entire  for  the  benefit 
of  our  readers  :  "On  Ramsey  Creek,  the  hills  are 
low  and  the  country  gently  undulating;  near 
Nokomis  there  are  several  mounds,  with  long, 
gentle  depressions  between,  stretching  off  into 
rich  plains.  Westwardly,  across  the  country, 
through  Townships  10,  11  and  12  north,  the 
country  is  for  the  most  part  rather  flat.  Near 
the  East  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek,  the  hills  are  gen- 
erally low,  becoming  higher  as  we  descend  the 
stream;  in  the  south  part  of  Township  8  north, 
they  are  forty  to  fifty  feet  high.  On  Shoal 
Creek  and  Middle  Fork,  the  hills  are  forty  to 
fifty  feet  high,  and  rise  by  long,  gentle  ascents. 
On  the  West  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek  the  country 
is  generally  broken  for  a  few  miles  from  the 


stream,  and  the  hills  sixty  to  seventy  feet  high ; 
near  Lake  Fork,  the  hills  are  not  very  high.  In 
the  south  half  of  the  county,  between  the  main 
streams,  there  are  occasional  mounds,  often  a 
mile  or  more  across  their  base,  and  about  fifty 
feet  above  the  adjacent  plain,  with  which  they 
are  connected  by  a  long  descent. 

"  A  little  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  area  of 
this  county  is  probably  prairie.  The  northern 
part  is  mostly  prairie;  the  southern  has  a  large 
proportion  of  timber.  Near  Hurricane  Creek, 
there  are  post  oak  flats,  changing  to  large 
white- oak  hills  near  the  creek.  At  the  edge  of 
the  prairie,  the  growth  is  mostly  laurel  oak, 
sumac,  hazel,  plum,  etc.  Near  Ramsey  Creek, 
the  upland  growth  consists  of  white-oak,  black- 
oak,  post-oak,  laurel  oak,  hazel  and  sassafras. 
The  East  Fork  hills  have  mostly  pin  oak,  black- 
oak  and  post-oak,  changing  near  the  prairie  to 
laurel  oak,  black-oak  and  hazel.  Shoal  Creek 
hills  have  mostly  white-oak,  black-oak,  sassa- 
fras and  hickory,  often  extending  to  the  prai- 
ries. Near  Hillsboro,  the  growth  is  principally 
black-oak,  with  some  white-oak,  hickory,  sassa- 
fras and  hazel.  Near  Walshville  and  Lake 
Fork,  the  country  is  gently  undulating,  with  a 
growth  principally  of  plum,  black  walnut, 
honey -locust,  wild-cherry  and  grapevines. 
Wild  vines  loaded  with  grapes  are  observed 
nearly  everywhere  in  the  woods,  proving  the 
soil  to  be  naturally  well  adapted  to  the  grape. 
Post-oak  flats  occur  near  West  Fork,  as  far  as 
Township  10  north.  Sugar  trees  are  occa- 
sionally found  along  the  Middle  and  West 
Forks,  and  some  extensive  groves  are  found  on 
the  bottoms  of  main  Shoal  Creek. 

"The  following  comprises  a  list  of  such  trees 
and  shrubs  as  were  observed  occurring  in  this 
county :  Crabapple,  ash,  prickly  ash,  red 
birch,  buckeye,  box-elder,  button  bush,  bitter- 
sweet, blackbeny,  coralberry,  chokecherry, 
common  cherry,  coffee  tree,  cornus  (two  spe- 
cies); Cottonwood,  Clematis  Virginiana;  elder, 
grape  (four  or  five  species),  gooseberry,   black 


HISTORY    OF  MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


175 


haw,  hackberry,  honey-locust,  hop  tree ;  hazel, 
shellbark  and  thick  shellbark  hickory,  pig- 
nut hickory,  black  hickory  and  common 
hickory,  iron-wood,  linden,  white  maple,  sugar 
tree,  red  mulberry,  papaw,  persimmon, 
plum;  black,  red,  white,  post,  laurel,  pin, 
chestnut,  black-jack,  burr  and  swamp  white- 
oak;  red  and  American  elm,  red-bud,  rasp- 
berry, rose,  red-root,  poison  oak.  sassafras, 
service  berry,  sarsaparilla,  sumac,  trumpet 
creeper,  Virginia  creeper,  willow  (several  spe- 
cies), and  black  and  white  walnut." 

Geology. — The  geological  formations  of  a 
country  are  the  most  important  part  of  its  his- 
tory. By  the  science  of  geology,  the  history  of 
the  earth  is  traced  back  through  successive 
ages  to  its  rudimental  condition.  It  is  not  in- 
appropriate then  to  introduce  the  history  of 
this  county  with  a  brief  sketch  of  its  geological 
structure,  as  compiled  from  the  official  survey 
of  the  State.  A  familiarity  with  the  subject 
should  be  of  interest  to  all  citizens,  for  we  are 
told  by  men  of  science  that  upon  the  "  geological 
structure  of  a  country  depend  the  pursuits  of 
its  inhabitants  and  the  genius  of  its  civilization. 
That  agriculture  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  fertile 
soil;  mining  results  from  mineral  resources," 
etc.,  etc.  Hence,  for  the  benefit  of  our  readers, 
a  few  pages  will  be  devoted  to  the  geology 
of  Montgomery  County,  as  reported  in  the 
geological  survey.  "  Along  the  various 
streams,"  says  this  authority,  "  are  occasional 
exposures  of  sand  and  pebbles,  with  some  beds 
of  brownish-yellow  clay.  Five  miles  northeast 
of  Litchfield  forty-five  feet  of  drift  is  exposed, 
the  lower  part  a  compact  bed  of  dark  clay, 
with  some  sand  and  pebbles.  The  following 
description  is  given  of  the  various  clays  passed 
through  in  well-digging  in  the  vicinity  of 
Hillsboro:  First,  soil;  second,  yellow  clay  or 
hardpan;  at  twenty-four  feet,  reached  a  three- 
foot  bed  of  sand,  then  soft,  moist  clay.  Seventy- 
five  yards  from  this,  another  well  was  dug, 
showing  in  the  upper  part  brownish-yellow  clay 


at  twenty  feet,  and  at  thirty-eight  feet  was  a 
two-foot  bed  of  sand,  and,  at  forty-two  feet, 
specimens  of  wood. 

"  On  the  head-waters  of  the  Ramsey,  there  are 
many  springs  slightly  chalybeate,  and  some 
containing  sulphate  of  iron,  issuing  from  beds 
of  drift,  sand  and  pebbles.  There  is  certainly 
evidence  that  at  some  former  period  of  time 
the  whole  surface  of  the  count}7  was  fifty  to 
seventy-five  feet  higher  than  at  present;  that 
since  the  original  drift  deposition  ( it  may  have 
been  just  at  the  close  of  the  drift  period),  large 
masses  of  these  deposits  were  washed  off,  leav- 
ing occasional  mound-like  elevations,  several  of 
which  may  be  seen  near  Nokomis,  a  few  be- 
tween the  East  and  West  Forks,  and  the  hills  be- 
tween Hillsboro  and  Butler. 

"  The  upper  coal  measures  appear  in  part  in 
this  count}-,  and  underly  all  the  superficial 
deposits,  and  include  coal  beds  No.  11  and  No. 
13,  and  a  trace  of  No.  12,  and  embrace  150 
feet  of  rock,  reaching  from  the  base  of  No.  33 
to  No.  20  of  the  upper  coal  measure  section. 
Nos.  20  and  21,  in  Section  12,  Township  10 
north,  Range  1  west,  there  crops  out  along  the 
creek  eight  feet  of  sandy  shale  and  blue  lime- 
stone; close  by  is  an  outcrop  of  brown,  shaly, 
soft  limestone,  containing  Hemipronites  crassus 
and  crinoid  stems;  Machrocheilus  and  Spirifer 
cameratus  were  also  found.  The  exact  thickness 
between  21  and  22  is  unknown;  the  outcrops 
are  ten  miles  apart,  with  no  evidence  of  a  con- 
tinuous easterly  dip,  but  it  is  probable  that 
twenty-five  or  even  fifty  feet  may  intevene. 

"  Northeast  of  Irving  on  East  Fork,  and 
down  stream  for  a  mile,  there  are  occasional 
outcrops  of  an  ash-blue  hard  shelly  limestone, 
abounding  in  a  large  variety  of  Productus  Prat- 
tenianus.  It  also  contains  P.  cost  at  us,  P.  punc- 
tatus,  P.  Ncbrascensis,  Spirifer  cameratus,  Avi- 
culojiecteii  carboniferous,  C/ionetes,  Verneuiliana, 
Ch.  Flemingvi,  and  a  branching  coral.  A  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  up  stream,  the  limestone  appears 
in  a  regular  layer,  stretching  across  the  bed  of 


176 


HISTORY    OF  MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


a  small  branch.  Three  miles  up  stream,  many 
fossils  were  collected,  weathered  out  of  the  shale 
beds  in  a  fine  state  ot  preservation,  including 
beautiful  specimens  of  Pleurotomaria,  sphceru- 
lata,  P.  tabulata,  Orthoceras,  Macrocheilus  pa- 
ludinaformis,  and  one  like  the  M.  primigenius, 
but  with  body,  whorl  and  spire  more  elongated  ; 
Goniatites  globulosus,  Bellerophon  carbonarius, 
Leda  bella-striata,  Nucula  ventricosa,  Astar- 
tella  vera,  Conularia,  Leda  Oweni,  Euompha- 
lus,  subnigosus  and  Polyphemopsis  peracuta. 
These  shales  contain  round  and  oblong  clay 
and  ironstone  concretions.  In  Section  28,  Town- 
ship 10  north,  Range  3  west,  a  few  fossils  were 
obtained,  indicating  the  presence  of  the  same 
beds  as  those  last  named.  The  upper  blue 
limestone,  named  above,  undulates  along  East 
Fork  for  about  eight  miles,  which  is  regarded 
as  equivalent  to  No.  22  of  general  section. 
Near  Section  36,  Township  8  north,  Range  3 
west,  on  the  East  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek,  there 
crops  out  eight  feet  of  sandy  shale  and  sand- 
stone. On  West  Fork,  at  the  bridge  on  the 
Hillsboro  and  Walshville  road,  there  is  a  bluff 
of  thirty-five  feet  of  bluish-gray  sandy  shales 
with  a  thin  bed  showing  markings  resembling 
those  of  Fucoides  catida  galli,  and  containing 
one  Bellerophon.  East  of  Litchfield,  at  the 
creek  bluffs,  is  seen  thirty  feet  of  sand}',  shale, 
and  below  that  ten  feet  of  thick-bedded  sand- 
stone, resting  on  limestone.  Four  miles  up 
stream,  this  sandstone  is  quite  ferruginous  at 
the  base,  and  contain  many  remains  of  plants, 
Calamities^  Sigilaroe,etc.  One  mile  farther  up 
stream,  there  were  observed  forty-eight  feet  of 
darkish  micaceous  saudj'  shale.  On  Five-Mile 
Creek,  in  Section  26,  Township  10  north,  Range 
5  west,  there  are  twelve  feet  of  sandy  shales, 
with  a  thin  bed  of  partially  carbonized  wood, 
containing  a  fossil  fern.  A  quarter  of  a  mile 
up  the  creek,  there  is  an  exposure  of  sixteen 
feet  of  this  olive-drab  clay  shales,  with  iron- 
stone nodules.  These  shales  are  evidently  con- 
tinuations   of  the   same  beds,   and  make  the 


total  thickness  of  No.  26  not  less  than  eighty- ' 
five  feet.  The  best  exposures  of  Nos.  27  to 
33  inclusive  are  on  Lake  Fork  and  at  Litch- 
field. The  section  on  Lake  Fork,  at  the  Bond 
County  line,  near  McCracken's,  coal,  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

Ft.    Id. 

Drift  slope 20    0 

No.  27 — Lead  blue    limestone,   with    crinoid 

stems,  and  Athyris  subtilita 2    0 

No.28— Coal 0    2 

No.  29— Blue  clay  shales 10    0 

No.  30 — Shale  and  shaly  limestone  abounding 
in  fossils,  but  many  are  much  crushed 
including  Spirifer  cameratus,  Produc- 
tus punctatus,  P.  Nehrascensis,  Spiri- 
ferinn  Kentuckensis,  Hemipronites 
crassus  Productus,  Prattenianus, 
Athyris  subtilita  Terebratula  bovidens, 
Myalina  subquadrata,  a  Macrocheilus, 
a  Pleurotomaria,  and  one  in  fish  tooth  4  0 
No.  31  —  Ash-gray  limestone;  in  the  lower 
part  there  is  from  one  to  one  and  a  half 
feet  of  dark  ash-colorcd  limestone, 
often  traversed  by  fine  lines  of  calc- 
spar  ;  fossils  not  abundant   contains 

Productus  longispinus 18    0 

Bituminous  shale 4    0 

No.  33— Coal  No.  11 1    5 

"  Part  of  No.  27  appears  two  and  one-half 
miles  northwest  in  the  bed  of  the  creek,  con- 
taining Spirifer  cameratus,  Fistulipora,  Pro- 
ductus costatus,  P.  Nehrascensis,  P.  Pratteni- 
anus and  Myalina  subquadrata.  The  fossils 
here  have  a  well  preserved  and  nacreous  ap- 
pearance. One  and  a  half  miles  southwest 
of  Bethel,  part  of  No.  31  crops  out  along  the 
creek  ;  the  upper  portion  is  an  even  bedded 
bluish-gray  sub-crystalline  limestone  ;  but  lie- 
low  it  is  more  irregularly  bedded.  Productus 
longispinus  abounds,  associated  with  Ariculo- 
pecten  carboniferus.  Four  miles  northeast  of 
Litchfield,  the  upper  part  of  No.  31  is  a  thick 
bedded  brownish-gray  limestone,  abounding  in 
Rhynchonella  ITta. 

Coal — "  On  J.  Wilson's  land,  Section  7, 
Township  8  north.  Range  2  west,  coal  No.  13 
(No.  24  of  upper  coal  measures  section)   has 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


177 


been  mined  ;  that  used  was  from  near  the  out- 
crop, and  does  not  appear  very  favorable  ;  the 
quality  and  thickness  might  improve  by  thor- 
ough opening.  The  same  coal  has  also  been 
taken  out  on  the  land  of  John  L.  Newsman,  in 
Section  28,  Township  10  north,  Range  3  west, 
some  eighteen  inches  thick,  but  could  not  be 
thoroughly  examined  on  account  of  the  over- 
lying debris.  On  the  land  of  Mr.  McCracken, 
near  the  south  count}'  line  (probably  in  Bond 
County)  Coal  13  is  seventeen  inches  thick.  Oc- 
curring as  it  does  below  the  bed  of  the  creek, 
it  can  only  be  reached  at  low  water,  and  even 
then  the  labor  of  one  man  is  required  most  of 
the  time  to  keep  the  pit  sufficiently  dry  for  two 
others  to  work  ;  but  with  this  trouble  it  will 
repay  very  well  to  work  for  neighborhood  pur- 
poses. The  same  bed  has  also  been  worked  at 
Ross'  old  mill,  on  Shoal  Creek,  at  the  south 
county  line,  and  ma}-  also  be  reached  just  be- 
low the  surface  of  the  water  on  Shoal  Creek 
above  Long  bridge.  At  the  limestone  quarries 
on  the  creek  near  Butler,  it  may  be  reached  at 
about  ten  to  fourteen  feet  beneath  the  bed  of 
the  creek  ;  also  about  four  feet  beneath  the 
darker  colored  limestone  at  the  base  of  Mi- 
chael Cleary's  quarry  east  of  Litchfield. 

Building  Rock. — "  On  East  Fork,  about  Sec- 
tion 2C,  Township  8  north,  Range  3  west,  there 
is  a  tolerably  good  bed  of  hard  bluish  lime- 
stone. On  Rocky  Branch,  east  of  Litchfield, 
there  are  extensive  quarries  of  pretty  good 
limestone;  the  beds  are  rather  irregular,  but  the 
rock  is  very  extensively  used  for  ordinary 
stone  work,  and  makes  very  good  lime.  North 
of  the  railroad  on  the  West  Fork,  there  are  sev- 
eral outcrops  of  a  brown  and  gray  limestone  in 
three-foot  beds.  The  same  rock  is  also  found 
four  miles  farther  up  stream.  At  the  latter 
place,  part  of  it  presents  a  beautiful  bluish-gray 
variegated  appearance.  This  limestone  pos- 
sesses much  durability,  and  being  in  a  thick 
even  bed,  may  become  in  time  very  useful  for 
large  columns.     It  is  believed  to  be  equivalent 


to  that  used  in  the  construction  of  the  old  State 
House  at  Springfield.  West  of  Butler,  there 
are  good  quarries  of  limestone  for  lime,  and  it 
is  also  much  used  in  the  neighborhood  for  ordi- 
nary building  purposes." 

The  foregoing  presents  a  pretty  good  digest 
of  the  geology  of  Montgomery  County,  and  its 
wealth  of  coal  measures,  building  rocks,  etc., 
and  will  be  found  of  interest  to  land -owners  at 
least. 

The  climate  of  Montgomery  County,  in  com- 
mon with  Southern  and  Central  Illinois,  is  vari- 
able. No  one  who  has  lived  here  long  needs 
to  be  told  this  ;  it  very  soon  becomes  an  estab- 
lished fact  in  his  own  personal  experience.  Of 
the  temperature,  climate,  and  the  various 
changes  of  Southern  Illinois  weather  gener- 
ally, Foster's  Physical  Geography  has  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  The  melting  snows  of  winter,  gen- 
erally attended  by  rains,  convert  the  rich  soil 
of  the  prairies  into  mud,  and  render  earl}' 
spring  the  most  unpleasant  part  of  the  year. 
The  heat  of  summer,  although  more  intense 
than  in  the  same  latitude  on  the  Atlantic,  is 
greatly  relieved  by  the  constant  breezes  which 
fan  the  prairies.  Autumn,  with  its  slowly  di- 
minishing heat,  terminates  in  the  serene  and 
beautiful  season  known  as  Indian  Summer. 
Its  mild  and  uniform  temperature,  soft  and 
hazy  atmosphere,  and  forests  beautifully  tinted 
with  the  hues  of  dying  foliage,  all  conspire  to 
render  it  the  pleasant  part  of  the  year.  Next 
comes  the  boreal  blasts  of  winter,  with  its  so- 
cial firesides,  and  tinkling  bells  in  the  mystic 
light  of  the  moon,  as  merry  sleighs  skim 
over  the  level  snow-clad  prairies.  The  winter 
has  its  sudden  change  of  temperature,  causing 
colds  and  other  diseases  arising  from  extreme 
vicissitudes  of  weather.  This  is  the  most  un- 
favorable feature  of  the  climate,  which  in  other 
respects,  is  salubrious."  These  sudden  changes 
seem  to  increase  both  in  number  and  in  ex- 
tremes, a  fact  doubtless  attributable  to  natural 
causes — the  settling-up  and  cultivation  of  the 


178 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


country.  It  is  very  common  to  hear  old  citi- 
zens who  have  lived  in  the  State  forty  or  fifty 
years,  tell  how  different  the  seasons  are  now 
and  when  they  first  came  here.  There  is  more 
or  less  snow  or  rain,  the  seasons  are  less  favor- 
able for  farming,  the  springs  more  backward, 
etc.,  etc.,  just  as  their  fancy  happens  to  get 
the  start  of  them. 

The  following  extract  from  an  article  in  the 
old  Illinois  Gazetteer,  published  in  1834,  would 
indicate  that  there  had  been  considerable 
atmospherical  changes  within  the  last  half- 
century  :  "  There  are  a  great  proportion  of 
clear,  pleasant  days  throughout  the  year.  Dr. 
Beck,  who  resided  at  St.  Louis  during  the  year 


1820,  made  observations  upon  the  changes 
of  the  weather,  and  produced  the  following 
results:  '  Clear  days,  245;  cloudy,  including  all 
the  variable  days,  110.'  The  results  of  my  own 
observations,  kept  for  twelve  years,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  1826,  and  with  some  irregularity 
from  traveling  into  different  parts  of  Illinois 
during  the  time,  do  not  vary  in  any  material 
degree  from  the  above  statement."  Taking 
the  present  year  of  grace  (1S82)  as  a  sample  of 
cool,  cloud}-,  disagreeable  weather,  it  presents 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  observations  of  Dr. 
Beck  quoted  above,  and  proves  conclusively  that 
changes  are  taking  place  in  the  climate  and  sea- 
sons. 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


179 


CHAPTER  LT* 

EARLY  OCCUPATION  OF  THE  COUNTRY— THE    MOUND-BUILDERS— THEIR  REMAINS  AND  FORTIFI- 
CATIONS—THE  INDIANS— TRACES    OF   THEM    IN   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY— THEIR   SUCCES- 
SORS, THE'WHITES— DIFFICULTIES  ENCOUNTERED   BY  THE  EMIGRANTS  ON  THEIR 
WAY  TO  NEW  HOMES— INCIDENTS  OF  THE  PIONEER  PERIOD— GROWTH 
AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


P RE-HISTORIC  research  has  evolved  the 
fact,  that,  at  a  period  tying  wholly  within  the 
province  of  conjecture,  a  semi-civilized  people, 
whose  origin  and  final  fate,  as  well  as  their 
habits  and  customs,  are  enshrouded  in  com- 
parative mystery,  inhabited,  not  only  this  conn- 
try,  but  most  of  the  Western  Continent.  All 
attempts  to  unravel  the  rnystery  enveloping 
their  peculiar  lives  meet  with  failure,  save  where 
their  fast-decaying  works  cast  a  feeble  ray  of 
light  on  the  otherwise  impenetrable  darkness. 
From  the  northern  lakes  through  the  Mississippi 
Valley  into  Mexico,  and  thence  into  South 
America,  these  relics  of  a  lost  race  extend. 
Many  archasoligists  believe  that  their  occupa- 
tion of  this  country  was  anterior  to  that  of  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere,  and  that  this  continent  is 
really  the  Old  instead  of  the  New  World. 
However  extravagant  this  opinion  may  be,  there 
is  no  longer  any  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the 
archaeologist  that  this  country  was  occupied  by 
a  race  of  people,  of  whose  origin  the  Indians, 
found  in  possession  of  the  country  by  the  Euro- 
peans, knew  absolutely  nothing.  The  mounds 
and  fortifications  left  by  them  form  by  far  the 
most  interesting  relics  of  American  antiquity. 
Some  of  the  most  extensive  mounds  in  the 
United  States  are  in  Illinois,  and  are  located 
contiguous  to  the  Mississippi  River.  But  our 
limited  space  will  not  admit  of  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  this  lost  race  of  people.     Their  name, 

*Bj  W.  H.  Perriu. 


language  and  history  have  utterly  perished  from 
the  earth,  and  their  very  existence  even  would 
never  have  been  known  but  for  the  almost  ob- 
literated remains  which  still  show  the  work  of 
their  hands.     That  they  did  exist,  such  writers 
as  Rafinesque,  Foster,  Lubbock  and  others,  who 
have  spent  years  in  pre-historic  research,  stoutly 
maintained.     No  traces,  however,  of  the  "  lost 
race  "  are  found  in  Montgomery  County,  so 
as  we  can  learn.     Fortifications,  camps,   bu  r 
ing-grounds,  etc.,  which  some  have  attributed  to 
the  Mound-Builders',  and  which  are  located  in 
different  sections  of  the  county,  are  believed  by 
others,  better  informed,  to  be  but  the  works  o 
the   American  Indians.     The  latter  theory  is, 
doubtless,  the  correct  one. 

Following  the  Mound-Builders,  and  supposed 
by  writers  upon  the  subject  to  have  been  their 
conquerors,  came  the  Indians,  the  red  sous  of 
the  forest.  They  next  occupied  this  country 
and  resisted  the  encroachments  of  the  whites  to 
the  bitter  end.  From  the  Atlantic  coast,  they 
were  pressed  backward  toward  the  setting  sun, 
strewing  their  path  with  the  bones  and  skeletons 
of  their  martyred  warriors.  They  crossed  the 
Alleghanies,  and,  descending  its  western  slope, 
chanted  their  death  songs  as  they  moved  slowly 
and  mournfully  away  from  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  before  the  ever-advancing  tide  of  pale- 
faces. Halting  upon  the  plains  of  the  "  Illini." 
amid  the  forests  that  bounded  its  streams,  they 
made   the   last  home  of  their   own   choosing. 


180 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Bat  here  they  were  not  allowed  to  remain  in 
peace.  The  handful  of  whites,  who  had  dropped 
upon  the  western  shore  of  the  Atlantic,  had 
grown  into  a  great  multitude,  and  like  the  little 
stone  cut  out  of  the  mountains  by  unseen  hands, 
were  rolling  on,  as  a  mighty  avalanche,  crush- 
ing all  that  opposed.  In  the  early  dawn  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  red  man  was  again 
forced  to  take  up  his  line  of  march  from  South- 
ern Illinois,  nor  allowed  to  rest  until  he  reached 
his  promised  land,  the  great  plains  of  the  far 
West.  His  foot-prints  are  still  visible  in  what 
now  forms  Montgomery  County,  in  fortifica- 
cations,  burying-grounds,  etc. 

The  Indians  occupying  this  portion  of  Illinois, 
were  the  Kickapoos.  The  following  extract 
will  be  found  of  interest  to  our  readers  :  "  The 
Kickapoos,  in  1763,  occupied  the  country  south- 
west of  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. They  subsequently  moved  southward, 
and  at  a  more  recent  dale  dwelt  in  portions  of 
the  territory  on  the  Mackinaw  and  Sangamon 
Rivers,  and  had  a  village  on  Kickapoo  Creek, 
and  at  Elkhart  Grove.  They  were  more  civi- 
lized, industrious,  energetic  and  cleanly  than 
the  neighboring  tribes,  and  it  may  also  be  add- 
ed, more  implacable  in  their  hatred  to  the 
Americans.  They  were  among  the  first  to  com- 
mence battle,  and  the  last  to  submit  and  enter 
into  treaties  ;  unappeasable  enmity  led  them 
into  the  field  against  Gens.  Harmar,  St.  Clair 
and  Wayne,  and  to  be  the  first  in  all  the  bloody 
charges  on  the  field  of  Tippecanoe.  They  were 
prominent  among  the  Northern  nations,  which, 
for  more  than  a  century,  waged  an  exterminat- 
ing war  against  the  Illinois  Confederacy.  Their 
last  hostile  act  of  this  kind  was  perpetrated  in 
1805,  against  some  poor  Kaskaskia  children, 
whom  they  found  gathering  strawberries  on  the 
prairie  above  the  town  which  bears  the  name 
of  their  tribe.  Seizing  a  considerable  number 
of  them,  they  fled  to  their  villages  before  the 
enraged  Kaskaskias  could  overtake  them  and 
rescue    their  offspring.     During   the  years  of 


1810  and  1811,  in  conjunction  with  the  Chip- 
pewas,  Pottawatomies  and  Ottawas,  the}'  com- 
mitted so  many  thefts  and  murders  on  the 
frontier  settlements  that  Gov.  Edwards  was 
compelled  to  employ  military  force  to  suppress 
them.  They  claimed  relationship  with  the 
Pottawatomies,  and  perhaps  with  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  and  Shawnees.  When  removed  from 
Illinois,  they  still  retained  their  old  animosities 
against  the  Americans,  and  went  to  Texas,  then 
a  province  of  Mexico,  to  get  beyond  the  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States.  There  were  other 
tribes,  also,  who  roamed  through  this  part  of 
the  State.  The  Foxes  sometimes  made  incur- 
sions into  this  immediate  section,  and  if  they 
did  not  live  here  permanently,  they  remained 
at  least  temporarily.  In  what  is  now  East 
Fork  Township,  on  McDavid's  Branch,  in  Sec- 
tion 34,  at  a  fine  spring,  the  Foxes  once  had  a 
village  or  camp.  Of  this,  however,  we  have 
but  little  that  is  definite,  as  none  now  living 
remember  the  event  from  their  own  personal 
knowledge. 

There  is  a  tradition,  but  how  true  we  do  not 
know,  that  Capt.  Whiteside,  the  celebrated 
pioneer  and  Indian  fighter,  once,  in  company 
with  a  few  kindred  spirits,  fought  a  battle  with 
the  Indians  on  Shoal  Creek,  in  the  southeast 
part  of  North  Litchfield  Township;  but  of  this 
battle  there  remains  no  record,  other  than  tra- 
dition. Many  other  traditions  may  be  gath- 
ered of  the  occupation  of  the  count}-  by  the 
aborigines,  but  none  of  them  are  particularly 
reliable.  In  many  parts  of  the  county  there 
are  remains  of  camps,  some  of  them  fortified 
with  something  of  military  order.  One  of  these 
near  Hillsboro  still  shows  the  old  fortifications 
very  plainly,  and  has  been  examined  by  mili- 
tary men,  who  recognized  its  situation  for  a 
successful  defense.  Nothing,  however,  has 
been  published  in  regard  to  it,  and  few  people 
in  the  county  know  the  place  of  its  location. 

As  the  white  settlement  increased,  the  In- 
dians left  the  neighborhood,  falling  back,  as  has 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


181 


ever  been  their  fate,  before  the  advancing  tide 
of  immigration.  Their  camp  fires  paled  in  the 
sunlight  of  civilization,  and  then  went  out  on 
the  prairies  of  Illinois  forever. 

The  first  white  people  who  traversed  this 
country,  and  claimed  it  by  the  right  of  discov- 
ery, were  the  French  explorers  and  travelers. 
More  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  such  men 
as  La  Salle,  Marquette,  Hennepin,  Joliet  and 
other  Frenchmen,  had  traversed  the  State  of 
Illinois,  or  what  now  forms  this  great  State,  and 
made  settlements  along  the  Mississippi  River. 
Many  trees  and  stones  bore  the  impress  of  the 
finer  </c  /is  of  France,  and  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia 
and  Vinceunes  became  enterprising  French 
towns  surrounded  by  flourishing  settlements. 
Marquette  discovered  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
spent  years  of  toil  in  explorations  and  Chris- 
tianizing the  natives  of  the  great  West,  then 
died,  with  none  to  soothe  him  in  his  last  mo- 
ments save  his  faithful  Indian  converts.  La 
Salle  penetrated  to  the  mouth  of  the  "  Great 
Father  of  Waters,"  and  after  planting  the 
standard,  and  claiming  the  country  in  the  name 
of  his  king,  was  treacherously  murdered  b}-  his 
own  followers.  Rut  time  passed  on,  and 
eventually  the  lilies  of  France  drooped  and 
withered  before  the  majestic  tread  of  the  Rrit- 
ish  lion,  who,  in  his  turn,  quailed  and  cowered 
beneath  the  scream  of  the  American  eagle. 
The  conquest  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark 
made  Illinois  a  county  of  Virginia,  and  wrested 
it  forever  from  foreign  rule.  Rut  few  decades 
after  Clark  captured  Kaskaskia  and  Vinceunes, 
white  people  from  the  Eastern  States  began  to 
cross  the  Wabash  into  the  present  State  of  Illi- 
nois. The  first  settlements  were  made  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  State,  and  not  until  about 
the  years  1810-17  was  there  a  settlement  made 
by  the  whites  in  what  is  now  Montgomery 
County. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  1816  or  early  in 
1817  that  the  first  white  settlement  was  effected 
in  the  county.     This   pioneer  settlement  was 


made  in  the  extreme  southern  part,  on  Hurri- 
cane Creek.  Among  the  settlers  forming  it 
were  Joseph  Williams,  Henry  Pyatt,  William 
McDavid,  John  and  Henry  Hill,  Jesse  Johnson, 
Henry  Sears,  Aaron  Case,  Harris  Reavis,  Joseph 
and  Charles  Wright,  Easton  Whitten,  John 
Kirkpatrick.  Henry  Rowe,  John  Russell,  David 
Bradford,  E.  Gwinn  and  others.  In  what  is 
now  Hillsboro  Township,  on  Shoal  Creek,  the 
next  settlement  was  made  by  an  importation  of 
Kentuekians  and  Tennesseans  in  1817-18, 
among  whom  were  the  following,  viz.:  Alexan- 
der McWilliams.  Solomon  Prewitt,  John  Nor- 
ton, Roland  Shepherd,  Jarvis  Forehand,  Gor- 
don Crandall,  William  Clark,  David  McCoy, 
Nicholas  Lockerman,  Hugh  Kirkpatrick,  Mel- 
cher  Fogleman,  William  Griffith,  Joseph 
Me  Adams,  Israel  Seward,  James  Street,  Luke 
Steel,  John  McPhail,  Joel  Smith,  David  Kirk- 
patrick, Jesse  Townsend,  Jacob  Cress,  Israel 
Butler,  the  Harkeys,  and  a  number  of  others 
now  forgotten.  Hiram  Rountree,  one  of  the 
prominent  men  of  the  county,  who  is  noticed 
fully  elsewhere,  settled  in  this  neighborhood  in 
1821,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  here. 
These  settlements  were  made  in  the  timber 
bordering  the  water-courses.  The  people  who 
composed  the  original  settlements  came  from 
timbered  countries,  abounding  in  springs  and 
streams  of  running  water.  To  them,  the  broad 
prairies  of  waving  grass,  overtopped  with  in- 
numerable blossoms  and  fragrant  flowers  (in 
summer),  presented  all  the  monotony,  if  not  the 
dreariness,  of  sandy  deserts,  and  the  groves  of 
timber  were  as  welcome  as  the  "shadow  of  a 
great  rock  in  a  weary  land."  It  was  not  for 
years  after  the  first  settlements  were  made  in 
the  timber  that  people  ventured  out  on  the 
prairies.  The  prairies,  the}'  believed,  would 
never  be  utilized,  except  for  pasture,  as  the 
country  afforded  an  insufficiency  of  timber  to 
fence  them,  and  "  if  God  Almighty  did  not 
make  timber  grow  on  the  prairies,"  they  ar- 
gued, "  it  was  no  use  for  man  to  attempt  it." 


182 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


Hence,  the  prairies  would  never  be  fit  for  any- 
thing but  pasturage. 

Settlements  were  made  in  other  portions  of 
the  county  soon  after  those  already  mentioned. 
Some  of  the  people  composing  these  early  set- 
tlements, after  a  temporary  rest,  made  other 
settlements.  Melchoir  Fogleman,  with  Nicholas 
Voylis  and  William  Stephens,  settled  in  what  is 
now  Walshville  Township  some  time  in  ISIS. 
A  little  later,  Austin  Grisham,  James  Baker 
and  John  Jordan  settled  in  the  same  neighbor- 
hood. In  what  is  now  Butler  Grove  Township, 
Jacob  Cress  and  family,  already  mentioned, 
settled  in  1818.  The  present  township  of  Fill- 
more was  invaded  by  a  colonj'  from  Kentucky 
about  1820,  among  whom  were  James  Card, 
Thomas  J.  Todd,  John  Alexander,  Henry  and 
Peter  Hill,  M.  Mason  and  others.  Thus  set- 
tlers came  in  every  year,  and  settlements  were 
made  in  eveiy  body  of  timber  in  what  is  now 
Montgomeiy  County.  As  the  population  in- 
creased, and  the  timbered  laud  was  occupied, 
settlers  began  to  branch  out  on  the  prairies. 
Slowly  at  first,  and  with  many  misgivings,  but 
as  the  first  venturesome  ones  did  not  starve  to 
death,  others  soon  followed  them,  until  all  the 
prairie  land  was  either  settled  or  taken  up.  It 
is  not  our  purpose  to  minutely  describe  the 
settlements  made  in  different  parts  of  the 
count}-  in  this  connection,  but  will  leave  it  to 
chapters  devoted  to  each  individual  township. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made  in  the  wilderness,  life  pos- 
sessed few  pleasures  and  comforts,  and  was 
hard  in  the  extreme  and  often  dangerous.  The 
people  were  exposed  to  danger,  and  were  forced 
to  undergo  the  most  arduous  toil  to  maintain 
life.  The  following  extract  from  an  article  by 
Mr.  Coolidge  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of 
the  life  led  by  the  early  settlers  until  civiliza- 
tion and  prosperity  improved  the  times.  The 
article  referred  to  says  :  "  The  earliest  houses 
or  cabins  were  of  logs,  one  story  high,  and  usu- 
ally of  one  room.     The  door  was  frequently 


made  of  split  stuff,  and  the  openings  for  light 
sometimes  were  defended  by  a  frame  or  rude 
sash,  with  oiled  paper  for  glass,  but  more  usu- 
ally the  opening  was  closed  only  by  a  solid 
shutter.  In  the  summer,  this  was  left  unclosed; 
in  the  winter,  the  cabin  was  lighted  down  the 
chimney  or  through  an  open  door.  In  such  a 
residence  we  have  seen  the  entire  family  of 
father  and  mother  and  well  grown  boys  and 
girls  and  the  occasional  guest  sleeping  on  the 
floor,  and  heard  Senator  Douglas  repeat  the 
ludicrous  comments  of  the  grown-up  daughters 
on  the  '  right  small  chance  of  legs '  he  was 
forced  to  exhibit  when  dressing  in  the  morning 
after  a  night's  rest  en  famille.  The  kitchen 
utensils  were  a  pot  for  boiling  potatoes,  a  bake- 
kettle  for  bread  and  a  skillet  for  frying  meat. 
Twenty-five  dollars  would  buy  the  entire  do- 
mestic outfit  of  a  family,  the  coveted  feather- 
bed representing  a  moiety  of  the  same.  Chairs 
or  seats  were  made  at  home,  strong,  durable 
and  weight}',  but  not  luxurious.  The  pantry 
was  a  rustic  shelf  or  two  in  a  corner,  with  a 
bit  of  cloth  before  them.  We  are  dubious  as 
to  the  cradles,  but  the  crop  of  children  was 
sure  and  large.  They  grew  up  stout,  rosy- 
cheeked,  and  shy  as  untamed  colts.  As  for 
pocket-nioney,  nobody  seems  to  remember  if 
they  had  any.  The  writer's  allowance,  when 
sixteen,  was  but  5  cents  a  year.  A  tea-kettle  was 
a  superfluity,  and  irons  were  supplied  by  a 
couple  of  flat  stones.  The  hearth  was  the 
naked  earth;  the  chimney  was  outside  the 
house.  A  bank  of  clay  and  stone  was  raised 
up  several  feet;  about  four  feet  from  the  gen- 
eral level,  two  stout  pieces  of  timber  were  fas- 
tened on  each  side  of  the  fire-seat,  the  upper 
ends  inclining  toward  each  other,  and  resting 
against  a  loft-beam,  a  yard  and  a  half  from  the 
wall  of  the  house.  The  angular  space  thus 
inclosed  was  filled  with  split  sticks  and  clay 
mortar.  At  a  convenient  height  on  each  side, 
a  hole  was  left  into  which  was  thrust  a  pole 
from  which  depended  a  log  chain,  into  which 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


183 


pot-hooks  could  be  inserted  to  sustain  a  pot  or 
kettle.  If  the  owner  was  forehanded,  he  sub- 
stituted a  trammel  for  the  chain;  this  was  usu- 
ally a  flat  bar  of  iron,  the  upper  part  bent  to 
grip  the  pole  easily,  and  the  lower  portion 
pierced  with  numerous  holes  for  the  'insertion 
of  pot-hooks. 

"  After  1830,  wagons  began  to  be  seen.  Prior 
to  this,  the  ox-cart  was  the  universal  vehicle  of 
transportation.  Judge  Rountree  brought  his 
wife  and  worldly  possessions  to  the  count}-, 
drawn  by  a  yoke  of  two-year-old  steers* 
Thomas  C.  Hughes  brought  his  family  here  in 
a  similar  vehicle.  These  carts  were  not  built 
for  rapid  movement.  A  yoke  of  oxen  usually 
lounged  onward  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  and  a  half 
an  hour,  and  five  days  was  the  usual  time  for  a 
trip  to  St.  Louis.  With  the  use  of  wagons 
horses  began  to  be  employed  to  draw  them. 
Mules  were  not  seen  here  until  well  on  in  the 
thirties.  If  a  stranger  noticed  a  house  a  fur- 
long or  half  a  mile  from  a  highway,  and  ap- 
proached only  through  several  gates,  he  knew 
he  was  gazing  on  the  site  of  a  pioneer  home. 

"  The  plague  of  insects  was  intolerable  to 
man  and  beast.  A  green-headed  fly  was  the 
most  formidable  pest.  In  the  heat  of  the  day, 
horses  were  frantic,  and  for  safety  were  put  iu 
stables.  Cattle  would  dash  through  thickets 
•of  hazel  brush  to  dislodge  their  tormentors  or 
stand  midside  deep  in  pools  of  water.  The 
people  would  at  times  maintain  '  smudges  '  to 
drive  away  mosquitoes,  and  cattle  would  seek 
and  stand  in  the  smoke  for  hours  for  relief. 
With  the  increase  of  land  cultivation,  these 
pests  have  disappeared." 

In  further  illustration  of  the  pioneer  period, 

I'll.'  following  incident  is  related  of  Judge  Rountree'a  advent 
in  Ilill.hniT.  :  A  settler  was  at  work  upon  his  "improvement'*  In 
lii'1  south  end  of  the  present  town,  when  he  heard  a  doleful  noise, 
which  he  \v;»s  wholly  unable  to  comprehend,  and  which  was  so  per- 
fectly  harrowing  as  to  make  every  particular  hair  on  his  head 
Ht;iiMl  on  end.  Stories  of  Indian  outrages  were  rife  in  the  land,  and 
he  imagined  it  was  some  Indian  device  to  draw  the  whites  into  an 
■  ide,  and  with  the  greatest  caution, he  Bet  nut  to  reconnoiter. 
Whi  11  he  reached  a  poiut  commanding  a  view  of  the  trail— now  the 
Vandalia  road— he  saw  Judge  Rountree  coming  up  the  long  Blope, 
driving  an  oxcart,  the  creaking  and  screaking  of  the  wheels  ol 
which  had  produced  the  horrible  Bounds,  so  alarming  tohissensitive 
<\trs,  ever  on  the  alert  for  danger. — Ed. 


we  quote  the  following  from  the  "  Rountree 
Letters,"  published  a  few  years  ago  in  the  Hills- 
boro  Democrat :  "Biscuits  and  corn-dodgers 
baked  in  an  oven  over  and  under  glowing  coals  at 
the  fire-place,  and  johnny-cakes  baked  on  a 
board  in  front  of  the  fire,  are  among  the  pleas- 
antest  memories.  The  big  pot  of  lye-hominy 
was  also  one  of  our  earliest  delights.  Game 
was  so  plenty  that  it  rarely  happened  that 
meats  were  scarce.  But  the  means  of  obtain- 
ing meal  and  flour  for  bread  were  scarce.  Mills 
for  flour  came  after  awhile,  but  hand-mills,  run 
not  by  steam,  horses  nor  oxen,  but  by  women 
and  children,  were  occasionally  seen  ;  new  corn 
was  often  grated  by  hand  for  immediate  use- 
*  Instead  of  our  gay  chandeliers, 
and  coal  oil  lamps,  were  candles  of  tallow  or 
wax,  and  an  old-fashioned  affair,  dignified  by 
the  name  of  lamp,  that  was  stuck  in  a  crack  in 
the  wall  and  held  lard  in  a  heart-shaped  sheet- 
iron  basin,  in  which  was  a  wick  which  burned 
well  and  gave  a  torch-like  glare.  Those  who 
had  brass  or  silver  or  even  iron  candlesticks 
strove  to  keep  them  as  bright  as  their  pewter 
and  tinware. 

"  The  clothing  for  both  sexes  was  made  at 
home.  If  of  cotton,  the  cotton  was  raised, 
picked,  ginned,  carded,  spun,  woven,  colored 
and  cut  and  made  at  home.  If  of  wool,  the 
sheep  were  raised,  the  wool  clipped,  picked  by 
hand,  carded,  spun,  colored,  woven  and  made 
up  at  home.  All  members  of  the  household, 
male  and  female,  men,  women  and  children, 
were  usually  employed  in  some  part,  if  not  in 
all  parts,  of  the  manufacture.  It  is  true  that 
the  men  and  boys  frequently  wore  clothing 
either  made  entire  of  the  dressed  skins  of  ani- 
mals or  had  their  clothes  '  foxed  '  with  them. 
There  are  no  doubt  many  now  living  in  our  old 
county  who  can  tell  of  the  long  linen  shirts, 
home-made,  that  were  the  only  summer  gar- 
ments worn  by  children  and  of  the  moccasins  and 
the  buckskin  clothing.  Boots  were  nearly  un- 
known, and  shoes  were  indulged  in  as  a  luxury 


184 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


milv  by  the  grown  people,  while  moccasins  made 
at  home  sufficed  for  the  smaller  members.  How- 
ever, as  soon  as  tanning  could  be  done,  and  it 
was  also  often  done  at  home,  it  was  not  unfre- 
qnent  that  the  shoe-maker  went  from  house  to 
house  with  his  implements,  and  made  the  shoes 
for  the  family.  There  are  no  doubt  man)-  now 
living  in  the  county  who  never  wore  boots  un- 
til they  were  nearly  grown,  and,  perhaps,  never 
saw  an)-  until  nearly  grown.  Yet  while  there 
were  days  of  self-denial,  they  were  days  of  sin- 
cere happiness  ;  and  though  the  memories  are 
pleasant,  would  we  go  back  to  them  ?  Would 
we  be  willing  to  live  as  our  fathers  lived  ? 
Would  those  who  grew  up  thus,  like  to  try  it 
again  ?  Times  have  changed,  and  with  the 
times  our  people,  and  their  notions  and  tastes  ; 
and  no  doubt  it  is  all  right.  But  the  memory 
is  pleasant." 

Such  were  some  of  the  experiences,  and  the 
hardships  with  which  the  early  settlers  of  this 
county  had  to  contend  in  reclaiming  it  from  a 
wilderness.  In  the  grand  march  of  civilization 
the  great  changes  that  have  taken  place  within 
the  last  half-century  is  almost  beyond  the  power 
of  the  mind  to  comprehend.  When  we  look 
around  us  at  the  enterprising  cities  and  towns, 
the  magnificent  residences  and  broad,  product- 
ive fields,  the  manufactories  of  various  kinds, 
and  the  improved  machinery  in  use,  thus  facili- 
tating men's  work  and  giving  employment  to 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  human  beings,  we 
are  startled  at  the  fact  that  fifty  or  sixt}r  years 
ago  these  fertile  plains  were  the  abode  of  savages 
and  wild  beasts  ;  and  the  few  whites,  scattered 
here  and  there,  as  little  dreamed  of  the  results 
of  to-day,  as  we  dare  predict  what  the  next 
fifty  years  may  bring  forth.  The  pioneer's  cab- 
in '•  rude  in  its  simplicity,  and  simple  in  its 
rudeness,"  has  given  place  to  comfortable 
homes  ;  the  rude  implements  of  agriculture 
have  disappeared  before  improvements  and  in- 
ventions that  have  made  farming  not  a  labor 
but  a  science,  while  the  patient  ox  has  been 
supplanted  by  the  iron-horse. 


Additional  to  other  troubles  and  trials  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  early  period  of  the  country  were 
prairie  fires.  These  fires  have  always  been  a 
source  of  terror  to  people  living  in  a  prairie 
country,  and  much  damage  and  loss  of  property 
and  even  of  life  have  resulted  from  them.  The 
tall  prairie  grass,  from  four  to  six  feet  high, 
when  dry,  with  strong  winds  prevailing,  pre- 
sented combustible  matter  only  surpassed  by 
kerosene,  gunpowder,  etc.  "  In.  time  of  peace 
prepare  for  war,"  is  an  adage  that  was  very 
generally  observed  by  the  settlers  living  on  the 
verge  of  the  prairies,  and  later  in  the  prairies 
themselves.  As  soon  as  the  grass  began  to  die 
and  dry  up  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  preparations 
against  fire  were  made  by  burning  or  plowing 
roads  around  fields  and  farms.  But  even  these 
barriers  were  sometimes  overleaped,  and  dis- 
tressing consequences  followed  to  the  poor  man, 
who  had  but  little  to  begin  with,  and  lost  that 
almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  The  early 
inhabitants  were  often  melancholy  witnesses  to 
these  great  conflagrations — so  glorious  in  their 
grandeur,  and  gloomy  in  their  ruin  and  waste. 
The  dense  smoke  arising  from  them  in  the  days 
of  Indian  summer,  often  enveloped  the  land  in 
the  "  shades  of  evening,"  recalling  the  lines  of 

Milton— 

"The  sun, 

In  dim  eclipse,  disastrous  twilight 

Shed  o'er  half  the  nations." 
In  the  natural  course  of  event,  everything 
must  have  a  beginning.  As  the  county  settled 
up  and  population  increased,  mills  were  built, 
shops  and  stores  established  to  supply  the 
wants  of  the  community,  and  highways  opened 
to  the  markets  of  the  outside  world.  The  first 
store  in  the  county  was  kept  by  John  Tilson, 
a  man  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  the 
county.  He  was  from  Boston,  and  located  on 
the  farm  afterward  known  as  the  "  Scherer 
place,"  about  three  miles  southwest  of  Hills- 
boro.  He  opened  a  store  about  the  year 
1S20-21,  where  he  lived,  and  when  the  county 
seat  was  established  at  Hillsboro,  moved  his 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


185 


store  to  town.  He  built  the  first  brick  house 
in  Hillsboro,  and  kept  the  first  store  in  the 
town  as  well  as  in  the  county.  When  the  post 
office  was  established,  he  became  the  first  Post- 
master. Melchoir  Fogleman  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  blacksmith,  and  had  a  shop  in  the 
west  part  of  the  county.  The  first  mills,  manu- 
factories, etc.,  will  be  found  in  other  chapters 
of  the  work.  We  are  informed  I33-  a  local  au- 
thority, that  N.  Lockerman  was  the  first  man 
married,  and  that  he  was  married  by  Rev. 
James  Street,  while  hoeing  corn,  but  whether 
it  was  Mr.  Street  or  Mr.  Lockerman  hoeing 
corn,  deponent  saith  not.  It  is  said  there  is  a 
woman  in  everything,  whether  for  good  or  ill, 
but  there  is  none  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Lockerman,  aud  it  may  be 
that  he  was  married  by  Mr.  Street  to  the  corn 
he  was  hoeing.  We  would  be  glad  to  describe 
the  toilettes  and  bridal  presents  of  this  pioneer 
wedding,  for  the  benefit  of  our  lady  readers, 
who  are  always  interested  in  such  things,  but, 
owing  to  circumstances,  are  unable  to  do  so. 
We  doubt  not,  however,  but  that  they  were  in 
accordance  with  the  customs  of  the  time.  As 
to  the  truth  of  the  assertions  that 

' '  Full  many  cares  are  on  the  wreath, 
That  binds  the  bridal  veil," 

we  cannot  say,  but  presume  that  Mr.  Locker- 
man and  his  bride — if  he  had  one — lived  as 
happily  as  the  common  lot.  The  second  mar- 
riage celebrated  in  the  county  was  David  Mc- 
Coy to  Miss  Kirkpatrick,  and  the  third,  William 
H.  Brown  to  Miss  Harriet  Seward.  The  license 
of  the  latter  couple  were  the  first  returned  to 
the  Clerk's  office  of  Montgomery  County. 

Apropos  of  "  marrying  and  giving  ill  mar- 
riage," the  following  incident  comes  in  place  : 
In  the  early  years  of  the  county,  Judge  Roun- 
tree  was  the  engineer  that  ran  pretty  much  all 
of  its  machinery.  He  was  Probate  Judge, 
Recorder,  County  and  Circuit  Clerk,  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  legislator,  and  held  a  dozen  or  two 
other  minor  offices  "  too  tedious  to  mention." 


Once,  while  at  Springfield  on  legislative  busi- 
ness, a  couple  came  to  town  to  get  married, 
and  when  they  found  him  gone,  they  seemed 
greatly  troubled  in  "  body  and  mind."  But 
somebody  sent  them  to  Mrs.  Rountree,  who 
told  them  that  she  could  issue  the  license  if 
she  could  get  in  the  office,  but  that  Mr.  Roun- 
tree had  carried  off  the  key  with  him  to  Spring- 
field. The}'  went  to  the  office,  however,  when 
the  bridegroom  elect  set  up  a  lot  of  fence-rails 
against  the  window  and  finally  succeeded  in 
forcing  it  open.  He  then  entered  and  opened 
the  door  from  the  inside,  and  Mrs.  Rountree 
went  in  where  she  found  a  license  signed  by 
Judge  Rountree,  which  she  filled  up  for  the 
happy  couple,  and  sent  them  on  their  road  to 
Hymen  rejoicing.  Since  then,  many  couples 
have  gone  and  done  likewise  ;  the  old,  old 
story,  and  yet  forever  new,  has  been  told  over 
and  over  again,  and  still  the  work  goes  on.  The 
date  of  the  first  birth  is  forgotten,  but  as  Mr. 
Coolidge  says,  the  crop  of  children  was  sure 
and  large  ;  there  loas  a  first  birth,  and,  perhaps, 
at  an  early  day.  The  present  population  of  the 
county  indicates  their  frequency. 

The  first  death  which  occurred  is  not  now 
remembered.  Sixty-five  years  have  come  and 
gone  since  the  first  white  people  came  here,  and 
now  most  of  them  have  passed  to  that  bourn 
whence  no  traveler  returns. 

"  Long  years  have  flown  o'er  the  scenes  of  the  past, 
And  many  turned  gray  in  the  winter's  cold  blast; 
While  others  but  dream  of  the  time  that  is  gone. 
They  are  bent  by  the  years  that  are  fast  rolling 
on." 

It  was  appointed  unto  all  men  to  die,  says  Holy 
Writ,  and  pretty  faithfully  have  the  pioneers  of 
Montgomery  County  obeyed  the  summons. 
The  grass  has  grown  over  their  graves  in  the 
old  churchyard,  the  flowers  have  bloomed  and 
1  withered  with  the  coming  and  waning  years, 
and  a  new  generation  now  fill  their  places  upon 
the  stage  of  action. 


18G 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   III* 

ORGANIZATION  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY— THE  ACT  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  CREATING  IT— EARLY 
OFFICERS  AND  COURTS— LOCATION  OF  THE  COUNTY  SEAT  — COURT  HOUSES  AND   PUBLII 
BUILDINGS  — DIVISION  OF  THE  COUNTY  INTO  PRECINCTS  AND  TOWNSHIPS— CON- 
VENIENCE OF  TOWNSHIP  ORGANIZATIONS  — THE  FOOR  FARM,  ETC. 
—POLITICS   AND    POLITICAL   PARTIES. 


THE  American  people  tend  naturally  to  self- 
government.  Hence,  the  formation  of 
States  and  counties  as  soon  as  the  number  of 
inhabitants  will  allow.  Under  the  history  of 
Bond  County,  we  have  seen  how  Illinois  formed, 
first,  a  county  of  Virginia,  then  a  portion  of  the 
Northwestern  Territory,  then  of  the  Indiana 
Territory,  later  a  territory  of  itself,  and  finally, 
a  State  of  the  American  Union.  Its  first  divi- 
sion into  counties  is  there  noted,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  Bond  was  created  while  the  State 
was  still  a  Territory,  and  embraced  a  vast  ex- 
tent of  country  now  divided  into  a  number  of 
counties.  This  tendency  to  independence  and 
self-government,  led  to  the  formation  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  when  there  were  but  a  few  hun- 
dred people  within  its  present  circumscribed 
limits.  It  was  set  off  from  Bond  County,  by 
act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  at  the  session  of 
1820-21,  and  approved  on  the  12th  of  February 
of  the  latter  year.  That  portion  of  the  act  per- 
taining to  the  organization  of  Montgomery 
County,  or  the  main  point  of  it,  were  as  follows  : 
"  Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Illi- 
nois, and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  authority  of 
the  same,  that  all  that  tract  of  country  lying 
within  the  following  prescribed  boundaries,  to 
wit : 

"  Beginning  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Sec- 
tion 24,  in  Township  7  north,  and  Range  2  west, 
of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian  ;  thence  west 
eighteen  miles,  to  the  southwest  corner  of  Sec- 

*By  W.   II.  IVrrin. 


tion  19,  in  Township  7  north,  and  Range  a 
west ;  thence  south  to  the  line  of  said  town- 
ship, thence  west  to  the  southwest  corner,  and 
thence  north  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Town- 
ship 12  north;  thence  east  twenty  -four  miles  to 
the  northeast  corner  of  Township  12  north,  and 
Range  2  west,  thence  south  to  the  beginning,  to 
be  known  as  Montgomery  County,  and  that 
Melchoir  Fogleman,  James  Street  and  Joseph 
Wright,  be  appointed  Commissioners  to  locate 
the  seat  of  justice  of  said  county,  etc.,  etc." 
The  remainder  of  the  act,  with  a  number  of 
"  whereases  "  and  "  enactments,"  has  no  particu- 
lar reference  to  this  county  and  is  omitted.  The 
newly  created  county  was  named,  it  is  said,  in 
honor  of  Gen.  Montgomery,  a  Revolutionary 
officer,  while  others  are  dubious  as  to  whence  it 
received  its  name.  In  the  absence,  however,  of 
certainty,  we  will  leave  the  honor  with  the  old 
soldier  mentioned  above. 

Montgomery  County  retained  its  original 
boundaries  until  the  formation  of  Dane  County, 
now  called  Christian,  the  act  of  which  was  ap- 
proved February  15,  1839,  when  a  large  mouth- 
ful was  taken  out  of  the  northeast  corner  of 
Montgomery,  leaving  it  in  its  present  irregular 
shape.  The  Commissioners,  appointed  to  locate 
the  county  seat,  met  at  the  house  of  Joseph 
McAdams,  to  determine  the  matter,  and  to  de- 
cide upon  an  eligible  site.  According  to  the 
act  creating  the  county,  the  owner  of  the  land 
selected  for  the  county  seat  was  to  donate 
tvventj'  acres  for  public  buildings,  as  an  induce- 
ment for  bis  land  being  accepted  for  the  pur- 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


137 


pose.     After  mature  deliberation,  the  Commis- 
sioners made  selection  of  a  site,  known  since  as 
the   "McAdams   place,"    and  which   is    about 
three,  miles  southwest  of  Hillsboro.     A  town 
was  laid  out  and  called   Hamilton,  lots  were 
sold,  streets  surveyed,  and  contracts  let  for  pub- 
lic buildings,  and  every  effort  made  to  start  a 
town.     In  the   meantime,   however,  there  was 
much  dissatisfaction  as  to  the  place  selected, 
and  strong  objections  raised  to  the  erection  of 
a  court  house  and  a  jail  at  Hamilton.     Joseph 
Wright,  one  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to 
locate   the  county   seat,    refused  to    sign  the 
report   of    the    Commissioners,    and     made   a 
kind   of    minority    report    on    the    question, 
urging  as  a  reason  for  his  course,  that  Ham- 
ilton   was    neither    the    geographical     center 
of    the    county    or   of   population.     So   great 
was  the  controversy  over  the  matter  that,  by 
another  act  of  the  Legislature,   passed  early 
in  the  year  1S23,  new  Commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed to  relocate  the  county  seat.     This  new 
board  consisted  of  Elijah  C.  Berry,   Silas  L. 
Wait  and  Aaron  Armstrong,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  act  they  met  and, 
after  considering  the  different  points  contesting 
for  the  honor,  they  chose  the  present  site  of 
Hillsboro.     The   name   is   said  to    have    been 
given  by  a  North  Carolinian,  many  of  whom 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  this  section,  in 
honor  of  his   native  place,    Hillsboro,   N.    C. 
But   it   is    quite   as  probable   that   the  name 
was  attained   from  the  numerous  hills,    upon 
which  the  little  city  now  sits  as  majestically  as 
did  ancient  Rome  upon  her  seven  hills. 

The  following  incident  is  related  in  connec- 
tion with  the  location  of  the  county  seat  at 
Hillsboro.  The  land  upon  which  the  town 
stands,  and  which  had  been  selected  for  the 
capital,  had  not  been  entered  at  the  time.  The 
Commissioners  had  heard  of  a  man  living  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  county,  of  the  name  of 
Newton  Coffey,  who  was  said  to  have  fifty  dol- 
lars in   money,  something  very  unusual  for  a 


pioneer  citizen  of  Illinois  at  that  day.  So  they 
sent  for  him  and  prevailed  upon  him  to  enter 
the  land,  as  none  else  had  monej'  enough  to  do- 
so.  Coffey  entered  the  land,  made  a  donation 
of  the  usual  twenty  acres  for  public  buildings, 
and  proceeded  to  lay  out  the  town  of  Hillsboro, 
as  will  be  fully  detailed  in  succeeding  chapters 
of  this  work. 

The   Courts. — No    public    buildings,    as    we 
have  said,  were  erected  at  Hamilton,   and  the 
first  court  of  the  newly-organized  county  wan 
held  at  the  house  of  Joseph   McAdams,    and 
after  the  relocation  of  the  county  seat,  at  the 
house  of  Luke  Steel,  until  a  building  of  a  court 
house  at  Hillsboro.     The  first  term  of  the  Cir- 
cuit  Court,  as   well    as  the    County  Commis- 
sioners' Court,  was  held  at  McAdams',  and  was 
presided  over  by  Hon.  John  Reynolds,  Judge  ; 
Hiram  Rountree  was  Clerk,  and  Joel   Wright 
Sheriff.     The  grand  jury  were  as  follows  :  John 
Seward,    James    Black,  George  W.    Shipman, 
David  Bradford,  William  McDavid,  John  Beck, 
James   Card,  George  Davis,  Elisha  Freemen, 
Henry  Hill,  Lewis  Scribner,  Hiram  Reavis.  James 
Walker,  Newton  Coffey,  Jarvis  Forehand,  John 
Yoakum,  John  Elder  and  Thomas  Robinson. 
The  first  County  Commissioners'  Court  was  held 
April  7.  1821,  the  Commissioners  being  John 
Beck,  John  McAdams  and  John  Seward.     The 
following  county  officers  were  appointed  at  this 
term  of  courts,  viz.  :   Hiram  Rountree,  Clerk  ;  ' 
John  Tilson,  Treasurer  ;  Joel  Wright,  Sheriff, 
and  E.  M.  Townsend,  Probate  Judge  ;  James 
Wright  and  Daniel    Meredith  were  appointed 
first  Constables  of  the  county.     Thus  was  the 
civil  machinery  of  the  county  set  in  motion,  by 
the  organization  of  the  different  branches  of  the 
court,  and  the    appointment  of  the   requisite 
officers  to  properly  administer  the  same.     Some 
of  these  early  officers  were  men  of  ability,  and 
left  their  impress  upon  the  history  of  the  county, 
as  will  be  seen  from  sketches  of  their  lives  in 
different  departments  of  this  work. 
"  As  population  increased,  the  county  was  laid 


188 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


off  into  districts  for  the  greater  convenience  of 
the  people  and  the  better  administration  of  the 
laws.  It  was  first  divided  into  election  pre- 
cincts, and  subdivided  as  occasion  required. 
The  election  precincts  were  continued  until 
within  the  last  decade,  when  the  county  adopted 
township  organization,  and  the  precincts  were 
changed  into  civil  townships.  There  are  now 
eighteen  townships  in  the  count}-,  viz.:  Hills- 
boro,  North  and  South  Litchfield,  Zanesville, 
Harvel,  Pitman,  Raymond,  Bois  D'Arc,  Roun- 
tree,  Nokomis,  Audubon,  Witt,  Fillmore,  East 
Fork,  Irving,  Butler  Grove,  Walshville  and 
Grisham.  These  are  all  full  Congressional 
townships,  that  is,  comprise  thirty-six  sections, 
except  Harvel,  Bois  D  Arc,  Audubon,  Fillmore, 
East  Fork  and  Grisham.  Some  of  these  have 
been  divided  for  election  purposes,  but  other- 
wise remain  subject  to  the  same  township  gov- 
ernment. Under  the  old  precinct  system,  the 
court  consisted  of  three  Commissioners,  elected 
by  the  people,  and  all  business  relating  to  the 
county  was  transacted  by  this  court  as  it  is 
now  done  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors.  The 
system  of  township  organization  had  its  origin 
in  the  United  States,  in  the  early  history  and 
settlement  of  New  England.  "  The  root  of  this 
form  of  local  government,"  says  a  late  writer, 
"  may  be  traced  to  the  districting  of  England 
into  tithings  by  King  Alfred,  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury,  to  crush  the  widespread  local  disorders 
which  disturbed  his  realms."  Upon  this  an- 
cient idea  of  tithing  districts,  the  Puritans 
grafted  their  great  improved  township  system. 
The  count}'  system  originated  in  this  country, 
in  Virginia,  and  is  also  of  English  origin.  The 
tobacco  planters  of  the  Old  Dominion,  owning 
their  laborers  more  completely  than  did  the 
Barons  of  England  their  vassals,  lived  isolated 
and  independent  upon  their  large  landed  es- 
tates, in  imitation  of  the  aristocracy  of  the 
mother  country.  The}-  also  modeled  their 
county  and  municipal  institutions,  with  certain 
modifications,  suitable  to  the  condition  of  the 


new  country,  after  the  same  prototype  ;  whence 
has  spread  the  county  system  into  all  the  South- 
ern and  many  of  the  Northern  States.  All  the 
Northwest  Territory,  now  constituting  five 
States,  after  the  conquest  of  Clark,  was,  by 
Virginia,  in  1778,  formed  into  one  county  under 
jurisdiction  (as  already  mentioned),  called  Illi- 
nois. The  county  feature  was  after  retained  in 
all  the  States  carved  out  of  this  territory.  The 
county  business  in  Illinois  was  transacted  by 
these  Commissioners,  in  the  respective  counties, 
who  constituted  a  County  Court,  which,  besides 
the  management  of  county  affairs,  had  usually 
other  jurisdiction  conferred  upon  it,  such  as  that 
of  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Probate  business. 
By  the  constitution  of  1848,  owing  to  Eastern 
or  New  England  settlers  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  State,  township  organization  was  author- 
ized, leaving  it  optional  for  any  county  to  adopt 
or  not  the  law  to  be  enacted.  In  accordance 
with  the  provision  of  that  constitution,  and  in 
obedience  to  a  demand  from  the  people  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  State,  who  had  observed 
its  practical  workings  in  the  Eastern  States,  the 
first  township  organization  act  was  passed  by 
the  Legislature.  But  the  law,  in  attempting  to 
put  it  into  practical  operation,  disclosed  radical 
defects.  It  was  revised  and  amended  at  the 
session  of  1851,  substantially  as  it  has  existed 
until  the  recent  revision  in  1871.  The  adop- 
tion of  the  township  system  marks  an  era  in 
the  management  of  fiscal  affairs  in  many  of  the 
counties  of  the  State.  Our  township  system  is 
not.  however,  closely  modeled  after  the  New 
England  States.  There  a  Representative  is 
sent  directly  from  each  town  to  the  Lower 
House  of  the  Legislature.  In  New  York,  owing 
to  her  vast  extent  of  territory,  this  was  found 
to  be  impracticable,  and  a  county  assembly  de- 
nominated a  Board  of  Supervisors,  composed 
of  a  member  from  each  town,  was  then  estab- 
lished. This  modified  system  we  have  copied, 
almost  exactly,  in  Illinois. 

"  Townships  are  often   compared  to  petty  re- 


LIBRARY 

OF   1ME 

UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


191 


publics,  possessing  unlimited  sovereignty  in 
matters  of  local  concern  ;  and  Boards  of  Su- 
pervisors are  often  popularly  supposed  to  be 
vested  with  certain  limited  legislative  powers. 
Neither  is  the  case.  Both  the  County  and  the 
Township  Boards  are  the  mere  fiscal  agents. 
They  hold  the  purse-strings  of  the  counties  ; 
they  may  contract,  incur  debts,  or  create  liabil- 
ities— very  great  powers,  it  is  true — but  they 
cannot  prescribe  or  vary  the  duties,  nor  con- 
trol in  any  manner  the  county  or  township  of- 
ficers authorized  by  law.  While  the  County 
Court  of  three  members  is  a  smaller,  and,  there- 
fore, as  a  rule,  more  manageable,  or  control- 
table  body  by  outside  influences,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  a  Board  of  Supervisors  is  not  only 
more  directly  expressive,  but  also  that  a  thou- 
sand and  one  petty  claims  of  every  conceivable 
character,  having  no  foundation  in  law  or  jus- 
tice, are  constantly  presented,  and,  being  loose- 
ly investigated  and  tacitly  allowed,  aggregate 
no  insignificant  sum.  A  Board  of  Supervisors 
also  acts  or  is  controlled  more  by  partisan 
feelings.  There  ought  to  be  uniformity  through- 
out the  State  in  the  management  of  county  af- 
fairs. No  little  confusion  seems  to  pervade  the 
laws  at  the  present  time  relating  to  our  two 
classes  of  counties." 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  the  writer 
of  the  foregoing,  the  system  of  township  organ- 
ization now  in  vogue  in  a  majority  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Illinois,  is  not  without  its  merits.  The 
fact — a  very  potent  one,  too — is  that,  when 
once  adopted  by  any  count}',  it  is  never  changed. 
None  have  been  known,  as  far  as  we  have  been 
able  to  learn,  though  the  attempt  has  often  been 
made,  to  recede  from  the  position  and  return 
to  the  old  system.  And,  slowly  as  some  of  the 
counties  were  to  enter  into  it,  yet  when  they 
did  finally  adopt  it,  they  have  continued  to 
cling  perseveringly  to  it.  Montgomery,  as  we 
have  said,  was  late  in  adopting  township  organ- 
ization, remaining  under  the  old  precinct  organ- 
ization until  1S73,  when  the  new  order  of  local 


government  was  inaugurated.  The  most  im- 
portant township  officers  are  a  Supervisor, 
Township  Clerk,  Assessor,  Treasurer,  etc.  The 
number  and  names  of  the  townships  of  Mont- 
gomery County  have  already  been  given  in  this 
chapter. 

The  Poor  Farm. — This  is  a  county  institu- 
tion and  deserves  some  mention  in  this  connec- 
tion. It  is  located  in  East  Fork  Township, 
about  three  miles  south  of  Hillsboro.  The  costs 
of  pauperage  in  this  county-  are  but  small  com- 
pared to  those  borne  by  the  people  of  England 
and  some  other  European  nations.  The  local 
communities  of  Illinois  give  equally  good  care 
to  a  few  unfortunates  who,  by  constantly  re- 
curring misfortunes,  are  at  last  brought  to  live 
upon  the  county. 

The  first  Poor  Farm  was  in  Irving  Township, 
and  was  known  as  "  swamp  land,"  which  was 
set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  a  Poor  Farm,  but 
was  never  used  nor  improved  as  such.  It  was 
selected  December  6, 1873,  and  was  the  northeast 
quarter  of  Section  1,  Township  9  (Irving),  Range 
3.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
place  for  erecting  buildings,  etc.,  and  March  27, 
1874,  a  contract  was  let  for  $3,900  for  that  pur- 
pose, but  on  the  29th  of  April,  before  work 
commenced,  the  site  was  changed  to  the  Black- 
man  farm,  in  East  Fork  Township.  The  con- 
tractor was  to  put  up  the  same  buildings  as 
those  designed  in  Irving  Township.  May  1, 
1874,  the  east  half  of  the  northeast  quarter  of 
Section  24  (eighty  acres),  and  part  of  the  east 
half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  same  sec- 
tion (sixteen  acres);  west  half  of  northwest 
quarter  of  Section  19,  and  part  of  the  west  half 
of  the  southwest  quarter  of  same  section,  172 
acres,  was  purchased  of  0.  Blackmail,  at  835 
per  acre,  and  a  deed  made  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  of  Montgomery  County.  The 
buildings,  as  originally  designed,  were  com- 
pleted and  accepted  September  9,  1874,  by  the 
Board  of  Supervisors. 

In  a  recent  article  upon  the  institution,  Mr. 

K 


193 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Springer  says  :  "  The  Poor  House  is  shaded  by 
handsome  forest  trees,  and  flanked  on  the  left 
with  a  well-trained  and  productive  orchard. 
The  care  and  comfort  which  its  inmates,  who 
have  in  most  instances  some  mental  or  phys- 
ical defects,  and  often  both,  is  far  better  than 
they  had  met  in  earlier  parts  of  their  friendless 
lives,  and  here  they  seem  actually  to  enjoy  an 
existence,  which  to  the  rational  visitor  appears" 
unenviable.  The  establishment  has  been  satis- 
factorily conducted  ever  since  its  removal  here 
from  its  first  location  in  Irving  Township,  and 
at  an  expense  (under  the  management  of  Mr. 
Staub)  to  the  county,  comparatively  light.  It 
is  part  self-sustaining,  the  soil  of  the  farm  be- 
ing productive  under  careful  cultivation." 

Political. — In  the  early  history  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  there  was  but  little  strife 
among  political  parties  as  compared  to  that  of 
a  later  day.  The  war  of  1812,  and  the  ac- 
companying events,  wiped  out  the  old  Federal 
party  that  had  so  bitterly  opposed  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, and  for  some  years  politics  ran  on 
smoothly.  The  scramble  for  office  in  the  early 
period  of  the  county  was  almost  nothing  to 
what  it  is  at  present.  The  office  sought  the 
man  and  not  the  man  the  office  ;  and  an  un- 
faithful "  steward  "  was  rarely  heard  of.  The 
most  lucrative  offices  were  filled  by  appoint- 
ment and  not  by  popular  election,  and  as  a 
general  thing  by  faithful  and  competent  men, 
who  discharged  their  duties  without  fear  or 
favor.  Thus,  Judge  Rountree  held  several 
important  offices  at  the  same  time,  for  more 
than  twenty  years — a  pretty  good  proof  that 
he  discharged  his  duties  faithfully. 

The  appointing  power,  conferred  by  the 
Legislature  upon  the  court,  although  anti-re- 
publican in  principle,  is  believed  by  man}-  to 
be  the  best  calculated  to  secure  efficiency  and 
competency  in  office.  Experience  has  proven, 
in  many  instances,  that  the  less  frequently 
changes  are  made,  the  better  it  is  for  the  pub- 
lic service.     The  early  records  of  the  County 


show,  under  the  appointing  power,  but  few 
changes — the  case  of  Judge  Rountree  being  an 
example  in  point. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1S24  was  at- 
tended with  unusual  excitement.  The  candi- 
dates for  President  were  Henry  Clay,  Gen. 
Jackson,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  William  H. 
Crawford.  Mr.  Clay  carried  his  own  State 
but  was  overwhelmingly  defeated.  Neither  of 
the  candidates  had  a  majority  of  the  votes  in 
the  Electoral  College,  according  to  the  Consti- 
tutional rule,  and  upon  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives devolved  the  duty  of  making  choice 
of  President.  Each  State,  by  its  Representa- 
tives in  Congress,  cast  one  vote.  Mr.  Clay 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  it  is  supposed  that,  through  his  influence, 
the  Kentucky  delegation  cast  the  vote  of  that 
State  for  Mr.  Adams  instead  of  for  Gen.  Jack- 
son. By  this  coup  d'etat  Mr.  Clay  was  instru- 
mental in  organizing  political  parties  that 
survived  the  generation  in  which  he  lived,  and 
ruled  in  turn  the  destines  of  the  Republic  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

For  several  years  after  the  political  power 
and  official  patronage  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Old  Hickory,  parties  were  known 
throughout  the  country  as  the  Jackson  and 
anti-Jackson  parties.  These  finally  became 
the  Whig  and  Democratic  parties,  the  latter  of 
which  has  retained  its  party  organization  down 
to  the  present  day,  and  is  still  one  of  the  great 
political  parties  of  the  time,  and  has  ever 
been  the  dominant  part}-  in  Montgomery 
County.  During  the  existence  of  the  Whig 
party,  the  Democrats  usually  carried  off  the 
spoils  of  office  in  the  county  ;  and  when  the 
Whig  party  died  and  was  resurrected  under 
the  title  of  Republican  party,  the  ghost  of 
Andrew  Jackson  still  led  the  old  hero's  ad- 
herents on  to  victory,  as  he  himself  had  led  his 
ragged  militia  to  victory  at  New  Orleans.  It 
is  sometimes  told  of  them,  by  way  of  derision 
that  many  Democrats  are  still  voting  for  him, 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


193 


particularly  in  the  south  end  of  the  county. 
We  were  informed,  however,  by  a  gentleman 
whose  party  predilections  do  not  coincide  with 
them,  that,  from  the  amount  of  mail  matter 
which  goes  to  that  section,  they  have  doubt- 
less learned  of  his  death  ere  this.     But,  with 


all  the  slurs  cast  at  the  party,  it  is  a  significant 
fact  that  the  Democratic  party,  inaugurated 
during  the  political  career  of  Gen.  Jackson, 
still  exists,  and  was  never  stronger  or  in  a 
more  flourishing  condition,  with  better  show  of 
success,  than  at  the  present  day. 


194 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   IV.* 

EARLY  RELIGIOUS    HISTORY  —  PIONEER    PREACHERS  —  ORGANIZATION    OF  CHURCHES  —  EDUCA- 
TIONAL—THE  FIRST  SCHOOLS  AND  TEACHERS— THE    PIONEER  SCHOOLHOUSES— PRESENT 
EDUCATIONAL  FACILITIES  OF  THE  COUNTY  — STATISTICS —COMPULSORY  EDUCA- 
TION AND  ITS  GENERAL  EFFECTS— THE  PRESS  OF  THE  COUNTY,  ETC.,  ETC. 


IT^DUCATION  and  religion  received  the 
-^  early  attention  of  the  pioneers  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  It  is  a  fact  highly  com- 
mendable to  them  that  churches  were  estab- 
lished while  yet  there  was  but  a  handful  of 
residents  in  the  newly-settled  community. 
People  in  those  earl}'  days  seem  really  to  have 
been  more  religious,  more  zealously  devoted  to 
their  church  and  the  cause  of  their  Master 
than  at  the  present  day.  Whether  this  result- 
ed from  their  lonely  life  in  the  wilderness,  beset 
with  toil  and  with  danger  as  it  was,  or 
whether  they  were  more  zealous  Christians,  we 
will  not  attempt  to  say.  But  since  we  heard  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  recently  declare  in 
a  sermon  that  some  of  the  heathen  countries 
of  the  Globe,  who,  fifty  years  ago,  had  never 
seen  a  Bible  nor  heard  the  story  of  the  Cross, 
now  had  more  Christians  in  proportion  to 
their  population  than  this  enlightened  country 
of  ours,  we  are  forced  to  believe  the  pioneers 
were  more  religious  than  their  descendents. 
Their  religion  was  more  simple,  earnest,  and 
sincere,  and  possessed  fewer  forms  and  cere- 
monies than  that  now  in  vogue.  Religion,  like 
everything  else,  has  kept  up  with  the  marvel- 
ous march  of  civilization,  and  the  genuine  old 
article,  given  us  by  "Him  who  spake  as  never 
man  spake,"  has  been  wonderfully  improved 
to  adapt  it  to  the  lively  wants  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

The  introduction  of  the  Gospel  into  Mont- 

*By  W.  H.  Ptrrin. 


gomery  County  was  coeval  with  its  settlement 
by  white  people.  The  preachers  came  in  reality 
"  as  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,"  and  where- 
ever  they  could  collect  a  few  of  the  pioneers 
together,  the}'  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings  of  sal- 
vation "  without  money  and  without  price."  The 
first  sermon  preached  within  the  present  limits 
of  the  county,  is  believed  to  have  been 
preached  by  Rev.  James  Street,  in  1817,  at  the 
house  of  David  McCoy,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  what  is  now  Hillsboro  Township.  A 
church  was  organized  in  1820,  the  first  Chris- 
tian organization  in  the  county,  and  in  1821  a 
church  edifice  was  erected.  It  was  of  the 
pioneer  type,  built  of  logs,  the  cracks  daubed 
with  mud  and  split  logs  formed  the  "  pews,"  or, 
in  backwoods  parlance,  the  "  benches."  A  Bap- 
tist Church  was  built  in  1823,  which  was  also  a 
rude  log  structure.  Although  Rev.  Street 
preached  the  first  sermon,  Rev.  Henry  Sears,  it 
is  claimed,  was  the  first  resident  minister. 
The  first  resident  Presbyterian  minister  was 
Rev.  Jesse  Townsend.  Rev.  Daniel  Scherer 
organized  the  first  Lutheran  Church ;  the 
Presbyterians  organized  a  church  in  East  Fork 
in  1830,  of  which  Rev.  Joel  Knight  and  Rev. 
John  Barber  were  the  first  ministers. 

Thus  churches  were  organized  and  temples 
of  worship  erected  in  the  different  settlements 
as  soon  as  the  number  of  inhabitants  would 
permit.  In  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  indi- 
vidual townships,  villages  and  cities,  the  history 
of  all  the  different  denominations  and  churches 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


195 


will  be  written.  The  subject  is  alluded  to  here, 
merely  to  show  the  zeal  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  county  hi  religious  matters  and  their 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christianity. 

Education  — The  pioneers  were  quite  as  en- 
ergetic in  matters  of  education  as  in  religion, 
and  schools  were  established  as  soon  as  the 
settlements  produced  children  enough  to  form 
a  school  or  pay  for  the  employment  of  a  teacher. 
The  first  schools  were  taught  on  the  subscrip- 
tion plan  and  were  as  primitive  as  the  cabins 
in  which  they  were  held.  The  first  school  of 
which  we  have  any  account  was  taught  by  a 
man  named  Brazleton,  in  the  winter  of  1818-19, 
in  the  present  township  of  Hillsboro.  It  was 
taught  in  a  little  cabin  on  Mr.  Griffith's  place, 
and  was  a  subscription  school,  each  patron 
paying  at  the  rate  of  from  $1.50  to  S2  per 
scholar,  for  a  term  of  three  mouths.  During 
the  progress  of  this  school  Indian  bo3's  and 
young  squaws  used  to  come  and  play  with  the 
children  at  noon  and  at  recess  from  their  camps 
in  the  vicinity.  The  first  regular  schoolhouse 
built  in  this  neighborhood  was  on  Section  9, 
in  1822,  and  was  the  usual  small  log  cabin. 
In  1S25,  a  schoolhouse  was  built  in  what  is 
now  Fillmore  Township,  and  in  182S  the  first 
temple  of  worship  was  built  in  what  is  at  pres- 
ent East  Fork  Township.  Mrs.  Townseud 
taught  school  in  1823,  in  the  present  township 
of  Butler  Grove,  in  a  small  log  cabin  which 
stood  on  Section  31,  and  which  was  the  first 
school  in  that  neighborhood.  The  first  school- 
house  built  in  Irving  Township  was  in  the 
southwest  corner  in  1827,  and  the  first  school 
taught  in  it  by  a  man  named  Mclntire,  then 
seventy  years  of  age.  Henry  Lower  was  an 
early  teacher  of  the  county,  and  taught  in  a 
room  of  his  own  house;  John  King  and 
Charles  Turner  were  also  early  teachers. 
Martha  B.  Cass  was  an  early  teacher  in  the 
Raymond  settlement,  and  taught  in  her  own 
house.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  there 
in  1832,  a  small  log  building.     A  schoolhouse 


— the  firstin  Walshville  Township — was  built  in 
1834,  and  a  Mr.  Clowsou  was  the  first  teacher 
to  occupy  it.  Other  neighborhoods  and  settle- 
ments inaugurated  schools  as  soon  as  their 
population  required  them. 

The  children  now  in  school  know  little  of  the 
school  facilities  their  parents  and  grandparents 
enjoyed.  The  sehoolhouses  of  fifty  years  ago 
were  log  cabins — some  with  puncheon  floors 
and  some  with  no  other  floor  than  the  ground. 
They  were  built  mostly  of  round  logs,  the 
cracks  filled  in  with  mud,  a  log  taken  out 
across  one  end  and  the  space  filled  with  greased 
paper.  This  served  as  a  window,  and  under  it 
was  placed  the  "  writing  bench,"  where  the 
entire  school  would  repair  to  practice  their 
writing  lesson,  which  was  done  with  pens  made 
of  goose-quills,  and  ink  of  home  manufacture. 
The  books  used  in  the  schools  were  as  primi- 
tive as  the  houses  wherein  the  schools  were 
taught.  The  New  Testament  was  the  usual 
reader — a  few  had  the  "  Pleasant  Companion," 
the  "  Columbian  Orator,"  and  the  "  English 
Reader."  Kirkham's  grammar  and  Pike's 
arithmetic  served  to  enlighten  the  pupil  in 
those  branches,  and  the  boy  who  could  "  cipher" 
to  the  "  rule  of  three,"  was  considered  a 
prodigy  in  figures.  There  are  hundreds  now 
living  in  Montgomery  County  to  whom  these 
reflections  will  vividly  recall  their  school  days 
— days  when  they  sat  ten  hours  out  of  each 
twenty-four,  on  a  split  log  for  a  seat,  and 
studied  hard,  with  but  an  hour's  intermission 
during  the  day.  To  them  the  log  schoolhouse 
with  its  wide  fire-place,  its  puncheon  floors  and 
uneasy  benches  recall  few  pleasant  memories. 

School  facilities  have  improved  wonderfully, 
however,  since  the  period  of  which  we  write. 
The  log-cabin  schoolhouse,  with  its  rude  fur- 
nishing is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  the  most 
liberal  schools  and  comfortable  houses  are  now 
the  order  of  the  time.  The  basis  of  the  school 
s_ystem  of  Illinois  and  the  northwest  was  the 
act  of  Congress,  by  which  one  thirty-sixth  of 


196 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  public  lands  were  donated  to  the  several 
Northwestern  States  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
a  system  of  public  free  education.  In  the  sur- 
vey of  the  lands,  thirty-six  square  miles  or 
sections,  constituted  a  township,  and  the  six- 
teenth section  of  each  township  was  designated 
as  the  "school  section."  By  the  law  of  the 
State  of  Illinois,  each  Congressional  Township 
was  made  to  constitute  a  school  township, 
without  regard  to  either  county  or  other  di- 
vision lines.  In  many  of  the  counties,  espe- 
cially in  Northern  Illinois,  the  county  authorities 
have  made  the  lines  of  political  townships 
identical  with  the  Congressional  or  school  town- 
ships, while  in  the  central  and  southern  por- 
tions of  the  State  many  are  smaller  and  others 
larger.  In  many  townships,  the  land  was  sold 
at  a  comparatively  early  date,  when  land  was 
cheap,  and  therefore  but  little  was  realized, 
the  whole  section  in  some  instances  being  sold 
at  the  Government  price.  The  land  would  now 
sell,  perhaps,  for  $10  or  $50  per  acre.  To  sa}- 
that  any  great  mistake  was  made  in  thus  dis- 
posing of  the  lands  at  so  early  a  date,  would 
be  to  cast  a  reflection  on  those  having  charge 
of  the  same.  In  the  early  histoiy  of  the 
county,  the  people  were  poor  and  were  sadly 
in  need  of  the  little  revenue  arising  from  so 
small  a  principal.  With  schoolhouses  to  build 
and  teachers  to  pay,  they  found  it  no  small 
burden  to  make  provision  for  the  education  of 
their  children.  And  then,  again,  it  would  have 
taken  no  less  than  a  prophet  to  predict  that 
within  half  a  century  this  laud  would  double 
in  value  five  times  over.  Indeed,  it  was  almost 
universally  conceded  that  the  prairie  lands 
would  never  be  occupied.  The  fund  realized 
from  the  sale  of  these  lands  is  irreducible,  being 
loaned  by  law  to  responsible  parties,  the  in- 
terest only  being  used  for  the  purpose  of  pay- 
ing teachers'  salaries. 

The  Legislature  of  the  State,  in  1855,  passed 
a  law  levying  an  annual  school  tax  of  2  mills 
on  the  dollar  on  all  taxable  property   in  the 


State.  This  revenue  is  somewhat  variable 
with  different  years  and  different  assessments, 
increasing  as  the  countiy  grows  wealthier. 
These  two  funds  constitute  the  nucleus  of  the 
school  system  in  this,  as  in  the  other  couuties 
of  the  State.  Hy  the  law  making  these  gener- 
ous provisions  for  the  education  of  the  youth, 
a  provision  was  enacted  making  it  obligatory 
on  the  part  of  a  district  to  support  a  school  a 
certain  number  of  months  in  the  year  (formerly 
six,  but  at  present  five),  otherwise  the  district 
receives  no  benefit  from  either  fund. 

This  provision  insures  the  co-operation  of 
district  authorities  in  the  support  of  schools  ; 
and  as  a  consequence,  none  of  the  districts  in 
the  county  a*'e  without  the  benefit  of  school 
instruction.  Under  the  old  system,  eveiy  com- 
munity claimed  the  privilege  of  managing  the 
schools  without  interference  of  other  parties, 
or  modification  by  general  laws.  Teachers 
were  accountable  only  to  their  employers,  and 
no  particular  standard  of  qualification  was 
required.  Schools  were  kept  open  only  for 
such  a  length  of  time,  or  not  at  all,  as  the 
whims  or  prejudices  of  the  people  might  dic- 
tate. Consequently,  while  some  of  the  more 
wealth}"  and  intelligent  neighborhoods  were 
well  supplied  with  school  facilities,  others  were 
almost  wholly  without  them.  The  following 
facts,  furnished  bj-  Mr.  Thomas  E.  Harris, 
County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  show  the 
present  state  of  the  common  school  system 
for  1881,  iu  Montgomery  Count}' : 

Number  of  persons  in  the  county  under 

twenty-one 14,274 

Number    of    persons    between    six    and 

twenty-one 9,544 

Number  of  school  districts  in  the  county.  136 

Number  of  schoolhouses  in  the  county. .  135 
Number  of  districts  having  school  Ave 

months  or  more 132 

Whole  number  of  months  school 1,155} 

Whole  number  of  pupils 7,15? 

Male  teachers  employed 88 

Female  teachers  employed ,...  131 

Number  of  ungraded  schools 127 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


197 


Number  of  graded  schools " 

Number  of  private  schools 1 

Whole  amount  paid  teachers. .  .■ $39,727  68 

Estimated  value  of  school  property 162.275  00 

In  conclusion  of  the  educational  history  of 
the  county,  a  word  upon  compulsory  education, 
a  subject  attracting  more  or  less  attention  now 
in  nearly  every  State  of  the  Union,  may  not  be 
uninteresting  to  our  readers.  Concerning  the 
right  of  State  or  Government  to  pass  and  car- 
ry into  effect  what  are  known  as  compulsory 
laws,  and  require  parents  and  guardians,  even 
against  their  will  to  send  their  children  to 
school,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  much  diver- 
sity of  opinion.  But  concerning  such  a  policy, 
dependent  upon  so  many  known  and  unknown 
conditions,  there  is  the  widest  diversity.  That 
a  great  good  would  be  wrought  is  indisputa- 
ble, if  the  wisdom  of  State  government  could 
devise  some  means  to  strengthen  and  supple- 
ment the  powers  of  Boards  of  Education,  and 
enable  them  to  prevent  truancy,  even  if  only 
in  cases  where  parents  desire  their  children  to 
attend  school  regularly,  but  their  authority  is 
too  weak  to  secure  that  end.  The  instances 
are  not  few  in  which  parents  would  welcome 
aid  in  this  matter,  knowing  that  truancy  is 
often  the  first  step  in  a  path  which  finally  ends 
in  vagabondage  and  crimes.  It  is  our  liberal 
system  of  free  education  that  has  preserved 
our  Government  so  far,  and  its  perpetuation 
depends  upon  the  education  and  enlightenment 
of  the  masses.  With  the  most  scrupulous  care, 
England  fosters  her  great  universities,  that  the 
sons  of  her  nobility  may  be  properly  trained 
for  their  places  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  the 
army,  navy  and  church.  Then,  the  character 
of  citizenship  should  be  high  indeed,  where 
every  man  is  born  a  king  and  sovereign  heir  to 
all  the  franchises  and  trusts  of  the  State  and 
Republic.  An  ignorant  people  can  be  governed 
but  only  an  intelligent  people  can  govern  them- 
selves ;  and  that  is  the  experiment  we  are  try- 
ins  to  solve  in  these  United   States.     "  The 


growth  of  agrarianism  and  communism  has 
appalled  statesmenship,  and  alarmed  the  dull 
ears  of  the  people,  who  see  in  these  twin  broth- 
ers of  ignorance  impending  ruin.  The  great 
army  of  tramps  marching  through  the  land, 
disturbing  our  domestic  tranquillity  and  moral 
safety,  furnish  another  element  to  the  problem 
confronting  those  who  yearn  for  a  solid  and 
stable  peace,  and  seek  for  the  security  assured 
by  a  permanent  government.  Intelligence  wed- 
ded to  virtue  constitute  the  palladium  of  the 
union.  Relaxation  of  vigor  in  the  effort  to 
improve  the  quality  of  our  citizenship,  will  re- 
sult in  certain  ruin.  From  all  the  towers  of 
the  Republic  the  watchmen  cry,  '  Educate ! 
Educate  !  Educate  !'  "* 

Viewing  the  subject  from  the  above  stand- 
point, is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in 
favor  of  compulsory  education.  Whatever  may 
be  said  to  the  contrary,  or  in  opposition  to 
compulsory  education,  it  is  a  fact  apparent  to 
all,  that  the  youthful  idlers  upon  the  streets  of 
towns  and  cities  should  be  gathered  up  by 
somebody  and  compelled  to  do  something.  If 
they  learn  nothing  else,  there  will  be  at  least 
this  salutary  lesson,  that  society  is  stronger 
than  they,  and  without  injuring  them,  will  use 
its  strength  to  protect  itself.  While  reform 
schools  are  being  established  for  those  who 
have  already  started  on  the  downward  road,  it 
would  be  well  to  provide  some  way  to  rescue 
those  lingering  upon  the  brink  of  ruin,  and 
there  is  no  better  way,  perhaps,  than  by  com- 
pulsory education. 

The  Press. — The  newspaper  and  the  print- 
ing press  of  the  present  day  constitute  one 
of  the  most  important  features  of  the  time  and 
of  the  country,  and  a  chronicle  that  said  noth- 
ing of  their  power  and  influence  would  be,  and 
justly,  too,  considered  very  incomplete.  The 
daily  paper,  by  the  aid  of  the  telegraph,  gives 
us  to-day  all  the  news  that  transpired  yester- 

♦Kentucky  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 


198 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


day  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  And 
the  county  press,  the  faithful  exponent  of  the 
county's  interest,  is  the  intellectual  criterion 
for  the  masses,  and  the  most  popular  channel 
for  general  information.  It  is  furthermore  a 
true  record  of  the  county's  history  ;  the  very 
advertisements  in  local  papers  eventually  be- 
come historical  facts,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  so  few  persons  seem  to  appreciate  the  val- 
ue and  importance  of  their  county  papers. 


Montgomery  County  is  well  supplied  with 
local  newspapers.  In  Hillsboro,  Litchfield, 
Nokomis  and  Raymond,  papers  are  published 
weekly,  and  it  is  but  justice  to  them  to  say 
that  they  are  above  the  medium  standard  of 
newspapers  published  in  country  towns.  The 
papers  of  each  city  and  town  will  be  fully  writ- 
ten up,  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  their  respect- 
ive places,  and  are  only  referred  to  here  in  a 
general  vtny. 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


199 


CHAPTER  V.* 

AGRICULTURE— ITS    GROWTH    AND    DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    SCIENCE— THE    WAY    OUR     FATHERS 
FARMED  — IMPROVED  METHODS  AND  IMPLEMENTS  —  COUNTY   AGRICULTURAL   ASSOCIA- 
TION—OFFICES, FAIRGROUNDS,  ETC— RAILROAD  HISTORY— THE  INDIANAPOLIS  & 
ST.  LOUIS  RAILROAD  —  DIFFICULTIES  ATTENDING  ITS  CONSTRUCTION 
—OTHER  RAILROAD  ENTERPRISES. 


MONTGOMERY  COUNTY  has  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  fine  farming  section,  and 
without  doubt  its  claim  in  this  regard  is  well 
founded.  While  some  counties  may  show  more 
of  rich  soil,  and  while  others  may  be  better 
adapted  to  some  specialty,  yet  we  believe  uot  a 
county  in  the  State  can  lay  claim  to  all  the  ad- 
vantages in  climate,  soil,  water,  timber  and 
healthfulness  that  are  justly  claimed  for  this. 
While  in  some  sections  a  certain  advantage 
may,  with  propriety,  be  claimed  as  peculiar,  we 
believe  no  other  county  combines  so  many  nat- 
ural advantages.  In  some  of  the  more  north- 
ern counties  we  find  larger  crops  of  corn,  and 
in  some  of  the  more  southern,  a  greater  amount 
of  fruit ;  but  these  specialties,  even  in  the  local- 
ities named,  are  not  always  a  certain  crop.  The 
farmer's  safest  course  is  a  diversity  of  products, 
and  .Montgomery  County  furnishes  an  example 
of  soil  and  climate  which  make  it  in  an  emi- 
nent degree  fitted  for  such  pursuits. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  natural  advan- 
tages of  this  region  were  scarcely  appreciated, 
as  the  farming  was  carried  on  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  obtain  results  far  below  those  now 
realized.  Better  farm  machinery,  better  meth- 
ods of  planting  and  cultivation,  and  the  adop- 
tion of  crops  better  suited  to  the  soil  have 
wrought  great  changes.  In  an  especial  man- 
ner is  this  true  in  regard  to  methods  of  plant- 
ing, cultivating,  harvesting  and   taking  care  of 

*By  W.  H.  Perrin. 


products.  The  way  that  our  fathers  performed 
their  farming  operations  is  so  little  known  to 
the  present  generation  who  depend  much  upon 
farm  machinery,  and  require  the  horses  to  do 
all  the  work  which  men,  women  and  children 
formerly  did,  that  a  description  of  the  old  way, 
gathered  from  conversations  with  those  who 
know  whereof  thej'  speak,  cannot  but  prove 
interesting  to  the  young  farmer  of  the  present 
day.  Banish  all  such  modern  implements  as 
reapers,  mowers,  corn-planters,  sulky  plows, 
horse  hay-rakes,  threshing  machines,  riding- 
cultivators,  and  some  conception  may  be  formed 
of  the  primitive  way  of  farming.  The  follow- 
ing was  the  mode  of  planting  corn.  After  the 
ground  had  been  plowed  with  a  wooden  mold- 
board  plow  (which  had  to  be  cleaned  every  few 
rods  with  a  paddle  carried  for  the  purpose), 
and  had  been  scratched  over  with  a  harrow  in 
which  wooden  pins  were  used  for  teeth,  the  lit- 
tle shovel  plow  and  a  single  horse  were  used 
for  marking  out  both  ways.  After  the  mark- 
ing was  done,  the  children,  big  and  little,  the 
men  and  the  women  went  into  the  field,  and 
while  the  children  with  tin  pails  or  small  bas- 
kets dropped  the  grains  of  corn  in  the  crossings, 
the  others,  with  great  heavy  iron  hoes  covered 
or  "  kivered  "  it  with  dirt.  After  the  planting 
came  the  hoeing,  now  superseded  by  the  im- 
proved cultivators.  The  tending  by  the  single- 
shovel  plow  was  common  until  a  few  years  ago. 
But  the  single  shovel  plow  has  had  to  take  its 


2(1(1 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


place  with  the  old  spinning  wheel  and  loom, 
and  the}-  are  now  considered  as  relicts  of  a 
past  age. 

Harvesting  wheat,  oats,  rye  and  grass  was 
formerly  a  laborious  process.  Even  within  the 
recollection  of  comparatively  youug  men  of  the 
county,  the  scythe  and  cradle  were  counted  as 
improved  implements  of  husbandry  ;  but  the 
reaper  and  mower,  now  in  use,  not  only  do  a 
better  job,  but  transfer  the  hardest  of  the  labor 
to  the  horses.  The  manner  of  cleaning  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff,  after  it  had  been  tramped 
out  by  horses  or  oxen,  was  by  pouring  it  slow- 
ly out  of  a  bucket  or  half-bushel  measure,  for 
the  wind  to  blow  the  chaff  away.  Next  came 
the  old  "fan-mill,"  turned  by  hand.  But  now 
the  perfected  thresher  not  only  cleans  and 
separates  the  wheat  from  the  chaff  and  straw, 
but  sacks  and  counts  the  number  of  bushels. 

With  corn  at  from  6  to  10  cents  per  bushel, 
oats  but  little  more,  wheat  at  but  25  to  50 
cents,  and  other  products  in  proportion,  with 
the  market  at  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  it  is  a 
matter  of  wonder  that  a  farmer  succeeded  in 
obtaining  enough  for  his  labor  to  pay  for  sav- 
ing his  crops.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
why  so  much  of  the  county  lay  for  so  main- 
years  without  occupants.  Of  course  the 
farmer  in  those  days  did  not  ride  in  carriages, 
pay  heavy  taxes,  wear  fine  clothes,  or  indulge 
in  many  luxuries  ;  but  they  rode  to  meeting 
on  horseback  or  in  the  farm-wagon,  wearing 
their  every-day  apparel  done  up  clean  for  Sun- 
da}',  and  paid  the  preacher  with  a  bag  of  corn 
or  potatoes,  or  not  at  all,  as  the}-  felt  able. 
Yet,  to  say  that  they  did  not  live  comfortably 
and  independently  would  be  a  great  mistake. 
The  rifle  supplied  venison  and  other  game, 
and  the  actual  needs  of  life  were  all  furnished, 
though  it  would  seem  a  great  hardship  to  go 
back  to  what  some  are  pleased  to  call  the 
"  good  old  times.'' 

Fairs. — The  farmers  of  the  county  turned 
their  attention  to  the  improvement  of  agricult- 


ure and  stock  very  early.  To  this  end  an 
agricultural  association  was  formed  about  the 
year  1850,  as  nearly  as  can  now  be  ascertained, 
but  as  the  records  of  this  association  have 
been  lost  or  destroyed,  but  little  of  it  is  known 
beyond  the  fact  that  such  an  association  ex- 
isted, and  was  superseded  by  the  present  so- 
ciety in  1857.  Of  the  latter,  the  facts  given 
herewith  are  furnished  by  Mr.  William  K. 
Jackson,  Secretary  of  the  association. 

The  Montgomery  County  Agricultural  So- 
ciety, as  it  is  now  known,  was  organized  on 
Friday,  July  3,  1857,  at  a  meeting  of  a  requi- 
site number  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  county, 
all  of  whom  have  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the 
society.  Of  this  meeting,  Hiram  Rountree 
was  Chairman,  and  John  W.  Kitchell,  Secre- 
tary. A  committee  was  appointed,  consisting 
of  Benjamin  Sammons,  A.  S.  Haskell  and 
Austin  Whitten,  to  frame  a  constitution  and 
code  of  by-laws.  The  following  gentlemen 
were  elected  officers  of  the  Society,  to  wit  : 
Morgan  Blair,  President ;  J.  W.  Kitchell,  Re- 
cording Secretary;  Solomon  Harkey,  Treasur- 
er ;  J.  A.  Kolston,  Corresponding  Secretary, 
and  the  following  Vice  Presidents  :  Thomas 
Standing,  Hillsboro  ;  Robert  Little,  Audubon  ; 
James  Kirk,  Hurricane  ;  Easton  Whitten,  Jr., 
East  Fork ;  James  McPavid.  Bear  Creek  ;  C. 
V.  Seymour,  Walshville,  and  John  A.  Crab- 
tree,  Litchfield.  The  following  General  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  :  Henry  Philips,  William 
C.  Miller,  Henry  Richmond,  Harrison  Brown, 
Hillsboro  ;  William  Wright,  Daniel  Easterday, 
Audubon  ;  Cleveland  Coifey,  Thomas  L.  Har- 
vey, Hurricane  ;  Austin  Whitten,  Ezekiel  Bo- 
gart,  East  Fork  ;  John  Price,  William  Cannon, 
Bear  Creek  ;  William  Kingston,  Joseph  Price, 
Walshville ;  Elihu  Boaii,  Thomas  Hughes, 
Litchfield  ;  Edgar  Smith.  Benjamin  Rogers, 
Zanesville  ;  L.  H.  Thomas,  P.  De  Witt,  Bois 
D'Arc.  The  following  resolution  was  adopted 
by  the  Executive  Committee  :  "Resolved,  That 
we  adopt  and  indorse  as  our  own.  all  the  pro- 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


201 


ceedings  of  the  incorporated  association  here- 
tofore known  as  the  '  Montgomery  County  Agri- 
cultural Society,'  and  are  responsible  for  all 
debts  heretofore  contracted  b}-  the  same."  A 
committee,  consisting  of  Henry  Richmond,  J. 
A.  Watson  and  J.  W.  Kitehell,  were  appointed 
to  select  and  purchase  suitable  fair  grounds  for 
the  use  of  the  society. 

The  fortune  of  the  society  has  been  some- 
what checkered,  and  from  the  records  it  appears 
never  to  have  been  attended  with  very  great 
prosperity  as  an  agricultural  association.  It 
owns  very  fine  grounds  southwest  of  town,  and 
which,  with  slight  expense,  could  be  so  im- 
proved, as  to  render  them  very  beautiful,  and 
at  the  same  time  valuable  to  the  society.  But 
the  grounds  and  buildings  have  now  a  rather 
dilapidated  appearance,  as  though  little  atten- 
tion was  bestowed  upon  them. 

The  present  officers  are  as  follows  :  Moses 
Berry,  President;  Robert  Morell  and  A.  G. 
Butler,  Vice  Presidents  ;  William  K.  Jackson, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  ;  Directors — W.  L. 
Blackburn.  William  Brewer,  Hillsboro  ;  A.  T. 
Withers,  Walshville  ;  Miner  S.  Goring,  Mor- 
risonville,  and  James  Young,  Nokomis. 

The  Litchfield  Fair. — Mr.  Coolidge  furnishes 
us  the  following  of  the  Litchfield  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  Association  :  When,  in  1S57, 
the  permanent  location  of  the  County  Fair 
was  in  suspense,  it  was  officially  announced 
that  the  question  would  be  decided  by  the 
town  offering  the  largest  contribution  to  its 
funds.  At  the  specified  time,  Litchfield  offered 
a  sum  at  least  double  any  competing  town. 
But  the  authorities  delayed  their  award  and  a 
recess  was  taken.  Before  re-assembling,  a 
pledge,  which  it  was  well  understood  would 
subsequently  be  released,  was  made  by  .Limes 
M.  Davis,  of  Hillsboro,  to  carry  his  town  to  the 
top  of  the  list.  It  was  an  accommodation 
pledge,  and  was  used  to  secure  the  location  of 
the  fair  at  the  county  seat.  The  trick,  to  which 
the  fair  authorities  were  parties,  was  remem- 


bered when,  in  1SG7-0S,  Litchfield  was  re- 
proached by  a  Hillsboro  journal  in  coarse, 
scurrilous  terms,  for  not  raising  a  large  sum  as 
a  gift  to  the  County  Agricultural  Society.  The 
citizens,  thus  censured,  gave  reins  to  their 
indignation  by  organizing  the  Litchfield  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  Association.  An 
eligible  tract  of  land  was  bought,  near  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  town,  and  inclosed. 
Cattle-pens  and  stalls  were  constructed,  a  half 
mile  speed-ring  prepared,  and  an  amphitheater 
for  a  thousand  persons  erected,  and  in  October, 
1SG8,  the  first  fair  was  held.  John  W.  Daven- 
port was  President,  P.  B.  Updike,  Treasurer, 
and  H.  A.  Coolidge,  Secretary.  The  weather 
was  of  a  rigorous  character.  The  wind  and 
cold  had  a  February  ancestry,  yet  the  attend- 
ance was  large  and  the  fair  was  a  success. 
The  premium  list  was  liberal,  and  the  awards 
were  paid.  But  the  cost  of  the  ground  and 
fencing  and  buildings  remained  a  dead  loss. 
The  association  passed  into  the  hands  of 
thirteen  joint  proprietors,  who  assumed  the 
debts,  and  went  forward  in  their  improvements. 
Fairs  were  held  each  3'ear  until  1875,  when  a 
fair  was  omitted.  But  the  next  year  the  last 
one  was  held,  and  the  association  went  into  liq- 
uidation, and  the  losses  were  paid  by  the  pro- 
prietors. The  property  was  sold,  and  the  con- 
cern became  a  thing  of  the  past.  A  succession 
of  vile  weather  Fair  weeks,  and  the  wearing  off 
of  the  novelty  and  the  hard  times,  ate  out  its 
prosperity.  But  its  existence  brought  its 
compensations.  It  advanced  the  reputation  of 
the  city  for  enterprise  and  courage,  and  the 
money  sunk  gained  for  the  community  char- 
acter worth  many  times  the  sum  swallowed  up. 
Railroads. — The  earliest  attempts  to  con- 
struct railroads  in  the  West  originated  in  the 
insane  desire  to  enrich  that  great  empire,  as  it 
might  be  called,  by  the  system  of  "internal 
improvements."  This  fever  of  speculation  broke 
out  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States  about 
the  year  1S35,  and  soon  after  it  appeared  in 


202 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  leav- 
ing, when  past,  an  enormous  debt  upon  each  mu- 
nicipality or  State  Government.  In  Illinois,  it 
amounted  to  nearly  $15,000,000,  while  in  Penn- 
sylvania it  was  more  than  double  that  amount, 
and  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  did  not  vary  far  from 
it.  Examination  of  the  legislative  acts  of  the 
Prairie  State,  at  that  period,  discloses  an  almost 
unbroken  line  of  acts  for  the  construction  of 
some  highway,  which  was  destined  to  only  par- 
tially see  the  light  of  day  in  detached  parcels, 
some  of  which  still  remain  as  silent  monuments 
of  a  supreme  legislative  and  popular  folly. 
When  the  collapse  came  in  1837,  and  work  on 
all  was  entirely  suspended,  only  the  old  "  North- 
ern Cross  Railroad,"  as  it  was  called,  now  the 
Wabash,  was  found  in  a  condition  fit  to  war- 
rant completion,  and  that  onty  a  short  distance. 
It  was  originally  intended  to  extend  from  Mere- 
dosia  through  Jacksonville  to  Springfield,  De- 
catur and  Danville  to  the  Eastern  State  line, 
where  it  was  expected  it  would  be  joined  to 
some  road  in  Indiana,  and  be  continued  east- 
ward. A  vast  quantity  of  old  flat- bar  rails 
had  been  purchased  in  England  by  the  agents 
of  the  State,  at  an  enormous  expense,  too  ;  and 
quite  a  quantity  had  been  brought  to  Meredosia, 
preparatory  to  being  laid  on  the  track.  In  the 
spring  of  1838,  some  eight  miles  of  this  old 
track  were  laid,  and  on  the  8th  day  of  Novem- 
ber of  that  year,  a  small  locomotive,  the 
"  Rogers,"  made  in  England,  and  shipped  here 
in  pieces,  was  put  together,  and  made  a  trial 
trip  on  the  road.  It  was  the  first  that  ever 
turned  a  wheel  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
first  rail  on  this  road  had  been  laid,  with  im- 
posing ceremonies,  on  the  9th  of  May  preced- 
ing, and  on  through  the  summer  the  work  pro- 
gressed slowly,  until  the  locomotive  made  the 
pioneer  trial  trip  above  described.  Only  twelve 
years  before  had  the  first  railroad  train  made 
a  trip  in  the  new  continent,  and  only  a  year  or 
two  before  this  had  the  first  application  of 
steam  been  successfully  made  in  this  manner 
in  England. 


This  pioneer  railroad,  as  stated,  is  now  a  part 
of  the  Wabash  systeru,  a  division  of  which  di- 
verges from  the  main  line  at  Decatur,  and  ex- 
tends to  St.  Louis,  passing  through  the  western 
part  of  this  county,  intersecting  the  townships 
of  Harvel,  Raj-mond,  Zauesville  and  North  and 
South  Litchfield.  It  was  completed  through 
in  1870.  giving  that  portion  of  the  county 
through  which  it  passes  increased  railroad 
facilities,  and  forming  a  valuable  improvement 
in  that  section.  Further  particulars  of  it  will 
be  found  in  the  chapters  on  Litchfield. 

The  oldest  railroad  in  Montgomery  County 
is  the  present  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Rail- 
road, whose  earliest  inception  may  be  traced  to 
the  speculative  fever  of  1835.  When  the  ap- 
propriations for  different  roads  were  made,  a 
route  from  Terre  Haute  to  Alton  was  one  des- 
ignated, and  work  performed  on  it  in  many 
places.  Contracts  were  let,  portions  of  the 
road  were  graded,  and  the  workmen  were  paid 
in  State  paper,  which,  when  the  internal  im- 
provement system  began  to  decline,  parti  ink  of 
a  downward  tendency,  and  left  the  creditors  in 
rather  a  sad  plight.  The  work  dragged  for  a 
time,  and  was  at  last  wholly  suspended  as  a 
result  of  the  hard  times  following  the  panic  of 
1S37.  It  was  not  until  about  1849,  that  the 
country  was  aroused  from  its  dormant  condi- 
tion, when  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad 
reached  the  east  line  of  Illinois,  and  craved 
permission  to  come  in  and  cross  the  State  on 
its  way  to  St.  Louis,  its  western  terminus.  At 
this  point,  however,  it  met  with  a  check  which 
took  it  years  to  overcome.  A  "  State  Policy  " 
party  sprang  up,  denying  the  right  of  any  for- 
eign corporation  to  cross  the  State,  especially 
when  the  effect  would  be  to  enrich  the  neigh- 
boring city  of  St.  Louis,  a  city  Alton  was 
vainly  endeavoring  to  outstrip  in  the  march  of 
progress,  and  which  she  then  vainly  expected 
to  do.  The  "  State  Policy  "  party  held  several 
rousing  meetings  in  furtherance  of  their  scheme, 
a  scheme  delusive  in  its  effects  upon  the  State 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


203 


at  large,  and  confined  mainly  to  the  Alton  in- 
terest. Counter  influences  were  aroused,  meet- 
ings were  held,  and  an  antagonistic  party,  much 
the  inferior  at  first,  began  to  appear.  The  cul- 
mination came  when  the  Terre  Haute,  Yandalia 
&  St.  Louis  road  asked  for  a  charter.  The 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  road  had  succeeded  in  their 
endeavor  to  build  their  track  across  the  State 
mainly  brought  about  by  the  press  foreign  to 
the  State.  It  had,  with  one  voice,  denounced 
the  "  policy "  as  narrow,  selfish,  mean,  con- 
temptible and  invidious.  It  was  sustained  by 
the  press  in  the  northern  parts  of  Illinois,  and 
had  already  begun  to  open  the  eyes  of  many 
influential  persons  belonging  to  the  policy 
party.  When  the  Yandalia  road  asked  for  their 
charter,  the  policy  party  exerted  themselves  to 
the  utmost  to  defeat  that,  and  for  a  time  pre- 
vailed. 

While  these  affairs  were  agitating  the  State, 
Congress  had  passed  an  act  granting  a  mag- 
nificent domain  of  land  in  aid  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad.  The  Senators  in  Congress 
from  Illinois  wrote  letters  to  many  influential 
men  at  home,  urging  upon  them  the  necessity 
of  being  more  liberal  in  their  acts  to  foreign 
corporations,  and  not  attempt  to  arrogate  to  the 
State  a  right  she  could  not  expect  to  possess. 
They  further  urged  that  the  donation  from  the 
General  Government  could  not  have  been  se- 
cured had  they  not  pledged  their  earnest  effort 
to  wipe  out  this  disgraceful  policy.  These  in- 
fluences had  their  effect.  The  "  Brough"  road, 
so  called  from  its  principal  projector,  afterward 
Governor  of  Ohio,  gained  a  charter,  and  were 
enabled  to  begin  work  on  their  proposed  Yan- 
dalia Line.  In  the  meanwhile,  influences  were 
working  to  build  anew  the  projected  roads  of 
the  internal  improvement  period.  The  grade 
on  the  old  route  from  Terre  Haute  to  Alton, 
was,  in  many  places,  in  a  tolerably  good  condi- 
tion, and  only  needed  energy  to  push  it  to  a 
conclusion.  A  company  was  formed,  the  name 
Terre  Haute  &  Alton  Railroad  adopted,  and 


work  began.  Montgomery,  in  common  with 
other  counties  on  the  route,  subscribed  aid  to 
the  enterprise.  The  road  was  completed  from 
the  west  end  eastward  some  distance,  and  from 
Terre  Haute  west  to  Mattoon,  where  it  inter- 
sected the  Chicago  Division  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral, then  uncompleted,  and  in  January  follow- 
ing the  breach  was  closed,  and  a  passenger 
train  made  the  entire  trip  from  Terre  Haute  to 
Alton.  For  awhile,  it  transferred  freight  and 
passengers  here  to  boats,  and  sent  them  to  St. 
Louis,  so  strong  was  the  Alton  interest  against 
that  city.  This,  however,  could  not  always  en- 
dure, and  the  coal  road  from  one  city  to  the 
other  was  purchased,  and  trains  run  down  on 
that.  That  changed  the  name  to  the  Terre 
Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  When  the 
route  was  extended  eastward  from  Terre  Haute 
to  Indianapolis,  the  name  was  again  changed 
to  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  by 
which  it  is  now  known. 

Montgomery  County  subscribed  $50,000  stock 
in  this  road,  while  the  city  of  Hillsboro  also 
took  an  active  interest  in  it,  as  will  be  found  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.  The  county  has  sold  her 
stock  to  Eastern  capitalists,  the  sale  of  the  last 
$25,000  having  been  recently  made.  The  road 
has  become  involved  in  late  years,  and  is  at  the 
present  writing,  we  have  been  informed,  upon 
the  eve  of  being  sold.  It  has  been  for  some 
time  controlled  by  the  Bee  Line — an  Ohio  road 
— by  which  the  latter  makes  its  connections  with 
roads  diverging  from  St.  Louis  for  the  West, 
and  of  which  system  it  will  in  all  probability 
eventually  become  a  permanent  division. 

Another  Montgomery  County  road,  now  in 
course  of  construction,  is  the  Jacksonville 
Southeastern  Railway.  This  project  has  been 
in  process  of  agitation  some  twelve  or  fifteen 
years,  and  is  now  completed,  and  trains  are 
running  from  Jacksonville  to  Litchfield.  The 
original  intention  was  to  extend  the  road  from 
Jacksonville  in  a  southeastern  direction  to  Ceu- 
tralia,  or  Mount  Vernon,  or  some  eligible  point, 


204 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


either  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  or  in 
that  section  of  the  State.  Several  routes  have 
been  laid  out  and  surveys  made  through  this 
and  Bond  Counties.  Through  some  lukewarm- 
ness  or  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  people  or 
cities,  both  Hillsboro  and  Greenville  have  failed 
in  obtaining  this  road,  it  passing  a  little  west 
of  Hillsboro  and  crossing  the  Vandalia  line  at 
Smithboro,  some  three  miles  west  of  Green- 
ville. The  road  will,  probably,  be  completed 
though  at  no  distant  day,  and  if  it  does  no 
more,  will  become  a  valuable  feeder  to  the  East 
and  West  roads  which  it  crosses.     The  cities 


which  sat  still  and  let  it  pass  around  them,  per- 
haps, know  what  they  are  doing,  but  to  an  out- 
side looker  on,  their  acts  seem  scarcely  up  to 
the  present  standard  of  railroad  enterprise. 

A  narrow-guage  railroad  is  also  in  course  of 
construction  through  Bond  and  Montgomery, 
passing  near  the  line  between  the  two  counties. 
But  in  this  day  of  railroads  and  railroad  enter- 
prise, a  narrow-guage  road  is  hardly  looked 
upon  as  of  sufficient  importance  to  create  even 
a  small  ripple  of  excitement.  Of  this  road  we 
learned  but  little,  except  that  there  is  such  an 
enterprise  in  existence. 


HISTOKY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


205 


CHAPTER   VI.* 

WAR  HISTORY  — MONTGOMERY  COUNTY    IN  THE  BLACK    HAWK  WAR  — MUSTER   ROLLS  OF  COM- 
PANIES—THE MEXICAN  WAR— SOLDIERS  FROM  THE  COUNTY— THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR 
OF  1861— THE  DIFFERENT  REGIMENTS,  OFFICERS,   ETC.— LITCHFIELD'S 
PARTICIPATION— INCIDENTS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"  Dufoe  ct  decorum  fat  pro  patria  mori." 

ALL  readers  of  American  historj-  are  famil- 
iar with  the  questions  that  led  to  our 
Revolutionary  struggle,  and  eventually  culmi- 
nated in  the  independence  of  the  original  thir- 
teen colonies.  The  results  of  that  war  secured 
to  us  the  liberty  and  freedom  we  to-day  enjoy. 
Smarting  under  the  humiliation  of  defeat,  the 
mother  country  lost  few  opportunities  to  oppress 
and  insult  her  former  colonies  and  their  people. 
In  resentment  of  these  oft-repeated  insults,  fol- 
lowed, what  is  known  in  our  history,  as  the 
"  War  of  1812,"  and  another  chastisement  of 
the  British  Lion.  These  wars  occurred  before 
there  were  any  white  settlements  made  in  the 
present  count}-  of  Montgomery.  Many  of  the 
pioneers,  however,  of  the  county,  had  partici- 
pated in  one  or  the  other  of  these  wars,  and  in 
the  Indian  wars  of  the  frontier.  As  boys,  they 
had  fought  savages  with  their  mothers  and 
sisters  in  their  cabins  ;  in  youth  and  ripe  man- 
hood they  had  fought  them  in  ambuscade  and 
in  open  fields,  and  felt  themselves  a  match  for 
any  foe,  white  or  red.  But  it  was  several  years 
after  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  before  the 
whites  took  possession  of  what  is  now  Mont- 
gomery County,  and  hence  it  cannot  be  said 
that  the  county  participated  in  our  last  war 
with  Great  Britain. 

The  Black  Hawk. — This  was  the  first  conflict 
in  which  the  people  of  Montgomery  County 
were  called   upon  the  take  part.     As  soon  as 

*  By.  W.  H.  Perrin. 


the  war  had  assumed  a  serious  aspect,  Col. 
Stillman  led  a  small  force  against  the  savages, 
but  was  signally  defeated  by  overwhelming 
numbers.  Upon  the  defeat  of  Stillman,  Gov. 
Reynolds  deemed  it  expedient  to  call  out  troops 
to  defend  the  more  exposed  settlements  of  his 
State,  and  at  the  same  time  check  the  operation 
of  Black  Hawk.  He  called  for  volunteers  to 
rendezvous  at  Peru,  in  La  Salle  Count}-,  and  in 
response,  Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone,  a  scion  of  the  old 
Daniel  Boone  stock,  recruited  a  compan}r  in 
Montgomery  County,  and  was  sworn  into  service 
April  20,  1832.  From  the  "  Rountree  Letters  " 
published  in  the  Hillsboro  Democrat,  we  eopy 
the  muster-roll  of  this  company,  and  of  a  com- 
pany made  up  subsequently  by  Capt.  Rountree. 
The  roll  of  Boone's  company  is  as  follows  : 

Levi  D.  Boone,  Captain  ;  James  G.  Human, 
First  Lieutenant ;  Absalom  Cress.  Second 
Lieutenant ;  C.  B.  Blockberger,  First  Sergeant ; 
M.  H.  Walker,  Second  Sergeant ;  Israel  Fogle- 
man,  Third  Sergeant  ;  William  McDavid, 
Fourth  Sergeant  ;  J.  Prater,  First  Corporal  ; 
A.  T.  Williams,  Second  Corporal ;  C.  S.  Coffey, 
Third  Corporal  ;  Newton  Street,  Fourth  Corpo- 
ral. 

Privates — William  D.  Shirley,  Peter  Cress, 
George  E.  Ludwick,  George  W.  Conyers,  A.  H. 
Knapp,  J.  B.  Williams,  John  Crabtree,  Eastin 
Whitten,  Samuel  Peacock,  Michael  Ternan, 
Robert  A.  Long,  E.  Kilpatrick,  Daniel  Steel, 
Thomas  J.  Todd,  Johnson  Hampton,  Stephen 
Killingworth,   McKenzie  Turner,   Samuel  Ish- 


206 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


rnael,  James  Brown,  Samuel  Briggs,  James 
Hawkins,  Harrison  Brown,  Benjamin  R.  Will- 
iams, Eli  Robb,  James  Young,  John  K.  Mc- 
Williams,  James  M.  Rutledge,  Thomas  Mans- 
field, William  Griffith,  James  Grisham,  Benja- 
min Holbrook,  William  Jordon,  William  Rob- 
erts, Barnabas  Michaels,  Joshua  Hunt  and 
Hiram  C.  Bennett.  They  served  through  the 
campaign  for  which  they  volunteered  (one 
mouth)  and  were  mustered  out  May  28,  1832, 
at  the  mouth  of  Fox  River.  The  Indians  being 
still  far  from  subdued,  the  Governor  made 
another  call  for  troops,  and  under  this  second 
call,  Hiram  Rountree  raised  a  company  in  this 
county,  of  which  the  following  is  the  roll  : 

Hiram  Roundtree,  Captain  ;  John  Kirkpat- 
rick.  First  Lieutenant  ;  Thomas  Philips,  Second 
Lieutenant ;  A.  K.  Gray,  First  Sergeant  ;  John 
Stine,  Second  Sergeant ;  Samuel  Jackson,  Third 

Sergeant ; Fourth  Sergeant ; 

Spartan  Grisham,  First  Corporal  ;  Malachi 
Smith,  Second  Corporal  ;  Thomas  McAdams, 
Third  Corporal  ;  Thomas  Edwards,  Fourth  Cor- 
poral. 

Privates — Luke  Lee  Steel,  Thomas  Sturtevant, 
George  Harkej',  Jacob  Rhodes,  John  McCurry, 
Malcom  McPhail,  A.  Forehand,  John  M.  Holmes, 
John  K.  Long,  Joseph  Burke,  William  Harkey, 
Alfred  Johnson,  David  T.  McCullock,  Samuel 
Paisley,  William  Young,  William  Jones,  Thomas 
Evans,  J.  M.  McWilliams,  John  Hanna,  John 
Brown,  Jesse  Johnson,  Samuel  Bennett,  (Quar- 
termaster),C.  C.  Aydelot,  Thomas  Wood,  Thomas 
Johnson,  A.  McCullock,  James  Cardwell.  Thos. 
Early,  Willis  Rose,  Zeb.  Shirley,  W.  S.  Williams, 
Thomas  C.  Hughes,  John  Hart,  S.  W.  Booher, 
Alexander  Gray,  Thomas  W.  Heady,  John 
( lorlew,  Harace  Mansfield,  Thomas  Potter,  John 
Briggs,  J.  W.  Wilson,  D.  M.  Williams.  David 
Copeland,  James  Potter,  James  Wilson,  Thomas 
Gray,  James  M.  Berry,  John  Slater,  Thomas 
Williford,  James  Lockerman,  Robert  McCul- 
lock, John  Duncan,  Levi  D.  Boone  (Surgeon), 
William  Griffith,  Cleveland  Coffey  aud  William 


McDavid.  The  men,  so  far  as  they  were  able 
furnished  their  own  arms,  horses  and  other  ac- 
couterments.  and  marched  to  the  place  of  ren- 
dezvous near  Peru,  where  they  arrived  about  the 
20th  of  June,  1832.  The  company  continued 
in  the  service  until  the  defeat  of  Black  Hawk, 
at  Bad  Ax,  which  terminated  the  war. 

The  Mexican  War. — After  the  close  of  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  Montgomery  County  remained 
at  peace  with  all  mankind  until  Mexico  ruffled 
the  feathers  of  the  American  Eagle.  The  war 
with  Mexico  grew  out  of  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  formerly  a  province  of  Mexico,  to  the 
United  States.  Texas  had  revolted  from  Mexico, 
and  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  where  her  army 
had  captured  Santa  Anna,  then  Commander-in- 
chief  of  Mexico,  and  most  of  his  army  had  forced 
him  to  acknowledge  her  independence.  Mexico, 
however,  paid  no  attention  to  this  acknowledg- 
ment, but  contiuued  the  guerrilla  warfare,  and 
used  every  means  to  annoy  the  Texans.  Many 
people  from  the  States  had  settled  in  Texas,  and 
propositions  from  this  time  on  were  made  by 
them  to  admit  Texas  into  the  Union.  These 
propositions  were  favored  by  the  Democratic 
party,  but  strongly  opposed  by  the  Whigs.  In 
the  Presidential  campaign  of  1844,  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  was  made  one  of  the  chief  issues 
of  the  contest,  and  Mr.  Polk,  the  Democratic 
Candidate,  was  elected.  This  was  taken  as  an 
endorsement  of  the  question  by  the  people,  and 
early  in  the  year  1S45,  Texas  was  admitted  into 
the  sisterhood  of  States.  Mexico  at  once  broke 
off  all  diplomatic  relations  with  the  United 
States,  called  home  her  minister  and  prepared 
for  war,  which  soon  followed. 

Illinois,  with  that  spirit  of  patriotism  that 
has  always  characterized  her,  responded  heart- 
ily to  the  call  for  troops.  Under  an  act  of  Con- 
gress, the  President  was  authorized  to  order 
out  50,000  men,  and  Illinois  was  required  to 
furnish  three  regiments.  These  were  made  up 
without  delay,  and  rendezvoused  at  Alton. 
The  First   regiment   was   commanded  by  the 


^inn^UD 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


209 


brave  Col.  John  J.  Hardin,  of  Jacksonville, 
who  fell  in  the  battle  of  Bueua  Vista,  in  the 
same  charge  with  the  lamented  Clay  and  Mc- 
Kee,  of  Kentucky.  The  Second  regiment  was 
commanded  by  Col.  Bissell  of  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  and  contained  a  large  propor- 
tion of  Germans,  while  the  Third  regiment  was 
commanded  by  Col.  Foreman,  of  Vandalia.  It 
contained  a  Company  from  Montgomery  Coun- 
ty ninety-six  strong,  under  the  following 
commissioned  officers :  James  C.  McAdams, 
Captain ;  Thomas  Rhodes,  First  Lieutenant; 
John  Burk,  Second  Lieutenant ;  and  John  Cur- 
lew, Third  Lieutenant.  The  names  of  the  pri- 
vate and  non-commissioned  officers  cannot  now 
be  given.  Many  of  them  are  dead,  and  others 
have  moved  away  and  are  forgotten.  Under 
the  second  call  for  troops,  Illinois  furnished 
another  regiment,  which  was  commanded  by 
Col.  Baker,  of  Cairo.  These  four  regiments 
comprise  the  quota  of  Illinois  in  the  Mexican 
war,  and  formed  the  starting  point  for  the 
numbering  of  her  regiments  in  the  late  civil 
war — her  first  regimeut  being  known  as  the 
Fifth  Infantry. 

As  stated,  it  is  impossible  now  to  give  the 
names  of  all  those  who  went  into  the  Mexican 
war  from  Montgomery  County  Man}'  are  now 
dead,  and  others  have  moved  away  and  are  for- 
gotten. Many  have  also  moved  into  the  coun- 
ty, who  went  into  the  service  from  other  States, 
and  other  counties  of  this  State.  Suffice  it, 
they  did  their  duty  as  Illinois  soldiers  always 
have  done,  before,  as  well  as  since. 

The  Civil  War. — After  the  close  of  the  Mexi- 
can war.  the  country  remained  in  comparative 
peace  for  more  than  a  decade. 

A  storm,  however,  had  been  gathering,  and 
more  than  once  had  threatened  to  burst  in  fury 
upon  the  country,  but  after  spending  itself  in 
low-muttered  thunder,  had  passed  over.  But 
the  political  atmosphere  was  still  heavy  and 
oppressive,  and  it  required  no  prophet  to  foresee 


the  approaching  tempest.  The  great  question 
of  slavery,  which  had  been  in  agitation  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  culminated  in  the  election 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  in  1860, 
by  a  party  supposed  to  be  hostile  to  Southern 
institutions,  and  the  result  was  the  "  Great  Re- 
bellion"— a  civil  war  without  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  history.  To  go  into  the  details  of 
this  war,  would  be  to  open  afresh  wounds  now 
rapidly  healing  ;  but  a  history  of  a  county, 
which  said  nothing  of  its  war  history,  would,  at 
least,  be  incomplete,  and  hence,  a  brief  space  in 
this  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  the  part  taken 
by  Montgomery  County  in  the  late  war  be- 
tween the  States.  Upon  the  fall  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter, a  blaze  of  excitement  swept  over  the 
loyal  States,  and  aroused  the  people  to  instant 
action.  The  roll  of  the  drum  was  heard  in 
every  city,  town  and  hamlet,  and  the  sturdy  yeo- 
manry rushed  to  the  defense  of  their  coun- 
try. 

"The  herds  without  a  keeper  strayed. 
The  plow  was  in  mid-furrow  stayed," 

while  the  men,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
their  Revolutionary  sires,  gave  themselves  to 
the  service  of  the  Government. 

The  Ninth  Illinois  Infantry,  was  the  first 
regiment  that  drew  on  Montgomery  for  troops. 
Company  C,  of  the  Ninth,  was  made  up  aimost 
entirely  in  this  county,  and  the  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel of  the  regiment,  Judge  J.  J.  Philips,  is  too 
well  known  to  our  readers  to  require  any  eulo- 
gy here.  The  commissioned  officers  of  Compa- 
ny C  were  Jacob  Miller,  Captain  ;  A.  J.  Shel- 
don, First  Lieutenant  ;  and  George  Short,  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant.  The  latter  was  killed  in  bat- 
tle November  23,  1864,  and  John  Droesch  pro- 
moted to  Second  Lieutenant.  Capt.  Miller, 
Lieut.  Sheldon  and  Droesch,  were  mustered  out 
with  the  regiment  July  0,  1865. 

The  Ninth  Infantry  was  one  of  the  six  regi- 
ments which  was  allotted  to  Illinois  under  the 
President's  first  call  for  75,000   men  for  three 


210 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


months.*  It  was  organized  at  Springfield,  and 
mustered  into  the  service  April  28,  1861,  when 
it  was  ordered  to  Cairo,  and  brigaded  under 
Gen.  B.  M.  Prentiss.  At  the  end  of  its  three- 
months'  service,  about  five  hundred  of  its  men 
re-enlisted  for  three  years,  and  on  the  26th  of  Ju- 
ly, 1861,  was  mustered  into  the  United  States' 
service.  The  zeal  with  which  recruiting  was 
kept  up  during  the  summer  of  1861  enabled 
the  Ninth  to  number  1,040  men  by  the  1st  of 
September.  The  regiment  was  ordered  to 
Paducah.  Ky.,  where  it  passed  the  winter,  en- 
gaging in  numerous  expeditions  in  Western 
and  Southern  Kentucky.  In  February,  it  moved 
up  the  Tennessee  River,  and,  as  a  part  of  Col. 
McArthur's  brigade,  participated  in  the  battle 
of  Fort  Donelsou,  in  which  it  lost  thirty-five 
men  killed,  and  had  166  wounded.  March  6, 
1S62,  it  embarked  for  Paducah,  from  Nashville, 
where  it  had  been  for  some  time,  and  proceed- 
ed to  Pittsburg  Landing.  It  engaged  in  the 
battle  of  Shiloh  April  6,  and  sustained  a  loss  of 
sixty-one  killed  and  287  wounded.  Out  of  the 
twenty-six  commissioned  officers  who  went 
into  action,  twenty-one  were  either  killed  or 
wounded. 

The  Ninth,  during  the  advance  on  Corinth, 
formed  a  part  of  the  brigade  commanded  by 
Brig.  Gen.  R.  J.  Oglesby,  and  on  the  evacua- 
tion of  Corinth,  was  attached  to  the  Third  Ar- 
my Corps,  under  the  command  of  Maj.  Gen. 
John  Pope,  and  pursued  the  retreating  enemy 
to  Booneville.  In  the  battle  of  Corinth,  Oc- 
tober 3  and  4,  it  lost  nineteen  killed  and  eighty- 
two  wounded  and  fifty-two  prisoners.  After 
this  the  regiment  served  mostly  in  Mississippi, 
where  it  performed  the  most  arduous  service. 
The  Adjutant  General's  report  of  the  State, 
from  which  these  facts  are  gleaned,  sets  down 

*  Under  the  three  months'  service,  the  Montgomery  County  Com  ■ 
pany  was  H,  and  was  officered  as  follows  :  J.  J.  Philips,  Captaiu  ;  J. 
W.  Kitchell,  First  Lieutenant,  and  William  F.  Armstrong,  Second 
Lieutenant.  Philips  was  promoted  to  Major,  during  its  three 
months'  service,  and,  on  its  organization  for  three  years,  to  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel.  Kitchell  was  promoted  Captain  in  the  place  of  Philips 
and  James  Munn  became  First  Lieutenant.  Armstrong  entered 
another  regiment  at  the  close  of  the  three-months'  service,  where 
he  served  faithfully,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Major. 


the  number  of  battles  and  skirmishes,  in  which 
the  Ninth  participated,  at  110,  beginning  with 
Saratoga.  Ky.,  October  15,  1861,  and  ending 
with  "near"  Neuse  River,  N.  C,  April  10, 
1865.  The  regiment  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service  July  9,  1865.  and  discharged. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth  Illinois  In- 
fantry received  a  company  from  the  county, 
principally  from  Hillsboro,  and  the  immediate 
vicinity.  This  was  Company  B,  and  was  offi- 
cered as  follows  :  Robert  Mc Williams,  Captain: 
Frank  H.  Gillmore,  First  Lieutenant,  and 
George  W.  Potter,  Second  Lieutenant.  Mc- 
Williams  was  promoted  to  Major,  and  resigned 
January  29,  1865.  Gillmore  was  promoted  to 
Captain,  Potter  to  first  Lieutenant,  James  M. 
Truitt  to  Second  Lieutenant,  and  all  mustered 
out  with  the  regiment  August  5,  1865. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth  was  or- 
ganized at  Camp  Butler,  in  September,  1862, 
by  Col.  R.  M.  Moore,  and  mustered  into  the 
service  by  Capt.  Washington,  of  the  United 
States  Army,  on  the  19th  of  the  same  month. 
It  left  Camp  Butler  on  the  11th  of  November 
for  Memphis,  Tenu.,  where  it  arrived  on  the 
17th,  and  where  it  remained  until  July,  1863, 
when  it  was  sent  to  Helena,  Ark.,  but  soon  af- 
ter returned.  It  was  next  (in  December)  sent 
against  Gen.  Forrest  in  Western  Tennessee,  and, 
in  a  skirmish  with  him  at  La  Fayette,  lost  three 
men  killed.  It  was  engaged  in  the  operations 
around  Vicksburg,  and  served  in  Mississippi. 
Louisaua  and  Arkansas,  and  September  19, 
1864,  arrived  at  Jefferson  Barracks.  For  two 
months  it  operated  in  Missouri,  returning  to  St. 
Louis  November  19,  when  it  embarked  for 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  took  position  in  the  works 
there  December  1,  1864.  It  was  engaged  in 
the  battle  of  Nashville  December  15  and  16, 
and  took  part  in  the  pursuit  of  Hood's  army. 
Afterward  it  proceeded  to  New  Orleans,  where 
it  arrived  January  17,  1865.  It  participated  in 
a  number  of  battles  and  skirmishes,  ending  in 
the  capture  of  Blakely  on  the  9th  of  April. 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


211 


It  marched  for  Montgomery  April  13,  and  then 
to  Camp  Butler,  111.,  where  it  was  mustered  out 
of  service  August  3,  1S65,  by  Capt.  James  A. 
Hall. 

The  regiment,  during  its  term  of  service, 
traveled  by  rail  778  miles  ;  by  water,  C,191 
miles,  and  marched  2,307  miles. 

The  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-sixth  Illinois 
Infantry  had  also  a  company  from  this  county. 
Daniel  W.  Munn,  of  Hillsboro,  was  Adjutant 
of  the  regiment,  and  Company  D  was  from 
Montgomery  County,  and  went  out  with  the 
following  commissioned  officers:  L.  R.  Slaugh- 
ter, Captain;  E.  T.  Somers,  First  Lieutenant, 
and  J.  W.  Newberry,  Second  Lieutenant. 
Slaughter  resigned  July  23.  186-4.  and  Somers 
promoted  to  Captain  in  his  place,  and  as  such 
mustered  out  with  the  regiment  July  12,  1SG5. 
Louis  Wagner  was  promoted  to  First  Lieuten- 
ant, in  the  place  of  Somers,  and  mustered  out 
as  such.  Second  Lieut.  Newberry  died  Sep- 
tember 3,  1863,  when  James  M.  Boone  became 
Second  Lieutenant,  and  was  mustered  out  with 
the  regiment. 

This  regiment  was  organized  at  Alton,  and 
mustered  into  service  September  4,  1862,  by 
Col.  Richmond,  who  served  as  its  Colonel  until 
March  3,  1S64,  when  he  resigned.  It  served 
in  Tennessee,  Arkansas  and  Mississippi,  and 
participated  in  the  siege  of  Yicksburg.  It  took 
part  in  the  capture  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and  in 
the  fight  at  Clarendon,  Ark.,  June  26,  1864. 
It  was  in  active  service  from  the  time  of  its 
enlistment  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  on 
the  12th  of  July,  1865,  it  was  uuistered  out 
and  discharged. 

The  One  Hundred  aud  Forty-third  Infantry, 
enlisted  for  one  hundred  days,  contained  a 
company  (H)  from  Montgomery,  which  was 
officered  as  follows:  James  G.  Seward,  Captain; 
William  R.  Truesdell,  First  Lieutenant,  and 
George  P.  Fowler,  Second  Lieutenant.  The 
regiment  was  organized  at  Mattoon,  and  mus- 
tered into  service  June  11,  1864,  for  one  hun- 


dred days,  under  the  command  of  Col.  IX  C. 
Smith.  It  served  in  Tennessee  and  Arkansas, 
aud  on  the  10th  of  September  returned  to  Mat- 
toon,  where,  on  the  26th,  it  was  mustered  out 
of  service. 

The  First  Illinois  Cavalry  was  represented 
by  a  company  from  this  county,  viz.:  Company 
E.  Its  commissioned  officers  were  as  follows: 
Paul  Walters,  Captain;  Isaac  Skillman.  First 
Lieutenant,  and  Morgan  Blair,  Second  Lieuten- 
ant, all  of  whom  were  mustered  out  with  their 
regiment.  The  First  Cavalry  was  organized 
July  1,  1861,  and  entered  the  service  for  one 
year.  Of  its  operations  we  have  no  account, 
as  the  Adjutant  General's  Report  of  the  State 
gives  none,  beyond  its  muster-roll,  and  that  it 
was  mustered  out  July  12,  1S62,  at  the  close 
of  its  term  of  service. 

Additional  to  the  foregoing,  Mr.  Coolidge 
furnishes  us  the  following,  as  the  '-war  history'1 
of  Litchfield  and  immediate  vicinity: 

••  News  of  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  was 
caught  from  the  wires  on  Sundaj'  evening,  and 
the  fuller  details  came  the  next  day  in  the 
morning  dailies.  A  call  was  instantly  issued 
for  a  public  meeting  in  the  evening,  at  Empire 
Hall.  The  hall  was  crowded  with  men. 
Speaker  after  speaker  was  called  to  address  his 
fellow-citizens,  aud  declare  his  sentiments  as  to 
the  Republic.  There  was  but  one  opinion. 
War  had  begun.  Force  must  be  repelled  De- 
force, and  fort}'  men  responded  that  evening  to 
the  call  for  75,000  troops  to  preserve  the 
Union.  In  three  daj"s,  the  company  had  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  rank  and  file,  and  with  B.  M. 
.Munn  as  Captain,  and  E.  Southworth  and  M. 
P.  Miller  as  Lieutenants,  had  departed  to 
Springfield  to  become  a  part  of  the  first  Illinois 
regiment  raised.  For  a  few  weeks  the  regiment 
was  quartered  at  Alton,  then  ordered  to  Cairo, 
where  Gen.  Graut  was  in  command.  It  com- 
pleted its  extended  period  of  enlistment  at 
Mound  City.  The  company  saw  no  hostile 
Hag,   and   heard   no   hostile  bullet.     Only  the 


212 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Captain  and  a  few  of  his  men  re-enlisted  for 
three  years.  The  first  exaltation  of  feeling  was 
over,  and  the  soldiers  came  home,  some  to 
enter  other  organizations,  and  the  most  to  labor 
for  daily  bread,  for  no  county  can  long  keep  on 
the  field  over  four  per  cent  of  its  population. 

"  The  three  months'  volunteers  being  in  the 
field,  steps  were  taken  to  enlist  a  company  for 
three  years.  The  attempt  was  speedily  success- 
ful, and  under  Delos  Van  Deuzen,  Captain,  and 
L.  G.  Perley  and  P.  G.  Galvin,  Lieutenants, and 
R.  W.  Short,  First  Sergeant,  the  company  was 
mustered  into  service  at  St.  Louis  June  1G, 
1861,  as  Company  H,  Sixth  Missouri  Volun- 
teers, Col.  Blood  commanding.  No  regiment 
was  then  forming  in  Illinois.  This  Litchfield 
preferred  to  go  into  a  foreign  regiment,  if  it 
was  necessary,  in  order  to  gain  a  recognized 
military  status.  Guarding  Pilot  Knob  until 
November,  the  regiment  then  proceeded  to 
Springfield,  via  St.  Louis  and  Tipton,  forming 
a  part  of  the  army  under  Fremont,  which 
this  leader  marched  to  fight  Gen.  Price,  but 
which  Hunter  led  into  pacific  quarters,  under 
the  shelter  of  St.  Louis.  Wintering  at  Otter- 
ville,  the  Sixth,  in  April,  departed  for  Pitts- 
burg Landing,  and  joined  the  army  before 
Corinth,  being  the  First  of  the  First  Brigade, 
Second  Division,  Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  com- 
manded in  succession  by  Sherman,  Blair  and 
Logan,  went  down  the  railroad  to  Memphis. 
The  regiment  preserved  this  position  through 
its  campaigns. 

"  In  December,  1862,  the  Sixth  bore  a  bloody 
part  in  the  assault  on  Chickasaw  Bayou,  leav- 
ing eighty  men  dead  before  the  walls.  This 
was  the  first  sharp  affair  in  which  it  partici- 
pated. Then  it  assisted  at  the  capture  of 
Arkansas  Post,  and,  returning,  was  detained  by 
high  water  at  Young's  Point,  opposite  Vicks- 
burg,  until  May,  1863,  when  it  crossed  the 
Mississippi  thirty  miles  below,  and  advanced 
on  Jackson.  That  town  taken,  the  regiment 
bore  its  flag  through   the   battles   which  sent 


Johnson  whirling  to  the  rear,  and  cleared  the 
way  to  the  successful  investment  of  Pembertou 
in  his  stronghold.  When  Vicksburg  surren- 
dered, the  regiment  assisted  in  the  recapture 
of  Jackson,  and  it  was  stationed  in  winter  quar- 
ters on  Black  River  until  ordered  to  move  to 
the  relief  of  Chattanooga.  The  Sixth  was  the 
first  regiment  to  cross  the  river  against  Mis- 
sion Ridge,  and  was  on  picket  duty  for 
sixty  consecutive  hours.  In  November,  the 
regiment  marched  to  the  aid  of  Burnside, 
beleaguered  at  Knoxville,  going  light,  without 
baggage  or  provisions,  and  foraging  for  food 
while  advancing  forty-  miles  a  day.  In  the 
springoflS64.it  re-enlisted  as  veterans,  and 
were  furloughed  home  for  sixty  days,  and  Capt. 
Van  Deuzen  went  back  as  Lieutenant  Colonel, 
commanding  the  regiment.  Lieut.  Galvin  was 
promoted  to  Major,  and  Sergeant  R.  M.  Short 
was  made  Captain  of  his  company.  A  portion 
of  the  winter,  the  regiment  lay  at  Huntsville. 
In  May,  1864,  the  advance  on  Atlanta  began, 
and  Company  H  saw  bloody  service  at  Resaca, 
Dallas  and  Kenesaw  Mountain.  July  22, 1864, 
its  depleted  ranks  fought  on  the  field  where 
McPherson  fell,  and  six  clays  later  burnt  powder 
at  Jonesboro,  and  Atlanta  was  fairly  taken. 
Hood,  throwing  himself  on  Sherman's  commu- 
nications, the  latter  marched  to  the  north  until 
his  antagonist  was  beyond  the  Tennessee,  and 
too  far  from  his  base  of  supplies  to  be  trouble- 
some. Then  leaving  him  to  the  stern  mercies 
of  Gen.  Thomas,  Shermau  disappeared  in  the 
direction  of  the  sea,  to  reach  tide-water  about 
Christmas.  The  Sixth,  led  the  sharp  assault 
of  Fort  McAlister,  whose  capture  restored  the 
connection  between  the  army  and  the  fleet  sent 
to  meet  it  with  indispensable  supplies. 

"The  regiment  was  a  Columbia,  and  win- 
ning fields  by  rapid  marching  even  more  than 
by  fighting;  fired  its  last  shot  on  Goldsboro, 
and  was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Johnston 
at  Raleigh;  having  kept  step  to  the  music  of 
the  Union  in  a  hundred  fights  in  nine  States, 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


213 


and  marched  in  proud  triumph  in  the  grand 
review  at  Washington,  the  regiment  was  hon- 
orably mustered  out  of  service  at  St.  Louis,  in 
September,  1865,  only  a  remnant  having  sur- 
vived the  perils  of  battle  and  the  more  deadly 
camp. 

"  Many  Litchfield  men  enlisted  in  companies 
recruited  elsewhere.  Some  of  them  were  with 
Zagonyi  in  his  mad  charge  at  Springfield,  one 
against  ten — a  dash  indefensible  by  military 
rules,  but  in  its  consequences  hardly  less  val- 
uable than  a  battle  gained.  Others  were  sur- 
rendered at  Lexington.  They  fought  at  Pea 
Ridge  ;  they  did  Garrison  duty  at  St.  Louis  and 
Camp  Butler  ;  they  were  in  the  gunboat  serv- 
ice; they  bled  at  Fort  Donelson  and  suffered 
and  lived  through  the  horrors  of  Andersonville. 

"  In  August,  1861 ,  half  a  company  of  cavalry 
was  enlisted  here,  and  being  refused  admission 
to  an  Illinois  regiment,  completed  an  informal 
organization  and  became  Company  C,  First 
Missouri  Cavalry.  While  at  St.  Louis,  the  com- 
pany received  recruits  from  home  until  the 
ranks  were  full.  James  Barrett  was  elected 
Captain,  a  position  from  which  he  retired  in  a 
few  months,  on  account  of  deafness.  The  regi- 
ment took  possession  of  Lexington  on  Gen. 
Price's  retreat  to  avoid  Fremont,  and  joined 
the  latter's  army  at  Warsaw.  His  body  guard 
and  two  companies  of  the  First  Regiment  were 
sent  forward  to  disperse  a  small  force  at 
Springfield,  and  Company  C  in  Zagonyi's  fa- 
mous charge  learned  they  were  one  against  ten. 
The  company  wintered  at  Leavenworth,  and  for 
two  years  were  fighting  Quantrell  and  the 
guerrillas.  At  Pleasant  Hill,  Quantrell  lost 
seventy-five  men,  while  the  Federals  were  weak- 
ened by  about  a  dozen  killed  and  wounded. 
In  1863,  the  regiment  entered  Davidson's  Di- 
vision at  Clarendon,  back  of  Helena,  and  slowly 
approached  Little  Rock,  which  was  captured 
with  slight  loss.  In  1864,  the  regiment  then 
dismounted,  formed  the  advance  guard  of 
Steele's  army  to  co-operate  with  Banks'  Red 


River  expedition.  The  First  Missouri  was 
under  fire  forty  days  of  the  forty-one,  while 
absent ;  on  five  days  in  severe  battles.  At 
the  last  one,  at  the  crossing  of  the  Saline, 
Kirby  Smith  lost  his  artillery,  and  Steele  sac- 
rificed 1,200  wagons  on  his  retreat.  In  August, 
1864,  the  regiment  was  discharged  on  the  ex- 
piration of  its  term  of  enlistment.  There  re- 
remained  in  the  city  and  its  neighborhood  only- 
four  or  five  of  the  riders  who  fought  Quantrell. 
"  In  1862,  E.  Southworth  began  to  raise  the 
fourth  entire  company  in  the  city.  Isaac  Skill- 
man  soon  co-operated  with  him,  and  when  the 
ranks  were  full,  was  elected  Captain  ;  M.  Pack 
and  J.  Reubart,  Lieutenants.  The  company 
was  assigned  the  post  of  honor  in  the  Ninety- 
first  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  Col.  Day  com- 
manding, and  being  ordered  to  Kentucky,  was 
captured  by  John  Morgan,  at  Elizabethtown. 
and  paroled  and  sent  home.  Being  at  length 
exchanged,  the  regiment  was  sent  South  and' 
put  on  outpost  duty  near  Galveston.  Thence, 
in  1865,  it  was  ordered  to  New  Orleans,  and 
saw  active  service  at  Mobile,  where  it  bore  an 
honorable  part  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Blakely. 

"  Three  entire  companies  raised  here  were 
incorporated  in  Missouri  regiments,  in  addition 
to  several  detachments  enlisted  here,  by  Lieu- 
tenants Gurney,  Henderson,  Perkins  and  others. 
Lieut.  Perley  was  promoted  to  the  Captaincy 
of  Company  K,  and  was  killed  by  falling  from 
a  window  in  Memphis.  Lieutenants  White 
and  Henderson,  Pack  and  Reubart,  and  Ser- 
geants Short,  V.  Hoffman,  and  private  W.  Ed- 
gar, rose  to  Captaincies. 

"  While  the  city  thus  sent  her  hundreds  into 
the  field,  the  men  who  could  not  go  had  an 
onerous  duty  to  perform  at  home.  A  member 
of  the  Golden  Circle  visited  a  friend  here  in 
the  critical  time  when  trouble  was  apprehended 
in  this  county.  '  I  understand,'  said  he,  '  that 
you  have  4,000  stand  of  arms  at  the  service  of 
the  Union  League.'  '  Certainly.  I  will  show 
you  a  specimen  of  our  guns,'    and  going  to  a 


214 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


neighbor  be  borrowed  his  Ballard  rifle.  '  This,' 
said  he,  '  is  a  specimen  of  one-half  our  sup- 
ply,' and  producing  a  sixteen-shooter  Henry 
rifle  and  explaining  its  construction  and  ef- 
ficiency, '  this  is  the  pattern  of  the  other  half.' 
The  euiissaiy  of  the  Golden  Circle  was  dis- 
mayed, and  bis  report  to  the  Order  was  in- 
structive, and  bore  an  obvious  moral.  Before 
this  incident,  parts  of  the  Circle  had  been 
established  in  this  county,  and  for  a  short  time 
one  met  in  the  city.  Military  reviews  or  drills 
were  held  in  the  close  neighborhood.  At  least 
three  public  addresses  were  made  here  by  its 
orators,  usually  by  way  of  a  surprise,  and  the 
local  speakers  still  live  under  an  immeasurable 
weight  of  public  odium.  A  Democratic  Club 
was  formed,  which  met  each  evening  to  hear 
read  the  latest  war  news,  and  an  invitation  was 
sought  to  address  it  by  the  Colonel  of  the  Golden 
Circle  regiment,  which,  in  military  array,  had 
stalked  through  Hillsboro.  The  invitation  was 
refused,  and  only  by  an  abuse  of  authority  and 
courtesy  was  he  permitted  to  ascend  its  plat- 
form. The  club  was  so  deeply  offended  that  it 
never  met  again.  It  was  about  this  date  that 
no  one  was  permitted  to  call  himself  a  Demo- 
crat unless  he  was  hostile  to  the  further  prose- 
cution of  the  war.  The  writer  saw  and  suf- 
fered from  the  zeal  and  malevolence  of  the 
disloyal  element.  But  it  is  true  that  in  pro- 
portion to  their  numbers,  as  many  Democrats 
enlisted  and  served  in  the  war  as  Republicans. 
Three  of  the  four  captains  who  raised  com- 
panies here  were  Democrats,  as  were  a  majority 
of  the  rank  and  file. 

"Isaac  Skillman,  in  the  spring  of  1861,  en- 
listed half  a  company  of  cavalry  which  be- 
came  a   part   of    an   Illinois   regiment.     The 


command  was  taken  prisoners  at  Lexing- 
ton, paroled  and  sent  home.  D.  W.  Hender- 
son, Belmont  Perkins,  Al  Gurnee  and  others 
enlisted  men  here  who  were  mustered  into 
Missouri  regiments.  For  a  time  the  fervor  for 
enlisting  was  such  that  volunteers,  being  re- 
fused in  Illinois,  went  into  Missouri  regiments. 
At  least  COO  men  were  raised  here,  quite  one- 
half  the  entire  force  supplied  by  the  county, 
and  the  city,  in  draft  times,  received  no  credit 
for  its  sons  fighting  under  the  flags  of  other 
States . 

"  Litchfield  responded  promptly  to  each  call 
for  troops,  and  what  sort  of  men  she  furnished 
can  be  seen  in  her  record  of  pensioners,  and  on 
the  headstones  of  national  cemeteries.  She 
did  her  duty — no  town  could  do  more — and 
the  Divine  thing,  which  is  duty,  is  always  great, 
and  always  equally  great.  It  is  as  great  in  the 
sentinel,  pacing  at  midnight  his  narrow  round, 
as  in  the  General  who  gains  his  fame  by  hurl- 
ing redoubtable  squadrons  against  intrepid 
foes  to  whom  the  day  of  battle  is  a  time  of 
of  joy." 

This  comprises  a  very  brief,  and,  perhaps, 
imperfect  sketch  of  Montgomery  County's  war 
history — a  history  that  runs  through  three 
wars.  How  many  men  the  county  furnished  to 
the  national  armies,  in  the  late  civil  war,  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  as  many  enlisted  in  regi- 
ments organized  in  other  States,  and  for  whom 
Montgomery  County  received  no  credit.  Those 
who  survived  the  conflict,  have  their  reward  in 
the  knowledge  that  the  old  flag  still  floats  over 
all  the  States  ;  those  who  fell  in  the  fight,  and 
rest  in  soldier's  graves,  are  embalmed  in  the 
nation's  history. 


HILLSBORO   TOWNSHIP. 


215 


CHAPTER    VTL* 

HILLSBORO  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION,  BOUNDARIES  AND  TOPOGRAPHY— ITS  EARLY  SETTLEMENT 
—THE  McADAMSES,  RUTLEDGES,    BOONES,    AND   OTHER    PIONEERS— HARD    LIFE   OF  THE 
PEOPLE— THEIR  ROUGH   HABITS,   COARSE  FARE  AND    SEVERE  DUTY— THE  PRIMI- 
TIVE CABIN  AND  ITS  COMFORTS— MILLS,  ROADS  AND  BRIDGES- 
EARLY  SCHOOLS,  CHURCHES,   ETC.,   ETC. 


"Our grandmothers  long  have  reposed  in  the  tomb; 
With  a  strong,  healthy  race  they  have  peopled 
the  land; 
They  worked  with  the  spindle,  they  toiled  at  the 
loom, 
Nor  lazily  brought  up  their  babies  by  band." 

— Eugene  Hall. 

TT^AR  across  the  dense  woodlands  of  Indiana, 
-L  beyond  where  Ohio's  placid  waters  roll 
onward  toward  the  Mississippi,  and  yet  still 
farther  on.  among  the  grand  old  forests  and 
gushing  springs  and  fertile  plains  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee  and  North  Carolina,  came  the  pio- 
neers of  this  section  of  the  county.  Many  of 
them  left  homes  of  comfort  behind  them,  others 
but  a  small  farm  upon  which  they  lived  and 
rented  by  the  year,  and  which  barely  gave  them 
a  support.  All  came  to  better  their  condition, 
to  secure  cheap  lands,  and  to  finally  enable 
them  to  give  their  children  a  start  in  the  world. 
Their  journey  hither  was  a  hard  one,  and  well 
calculated  to  discourage  men  of  lesser  energy. 
To  those  who  settled  the  territory,  now  em- 
braced in  Hillsboro  Township,  their  trials  and 
hardships,  their  toils  and  dangers,  the  pages 
following  are  inscribed. 

The  township  of  Hillsboro  occupies  a  posi- 
tion a  little  south  of  the  center  of  the  county, 
and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Butler  Grove 
Township,  on  the  east  by  East  Fork  Township 
on  the  south  by  Grisham  Township,  and  on  the 
west  by  South  Litchfield  Township.     It  is  most- 


»By  W.  H.  Pen-in. 


ly  of  uneven  surface,  rolling  and  somewhat  hilly 
along  the  water-courses,  breaking,  in  places,  in- 
to bluffs,  and  when  first  seen  by  white  men,  the 
larger  portion  was  covered  with  timber.  Nearly 
all  of  it,  however,  is  susceptible  of  cultivation, 
and  produces  fine  crops  of  corn,  oats  and  wheat. 
The  timber  is  principally  oak,  sugar-maple,  Cot- 
tonwood, elm,  walnut,  ash,  pecan,  hickory,  etc., 
etc.  The  land  is  drained  by  Shoal  Creek  and 
its  tributaries.  Middle  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek 
passes  nearly  through  the  center  of  the  town- 
ship in  an  almost  southwest  direction,  while  the 
West  Fork  flows  through  the  western  part  to 
the  southward,  and  unites  with  Middle  Fork 
near  the  south  line.  Brush  Creek  is  a  small 
stream  in  the  northwest  corner  and  empties  in- 
to the  West  Fork,  while  there  are  several  other 
insignificant  streams  that  are  nameless  on  the 
maps.  Hillsboro,  since  the  date  of  township 
organization  (1873)  has  corresponded  in  size 
with  the  Congressional  survey,  embracing  with- 
in its  limits  thirty -six  sections  of  land  lying  in 
a  square. 

The  settlement  of  Hillsboro  Township  dates 
back  to  1817  or  1818,  and  was  among  the  first 
settlements  made  in  the  county.  Look  at  the 
dates,  1817—1882!  Sixty-five  years  stands 
between  these  milestones.  Half  that  number 
is  the  average  of  a  generation's  lifetime,  and 
hence,  two  generations  have  come  and  gone 
since  the  beginning  of  the  settlement  in  what 
now  forms  Hillsboro  Township.  Among  its 
early  pioneers  we  may  mention  the  names  of 


216 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  Killpatricks,  Joseph  McAdams,  Jarvis 
Forehand,  William  Clark.  Dr.  Levi  D.  Boone 
James  Rutledge,  Solomon  Prewitt,  John  Till- 
son,  David  McCoy,  Nicholas  Lockerman,  the 
Wrights,  Benjamin  Rose,  Hiram  Rountreev 
Alexander  McWilliams,  Roland  Shepherd,  John 
Norton,  D.  B.  Jackson,  Gordon  B.  Crandall, 
Joel  Smith  and  a  number  of  others  whose 
names  cannot  be  recalled. 

Joseph  McAdams,  the  progenitor  of  the  Mc- 
Adams family,  at  whose  house  the  first  courts 
were  held,  settled  some  three  miles  southwest 
of  the  present  town  of  Hillsboro.  The  Mc- 
Adams family  was  a  prominent  one,  and  many 
descendants  of  the  patriarch,  whose  name  is 
mentioned  above,  still  reside  in  the  count}*,  and 
are  useful  and  worth}'  citizens.  Joseph  Mc- 
Adams raised  a  family  of  nine  sons  and  three 
daughters,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  not 
one  of  them — father,  mother,  sons  and  daugh- 
ters— but  are  dead,  and,  with  perhaps,  a  single 
exception,  the  husbands  and  wives  are  also 
dead. 

"The  mother  that  infant's  affection  approved, 
The  husband  that  mother  and  infant  who  blessed, 
Each,  all,  are  away  to  their  dwellings  of  rest." 

All  were  prominent  citizens,  but  John  only 
held  office,  and  was  one  of  the  first  County 
Commissioners.  Joseph,  the  patriarch  of  the 
family,  died  many  years  ago,  leaving  a  name 
untarnished.  He  was  the  first  Coroner  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  but  never  aspired  to  office  ; 
one  of  his  sons  died  on  a  place  settled  by  Will- 
iam Clark,  mentioned  above  as  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  the  township.  But  our  space  will 
not  admit  of  a  detailed  sketch  of  this  large 
family. 

About  two  miles  west  of  Hillsboro,  and  near 
where  the  first  county  seat  (Hamilton)  was  laid 
out,  David  Killpatrick  settled.  He  was  of  Irish 
descent,  well  educated,  and  said  to  be  one  of 
the  finest  mathematicians  of  his  day  in  the 
county.  A  man  of  stern  integrity,  useful  and 
intelligent,  he  was  often  elected  to  the  office  of 


the  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He.  too,  raised  a 
large  family,  and  has  many  descendants  living 
in  the  county.  It  was  a  daughter  of  his, 
Martha  Killpatrick,  who  married  Dr.  Garner, 
the  first  doctor  that  ever  practiced  medicine  in 
the  county.  Near  Killpatrick,  Joel  Smith  set- 
tled. He  was  the  step-father  of  David  B.  Starr, 
who  is  prominently  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this 
work.  David  B.  Jackson  and  James  Rutledge 
settled  where  Hillsboro  now  stands,  and  were 
early  hotel-keepers.  They  are  more  especially 
noticed  in  connection  with  the  earl}'  history  of 
the  city.  Of  Mr.  Rutledge  we  extract  the  fol- 
lowing from  the  Rountree  Letters  :  "  In  an 
early  day,  he  cut  a  conspicuous  figure  in  our 
county,  having  served  as  Constable  for  many 
years,  and  incidentally  as  Deputy  Sheriff,  and 
many  times  have  we  seen  him  '  cheek  by  jowl' 
with  some  horse-thief  or  other  violator  of  the  law, 
We  remember  one  fact  of  him,  that  he  put  in  our 
old  log  jail  the  first  prisoners  we  ever  saw  go 
to  jail,  a  couple  of  horse  thieves,  by  the  names 
of  Parks  and  Means.  '  Uncle  Jimmy '  also 
served  in  the  Legislature  as  a  Representative 
from  this  county.  Indeed  it  may  be  remarked 
of  him  that  he  always  took  a  large  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  our  county  and  our  people.  He 
was  always  at  their  service,  and  ever  free  to 
express  his  opinions  on  all  subjects." 

Benjamin  Rose  was  an  early  settler  south  of 
Hillsboro,  near  where  the  old  woolen  factory 
stands.  He  married  a  widow,  who  had  two 
children  by  a  former  husband,  William  and 
Charles  Linxwiler,  whom  he  raised,  and  who 
became  well-known  citizens.  He  afterward  set- 
tled a  place  known  as  the  "  Linn  Knoll,"  near 
Brush  Creek.  He  had  two  brothers,  who  were 
also  early  settlers,  and  both  of  whom  are  now 
dead.  Other  settlers  soon  flocked  around 
"  Linn  Knoll,"  among  whom  were  George  H. 
Anderson,  Robert  Mann,  Mark  Rutledge,  Will- 
iam Knight,  John  Bostick,  James  Grantham, 
James  Wiley,  etc.,  etc.,  all  excellent  men  and 
citizens.     Anderson  had  a  large  family  ;  most 


HILLSBORO  TOWNSHIP. 


217 


of  those  living  reside  in  Christian  Count}'. 
His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Robert  Mann,  who 
is  long  since  dead.  Knight  and  his  wife  and 
most  of  their  family  are  dead.  John  Bostick 
and  his  aged  father,  Ezra,  a  soldier  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  have  likewise  gone  to  that 
land,  "  whose  sands  bear  the  marks  of  no  re- 
turning footprints."  James  Wiley  and  his  good 
old  father,  Aquilla  Wiley,  have  followed  them. 
Thus  the  pioneers  have  passed  away,  leaving 
but  few  of  their  number  who  stand  "like  the 
scattered  stalks  that  remain  in  the  field  when 
the  tempest  has  swept  over  it." 

Dr.  Boone  was  one  of  the  early  physicians, 
a  contemporary  of  Dr.  Garner,  believed  to  be 
the  first  physician  in  the  county.  He  was  a 
man  of  intelligence,  of  the  old  Daniel  Boone 
stock,  and  personally  very  popular.  He  com- 
manded a  company  of  Montgomery  County 
boys  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  when  he 
served  out  his  term  re-enlisted  as  Surgeon  iii 
Capt.  Rountree's  company,  and  served  to  the 
close  of  the  war.  Afterward  he  removed  to 
Chicago,  grew  rich,  became  President  of  a 
bank,  was  elected  Mayor,  and  was  a  man  of 
much  prominence.  During  the  late  war,  he  got 
into  trouble,  because  his  whole-souled  generos- 
ity prompted  him  to  provide  comforts  for  the 
Confederate  prisoners  confined  in  Camp  Doug- 
las, and  he  was  arrested  by  the  Federals  for 
thus  succoring  those  upon  whom  the  fortune 
of  war  had  frowned,  and  many  of  whom  were 
sons  of  his  old  Kentucky  friends.  Hiram 
Rountree  and  John  Tillson,  two  men,  perhaps, 
more  prominently  connected  with  the  county 
than  any  others,  will  receive  further  mention  in 
the  chapters  devoted  to  the  town  and  city.  Al- 
exander McWilliams  settled  about  four  miles 
west  of  Hillsboro,  on  what  was  afterward 
known  as  the  Zimmerman  place.  John  Mc- 
Williams was  a  son,  a  man  of  excellent  quali- 
ties, and  one  of  the  early  business  men  of 
Litchfield.  Lockerman  settled  in  the  western 
part  of  the  present  township.     C.  B.  Blockber- 


ger  settled  in  Hillsboro  when  it  consisted  of 
but  a  few  log  houses.  He  was  a  tinsmith,  and 
opened  the  first  tin  shop  in  the  county.  He 
was  a  public-spirited  man,  made  himself  very 
useful  to  the  early  settlers,  kept  a  general 
store  ;  made  brick  ;  kept  a  hotel,  and  was  sev- 
eral times  elected  to  the  Legislature.  He  was 
Deputy  United  States  Marshal  in  1840,  after- 
ward Postmaster,  also  served  as  Probate  Judge , 
and  held  several  military  offices.  He  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  organizing  the  first 
Masonic  lodge  in  Hillsboro,  and  the  first  in  the 
county,  to  which  he  was  greatly  devoted. 
When  he  died  he  was  buried  with  Masonic 
honors,  Gen.  Shields  officiating. 

The  Cannons  were  early  settlers,  locating 
here  as  early  as  1824.  There  were  three 
brothers — William,  John  and  Charles — all  of 
whom  settled  near  Hillsboro,  and  some  of  them 
in  the  town.  William  raised  thirteen  children 
out  of  fifteen  born  to  him.  Says  Mr.  Roun- 
tree in  his  sketches  :  "  He  is  now  nearly  three- 
score and  ten,  and  is  quite  a  patriarch.  He 
counts  his  descendants  as  follows  :  Children, 
15,  of  whom  are  living,  13 ;  grandchildren, 
99,  of  whom  are  living,  90  ;  great-grand  child- 
ren, all  living,  13,  making  127  descendants,  of 
whom  116  are  now  living."  But  our  space 
will  not  admit  of  further  details  of  the  early 
settlement  of  the  township.  We  have  endeav- 
ored to  trace  its  settlement  from  the  beginning 
down  to  a  period  within  the  memory  of  those 
still  living,  giving  the  names  and  facts  of  the 
early  history  of  the  more  prominent  of  its  pi- 
oneers. Though  doubtless  the  names  of  many 
are  overlooked  who  are  entitled  to  honorable 
mention  among  these  pioneer  fathers,  yet  no 
pains  have  been  spared  to  make  the  list  full 
and  complete. 

The  early  life  of  the  pioneers  was  one  not  to 
be  envied,  and  one  that  could  scarcely  .be  en- 
dured or  borne  by  their  more  tenderly-nurtured 
descendants.  The  early  settlers  as  we  have 
said  came  here  to  better  their  condition,  and 


21S 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY  COUNTY, 


make  homes  for  themselves  and  families.  Their 
,  first  duty  was  to  provide   shelter,  and  their 
cabins  were  hastily   built,  the  cracks  between 
the  logs  rudely  daubed  with  mud  ;  the  floors 
were  often  mother  earth,  or  of  rough  punch- 
eons, and  the  bedsteads  and  tables,  with  a  chair 
or  two,  were  almost  the  sole  furniture.      Pew- 
ter plates  were  common,  and  the  big  fire-places 
surrounded  by  pots,  skillets,  ovens,  pans,  etc., 
were  used  for  cooking  instead  of  stoves.     Bis- 
cuits and  corn-dodgers  baked  in  an  oven  or  skil- 
let, and  "  johnny  cake"  baked  on  a  board  before 
the  fire,  were  considered  diet  fit  for  the  gods. 
Game  was  plenty,  and  hence  meat  was  never 
scarce,  but  the  facilities  for  obtaining  meal  and 
flour  were  very  limited.      Mills  for  flour  came 
after  years  with  other  improvements,  but  hand- 
mills,  run  not  by  steam,   horses  or  oxen,  but 
by    the  women  and  children,   were  the   chief 
means  of  getting  meal.     New  corn  was  often 
grated   by    hand   for   immediate    use.      Fruit 
could  only  be  obtained  from  abroad,  and  with 
great    difficulty,    except    such    as    grew  wild. 
Honey  was  abundant,  and  could  be  had  for  the 
simple  cutting  down  of  the  bee  trees,  so  com- 
mon in  the  woods. 

The  clothing  was  cheap  and  primitive  as  that 
of  the  cabin  and  its  surroundings.  That  for 
both  sexes  was  made  at  home,  going  through 
all  the  processes  from  the  time  of  leaving  the 
sheep's  back  until  placed  upon  the  back  of  the 
wearer.  All  the  members  of  the  household, 
male  and  female,  men,  women  and  children, 
were  usually  employed  in  some  parts,  if  not  in 
all  parts  of  its  manufacture.  The  men  and 
boys  often  wore  clothing  made  of  the  dressed 
skins  of  animals ;  boots  were  unknown,  and 
shoes  indulged  in  only  as  a  luxury  by  the 
grown  people,  while  moccasins  made  at  home 
sufficed  for  the  smaller  members  of  the  family. 
Says  Mr.  Rountree :  '-We  wonder  if  the  boys 
of  our  day  are  curious  to  kuow  what  kind  of 
hair  oil  and  neck-ties,  what  shaped  collars  and 
cuffs  were  the  fashion  then  ?     We  wonder   if 


our  girls  are  curious  to  know  what  sort  of  dress 
trimmings,  what  shape  were  the   bonnets  and 
hats,   and  if   they    wore    paniers   and  bustles, 
sacks  and  overskirts,  and  whether  they  wore 
furs,  muffs,  cuffs,  etc.,  etc.,  and  when  fully  in- 
formed upon  the  subject  no  doubt  their  looks 
of  incredulity  would  be  refreshing.     There  are 
doubtless  many  now  living  in  the  county  who 
can  tell   of  the  long  linen  shirts,  home-made, 
that  were  the  only  summer  garments  worn  by 
boys  and  children,  and  of  the    moccasins  and 
buckskin    clothing.     There    were    many   who 
never  wore  a  pair  of  boots  until  they  were  men, 
and  others  who  never  even  saw  a  pair   until 
nearly    grown."     It  is  still  a  mystery  how  the 
people  lived  and  prospered  in  those  early  days. 
The  manner  of  cultivating  the  crops  was    so 
simple,  the  tools  so  different  and  rude,  and  the 
distance  to  market  so  great,  and  the  prices  so 
incredibly  low,  that  we  wonder  how  any  one, 
even  with  the  strictest  economy,  could  prosper 
at  all.     The  farmers  of  to-day,  who  have  re- 
duced agriculture  to  a  science,  and   cultivate 
their  lauds  almost  wholly  with  machinery,  kuow 
little  of  what  that   same  work    required   here 
fifty    or   sixty   years    ago.     But    times   have 
changed,  and  the  world,  or   the   people  have 
grown  wiser  as  they  have  grown  older. 

Among  the  amusements  of  the  early  citizens 
of  the  community,  was  that  of  fishing  iu  the 
classic  waters  of  Shoal  Creek.  The  numerous 
Shoal  Creeks,  East,  West  and  Middle  Forks, 
afforded  ample  "  fishing  grounds  "  for  the  pio- 
neer fathers.  A  rural  bard  thus  sings  of  its 
glory,  and  of  those  who  fished  and  swam  in  its 
tranquil  waters  "  forty  years  ago."  He  says,  or 
sings  : 

"How  many  times  I  wander  back, 
In  pensive  mood,  on  mem'ry's  track 
To  thy  green  banks,  thou  dear  old  stream, 
Where  in  my  youth,  so  like  a  dream 
My  days  were  passed,  that  toil  and  strife, 
No  shadow  cast  upon  my  life. 
"E'en  now  with  memory's  eye  I  see 
Thy  waters  gliding  bright  and  free. 


HILLSBORO  TOWNSHIP. 


210 


O'er  shining  sands  and  pebbly  beds, 

Where  bass,  and  perch,  and  knotty  heads, 

Pursued  the  minnows,  that  essayed 

To  steal  the  eggs  that  they  had  laid 

On  pebbly  heaps.     With  crooked  pin, 

Tied  on  a  thread,  I've  waded  in, 

And  coaxed,  and  coaxed,  with  all  my  might, 

Those  finny  ones  to  take  a  bite — 

One  little  bite  of  angling  worm, 

That  on  my  hook  did  twist  and  squirm. 

'  As  dear  as  Jordan  to  the  Jew, 
Or  Ganges  to  the  grave  Hindoo, 
Has  ever  been  thy  name  to  me; 
And  this  my  sole  excuse  must  be, 
For  pouring  out  this  flood  of  rhymes, 
In  mem'ry  of  those  happy  times 
I've  spent,  in  angling  on  thy  shores, 
Or  'mong  thy  hills  in  gathering  stores 
Of  nuts  to  crack  in  winter  nights; 
An  entertainment  whose  delights 
No  boy  or  girl  can  e'er  forget 
Till  mem'ry 's  sun  iu  death  has  set. 

"How  often  I  in  mem'ry  meet, 
And  with  a  hearty  welcome  greet 
The  friends  of  yore  who  roamed  with  me 
Along  thy  banks  in  mirth  and  glee, 
********* 

"But,  oh  !  what  changes  time  has  brought  ! 
What  havoc  has  that  monster  wrought, 
Whose  hungry  jaws  still  cry  for  more, 
Devouring  alike  the  rich  and  poor. 
Upou  the  brow  of  yonder  bluff, 
With  face  so  jagged  and  so  rough, 
I  see  e'en  now  the  resting  place 
Of  many,  who  began  the  race 
Of  life  with  me,  who  fished  and  swam, 
From  Wilejf's  ford  to  Lemon's  dam  ; 
And  gained  with  me  their  stock  of  lore, 
In  log  schoolhouses,  where  the  floor 
Was  naked  earth,  with  weight-pole  roof, 
That  seldom  proved  quite  water-proof  ; 
With  slabs  for  seats,  with  rough  split-pegs, 
In  two-inch  auger-holes,  for  legs. 
I  see  with  retrospection's  eye, 
Upon  yon  hill  so  steep  and  high 
[Where  J.  M.  Rutledge  now  resides], 
A  cabin  rude,  where  many  a  day 
I  passed  the  tedious  hours  away, 
In  picking  up  the  little  store 
That  I  possess  of  useful  lore  ; 
Exciting  many  times  the  ire 
Of  poor  auld  Bobby  Mclntire  ; 


A  native  of  the  Emerald  Sod, 
Whose  scepter  was  the  hazel  rod. 
How  often  in  Hibernian  brogue. 
He  called  me  '  spalpeen,'  or  a  rogue  ! 
And  vowed  when  I  some  mischief  did. 
That  he  would  '  cut  me  to  the  rid!' 
At  noon  we  often  truant  played, 
In  thy  cool  flood  to  swim  or  wade, 
Forgetting  how  the  moment's  sped, 
Until  the  time  for  '  books  '  had  fled, 
And  then  crept  back  with  some  excuse, 
Though  poor,  intended  to  induce, 
The  auld  Hibernian  to  forgo 

The  punishment  we  dreaded  so. 
********* 

"I  sometimes  meet  those  Nimrods*  here. 
Who  once  pursued  the  wolf  and  deer 
Among  thy  hills,  or  traced  the  bee 
To  where,  in  some  old  hollow  tree, 
Its  luscious  stores  were  hoarded  up, 
In  many  a  little  waxen  cup. 
Of  all  those  Nimrods,  none  remain, 
With  gun  in  hand  to  scour  the  plain. 
The  wolf  and  deer  are  seen  no  more 
Among  the  woods  along  the  shore  ; 
And  where  was  heard  the  panther's  scream, 
The  farmer  drives  his  patient  team. 
Where  once  the  Indian  wigwam  stood 
Upon  the  border  of  some  wood 
The  stately  mansion  now  is  seen 
Amid  broad  fields  and  pastures  green. 

"But  I  have  neither  space  nor  time 
Tii  put  the  feelings  into  rhyme, 
That  rise,   while  I,  in  mem'ry  roam, 
O'er  scenes  about  my  childhood's  home, 
Then,  dear  old  stream,  you'll  pardon  me, 
For  thus  apostrophizing  thee, 
And  grant  me  leave  at  any  time, 
To  talk  to  thee  in  rambling  rhyme." 

The  foregoing  lines,  from  the  pen  of  J.  N. 
Wilson,  of  Springfield,  contain  quite  a  little 
history  in  themselves,  and  will  doubtless  call 
up  pleasant  reminiscences  in  the  minds  of  many 
of  our  readers.  Shoal  Creek  was  early  utilized 
for  mills,  as  well  as  for  "  fishing  and  swimming  " 
purposes.  These  are  mentioned  more  fully, 
however,  in  subsequent  chapters.  The  "  Pep- 
per "  mill,  as  it  was  called,  was  an  early  insti- 
tution, and  was  southwest  of  Hillsboro  some 

*Yoakunis,  Crease?,  W'ilBuiis,  NussuiatiB,  etc. 


220 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


three  or  four  miles.  But  it  has  long  since  gone 
to  decay,  and  few  people  in  Hillsboro  remem- 
ber anything  about  it. 

The  early  roads  were  trails  over  the  country, 
man}7  originally  made  by  the  Indians,  and 
afterward  improved  by  the  people  and  made 
into  roads.  One  of  the  first  in  the  township — 
and  but  very  little  of  it  was  in  the  present 
township  of  Hillsboro — was  the  Hillsboro  & 
Springfield  road.  Another  was  the  Hillsboro 
&  St.  Louis  road,  which  runs  out  by  the  Fail- 
Grounds.  When  first  laid  out,  there  were  no 
bridges  where  these  roads  cross  the  streams, 
and  hence,  in  time  of  high  water,  travel  was 
suspended.  Now  there  are  substantial  bridges 
where  all  the  principal  roads  cross  the  streams, 
so  that  high  waters  are  no  impediment  now  to 
travel. 

The  first  school  taught  in  the  township  was 
in  Hillsboro,  and  will  be  more  especially 
noticed  under  the  head  of  the  city.  There  are 
now  sis  schoolhouses,  all  comfortable  build- 
ings, in  the  township,  outside  of  Hillsboro, 
which  afford  ample  facilities  to  the  people  for 
the  education  of  their  children. 

Hamilton,  the  first  county  seat,  was  in  Hills- 
boro Township,  some  three  miles  southwest  of 
Hillsboro.  It  was  laid  out  as  a  town  after 
being  selected  for  the  seat  of  justice.  ,  Lots 
were  sold,  and  a  few  houses  built,  though  no 
court  house  or  other  public  buildings  were 
erected.  John  Tillson  opened  a  store  there, 
but  as  soon  as  Hillsboro  was  selected  as  the 
county  seat,  he  moved  to  the  new  town.  The 
changing  of  the  location  of  the  county  seat,  of 
course,  was  the  death-knell  of  Hamilton,  and  it 
soon  became  another  "  Goldsmith's  Deserted 
Village."        From    its    ruins,    however,   arose 


eventually,  the  village  of  Woodsboro,  which 
was  laid  out  very  near  if  not  at  the  same  place 
where  Hamilton  had  formerly  stood. 

Woodsboro  was  laid  out  about  1S48,  by 
William  Wood,  a  man  of  the  most  untiring 
energy  and  industry.  He  first  settled  six  miles 
southwest  of  Hillsboro,  where  he  opened  a 
store,  and  about  1837  he  commenced  improve- 
ments on  the  "  Woodsboro  farm,"  and  removed 
his  store  there.  He  succeeded,  in  1848,  in  get- 
ting a  post  office,  of  which  he  was  Postmaster. 
He  laid  out  the  town  where  the  Springfield  & 
Greenville  road  crossed  the  Hillsboro  &  St. 
Louis  road,  and,  as  we  have  said,  it  was  some 
three  miles  southwest  of  Hillsboro.  It  was  at 
one  time  a  place  of  considerable  business.  Mr. 
Wood,  in  addition  to  his  store,  was  instru- 
mental in  having  a  wagon  shop,  blacksmith 
shop,  cooper  shop  and  tin  shop  opened  in  his 
town,  and,  in  1851,  he  built  a  steam  saw  and 
grist  mill,  which  he  ran  for  several  years.  So 
Woodsboro  flourished  until  the  completion  of 
the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  when 
most  of  the  town  went  to  Butler,  Mr.  Wood, 
himself,  having  moved  to  that  place,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  building  it  up.  He  contin- 
ued an  active  business  man  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1873.  A  church  of  the 
Methodist  denomination  was  built  at  Woods- 
boro, which  is  still  in  use,  and  comprises  about 
all  of  the  town  there  is  left. 

Some  two  miles  south  of  Woodsboro  stands 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Wavelaud,  an  off- 
shoot of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Woodsboro. 
This  and  the  Methodist  Church  at  Hillsboro 
are  the  only  churches,  we  believe,  in  the  town- 
ship, outside  of  the  city. 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


221 


CHAPTER  VIII.* 

CITY  OF  HILLSBORO  — LAID  OUT  AS   THE   COUNTY  SEAT  — ITS    LOCATION,  ETC.  —  FIRST  SALE  OF 
LOTS— STREETS    AND    ADDITIONS-THE    FIRST    INHABITANT— JUDGE    ROUNTREE— OTHER 
riONEERS— FIRST  FRAME  AND  FIRST  BRICK  HOUSE— STORES,  SHOPS,  MILLS,  ETC. 
—AN  INCIDENT— MANUFACTURING  INDUSTRIES  — THE  GRAIN  TRADE 
AND    RAILROAD  — COURT    HOUSES    AND    JAILS- 
INCORPORATION  OF  THE  CITY,  ETC. 


"  Full  sixty  years  have  come  and  gone 

Since  we  commenced  life's  rugged  way- 
Facing  December's  fleecy  snows, 
And  plucking  flowers  that  grew  in  May," 

THE  events  which  led  to  the  birth  of  Hills- 
boro  originated  in  the  general  dissatis- 
faction of  the  people  of  the  first  seat  of  jus- 
tice of  Montgomery  County,  as  noted  in  a 
preceding  chapter.  Hence,  an  act  was  passed 
by  the  Legislature,  January  30,  1823,  author- 
izing the  relocation  of  the  county  seat,  and 
appointing  three  Commissioners,  viz. :  New- 
ton Coffey,  Maj.  James  Wilson  and  Harris 
Reavis,  for  that  purpose.  The  site  selected 
by  them  was  that  of  the  present  city  of  Hills- 
boro,  the  land  of  which  was  at  the  time  owned 
by  Newton  Coffey,  one  of  the  Commissioners. 
In  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  act, 
he  executed  a  deed  for  twenty  acres  of  land, 
June  30,  1823,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying 
the  expense  of  erecting  public  buildings. 
Upon  this  twenty  acres,  the  original  town  of 
Hillsboro1  was  laid  out,  and  the  sale  of  lots 
took  place  August  12,  1823.  In  another 
twelve  months,  the  city  may  celebrate  its  three 
score  years. 

Hillsboro  is  beautifully  situated  on  high 
rolling  ground,  commanding  a  fine  view  of 
the  surrounding  country,  and  on  the  Indian- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  some  sixty-five 

*  By  W.  H.   Perrin. 


miles  nearly  northeast  of  St.  Louis,  and  about 
two  hundred  miles  southwest  of  Chicago,  the 
great  commercial  metropolis  of  Illinois  and 
the  Northwest.  It  is  a  city  of  about  two 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  noted  for  its  in 
telligent  and  enterprising  inhabitants,  for  its 
excellent  schools  and  handsome  and  spacious 
churches.  It  is  a  healthy  place — what  might 
be  termed  by  enterprising  physicians  "  dis- 
tressingly healthy  " — its  high  and  dry  loca- 
tion being  a  safeguard  against  the  malarial 
fevers  prevalent  in  early  times  in  the  lower 
lands. 

The  area  embraced  within  the  limits  of  the 
present  city  of  Hillsboro  is  sufficient  for  a 
place  of  20,000  inhabitants.  To  the  stranger 
it  would  appear  that  the  town  was  laid  out 
without  shape  or  design,  and  this,  we  learn, 
is  to  some  extent  true.  Says  Mr.  Rountree: 
"  The  territory  was  of  such  shape,  being  filled 
up  with  hills  and  hollows,  springs  and  run- 
ning streams,  it  was  deemed  almost  impossi- 
ble that  the  streets  could  ever  become  har- 
monious by  labor,  the  hollows  filled  up  and 
the  space  economized,  and,  even  if  it  could, 
there  would  never  be  no  necessity  for  it,  the  ori- 
ginal town  being  only  north  of  Col.  Walters' 
hotel  (now  the  American  House)  on  each  side 
of  Main  street,  and  ending  south  of  the  pub- 
lic schoolhouse.  The  distance  east  and  west 
being    from   the   section    line   to    Hamilton 


222 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


street,  and  this  embraced  almost  all  the  level 
land,  and  even  then  there  was  a  deep  hollow 
running  southwardly  from  George  Brown's 
house  through  the  Eccles  and  Col.  Walters' 
property;  also,  there  was,  and  still  is,  in  part, 
a  series  of  hollows  along  Hamilton  street. 
To  avoid  one  hollow,  John  Tillson,  in  making 
his  addition  east  and  south  of  Col.  Walters' 
hotel,  made  a  jog  (seemingly  necessary  then) 
to  find  good  ground  there  for  streets.  Cress 
and  Wright  afterward  laid  out  a  few  lots 
south  and  west  of  Solomon  Harkey's  prop- 
erty, running  the  lots  far  down  the  hill,  while 
Hiram  Rountree  made  an  addition  on  the 
north,  which  was  relaid  out  by  Harry  Wilton. 
The  other  additions  were  made  many  years 
later.  " 

The  first  settler  upon  the  site  of  Hillsboro 
was  a  German,  named  John  Nussman.  The 
land  was  owned,  or,  rather,  was  entered  for 
the  purpose  of  laying  out  a  town,  by  Newton 
Coffey,  who  had  first  settled  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county.  Previously,  however, 
Nussman,  who  had  emigrated  from  North 
Carolina,  had  settled  upon  it.  His  cabin 
stood  upon  the  ground  occupied  by  the  resi- 
dence of  the  late  A.  H.  H.  Rountree,  and 
where  Mrs.  Rountree  now  lives.  Mr.  Nuss- 
man raised  a  large  family  of  children,  some 
of  whom  are,  we  believe,  still  citizens  of  the 
city  and  county.  He  was  also  one  of  Hills- 
boro's  early  mechanics,  and  carried  on  a 
wagon  shop — the  first,  perhaps,  in  Montgom- 
ery County.  Among  other  early  settlers  of 
the  town  of  Hillsboro  were  the  "Wrights,  Jo- 
seph Miller,  John  Tillson,  Lloyd  Martin, 
David  B.  Jackson,  Hiram  Rountree,  James 
Rutledge,  and  others  now  forgotten.  Jack- 
son built  the  first  frame  house  in  Hillsboro, 
which  is  now  a  portion  of  the  old  American 
House.  He  was  quite  an  enterprising  man 
in  his  day — an  early  merchant,  a  tavern- 
keeper,  surveyor,  saw-mill,  etc.,  etc.,  and  an 


energetic  business  man  generally.  He  has  a 
son,  William  K.  Jackson,  still  living  in  the 
town. 

Judge  Hiram  Rountree  was  a  ruling  spirit 
in  Hillsboro  for  many  years,  exerting  a  greater 
influence  than  any  man,  perhaps,  that  has 
ever  lived  in  the  place,  and  deserves  more  than 
a  mere  passing  notice  in  these  pages.  He 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  where  he  was 
born  December  22,  17U4,  but  his  early  life 
was  spent  mostly  in  Kentucky.  He  was  a 
soldier  of  the  war  of  IS]  2,  under  Gen.  Shelby, 
the  first  Governor  of  Kentucky,  and  who  was 
a  Revolutionary  officer,  and  the  hero  of  King's 
Mountain.  He  studied  law  in  Bowling  Green, 
Ky. ,  and,  in  1S17,  removed  to  Edwardsville, 
111.,  where  he  taught  school  for  two  years. 
He  afterward  removed  to  Fayette  County. 
when  the  capital  of  the  State  was  at  Yanda- 
lia,  and  for  several  sessions  was  Enrolling 
Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  In 
1S21,  he  removed  to  Montgomery  County, 
and,  as  Circuit  Clerk,  organized  it.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  life  was  spent  in  the  county, 
and  there  were  few  positions  of  importance 
but  what  he  held  at  some  time  during  his 
lontr  and  useful  life.  His  official  career  has 
been  so  often  alluded  to  in  these  pages  that 
it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  here.  Suffice 
it,  for  forty-eight  years  in  succession  he 
served  the  county  in  an  official  capacity.  He 
was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church  from  the  year  ISIS  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  March  5,  1873,  and  his  Christian  life 
is  still  familiar  to  many  residents  of  the  city 
and  county. 

Joel  Wright  was  the  first  Sheriff  of  the 
county,  and  was  from  one  of  the  Eastern 
States.  He  served  as  Sheriff  from  1821  until 
1S26.  James  Wright  was  the  son  of  a  widow 
lady,  known  as  "Granny"  Wright,  who  lived 
in  a  cabin  in  Hillsboro,  on  the  place  recently 
occupied    by  Henry   Haller.     The  following 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


223 


incident  is  related  of  "Granny"  Wright,  who 
is  described  as  an  "estimable  woman,  of 
strong,  good  sense  and  ardent  friendships." 
She,  it  is  said,  always  had  corn  to  sell,  and 
would  demand  a  very  high  price  for  it.  In 
measuring  it,  however,  she  always  told  them 
to  "  heap  it  tip,  to  heap  it  up  as  long  as  it 
would  lie  on;  that  if  the  old  boy  ever  got 
her,  it  should  be  for  high  prices,  and  not  for 
scant  measure.''  The  manner  of  measure- 
ment, she  intended,  should  bring  the  price 
clown  about  fair. 

John  Tillson,  prominently  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  church  and  school  his- 
tory, was  the  first  Treasurer  of  Montgomery 
County.  He  first  settled  on  the  Scherer 
place,  some  three  miles  southwest  of  Hi  11s- 
boro,  and  was  originally  from  Boston,  Mass. , 
but  emigrated  West  while  still  a  bachelor. 
He  went  back  to  Boston  and  married,  brought 
his  wife  to  his  new  settlement,  where  he  re- 
sided till  after  Hillsboro  was  made  the  county 
seat,  when  he  removed  to  the  town  and  built 
the  first  brick  house  ever  erected  in  Hillsboro. 
The  house  was  a  large,  massive,  two- story 
edifice,  and  was  built  under  the  supervision 
of  John  Nickerson  and  David  Eddy.  Nick- 
erson  also  made  the  brick,  but  they  were  not 
of  a  good  quality,  and  hence  the  house  was 
not  thought  to  be  a  success.  It  stood  for 
many  years,  however,  anl  was  finally  torn 
down,  and  the  brick  used  in  buildings  erected 
down  near  the  railroad. 

Mr.  Tillson  was  also  the  first  Postmaster  of 
Hillsboro,  likewise  the  first  merchant,  and 
one  of  Hillsboro's  most  energetic  and  useful 
citizens.  He  engaged  largely  in  land  specu- 
lations in  this  as  well  as  in  other  counties, 
and  handled  large  sums  of  money.  In  the 
early  struggles  of  the  State  to  build  railroads, 
which  proved  so  disastrous  to  Illinois  finan- 
ces, he  was  one  of  the  Fund  Commissioners, 
and  prospered  well  until  the  great  crash  of 


2837,  from  which  he  never  inlly  recovered 
financially.  By  that  he  lost  largely,  and 
soon  after  disposed  of  his  landed  property 
here,  and  was  no  more  identified  with  the 
county.  He  raised  quite  a  large  family  of 
children,  none  of  whom  live  here  now.  Gen. 
Tillson,  of  Quincy,  who  attained  considerable 
distinction  in  the  late  civil  war,  was  his  son. 
Mr.  Tillson  died  suddenly,  of  apoplexy,  in 
Peoria. 

James  Rutledge  came  to  Hillsboro  about 
the  year  1825,  and  settled  on  a  lot  recently 
occupied  by  George  Paisley.  He  was  one  of 
the  first,  if  not  the  first,  tavern-keeper  in  the 
town.  He  raised  a  large  family  of  children, 
among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Thomas  J. 
Rutledge,  an  attorney,  and  Dr.  H.  R.  Rut- 
ledge,  dentist,  both  now  of  Hillsboro. 

Our  space,  however,  will  not  admit  of  ex- 
tended sketches  of  the  early  settlers  and  bus- 
iness men  of  Hillsboro,  but  in  the  biograph- 
ical department  of  this  volume,  such  sketches 
will  be  more  fully  given.  We  might  fill 
many  chapters  with  sketches  and  incidents 
of  the  pioneers  of  the  town,  but  must  confine 
our  work  to  historical  facts. 

The  village  was  now  laid  out  and  perman- 
ently established,  as  we  might  say.  It  was 
the  county  seat,  and  the  commercial  center  of 
a  rich  area  of  country.  This  brought  mer- 
chants, mechanics  and  tradesmen  to  the  place, 
with  the  intention  of  entering  into  active 
business  life.  We  have  stated  already  that 
John  Tillson  opened  the  first  store  in  Hills- 
boro, and  that  he  was  the  first  merchant  in 
the  county,  having  first  opened  a  store  at  his 
residence  before  Hillsboro  was  laid  out,  and 
then  removing  it  to  the  town. 

The  second  store  in  Hillsboro  is  believed 
to  have  been  opened  by  John  Prentice,  about 
the  year  1825.  He  came  from  St.  Clair 
County  to  Hillsboro  and  lived  in  the 
"Granny  Wright  cabin,"  as  it  was  called. 


224 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


There  were  but  few  houses  in  the  town  at  that 
time,  and  Mr.  Prentice  opened  his  store  in  a 
log  cabin  which  stood  near  the  present  Rals- 
ton brick  storehouse.  The  following  is  told 
of  his  settlement  in  Hillsboro.  Before  mov- 
ing here,  ho  came  on  a  prospecting  tour,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  consulting  with  the  citi- 
zens as  to  the  propriety  of  locating  here.  He 
asked  them  if  they  thought  he  could  sell  on 
an  average  $5  worth  of  goods  a  day,  to  which 
he  received  a  most  decided  "No''  in  response. 
He  then  asked  if  he  could  sell  an  average  of 
$4  worth  a  day.  Upon  this  proposition,  the 
testimony  was  divided,  when  he  asked  if  he 
could  sell  an  average  of  $3  a  day.  They  be- 
lieved unanimously  that  he  could.  With  this 
encouraging  prospect  ahead  of  him — the  sell- 
ing of  $3  worth  of  goods  per  day  on  an  aver- 
age— he  decided  to  locate  in  Hillsboro.  His 
store  was  a  general  country  store,  and  con- 
tained iron,  nails,  salt,  sugar,  molasses, 
whisky,  dry  goods,  axes,  common  cutlery,  dye 
stuffs,  etc.,  etc.  He  brought  on  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  goods  and  opened  out 
his  store  in  full  blast,  but  made  no  grand 
display,  such  as  now  attends  the  opening  of  a 
new  mercantile  establishment,  such  as  flam- 
ing posters,  newspaper  puffs,  fine  show  win- 
dows, etc.  Mr.  Prentice  kept  his  goods  on 
his  shelves,  behind  and  under  his  counters, 
and  in  front,  but  inside  the  building.  He 
continued  long  in  the  business  in  Hillsboro, 
but  his  family  all  scattered  off  to  other  local- 
ities, and  none  now  live  even  in  this  county. 
Another  of  the  early  mercantile  establish- 
ments of  Hillsboro  was  that  of  Charles 
Holmes.  He  opened  his  first  stock  of  goods 
in  a  log  house  where  Union  Block  now  stands, 
about  1832  or  1S33.  John  S.  Hayward,  from 
Boston,  became  a  partner.  Mr.  Tillson  was 
also  a  silent  partner  for  a  time.  About  1842, 
they  dissolved,  and  Holmes  and  Tillson  re- 
tired.    Holmes  went  to  St.  Louis,  amassed  a 


fortune  and  died  there.  Tillson  had  embar- 
rassed himself  in  hi6  land  speculations,  and 
with  him  Mr.  Hayward.  The  crash  of  1837 
had  paralyzed  all  enterprises,  and  the  hold- 
ing and  paying  taxes  on  land  became  burden- 
some. Hayward  by  some  means  released 
himself  from  his  entanglements  with  Mr. 
Tillson,  and,  seeing  his  way  clear,  and,  by 
years  of  residence  in  Illinois,  became  satis- 
fied that  lands  would  eventually  be  valuable, 
he  sold  out  his  store  and  engaged  in  land 
agencies.  He  commenced  the  purchase  of  the 
lands  held  by  Eastern  land  companies  at  very 
low  figures,  and,  through  his  friends  in  the 
East,  was  enabled  to  hold  them  until  the  real 
prosperity  returned,  when  he  sold  them  at 
advanced  prices,  re- invested  his  funds  and 
finally  became  very  wealthy.  He  was  a  dis- 
creet man,  public -spirited,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  securing  the  railroad  to  Hillsboro. 
Somewhat  late  in  life,  he  married  Miss  Har- 
riet F.  Comstock,  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Corn- 
stock,  of  whom  Mr.  Rountree,  in  his  remin- 
iscences, relates  the  following  incident: 

Deacon  Comstock  had  an  exceptionally 
long  nose,  and,  having  the  end  of  his  nose 
skinned  on  one  occasion,  he  applied  a  circu- 
lar piece  of  black  court  plaster  to  it.  "While 
officiating  in  church  one  day  in  that  condi- 
tion, he  saw  on  the  floor  what  he  thought  was 
the  court  plaster,  and,  picking  it  up,  moist- 
ened it  and  placed  it  upon  his  nose,  quietly 
took  his  seat  and  engaged  in  pious  meditation. 
But  smiles  and  nudges,  nods  and  winks  all 
around  him  convinced  him  that  his  neighbors 
were  otherwise  engaged.  All  of  his  pious 
frowns  and  dignity  could  not  reduce  them  to 
order.  Merriment  and  fun  had  possessed 
them,  even  of  his  own  large,  well-trained 
family.  He  was  horrified  and  shocked  at 
their  ill-timed  levity.  But  his  daughter 
pointed  to  the  end  of  his  nose,  where  he  had 
placed  what  he  took  to  be  court  plaster,  but 


..-.'■'"■ 


(Ir?^>o~i*s-<s^  CX^A 


LIBRARY 

Of   1HE 
UNIVERSITY  a  ILLINOIS 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


227 


what  was  really  the  ticket  of  one  of  the 
"Coates'  Spools,"  which,  in  beautiful  gilt 
letters,  was  "warranted  200  yards,"  and 
which,  being  placed  upon  the  end  of  a  very 
long  nose,  seemed  to  the  congregation  to  be 
peculiarly  applicable.  The  good  Deacon  was 
never  able  to  escape  the  joke  as  long  as  he 
lived. 

Other  merchants  came  to  Hillsboro  and 
opened  stores,  but  to  follow  them  in  detail 
would  be  tedious.  Other  branches  of  busi- 
ness, in  the  meantime,  were  established  in 
the  town.  Hotels  were  built  and  accommo- 
dations for  "man  and  beast"  offered  to  the 
wayfaring  man  who  came  along.  We  have 
already  alluded  to  the  taverns  built  by  Jack- 
son and  Kutledge.  Mr.  Rountree  says  of  the 
latter:  "His was  the  first  old-fashioned  tav- 
ern sign  we  ever  saw,  embodying,  as  it  did,  a 
large  tiger  on  a  white  ground,  surrounded  by 
his  name  and  occupation.  His,  as  well  as 
Mr.  Jackson's,  were  houses  of  entertainment, 
and  not  houses  for  the  sale  of  liquors,  though 
they  both  came  under  the  same  law.  Any 
one  who  kept  a  grocery  for  the  sale  of  liquor 
was  compelled  to  take  out  a  tavern-keeper's 
license,  ranging  from  $5  to  $20,  and  were 
under  bonds  to  keep  sufficient  room  and  bed- 
ding for  the  entertainment  of  at  least  two 
persons,  with  sufficient  provender  and  sta- 
bling for  their  horses.  It  was  optional  with 
them  whether  they  sold  liquors,  and,  though 
they  may  have  kept  them  for  the  use  of  their 
guests,  we  cannot  remember  ever  to  have 
heard  of  them  selling  otherwise  than  in  a  j:>ri- 
vate  way."  Other  taverns  were  opened  by 
enterprising  people  in  the  new  town. 

Hillsboro  flourished  in  a  moderate,  old-fogy 
way,  growing  slowly  but  somewhat  surely. 
Merchants,  mechanics,  etc. ,  came  in  and  gave 
the  town  a  healthy  impetus.  Among  the  ear- 
liest citizens  were  mechanics,  who  proved  ex- 
cellent citizens.     Nussman,  the  first  inhabit- 


ant, was  a  wagon-maker,  and  also  established 
a  distillery  in  an  early  day.  The  distillation 
of  whisky  then  was  not  a  disreputable  busi- 
ness, as  it  is  now;  neither  was  the  drinking 
of  it  so  strongly  condemned.  Indeed,  it  was 
deemed  essential  in  a  new  country  like  this 
was.  His  distillery  was  carried  on  for  some 
time,  when  it  gave  place  to  a  tan-yard,  a 
business  more  honorable,  if  less  profitable. 
Joseph  Miller  carried  on  a  tan-yard  also,  as 
one  of  the  very  early  industries  of  Hillsboro. 
Jacob  Wilson  was  one  of  the  earliest  shoe- 
makers, and  used  to  go  from  house  to  house, 
making  up  shoes  for  the  entire  family.  John 
Slater  was  another  of  the  pioneer  shoemakers. 
So  was  Deacon  Alexander  Scott.  The  fol- 
lowing incident  is  related  of  the  good  Dea- 
con's wife.  She  survived  him  some  years, 
and,  when  near  her  end,  but  still  able  to  be 
around,  she  had  a  dream  so  vivid  and  life-like 
that  she  accepted  it  as  an  omen,  and  prepared 
herself  accordingly.  She  dreamed  that  her 
husband  came  to  her,  not  as  he  left  her,  an 
old  man,  but  young  and  handsome  as  when 
he  visited  her  as  a  lover,  and  told  her  he 
wanted  them  to  be  married  early  in  October. 
This  she  accepted  as  an  omen  that  she  would 
then  depart  and  be  again  united  to  him.  She 
visited  her  friends  for  the  last  time,  as  she 
maintained,  made  all  her  perparations,  and, 
when  all  was  done,  she  sickened,  and,  early  in 
October,  she  died,  having  steadily  refused  all 
remedies  looking  to  her  recovery.  This  ro- 
mance was  so  contrary  to  her  natural  dispo- 
sition that  she  firmly  believed  that  the  spirit 
of  her  husband  had  warned  her  of  her  ap- 
proaching dissolution. 

Among  the  early  blacksmiths  of  Hillsboro 
were  Nathan  and  Burton  Harmon  and  a  Mi-. 
Hutchinson.  W.  A.  Morrison  and  Kimball 
Prince  were  the  next  blacksmiths,  perhaps, 
who  located  in  the  town.  Fred  Hillsabeck 
was   also  an   early  blacksmith.      Another  of 

M 


228 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


the  early  blacksmiths  was  Ned  Gossage,  as  he 
was  called.  He  lived  in  a  small  log  cabin, 
with  no  floor  but  the  ground,  and  his  shop 
was  a  similar  structure.  Mr.  Wesley  Sey- 
mour is  supposed  to  be  the  next  wagon-maker 
to  Nussman.  John  Meisenheimer  was  also  a 
wagon-maker  and  a  carpenter.  John  Dicker- 
son,  David  Eddy,  Ira  Boone  and  Hudson 
Berry  were  the  first  brick-makers  of  the  town. 
William  Brewer  established  a  turning-lathe 
very  early,  and  manufactured  furniture, 
working  in  wood  work  generally.  Thomas 
Sturtevant,  Alfred  Durant,  E.  B.  Hubbell 
and  James  Blackman  were  of  the  same  trade, 
and  followed  the  business  for  years. 

The  first  steam  mill  in  the  town  was  built 
by  John  Tillson.  It  was  originally  started 
by  David  B.  Jackson  as  an  ox  tread-mill  for 
sawing  lumber.  But  Tillson  enlarged  it, 
supplied  steam  and  made  a  flouring  and  saw 
mill,  which  was  of  great  benefit  to  the  town 
and  community.  It  was  burned  down  about 
1840.  No  town  in  Central  or  Southern  Illi- 
nois is  better  supplied  with  mills  than  Hi  11s- 
boro  is  at  the  present  day.  That  of  Glenn 
Bros,  is  a  very  paragon  of  excellence,  while 
there  are  several  mills  in  town,  quite  as  good, 
but  of  smaller  capacity. 

Hillsboro  has  never  made  any  pretentions 
toward  manufactories.  A  few  rather  small 
ones,  such  as  Gunning's,  which  was  burned 
early  in  1873,  and  the  woolen  factory  in  the 
south  end  of  town,  a  few  small  wagon  and 
carriage  factories,  comprise  her  manufactur- 
ing ventures.  She  has  never  aspired  to  any- 
thing beyond  being  a  quiet,  retail  business 
town.  The  grain  trade  is  perhaps  the  largest 
business  carried  on  in  the  town  Since  the 
opening  of  the  I.  &  St.  L.  B.  R.,  in  1855, 
Hillsboro  has  become  the  center  of  a  large 
grain  trade.  An  immense  quantity  of  corn, 
oats  and  wheat,  is  annually  shipped  from  this 
point.      Enterprising  buyers  are   always  on 


hand  in  the  grain  season,  who  keep  up  with 
the  market  price  and  always  pay  the  very 
best  figures.  The  completion  of  the  railroad 
gave  the  town  quite  an  impetus,  and  from 
that  time  it  grew  more  rapidly  in  population 
than  it  ever  had  before.  Persons  often  won- 
der, particularly  strangers,  why  the  depot  is 
away  down  under  the  hill  where  it  is,  instead 
of  being  east  from  the  court  house.  The 
principal  reason,  we  have  been  informed,  was 
in  consequence  of  a  little  game  of  "  logger- 
heads," played  between  the  railroad  people 
and  the  citizens  of  the  town.  The  railroad 
people  wanted  to  run  their  road  through  the 
south  end  of  the  town,  a  route  the  citizens 
very  rightly  objected  to.  Hence,  to  gratify 
a  little  malice,  the  railroad  people  then  placed 
their  depot  as  far  off  as  possible  and  in  the 
most  inconvenient  location.  But  with  the 
depot  in  an  out-of-the-way  place  and  the  road 
down  under  the  hill,  it  has  been  the  crowning 
event  in  the  history  of  Hillsboro,  and  given 
her  an  increase  of  business,  prosperity  and 
importance  she  had  never  known  before. 

The  first  court  house  built  in  Montgomery 
was  in  Hillsboro,  as  the  general  dissatisfac- 
tion of  Hamilton  as  the  county  seat  had  pre- 
vented the  erection  of  a  court  house  at  that 
place.  But  when  Hillsboro  was  selected  as 
the  future  seat  of  justice,  it  was  believed  the 
selection  would  remain  permanent,  and  there- 
fore arrangements  were  at  once  entered  into 
for  the  building  of  a  court  house.  It  was  of 
simple  architecture  and  material,  but  up  to 
the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  built. 
It  was  twenty-five  feet  square,  a  story  and  a 
half  high,  of  hewed  logs,  the  cracks  well 
chinked,  two  glass  windows  of  8x10  glass, 
one  for  the  room  below  and  one  above.  The 
floors  were  of  plank,  as  well  as  the  doors,  in- 
stead of  puncheons  and  clapboards,  and  the 
roof  was  of  shingles.  Primitive  as  thisbuild- 
fng   may  appear,   when  compared  to  Hills- 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


229 


boro's  present  temple  of  justice,  it  was,  in 
that  early  day,  by  far  the  most  pretentious 
building  in  the  embryonic  city,  and  a  great 
improvement  on  the  residences  of  the  people. 
It  was  situated  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
square,  where  it  did  duty  until  the  next  one 
was  built — 1836-37.  When  the  log  house 
was  finally  removed,  the  logs  were  used  in  a 
small  building  still  standing  back  of  the  pho- 
tograph gallery.  The  first  Clerk's  office  was 
also  built  of  logs,  and  is,  or  was  until  recent- 
ly, standing,  a  solitary  relic  of  the  pioneer 
period,  near  the  Methodist  Church. 

The  original  jail  was  a  log  structure,  and 
a  very  formidable  prison  for  that  early  period, 
when  criminals  were  not  so  smart  as  they  are 
now,  nor  so  thoroughly  educated  in  crime  as 
they  are  in  this  fast  age.  It  was  of  hewed 
logs  and  the  walls  were  of  three  thicknesses 
— two  horizontal  and  one  perpendicular  tier. 
When  torn  down  to  give  place  to  a  more  mod- 
em "bastile,''  many  of  the  logs  were  used 
for  street  crossings,  thus  displaying  a  spirit 
of  economy  worthy  of  imitation  in  these  lat- 
ter days. 

The  old  log  court  house  faithfully  served 
its  day  and  generation,  and  was  used  in  other 
capacities  than  meting  out  justice  to  the 
offenders  of  the  law.  It  was  used  by  most  of 
the  religious  denominations  until  they  built 
church  edifices  and  for  all  public  meetings. 
The  first  term  of  court  held  in  it  was  on  the 
17th  and  18th  of  June,  1824,  Judge  Thomas 
Reynolds  presiding.  Joel  Wright  was  Sher- 
iff; Jarvis  Forehand,  Coroner,  and  Hiram 
Rountree,  Clerk.  As  an  item  of  interest  to 
the  present  Clerks  of  the  Court,  it  might  be 
well  to  state  that  the  fees  of  Hiram  Rountree 
were  $8  for  the  first  year  he  held  the  office  of 
Clerk.  The  following  incident  related  of 
Mr.  Rountree,  and  the  first  term  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  held  in  Montgomery  County,  is 
given  here   as   illustrative   of    the    primitive 


days  of  the  county.  The  first  term  of  the 
Circuit  Court  was  held  at  Joseph  McAdams,' 
before  the  county  seat  had  been  located  at 
Hillsboro.  Hiram  Rountree,  with  his  family, 
was  residing  at  the  house  of  Joseph  McAdams, 
a  cabin  of  two  rooms,  and  in  one  of  them  the 
cotu-t  was  held,  while  Mrs.  Rountree  retired 
to  the  other  with  her  two  children  until  court 
should  adjourn.  Judge  Reynolds  very  calmly 
and  dignifiedly,  it.  is  saifl,  reposed  his  "  ju- 
ducial  honor"  on  the  side  of  the  bed.  Mr. 
Rountree  sat  in  a  splint^bottomed  chair — the 
only  one  in  the  room,  by  the  side  of  a  walnut 
table  made  of  puncheons,  smoothed  off  with 
the  ax,  both  chair  and  table  his  own  manu 
facture,  and,  with  a  goose- quill  pen,  kept  the 
records  and  administered  the  oaths,  etc. 

Somewhere  about  the  year  1836  or  1837,  a 
new  court  house  was  built,  and  the  old  log 
structure  was  removed.  This  second  build- 
ing was  a  frame,  and  was  a  square  edifice, 
two  stories  high,  the  lower  story  the  coiut- 
robm,  and  the  upper  story  divided  into 
offices.  The  court -room  being  below,  about 
two-thirds  of  the  floor  was  mother  earth;  the 
remainder  was  laid  of  plank  and  was  two  or 
three  feet  above  the  ground,  with  a  railing  or 
banisters  around  it.  And  inside  of  this  rail- 
ing was  the  Judge's  stand,  Clerk's  desk,  law- 
yers' tables,  etc.,  etc.  The  spectators  and 
lookers-on  remained  outside  of  the  railing, 
where  they  could  sjfit  their  tobacco  juice  in 
the  dust  without  any  lynx-eyed  officer  "  to  mo- 
lest or  make  them  afraid.''  During  the  re- 
cesses of  the  court,  the  hogs  occupied  the  room, 
and  made  a  bed-chamber  under  the  floor, 
which,  as  we  have  said,  was  two  or  three  feet 
above  the  ground  This  small  square,  frame 
building,  with  roof  running  up  to  a  point  in  the 
center,  with  a  small  cupola  set  on  top,  very 
much  resembling  a  chicken-coop,  was  used  as 
a  court  house  until  about  1854,  when  it  was 
displaced  by  a  brick  building,  at  a  cost  of 


230 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


sosie  $5,000.  It  was  a  two-story  house,  with 
large  columns  in  front  supporting  a  portico, 
something  in  the  style  of  the  present  acad- 
emy building.  Some  years  later,  a  wing  was 
added  to  it,  the  upper  story  of  which  formed 
the  jail  and  the  lower  story  the  jury-room, 
etc.  This  building  is  still  standing  and  serv- 
ing the  county  as  a  court  house,  though  it 
has  been  considerably  repaired  since  the  late 
war.  It  stood,  however,  until  1868,  without 
material  change,  when  it  was  very  substan- 
tially repaired  and  transformed  into  its  pres- 
ent magnificence. 

The  court  house  as  it  now  stands  is  but  the 
old  one  remodeled.      As  is  the  case  in  many 
other  counties    in    Illinois,   there   has    been 
quite  a  contest  between  Hillsboro  and  Litch- 
field  in  regard  to  the  county  seat — on  the 
part  of  Litchfield  to  possess  it  and  on  that  of 
Hillsboro  to  hold  it.      It  is  said  that  "  posses- 
sion is  nine  points  in  law,"  and  hence  Hills- 
boro holds  "  nine  points  "  againnt  Litchfield 
in  the  contest.     When  the  subject  came  up, 
soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  building  a  new  court  house,   the 
qiiestion  of  removal  to  Litchfield  was  feared 
by  those  opposed  to  removal,  if  the  project 
was  undertaken  to  build  a  new  house  out  and 
out,   and   hence  it    was  finally   resolved   to 
merely  "  rejuvenate  "  the  old  one,  and  thereby 
save  the  county  the  expense  of  erecting  a  new 
and  costly  building.      The  sequel  proved  that 
the  improvement   of   old  buildings  was  not 
wholly  devoid  of  cost.     After  deciding  upon 
repairing  the  old  court  house,  an  architect 
was  brought  down  from  Chicago,  who  drew 
plans   and  designs   for  the  work,  and  from 
them  the  present  building  was  made  out  of 
the  old  one,  at  a  cost  of  something  like  $120,- 
000  and  §15,000  or  $20,000  more  for  finish- 
ing the  jail.     In  order  to  carry  out  the  origi- 
nal design  of  repairing  the  old  building,  some 
half  dozen  or  so  of  the  old  brick  were  left  in 


the  new  house,  which,  notwithstanding  all 
that  has  been  said,  or  may  be  said  about  it, 
is  a  handsome  and  imposing  structure  and  a 
credit  to  the  county  and  the  people.  When 
we  look  at  the  sum  expended  on  it,  it  appears 
to  be  a  rather  costly  edifice,  but  the  difference 
in  the  price  of  material  and  labor  then  and 
now  considered,  perhaps  the  cost  is  not  ex- 
travagant. It  is  a  comfortable  and  conven- 
ient house,  as  well  as  an  imposing  one. 
The  court-room,  which  will  comfortably  seat 
about  500  persons,  is  in  the  second  story,  to- 
gether with  jury -rooms,  consultation-rooms, 
etc.,  while  the  first  story  is  taken  up  with 
offices,  comprising  those  of  County  and  Cir- 
cuit Clerk,  County  Judge,  Recorder,  Sheriff 
and  County  Superintendent  of  Schools. 

The  jail  and  the  Sheriff's  residence  is  in 
the  north  end  or  side  of  the  building,  and  is 
quite  a  convenient  part  of  the  designs.  The 
jail  is  in  the  top  story,  while  the  Sheriff's 
.  residence  is  in  the  second,  the  house  being 
three  stories  high  on  this  side.  The  prison 
portion  is  finished  up  in  the  most  safe  and 
substantial  manner,  and  is  intended  to  keep 
an  evil-doer,  when  once  incarcerated  in  it,  un- 
til he  is  taken  out  by  the  proper  authorities. 
The  court  house  is  situated  on  the  highest 
ground  within  the  city's  limits,  and  stands 
as  a  way-mark  to  the  passing  traveler,  and  is 
usually  the  first  object  observable  when  ap- 
proaching the  town.  From  the  lofty  tower 
which  ascends  skyward  from  the  southwest 
corner,  a  fine  view  can  be  had  of  the  country 
for  miles  around.  Indeed,  one  with  a  good 
pair  of  eyes,  on  a  clear  morning,  may  look 
away  to  the  West,  across  the  States  of  Mis- 
souri and  Arkansas,  and  see  the  buffalo  graz- 
ing on  the  prairies  of  Texas.  Fact!  The 
handsome  court  house,  with  its  spacious 
court-room  elegantly  furnished,  conveniently 
arranged  offices,  substantial  jail  and  Sheriff's 
comfortable    residence,    taken    all    together. 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


231 


present  quite  a  contrast  to  the  old  log  build- 
ings of  fifty  years  ago. 

Hillsboro  was  laid  out  as  a  village,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  1S23.  It  was  incorporated  as  a 
town  under  the  State  law,  and  was  governed 
by  a  Board  of  Trustees,  with  the  necessary 
officers  for  the  proper  administration  of  its 
affairs.  It  remained  under  this  style  of  gov- 
ernment until  1S69,  when  it  was  incorporated 
as  a  city,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  ap- 
proved March  30  of  that  year.  It  was,  under 
its  charter  as  a  city,  divided  into  four  wards, 
represented  by  members  in  a  Common  Coun- 
cil, of  which  the  Mayor  was  and  is  the  pre- 
siding officer.  Since  its  organization  as  a 
city,  the  following  gentlemen  have  served  as 
Mayor,  viz.,  John  T.  Maddux,  1869;  Fred 
Noterman,  1870;  Paul  Walters,  1871;  Fred 
Noterman,  1872;  A.  H.  Brown,  1873;  A.  H. 
H.  Rountree,  1874;  E.  S.  Burns,  1875;  John 
F.  Glenn,  1876;  M.  M  Walsh,  1877;  George 
H.  Blackwelder,  1878;  William  Conklin, 
1879;  Charles  B.Ehoads,  1880;  Ben  E.John- 
son, 1881;  BenE.  Johnson,  1882. 

In  March,  1882,  the  city  was  re-organized 
under  a  special  State  law  regulating  the  mu- 
nicipal government  of  cities.  This  order  of 
things  necessitated  a  new  division  of  the  city 
into  districts  or  wards.  Hitherto,  under  the 
old  regime,  the  city  was  divided  into  four 
wards,  but  when  re-organized  and  redivided, 
it  was  laid  off  into  three  wards.  Each  of 
these  are  represented  in  the  Common  Council 
by  two  members,  who,  with  the  Mayor  and 
Clerk,  comprise  the  municipal  government. 
The  present  Council  (1882)  is  as  follows:  W. 
L.  Blackburn,  J.  M.  Cress,  members  from  the 
First  Ward;  A.  H.  May,  B.  Philips,  members 
from  the  Second  Ward;  J.  M.  Truitt  W.  M. 
Neff,  members  from  the  Third  Ward,  with 
Simon  Kahn,  City  Clerk;  C.  H  Witherspoon, 
City  Treasurer,  and  Ben  E.  Johnson,  Mayor. 

The  streets,  buildings  (residences  and  busi- 


ness houses)  of  Hillsboro  are  as  good,  if  not 
better,  than  are  to  be  found  in  the  majority 
of  cities  of  her  size  and  wealth  in  the  State. 
It  is  true  that  the  people  generally  of  Illinois 
towns  and  cities  do  not  take  as  much  pains, 
nor  spend  as  much  money  in  beautifying 
their  streets,  parks,  etc.,  as  some  of  the  older 
States  farther  east.  The  streets  of  Hills- 
boro are  beautifully  shaded  with  trees,  and, 
with  a  little  care  and  taste,  might  be  made  ex- 
ceedingly attractive.  Many  handsome  resi- 
dences and  grounds  are  an  ornament  to  the 
city,  and  show  a  refinement  of  taste  that 
should  extend  to  the  beautifying  of  the 
streets  and  the  purchasing  and  laying-out  of 
a  park.  Young  people  recpure  a  summer  re- 
sort and  a  promenade,  and  the  addition  to 
Hillsboro  of  a  public  park  would  be  a  ju- 
dicious investment  by  the  city  authorities, 
and  relieve  the  railroad  depot  of  crowds  of 
idle  visitors.  The  business  houses,  as  a  class, 
are  good,  of  modern  style  and  arrangements, 
and  every  class  of  retail  business  is  repre- 
sented, from  the  banking  house  and  first-class 
store,  down  to  the  most  ordinary  shops,  and 
the  annual  trade  of  the  city  will  compare  fa- 
vorably with  that  of  any  of  its  sister  cities. 

In  looking  back  over  the  sixty  years  that 
have  come  and  gone,  we  see  the  few  log  cabins 
that  stood  upon  the  crest  of  a  hill,  grown  and 
expanded  into  a  flom-ishing  little  city,  in- 
stinct with  life  and  the  bustle  of  business. 
We  have  traced  its  growth  and  development 
in  trade  and  traffic  briefly  for  the  sixty  years 
that  have  elapsed  since  it  was  selected  as  the 
seat  of  justice  of  Montgomery  County.  We 
have  seen  how  its  first  inhabitants  settled 
down  in  the  proverbial  log  cabin,  and,  by 
honest  toil  and  strict  integrity  in  their  daily 
life  and  transactions,  became  prosperous  and 
happy.  And  now  we  close  the  record  of  its 
growth,  development  and  business,  and,  in 
the  chapters  succeeding,  take  up  other  branch- 
es of  its  history. 


232 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   IX.* 

HILLSBORO— ITS    RELIGIOUS    HISTORY— THE    METHODIST    CHURCH— ORGANIZATION,    MEMBERS 
AND  PREACHERS— THE  PRESBYTERIANS— THEIR  CHURCH— OTHER  RELIGIOUS  ORGANIZA- 
TIONS—BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS— THE  MASONS— ODD  FELLOWS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"God  attributes  to  place 
No  sanctity,  if  none  be  thither  brought 
By  men  who  there  frequent. — Milton. 

THE  Rev.  N.  S.  Dickey,  in  his  address  upon 
the  semi-centennial  of  the   Presbyterian 
Church  of  Hillsboro,  said  :  "  The   good    seed 
carried  by  emigrants  is   usually  sufficient  to 
begin  the  work  of  raising  society  to  a  higher 
level   of  civilization,   and   their   transforming 
power  counteracts  those  demoralizing  influences 
which  tend  to  social  degeneration  and  disrup- 
tion.    These  Christian  influences  are  active  in 
their  conflicts  with  evil  and  attractive  in  social 
power ;    and   they   usually  act   as   a   nucleus 
around    which    will    gather    those    influences 
necessary  to  carr}-  society  onward  to  a  state  of 
comparative  perfection.     We  may  see  by  com- 
parison with  the  past  how  much  has  been  done 
in  this  respect.     The  progress  and  triumph  of 
Christian  truth,  the  superstructure  on  which 
every  society   which  approximates   perfection 
must  rest,  is  also  made  apparent.     It  is  thus 
seen  that  no  other  power  but  Christian  truth 
can  vitalize,  expand,  harmonize,  direct  and  con- 
trol the  forces  which  underlie  and  build  up  the 
great  fabric  of  society."     This  was  true  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Hillsboro  and  vicinity.     It  is 
much  to  their  credit  that  they  were  mostly  a 
Christian  people,  and  laid  the  foundation  of 
religious  organizations  in   an  early  period  of 
their  occupation  of  the  country.     The  Method- 
ist circuit-riders,  the  forerunners  of  Christian- 
ity, as  John  was  of  the  Master,  were  the  first 
heralds  of  the  Cross  in  the  wilderness  of  Illi- 

*By  W.  H.  Perriu. 


nois.  They  traveled  over  the  country  on  horse- 
back, gathering  the  scattered  settlers  together, 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  them,  and  forming 
them  into  religious  societies.  As  early  as 
1820,  they  made  their  regular  visits  to  the 
neighborhood  and  preached  in  private  houses. 
Jesse  Walker,  Peter  Cartwright,  Samuel  Thomp- 
son, Charles  Holliday,  Joshua  Barnes  and 
Thomas  Randall,  pioneer  Methodist  preachers, 
were  in  the  county  from  1820  to  1823,  and 
preached  frequently  in  the  settlers'  cabins,  and 
later,  Bishops  Morris  and  Ames  preached  in 
the  old  log  court  house  and  schoolhouse  in 
Hillsboro.  Thus  was  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity coeval  with  the  settlement  of  the  coun- 
try by  white  people. 

The  Methodist  Church. — The  organization  of 
the  Methodist  Church  of  Hillsboro  dates  back 
to  about  1824-25.  Says  Mr.  Rountree  :  "  It 
worshiped  mainly  in  one  old  log  schoolhouse, 
while  for  more  general  annual  worship  a  camp 
ground  was  established  on  land  now  owned, 
and  perhaps  then,  by  Wesley  Seymour,  near 
his  house,  but  across  the  road  in  the  brush." 
Among  the  regular  ministers  who  preached  at 
at  Hillsboro,  in  that  early  day,  were  Revs. 
John  Dew,  John  Benson,  James  Mitchell  and 
his  brother,  John  T.  Mitchell.  Rev.  N.  S.  Bas- 
tian,  now  of  the  Christian  Church,  is  said  to 
have  preached  his  first  sermon  on  the  Hillsboro 
Circuit.  Among  the  early  members  of  the 
church  were  Benjamin  and  Joseph  Miller,  Mr. 
Stout,  John  Prentice,  Hiram  Rountree,  Samuel 
Bennett  and  others  of  the  pioneers  of  the 
neighborhood.     "  Though  much  zeal  was  mani- 


CITY     OF  HILLSBORO. 


23;? 


fested,  it  was  at  a  much  later  day  before  an 
effort  was  made  to  build  a  church  edifice.  A 
frame  building  was  commenced  and  partially 
inclosed  about  1834-35,  on  the  lot  now  used 
as  the  Methodist  parsonage.  Being,  however, 
unable  to  finish  it  for  want  of  means,  at  the 
suggestion  of  John  Tillson,  who  promised  to 
largely  assist  them  in  completing  it,  they  moved 
it  to  South  Hillsboro,  on  ground  known  since 
as  the  Wyman  lot,  where  it  stood  in  an  unfin- 
ished state  for  several  years,  being  only  used 
in  summer  when  the  weather  was  pleasant.* 

The  great  financial  panic  that  swept  over  the 
country  in  1837-38,  so  paralyzed  the  people 
that  this  building  was  never  completed.  About 
1840,  a  combined  effort  was  made  to  build  a 
church,  and  all  denominations  united  together, 
the  result  of  which  was  the  final  completion  of 
the  old  Methodist  Church  that  stood  upon  the 
corner  of  the  square,  and  which  was  completed 
during  the  administration  of  Rev.  N.  S.  Bas- 
tian.  It  was  informally  dedicated  by  a  revival 
of  religion  which  increased  the  membership  of 
the  church  to  over  one  hundred.  Following 
Mr.  Bastian.  Rev.  John  Van  Cleve  came — a 
man  of  the  highest  order  of  talents  and  piety, 
as  well  as  of  usefulness  in  the  church.  Mr. 
Ro un tree  gives  the  following  as  the  manner  in 
which  these  early  preachers  were  paid  for  their 
services  as  pastor  :  "It  was  often  amusing  to 
cast  up  accounts  and  see  how  they  were  paid. 
For  instance,  few  could  pay  nione}' — nearly  all 
paid  in  truck  or  traffic.  One  would  send,  say, 
twenty-five  bushels  of  corn,  at  12£  cents  a 
bushel;  another,  ten  bushels  of  wheat,  at  37 J 
cents  a  bushel ;  another,  fifty  pounds  of  side 
bacon,  at  3  cents  a  pound,  or  hams  at  4  cents; 
while  whole  hogs  of  fresh  pork  would  be  at  the 
rate  of  1£  to  2  cents  a  pound.  Again,  one 
would  furnish  clothing,  say,  jeans,  at  50  cents 
per  yard,  or  linsey,  at  25  cents,  besides  articles, 
such  as  gloves,  socks,  etc.,  at  similar  low  prices. 
It  was  a  mystery  then,  and  is  still  a  mystery, 

*Rountree  Letters. 


how  they  lived  ;  but  they  did  live,  and  that, 
too,  when  it  was  fashionable  to  have  large  fam- 
ilies, and  to  educate  them  at  their  own  expense. 
They  did  live,  and  generally  within  their  in- 
come, if  their  pay  could  be  called  income." 
The  problem  of  how  they  lived  may  be  solved 
in  the  simple  statement  that  the  good  old-fash- 
ioned Gospel  of  that  day  was  not  so  expensive 
an  article  as  that  served  out  to  us  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  by  the  Beechers,  Talmages  and  other 
silk-stockinged  divines  of  the  country,  who 
proclaim  the  word  from  marbled  desks  to 
audiences  arrayed  in  silks  and  broadcloths, 
who  doze  away  the  time  in  softly-cushioned 
pews,  laid  with  Brussels  carpets." 

Rev.  John  Van  Cleve  was  followed  by  Rev. 
RobertBlackwell,  and  he  by  Rev.  Samuel  Elliott, 
who,  the  next  year,  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
D.  J.  Snow.  The  Methodists  differ  from  most 
other  denominations,  in  that  they  change  their 
ministers  every  two  or  three  years.  Rev.  Mr. 
Elliott  is  represented  as  a  preacher  who  won 
greaf  popularity  while  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Hillsboro,  and  was  almost  unanimously  peti- 
tioned for  again,  but  from  some  cause  the  Con- 
ference saw  fit  not  to  grant  the  petition,  and 
sent  him  elsewhere,  which  somewhat  excited 
the  indignation  of  the  Hillsboro  Church,  and 
Rev.  Snow  found  grim  visages  and  sour  faces 
confronting  him  upon  his  "  first  appearance." 
He  seemed  to  comprehend  the  situation  at  once, 
or  had  had  an  inkling  of  how  matters  stood, 
and  took  for  his  text,  upon  the  occasion  of 
preaching  his  first  sermon,  the  following  words 
from  Matthew,  xi,  3  :  "  Art  thou  he  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?"  The  an- 
nouncement of  his  text  is  said  to  have  brought 
to  the  countenances  of  many  of  his  hearers 
feeble  smiles,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  ban 
died  it.  and  the  application  he  made,  restored 
all  to  good  humor,  and  lie  finally  became  a  pop- 
ular and  beloved  pastor.  He  was  succeeded 
the  next  year  by  Bev.  S.  Shinn,  and  he  by  Rev. 
T.  YV.  Jones.     Next  came  Rev.  Preston  Wood  ; 


234 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


he  was  followed  by  Rev.  James  Crane,  and  he 
by  Rev.  William  Pallet,  who  died  in  1873.  Rev. 
B.  C.  Wood  was  the  next  pastor,  succeeded  by 
Rev.  D.  Bardrick,  who  remained  two  years  ;  he 
was  followed  by  Rev.  Green  McElfresh,  he  by 
Rev.  B.  Hungerford,  and  he  by  Rev.  McCaskell, 
who  did  not  stay,  and  the  place  was  filled  by 
Rev.  W.  C.  Lacy,  followed  the  next  year  by 
Rev.  A.  C.  Vanderwater.  Rev.  S.  S.  Meginniss 
came  next,  remaining  two  years,  and  under  his 
administration  the  present  church  was  built, 
and  the  old  one  on  the  corner  sold. 

Of  this  building,  which  was  erected  in  1863, 
Mr.  Rountree  says  :  "  Though  money  enough 
was  subscribed  to  nearly  pay  for  its  erection, 
still  a  debt  was  created,  that  with  the  debt  on 
the  parsonage,  remained  an  incubus  over  the 
church  for  ten  years,  and  was  paid  up  in  full 
this  year  (1873)  leaving  the  church  free  from 
debt,  with  a  building  worth  some  $15,000  and 
a  parsonage  worth  about  $3,000,  and  some  one 
hundred  and  fifty  members  with  sufficient  abili- 
ty to  support  a  first-class  preacher."  Since  the 
above  was  written  by  Mr.  Rountree  (in  1873), 
the  church  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Hoffman,  experienced  quite  a  revival  and  in- 
crease of  membership.  He  remained  with  the 
church  for  three  years.  The  present  pastor  is 
Rev.  Thomas  I.  Coultiss,  a  preacher  of  great 
ability,  a  pleasing  speaker,  and  a  natural  orator. 
He  is  now  (1S82)  serving  his  first  year  with 
the  church,  and  his  accomplishments  as  a  pas- 
tor should  endear  him  to  his  congregation. 

The  Methodist  Church  of  Hillsboro,  almost 
from  its  original  organization  has  maintained  a 
Sunday  school.  At  present  it  is  large  and 
flourishing  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Burns. 

The  Presbyterian  Church. — Prom  a  sermon 
delivered  March  10,  1878,  upon  its  semi-cen- 
tennial anniversary,  by  Rev.  N.  S.  Dickey,  at 
the  time  pastor,  we  compile  the  following- 
sketch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Hills- 
boro :    Hillsboro,  March  10,  1828.— Rev.  John 


M.  Ellis  met  several  people  of  Hillsboro  and 
vicinity,  at  the  house  of  John  Tillson,  Jr.,  and 
formed  a  church,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of 
the  "  Presbyterian  Church  of  Hillsboro."  John 
Tillson,  Jr.,  was  received  on  certificate,  and 
Mrs.  Margaret  Seward  on  examination  ;  John 
Tillson,  Jr.,  was  ordained  as  Ruling  Elder.  It 
thus  appears  that  this  church  began  with  two 
members,  one  of  whom  was  made  Ruling  Elder. 
From  the  organization,  March  10,  1828,  to  Sep- 
tember 28,  1828,  Rev.  Solomon  Hardy  occa- 
sionally moderated  the  session  and  supplied 
the  pulpit,  or  rather  preached  in  the  school- 
house  and  the  court  house,  for  there  was  no 
house  of  worship  nor  pulpit  in  Hillsboro.  Four 
persons  were  added  to  the  church  under  these 
labors,  two  on  examination  and  two  by  letter, 
making  a  total  of  six.  For  more  than  a  year 
after  this  there  is  no  record,  and  report  says 
the  church  only  had  occasional  preaching  from 
passing  clergymen.  From  April,  1830,  to  Octo- 
ber, 1841,  a  period  of  seven  years  and  six 
months,  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Spillman  was  the 
stated  supply  of  the  church.  The  first  record- 
ed report  of  the  church  was  made  to  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Central  Illinois,  April  2, 1830,  a  little 
more  than  two  years  after  its  organization,  and 
was  as  follows  :  :I  Total  in  communion,  per 
last  report,  six  ;  added  on  certificate,  one  ;  to- 
tal now  in  communion,  seven.  Funds  for  Com- 
missioner to  General  Assembly,  $1."  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year,  another  report  was  made 
to  the  same  Presbytery,  when  the  communi- 
cants had  doubled.  October  11.  1830,  the  rec- 
ords of  the  church  were  first  presented  to  the 
Presbyter}-,  and  with  slight  exceptions  were  ap- 
proved. The  approval  was  signed  by  Rev. 
Benjamin  F.  Spillman,  Moderator  of  the  Pres- 
bytery. 

The  next  report,  April  1,  1831,  was  made  to 
the  Presbytery  of  Sangamon,  holding  its  ses- 
sion at  Springfield,  when  the  membership  had 
again  doubled,  being  twenty-eight  ;  $3  was 
given  to  the  Commissioner's  fund.     In  1832, 


CITY    OF    HILLSBOEO. 


235 


the  membership  was  fifty-three,  and  $3  was 
contributed  for  Assembly's  fund.  According 
to  the  report  made  April,  1837,  the  member- 
ship was  sixty-four,  $3  was  given  to  the  Com- 
missioner's fund,  and  141  to  education.  These 
$41  are  the  first  given  by  the  church  to  any 
benevolent  cause,  and  shows  that  the  fathers 
were  wise  in  providing  for  future  pupils  of  the 
church. 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Spilman, 
138  persons  were  received  to  the  member- 
ship, forty  on  examination,  and  ninety-nine 
by  certificate  ;  thirty-three  died,  and  sixteen 
were  dismissed.  The  church  under  this  minis- 
try contributed  8215  to  missions,  $60  for  edu- 
cation and  $39  for  Commissioner's  fund.  No 
report  of  contributions  for  the  last  two  years  of 
Mr.  Spilman's  ministry  is  recorded,  though  no 
doubt  collections  were  taken  as  usual.  What 
was  paid  for  salarj  and  congregational  expenses 
is  not  recorded.  The  average  yearly  additions 
to  the  church  under  his  labors  were  fourteen. 
Mr.  Spilman  was  a  faithful  pastor,  and  did 
much  toward  laying  a  good  foundation  for  build- 
ing up  a  successful  church.  Under  his  minis- 
try the  Sabbath  school  was  a  union  one,  and 
usually  all  denominations  worshiped  with  his 
congregation.  The  first  house  of  worship  was 
built  during  this  time.  Rev.  T.  E.  Spilman, 
of  Butler,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  Spilman,  of  Bethel, 
honored  and  useful  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
are  his  sons.  During  the  fall  of  1841,  and  the  win- 
ter of  1842,  Rev.  James  Stafford,  pastor  of  the 
Greenville  church,  is  recorded  as  having  mod- 
erated the  session  several  times,  when  twent}-- 
three  persons  were  received  into  the  church.  Mr. 
Stafford  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  few  Sabbaths 
and  held  a  protracted  meeting  during  this  time, 
when  the  Spirit  was  poured  out  upon  the  peo- 
ple. 

Rev.  Archibald  C.  Allen  received  a  unani- 
mous call  to  the  pastorate  of  the  church,  March 
24,  1842,  at  a  salary  of  $500.  He  was  installed 
pastor  by  the  Kaskaskia  Presbytery,  June  11, 
1S42.     Rev.  James  Stafford  presided,  put  the 


the  constitutional  questions,  and  delivered  the 
charges  to  pastor  and  people.  Rev.  Thomas 
A.  Spilman  preached  the  installation  sermon. 
During  Mr.  Allen's  ministry  of  two  years,  fifty 
persons  were  added  to  the  church,  forty-two  on 
examination  and  eight  by  letter ;  fifteen  were 
dismissed  and  six  died.  In  these  years  the 
church  gave  for  benevolent  work,  $56 — $28  per 
year.  The  average  yearly  increase  during  this 
pastorate  was  twenty-five.  The  church  was 
vacant  from  May,  1844,  until  March,  1846. 
During  this  time  Rev.  C.  C.  Riggs  supplied  the 
pulpit  a  Sabbath  or  two,  aud  was  invited  to  be- 
come pastor.  The  records  for  this  period,  near- 
ly two  years,  are  meager.  John  Tillson  and 
wife,  and  five  other  persons,  were  dismissed. 
John  Paisley  and  Margaret  W.  Paden  died,  and 
Benjamin  S.  McCord  was  received  into  the 
church  on  profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ. 
Rev.  Alexander  Ewing  moderating  the  session. 
February,  21.  1846,  Rev.  T.  W.  Hynes,  for 
some  time  a  Professor  in  Hanover  College.  In- 
diana, was  unanimously  chosen  to  supply  the 
pulpit,  at  a  salary  of  $400.  He  accepted  aud 
entered  upon  his  work  in  the  spring  of  1846. 
The  report  to  Presbytery  from  April,  1845,  to 
March,  1846,  gives  the  total  in  communion  as 
one  hundred  and  one,  five  having  died  and 
nine  having  been  dismissed.  Mr.  Hynes'  name 
appears  upon  the  records  as  Moderator  of  ses- 
sions up  to  August  3,  1851,  a  period  of  about 
five  aud  a  half  years.  During  his  pastorate, 
forty-one  persons  were  received  into  the  church, 
and  sixteen  were  dismissed.  Robert  Paisley, 
Henry  Tibbets,  William  Brown,  Joseph  T.  Ec- 
cles,  Thomas  Sturtevant,  were  elected  and  in- 
stalled Ruling  Elders.  From  September,  1851, 
to  August,  1853,  the  church  seems  to  have  been 
without  a  pastor.  September  24,  1851,  the  ses- 
sion was  moderated  by  Rev.  J.  Smith,  D.  D., 
and  six  persons  were  received  on  examination 
to  the  fellowship  of  the  church.  June  21,  1852, 
Rev.  Mr.  Hamilton  presided  over  the  session, 
and  two  names  were  enrolled,  one  by  letter  anil 
one  on  examination. 


236 


HISTORY    OF  MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


On  the  12th  of  August,  1853,  Rev.  R.  M. 
Roberts  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
church,  at  a  salary  of  $400.  He  accepted  the 
call,  and  continued  to  sustain  this  relation  un- 
til it  was  dissolved  at  his  request,  and  the 
church  declared  vacant,  October  30,  1859.  Mr. 
Roberts  served  the  church  a  little  more  than 
six  years.  During  his  ministry,  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  persons  were  received,  an  average 
of  nineteen  per  year.  Resolutions  highly  com- 
plimentary to  Mr.  Roberts,  and  indorsing  him 
as  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  commending  the 
fidelity  of  his  labors,  were  passed  by  the  con- 
gregation at  the  time  of  his  withdrawal.  No- 
vember 12,  1859,  twenty-one  persons  were  dis- 
missed to  form  the  Hillsboro  Congregational 
Church.  Rev.  William  L.  Mitchell  acting  as 
Moderator  of  the  session. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1859,  Rev.  William 
L.  Mitchell  was  called  as  pastor  of  the  church, 
at  a  salary  of  $500,  and  on  December  23, 
1859,  was  ordained  and  installed  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Hillsboro.  He  continued  this  rela- 
tion with  acceptance  and  success,  until  his  la- 
mented death,  February  23,  1864 — a  period  of 
a  little  more  than  five  3-ears.  During  this  time 
seventy-one  names  were  added  to  the  roll,  forty- 
six  on  examination,  and  twenty-five  by  letter — 
an  average  of  fourteen  per  year  ;  twenty-nine 
were  dismissed.  Mr.  Mitchel's  remains  are 
buried  in  the  city  cemetery.  After  Mr.  Mitchell's 
death,  Rev.  Julius  A.  Spencer,  of  St.  Louis, 
supplied  the  pulpit  for  several  weeks.  March 
1,  1865,  Rev.  J.  R.  Brown  was  invited  to  sup- 
ply the  pulpit.  He  at  once  entered  upon  his 
labors  and  continued  to  serve  the  church  until 
March  22,  1870,  a  period  of  five  years.  Fifty 
persons  were  added  to  the  church  during  his 
pastorate,  on  examination,  and  sixty-five  by 
letter — a  total  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen — an 
average  of  twenty-three  per  year  ;  twenty-nine 
persons  were  dismissed. 

From  the  close  of  Mr.  Brown's  labors  until 
the   beginning  of  the    next  year,    about   nine 


months,  the  church  was  vacant.  August  24' 
1870,  Rev.  J.  H.  Spilmau  acted  as  Moderator 
of  the  session,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cyrus  David- 
son were  received  into  the  church  by  letter,  and 
three  were  dismissed. 

Rev.  S.  A.  Whitcomb  seems  to  have  com- 
menced his  labors  about  the  beginning  of  the 
vear  1871.  He  served  the  church  two  years, 
at  a  salary  of  $1,000  per  year,  and  free  use  of 
the  parsonage.  Rev.  W.  W.  Williams  was,  by 
a  unanimous  vote  of  the  congregation,  April 
27,  1873,  invited  to  supply  the  church  for  one 
year,  at  a  salary  of  $1,000,  to  be  paid  quarter- 
ly in  advance,  and  also  the  free  use  of  the  par- 
sonage. Mr.  Williams  worked  with  energy  and 
acceptance  for  nearly  nine  months,  directing 
his  efforts  to  the  completion  of  the  audience 
room  of  the  house  of  worship.  The  first  services 
help  therein,  still  in  an  incompleted  state,  was 
the  funeral  of  the  pastor.  Resolutions  of  com- 
mendation were  passed  by  the  congregation,  in 
reference  to  Mr.  Williams,  after  his  death.  Af- 
ter this,  the  church  was  vacant  for  several 
mouths.  In  September,  1874,  Rev.  Charles 
Fueller  was  invited  to  supply  the  pulpit  at  a 
salary  of  $1,000,  and  use  of  the  parsonage.  He 
served  the  church  for  three  years,  during  which 
time  fifty-nine  persons  were  added.  Mr.  Fueller 
labored  earnestly  to  lift  the  debt  off  the  house 
of  worship.  Under  his  lead  furnaces,  at  a  cost 
of  $346,  and  cushions,  at  about  the  same  cost, 
were  placed  in  the  church,  besides  what  was 
done  to  lift  the  encumbrance  from  the  building. 
He  ceased  to  serve  the  church  October  1, 1877, 
aud  January  1,  following,  Rev.  N.  S.  Dickey, 
entered  upon  his  work  as  stated  supply.  At 
the  present  writing  (1882)  the  pastor  is  Rev. 
S.  C.  Dickey,  a  son  of  the  above,  and  a  young 
man  of  rare  promise. 

During  the  half  century  just  closed,  ten 
ministers  have  acted  as  stated  supply  or  pas- 
tor. Seven  others  are  recorded  as  having  act- 
ed as  Moderator,  once  or  oftener,  of  the  session, 
including  those  who  organized  the  church.    The 


CITY   OF    H1LLSBORO. 


2-',7 


whole  number  of  members  received  since  the 
organization  is  669 — 321  on  examination,  and 
348  by  letter.  This  is  an  average  of  about 
fourteen  per  year,  nearly  equally  divided  by 
letter  and  on  examination. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  congregation,  held  Au- 
gust 7,  1859,  it  was  resolved  to  build  a  new 
and  larger  house  of  worship,  taking  down  the 
old  one  and  working  the  material  into  the  new 
— provided  sufficient  funds  could  be  raised. 
Rev.  R.  M.  Roberts  was  appointed  to  canvass 
the  congregation  and  take  subscriptions  and 
report  at  another  meeting.  Success  did  not 
crown  this  effort,  and  the  old  church  was  used 
until  1860,  when  it  gave  place  to  the  present 
edifice,  the  basement  being  used  in  the  fall  of 
that  year.  During  construction  the  congrega- 
tion worshiped  in  the  Unitarian  Church,  and  in 
Clotfelter's  Hall.  According  to  the  report  of 
the  building  committee,  made  by  Judge  J.  T. 
Eccles,  the  cost  of  the  edifice  and  furnaces  was 
§13,758.31  ;  of  this  sum  the  ladies  paid  $663.- 
43.  Furnaces  were  put  in  the  first  year  of  Mr. 
Fueller's  pastorate,  at  a  cost  of  §346.  Cush- 
ioning the  seats  cost  nearly  $400  more,  so 
that  the  whole  cost  of  the  house  in  its  present 
state  was  about  $14,500.  For  some  years  a 
debt  rested  upon  the  house  of  worship.  April 
25,  1875,  Judge  Eccles  donated  $2,602.18,  prin- 
cipal and  interest  due  him  for  money  paid  up- 
on the  building.  This  noble  example  stimulat- 
ed others  ;  Mr.  James  Paden  donated  several 
hundred  dollars  due  him,  and  under  the  lead 
of  the  pastor,  Mr.  Fueller,  the  whole  debt  was 
paid  except  a  few  hundred  dollars,  for  which 
the  parsonage  is  held.  A  united  effort  and 
this  no  doubt  could  be  very  easily  paid. 

October  15,  1857,  during  the  Rev.  R.  M.  Rob- 
ert's pastorate,  at  a  meeting  over  which  Joseph 
T.  Eccles  presided,  William  Brown,  William 
Witherspoon,  D.  S.  and  A.  L.  Clotfelter,  and 
L.  H.  Thorn  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
make  estimates  of  the  cost  of  a  parsonage.  A 
lot  was  bought  for  $300,  and  the  present  house 
was  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,200. 


The  Sabbath  school  has  not  been  neglected. 
A  number  of  years  before  the  organization  of 
the  church,  a  school  was  maintained  by  the 
Tillson  family,  in  their  residence.  In  the  early 
years  of  the  church,  all  denominations  repre- 
sented in  the  town  patronized  the  school,  and, 
though  it  was  under  the  supervision  of  the  ses- 
sion, it  was  carried  on  as  a  union  school.  In 
later  ^years,  the  other  denominations  drew  off 
and  established  their  own  schools.  According 
to  rules  adopted  by  the  church,  the  Superinten- 
dent and  Vice  Superintendent  are  to  be  chosen 
at  a  congregational  meeting  appointed  for  the 
purpose,  the  election  to  be  by  ballot,  all  the 
members  of  the  church,  in  good  standing,  hav- 
ing a  right  to  vote.  The  Superintendent  thus 
chosen,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  ses- 
sion, is  to  appoint  the  teachers;  "keeping  al- 
ways in  view  Christian  character,  and  aptness 
to  teach."  The  records  of  the  school,  until  re- 
cently, have  not  been  preserved.  The  interest, 
for  a  few  months  past,  has  been  growing,  but 
many  of  the  officers,  and  many  of  the  church 
members,  do  not  attend  the  school,  nor  show 
that  interest  in  it  essential  to  its  growth  and 
highest  growth  and  usefulness.  Every  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  young  or  old,  should,  if 
practicable,  be  connected  with  the  Sabbath 
school,  as  teacher  or  learner.  That  church  which 
does  not  take  care  of  the  spiritual  interests  of 
the  rising  race  must,  in  time,  fail  of  success. 

In  addition  to  the  church  Sabbath  school, 
several  interesting  neighborhood  schools,  un- 
der the  supervision  of  some  of  our  people,  have 
been  and  are  maintained  in  the  country,  a  few 
miles  from  the  city. 

The  Congregational  Church. — This  church  is 
an  offshoot  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Hills- 
boro,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  was  organized  hy  a 
number  of  persons,  who  were  dismissed  for  that 
purpose.  In  the  fall  of  1859,  they  organized 
themselves  into  the  Congregational  Church  of 
Hillsboro,  or  became  the  nucleus  of  the  organ- 
ization. From  Dr.  Washburn,  who  communi- 
cated to  us  the  principal  facts  connected  with 


238 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  history  of  this  church,  we  learn  that  there 
was  a  large  Eastern  element  here  at  that  time 
who  had  not  identified  themselves  with  any 
church,  and  these,  with  the  twenty-one  persons 
from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  formed  a  mem- 
bership of  about  forty.  The  auspices  seemed 
favorable  for  building  up  a  large  church,  and 
up  to  the  civil  war  everything  in  connection 
with  it  seemed  prosperous.  At  the  call  for 
volunteers,  a  large  proportion  of  its  membership 
and  congregation  enlisted.  Some  never  returned 
from  the  war;  some  of  the  members  moved 
away,  aud  others  died.  In  the  meantime,  the 
Old  and  New  School  Presbyterians  united,  a 
fact  familiar  to  all  readers  of  their  history. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  the  present 
brick  church  was  built,  at  a  cost  of  over  $7,000. 
Services  were  continued  and  good  congrega- 
tions were  kept  up  for  several  years.  A  com- 
fortable parsonage  was  built  in  1878,  and  the 
society  was  free  of  debt.  However,  removals, 
and  the  death  of  some  of  its  best  members, 
gradually  reduced  its  strength  and  its  financial 
ability,  and  since  the  beginning  of  the  present 
year  (1882)  no  services  have  been  held.  Its 
future  usefulness  and  prosperity,  at  this  time, 
seems  somewhat  in  doubt.  "  The  rapid  growth 
of  the  town  might  infuse  new  life  and  continue 
its  existence,  but  at  present  it  would  seem  as 
well  that  thej'  should  become  associated  with 
the  other  Protestant  churches  of  the  place, 
rather  than  drag  out  a  feeble  existence." 
Though  no  preaching  is  had  now  at  the  church, 
a  Sunday  school  is  maintained. 

Lutheran  Church. — The  early  history  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  Hillsboro  is 
somewhat  obscure,  and  the  best  efforts  to  ob- 
tain the  first  written  records  of  the  society  have 
proved  of  no  avail.  The}'  have  disappeared 
from  the  archives  of  the  church,  when  or  how, 
no  one  seems  to  know,  and  hence  we  are 
obliged  to  glean  its  early  history  from  other  aud, 
perhaps,  less  reliable  sources.  Mr.  Springer 
furnishes  us  the  following  of  this  church: 


The  Lutheran  denomination  was  particularly 
strong  in  North  Carolina,  whence  had  come 
many  of  the  prominent  families  of  Hillsboro 
and  vicinity.  It  was  one  of  their  first  acts  to 
provide  themselves  a  church  and  a  pastor  in 
order  to  continue  in  the  forms  of  worship 
familiar  and  dear  to  them.  The  Rev.  David 
Scherer  was  the  father  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
at  Hillsboro,  and  organized  it  about  the  spring 
of  1833.  The  society  worshiped  for  the  first 
two  years  in  the  old  log  court  house,  and  then 
commenced  the  erection  of  a  comfortable  frame 
church  building  on  the  sight  of  the  present  edi- 
fice. '■  Father  Scherer,"  as  he  was  called,  and 
is  now  referred  to,  served  the  church  for  six  or 
seven  years,  and  was  followed  by  the  Kev.  A. 
A.  Trimper,  and  he,  in  1847,  by  Rev.  Francis 
Springer;  he  by  Rev.  J.  J.  Lovengood,  in  1852; 
he  by  Rev.  George  A.  Bowen;  he  by  Rev.  J. 
M.  Cromer,  and  he  by  Rev.  C.  A.  Gelwick,  the 
present  pastor. 

The  congregation,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Feb- 
ruarv,  1856,  resolved  to  build  a  new  house  of 
worship,  and  $1,700  were  at  once  subscribed. 
Work  was  commenced,  and  the  result  was  the 
present  building,  which  was  finally  completed. 
It  is  a  brick  structure,  with  basement,  and 
auditorium  above,  and  is  handsomely  finished 
and  furnished  within.  Among  the  officers  of 
the  church,  as  Elders  and  Deacons,  in  its  ear- 
lier days,  were  Jacob  "W.  Scherer,  Alfred 
Miller,  Henry  Meisenheimer,  Caleb  T.  Sifford, 
John  Ritchie,  Simeon  Scherer,  E.  B.  Hubbell, 
Henry  Walter,  Richard  McFarland,  Jacob 
Cress,  Sr.,  Jacob  Cress,  Jr.,  and  Edmund  Miller, 
about  half  of  whom  are  yet  residents  of  the 
county.  The  church  has  always  been  one  of 
great  influence  for  good  in  the  community, 
having  many  liberal-hearted  workers  in  its 
membership,  and  being  favored  in  general  with 
ministers  of  energy  and  high  literary  attain- 
ments. The  church  has  long  carried  on  and 
supported  an  interesting  Sunday  school. 

The  Unitarians  were  an  early  religious  organ- 


CITY    OF    HILL8BORO. 


239 


ization  of  Hillsboro.  Their  old  church  build- 
ing is  one  of  the  relics  of  the  past,  and  few  of 
the  rising  generation,  perhaps,  know  that  such 
a  church  ever  existed  in  the  city.  The  old 
building,  now  occupied  by  Mr.  Cress  as  an 
agricultural  implement  depot,  south  of  the 
American  House  on  the  main  street,  was  the 
temple  of  worship  of  the  Unitarians  thirty  or 
fortj'  years  ago.  But,  as  the  old  aud  promi- 
nent members  died  off,  or  moved  away,  the 
church  diminished  in  numbers,  and  eventually 
became  extinct.  There  has  been  no  Unitarian 
service  in  the  town,  we  believe,  since  the  war, 
but  the  old  church  building  still  stands,  a  mon- 
ument to  their  former  zeal  and  influence. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  organized  a 
church  in  Hillsboro,  prior  to  the  late  civil  war. 
Rev.  Mr.  Logan,  at  the  time  editor  of  a  religious 
paper  at  Alton,  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  its 
organization,  and  was  present  at  the  time  the 
church  was  constituted.  A  number  of  persons 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  faith  united 
with  the  society  here,  and  for  several  3'ears  the 
organization  was  kept  up.  Meetings  were  held 
in  the  old  Unitarian  Church  building  for  a  time, 
and  arrangements  were  attempted  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  building  of  their  own,  but  the  move- 
ment was  unsuccessful.  The  membership  in- 
creased but  slowly,  the  effects  of  the  war  were 
experienced,  and  the  "  Ship  of  Zion  "  was  finally 
abandoned.  Some  of  the  members  united  with 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  at  McDavid's 
Point,  and  at  other  places,  while  others  cast  in 
their  lots  with  some  of  the  churches  in  the  city, 
mostly  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  Baptists  have  an  organized  society  in 
Hillsboro.  but  have  no  church  building.  The 
society  was  organized  a  few  years  ago,  and 
arrangements  made  for  occasional  preaching, 
its  limited  number  of  members  not  admitting 
of  its  paying  a  regular  pastor.  The  organiza- 
tion is  still  kept  up,  and  administered  to  now 
aud  then  by  visiting  preachers. 

The  Catholics. — St.  Agnes'  Roman   Catholic 


Church  represents  that  denomination  in  Hills- 
boro. The  first  Catholic  services  in  the  city 
were  held  in  private  houses  from  about  the 
year  1854  to  1859,  by  traveling  rnissionai'ies, 
especially  by  Father  T.  Cusack,  now  of  Ship- 
man,  111.  From  1859  to  1870,  the  Catholics  of 
Hillsboro  were  attended  from  Litchfield.  It 
was  not  until  the  latter  year  that  the  building 
of  a  church  in  Hillsboro  was  encouraged,  and 
for  that  purpose  a  subscription  was  commenced 
by  Father  L.  Hiussen,  now  of  Belleville,  111. 
The  church  was  placed  under  the  patronage  of 
St.  Agnes,  and  has  since  been  known  as  the 
"  St.  Agnes'  Roman  Catholic  Church."  It  was 
built  under  the  supervision  aud  management 
of  R.  H.  Stewart,  of  this  city,  costing,  when 
completed,  about  $6, 0(11),  and  to  its  construc- 
tion both  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  contrib- 
uted with  equal  liberality.  The  building  is 
40x60  feet  in  dimensions,  and  the  membership 
at  present  is  between  fifty  and  sixty  families. 
The  regular  pastors  of  the  church  have  been, 
since  its  organization,  Rev.  G-r.  Lohmau,  from 
1871  to  1876,  now  of  Aviston,  Clinton  County, 
111.;  Rev.  P.  J.  Virsink,  from  1876  to  1882, 
now  at  St.  Marie,  Jasper  County,  111.  Present 
pastor  is  Rev.  J.  Storp,  and  to  him  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  above  facts. 

The  colored  people,  of  whom  there  are  quite 
a  number  in  Hillsboro,  hold  services  every  Sun- 
day afternoon  in  the  basement  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  The}-  have  no  regular  pastor,  and 
only  enjoy  occasional  preaching  by  minister's 
from  abroad. 

Secret  Orders. — In  conclusion  of  the  chapter 
on  the  church  history  of  Hillsboro,  it  is  not 
inappropriate  to  devote  a  brief  space  to  those 
benevolent  organizations,  which,  in  their  quiet 
way,  exert  as  widespread  influence  almost  as 
the  church  itself.  The  good  accomplished  by 
these  institutions  cannot  be  estimated.  There 
is  nothing  more  wonderful  in  Freemasonry,  the 
most  ancient  of  these  honorable  and  charitable 
fraternities,  than  its  perpetual  youth.     Human 


240 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


governments  flourish  and  then  disappear,  leav- 
ing only  desolation  in  the  places  where  their 
glory  used  to  shine.  But  the  institution  of 
Freemasonry,  originating  so  long  ago  that  the 
oldest  history  tells  nothing  of  its  beginning, 
has  survived  the  decay  of  dynasties,  and  the 
revolutions  of  races,  and  kept  pace  with  the 
marvelous  march  of  civilization  and  Chris- 
tianity. Freemasonry  was  established  in  Hills- 
boro  at  an  early  day  by  the  formation  of  a 
lodge  of  the  order,  and  has  existed  with  more 
or  less  zeal  ever  since. 

The  first  lodge  organized  here  was  known  as 
Hillsboro  Lodge,  No.  33.  A.,  F.  &  A.  M„  and 
was  formed  under  the  authority  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Missouri,  by  which  grand  body  its 
charter  was  issued,  under  date  of  October  9, 
1840.  Among  the  charter  members  were  C.  B. 
Blockberger,  H.  Kingsley,  M.  Kingsley  and  M. 
V.  Nickerson.  Of  these,  the  first  three  (in  the 
order  named),  constituted  the  first  Master  and 
Wardens.  The  lodge  continued  to  work  under 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Missouri  until  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois,  when  it 
was  rechartered  and  re-organized. 

Mount  Moriah  Lodge,  No.  51,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  chartered  October  4,  1848,  and  was  but  a 
re-organization  of  the  original  Hillsboro  Lodge, 
under  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois.  Its  char- 
ter members  were  Ira  Millard,  Ira  Boone,  Jer- 
emiah Hart,  John  S.  Hillis,  J.  H.  Ralston,  M. 
J.  Blockberger,  M.  Turner,  Jacob  Lingafelter, 
and  their  charter  was  signed  by  William  Lave- 
ly,  Grand  Master,  and  William  Mitchell,  Grand 
Secretary.  The  first  officers  were  Ira  Millard; 
Master  ;  Ira  Boone,  Senior  Warden,  and  Jere- 
miah Hart,  Junior  Warden.  The  lodge  has  a 
nourishing  membership,  and  is  at  present  offi- 
cered as  follows  :  M.  W.  Miller,  Master  ;  C. 
L.  Bartlett,  Senior  Warden  ;  J.  B.  Atterbury, 
Junior  Warden  ;  J.  W.  Edwards,  Treasurer  ; 
Benjamin  E.  Johnson,  Secretarj' ;  J.  M.  Smith, 
Senior  Deacon  ;  J  B.  Dreyhur,  Junior  Deacon, 
and  W.  R.  Truesdell,  Tiler. 


The  lodge  formerly  met  in  the  upper  story 
of  a  building  used  by  Gunning  as  a  blacksmith 
shop.  Afterward,  in  connection  with  the  Odd 
Fellows,  they  built  a  hall  on  Main  street,  near 
the  court  house.  Finally,  they  sold  out  and 
built  their  present  hall.  They  own  the  third 
story  of  a  large  brick  building  on  the  Main 
street,  and  have  it  handsomely  fitted  up  and 
furnished. 

Montgomery  Chapter,  No.  63,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  was  organized  several  years  ago,  by 
the  Grand  Royal  Arch  Chapter  of  Illinois. 
For  a  time  it  worked  zealously,  then  the  mem- 
bers seemed  to  become  lukewarm,  meetings 
were  less  frequent,  and  finally  ceased  altogether. 
The  charter  has  been  surrendered  to  the  Grand 
Chapter,  and  Montgomery  Chapter  is,  for  the 
time  at  least,  extinct.  "  It  is  not  dead,  but 
sleepeth,"  and  may  revive  again  when  the  com- 
panions awake  from  their  present  Rip  Van 
Winkle  sleep. 

Hermon  Chapter,  No.  46,  of  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  was  chartered  by  the  Supreme 
Grand  Chapter  of  Adoptive  Masonry  of  Illi- 
nois, January  18,  1871.  The  first  officers  were 
Isaac  Shimer,  a  Master  Mason,  Worthy  Pa- 
tron ;  Sister  Augusta  D.  Marshall,  Worthy 
Matron,  and  Sister  Eveline  C.  Harris,  Associ- 
ate Matron.  For  several  years  an  active  inter- 
est was  taken  by  the  ladies  of  Hillsboro  in  the 
Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  and  at  one  time  their 
chapter  was  one  of  the  most  flourishing  in  the 
State.  But  of  late  their  zeal  has  flagged,  and 
they  have  suffered  it  to  become  almost  entirely 
dormant. 

Montgomery  Lodge,  No.  40.  I.  0.  0.  F.,  was 
instituted  in  Hillsboro  May  30.  1848,  by  WiH- 
iam  M.  Parker,  of  Belleville,  Grand  Master. 
The  following  persons  were  initiated  into  the 
order  on  that  occasion,  viz.:  David  B.  Jackson, 
A.  S.  Haskell,  Hiram  Brown,  William  K.  Jack- 
son, John  Burnap,  George  Blackmail,  George 
J.  Brooks,  J.  L.  Whitmore,  and  John  R.  Pais- 
ley.    The  first  officers  were  :  Henry  Richmond 


CITY  OF   HILLSBORO. 


241 


(now  of  Litchfield).  Noble  Grand  ;  David  B. 
Jackson,  Vice  Grand ;  William  K.  Jackson. 
Secretary,  and  John  Burnap,  Treasurer.  They 
met  regularly  in  the  hall  then  owned  and  oc- 
cupied bj-  the  Masonic  lodge,  being  the  second 
story  of  Gunning's  blacksmith  shop.  In  1S55, 
in  connection  with  the  Masons,  they  built  the 
hall  already  referred  to.  This  was  completed 
and  dedicated  on  the  13th  day  of  June.  1S56. 
Afterward  they  bought  out  the  Masons,  and  in 
October,  1867,  deemed  it  advisable  to  sell  their 
hall  and  build  a  new  one  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street.  The  corner-stone  of  this  building 
was  laid  on  the  23d  of  October  of  that  year, 
and  the  building  completed  earl}- in  1868,  when 
the  lodge  moved  into  it,  and  still  occupies  it. 
The  present  officers  are:  Wilbur  B.  Ralston, 
Noble  Grand  ;  J.  L.  McHeury,  Vice  Grand  ; 
William  K.  Jackson,  Secretary  ;  C.  L.  Bartlett, 
Treasurer  ;  William  K.  Jackson,  District  Dep- 
uty Grand  Master. 

The  Encampment  branch  of  the  order  was 
instituted  by  Charles  Trumbull,  of  Alton,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1857,  and  the  following  officers  elected 


and  installed,  viz.:  D.  B.  Jackson,  Chief  Priest ; 
G.  G.  Withington,  High  Priest;  William  K. 
Jackson,  Senior  Warden;  J.  W.  Cassaday, 
Scribe  ;  A.  S.  Haskell.  Treasurer,  and  A.  II. 
Brown,  Junior  Warden.  The  membership  of 
this  body  lias  never  been  large. 

Hillsboro  Lodge.  No.  265,  I.  0.  G.  T.,  was 
organized  February  11,  1881,  with  some  thirty  - 
culd  members.  The  present  officers  are  as  fol- 
lows :  A.  G.  Taylor.  W.  C.  T.;  Mrs.  Tirzah 
Depuy,  W.  V.  T;  Jacob  Beck,  P.  W.  C.  T  ; 
James  Lynch,  W.  S.;  Mrs.  Man-  Johnson.  W. 
F.  S.;  J.  J.  Miller.  W.  T.;  C.  W.  Taylor.  W.  M.; 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Johnson,  W.  D.  M.;  Libbie  Horton, 
W.  A.  S.;  Dudley  Depuy,  W.  S.;  Meda  Hanna, 
R.  H.  S.  ;  Lucy  Robb,  L.  H.  S.;  Rev.  S.  C. 
Dickey.  W.  C.  The  lodge  is  small  in  num- 
bers, but  stong  in  faith,  and  inspired  with 
the  lofty  aims  of  the  cause  in  which  they  are 
engaged  ;  the  members,  though  few,  work  none 
the  less  zealously.  That  they  have  accom- 
plished much,  none  can  den}-,  but  the  field  is 
still  large  for  the  exercise  of  their  good 
work. 


242 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   X.* 

HILLSBORO— EDUCATIONAL    INTERESTS— EARLY   SCHOOLS    AND    THE   OLD    LOG  SCHOOLHOUSE- 

HILLSBORO   ACADEMY— ITS   COLLEGE   CAREER— THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS  — NEWSPAPERS— 

THE  FIRST  PAPERS  OF  THE  TOWN  — UPS  AND  DOWNS  OF  THE  BUSINESS— THE 

"NEWS"  AND  THE    "JOURNAL"  OF  TO-DAY,  ETC. 


"A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing, 
Drink  deep,  or  taste  not  the  Pierian  spring." 

AMID  the  various  conflicting  opinions  on 
moral,  political  and  religious  subjects, 
there  is  need  of  charity  and  forbearance,  con- 
cession and  compromise.  Citizenship  is  of  no 
avail  unless  we  imbibe  the  liberal  spirit  of  our 
laws  and  institutions.  Through  the  medium  of 
the  common  schools  are  the  rising  generation  of 
all  nationalities  assimilated  readiby  and  thor- 
oughly forming  the  great  American  people. 
The  common  schools  are  alike  open  to  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  citizen  and  the  stranger.  It 
is  the  duty  of  those  to  whom  the  administra- 
tion of  the  schools  is  confided,  to  discharge  it 
with  magnanimous  liberality  and  Christian 
kindness.  Diligent  care  should  be  taken  by 
instructors,  to-  impress  upon  the  minds  of  chil- 
dren and  youth  committed  to  their  care,  the 
principles  of  morality  and  justice,  and  a  sacred 
regard  to  truth,  love  of  their  country,  humanity 
and  universal  benevolence,  sobriety,  industry 
and  frugality,  chastity,  moderation  and  temper- 
ance, and  all  other  virtues  which  are  the  orna- 
ments to  society. 

The  people  of  Hillsboro  displayed  an  early 
interest  in  educating  their  children,  and  among 
the  pioneer  institutions  of  the  town,  may  be 
noted  the  old  log  schoolhouse,  already  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  these  pages.  Says  Mr. 
Rountree.  in  his  early  reminiscences  of  Hills- 
boro :  "  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Hillsboro, 

*By  W.  H.  Perria. 


like  Jacksonville,  was  a  kind  of  Athens  of  Illi- 
nois. The  early  citizens,  coming  as  they  did 
from  the  older  States,  where  education  was  the 
rule,  the  great  mass  of  them  were  intelligent, 
well  educated  men  and  women.  One  of  the 
earliest  school  teachers  in  Hillsboro  was  Nancy 
Crumba,  who  was  a  sister  of  the  first  wife  of 
David  B.  Jackson.  She  taught  frequent^'  in 
Hillsboro,  and  was  a  refined,  cultivated  lady — 
so  much  so,  that  girls  and  young  women  were 
sent  from  abroad — Vandalia,  Carlyle  and  Ed- 
wardsville,  to  her,  that  she  might  put  on  the 
finishing  to  the  education  that  they  had  re- 
ceived at  home." 

Another  of  the  early  teachers  of  Hillsboro 
was  Rosetta  Townsend,  who  was  raised  on  the 
place  known  as  Rose  Hill.  She  afterward  mar- 
ried Andrew  M.  Braley,  an  old  sailor  and  sur- 
veyor, and  died  earl}',  leaving  one  child,  Ann 
Eliza,  who  also  taught  in  Hillsboro  years  after 
John  C.  Terret  was  another  early  teacher,  and 
the  first  who  taught  the  classics  in  a  school  in 
the  town.  Many  other  good  and  efficient 
teachers  taught  in  Hillsboro  up  to  the  time  of 
building  the  academy. 

The  first  schoolhouse  ever  built  in  Hillsboro 
was  in  the  winter  of  1825.  It  was  of  round 
logs  twenty-five  feet  square,  chinked  and  daubed 
with  mud  ;  the  fire-place  occupied  nearly  one 
whole  side  of  the  house,  its  jambs  of  mud,  and 
chiuiney  of  sticks  covered  with  the  same  mate- 
rial. A  log  was  sawed  out  on  two  sides  of  the 
room,  and  the  long  space  filled  with  sash  and 
glass,  while  on  the  fourth  side  was  the  door, 


JdL> ,  yj(ct  $0^-1^ ,  A— 


LI13RARY 

Of    int 

UNlVthsil  r  «t  Illinois 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


245 


■with  shutter  made  of  clapboards.  The  floor 
was  of  puncheons,  the  benches  of  split  logs, 
with  legs  in  the  round  side,  and  the  upper  side 
somewhat  smoothed  with  axes.  There  was  no 
loft  or  ceiling  ;  a  few  shelves  on  pegs,  etc.  The 
roof  was  of  clapboards  held  to  their  places  with 
weight-poles.  Two  writing  desks  made  of  punch- 
eons, perhaps  a  chair,  a  water  "  piggin,"  no 
andirons  except  rocks,  no  tongs,  a  clapboard 
shovel,  wooden  fire-poker,  a  mud  hearth,  and  a 
few  "  peep-holes  "  through  the  chinks  or  cracks. 
This  was  the  first  temple  of  learning  with  which 
the  youth  of  Hillsboro  became  acquainted,  and 
in  the  unpretending  structure,  the  foundation 
of  the  education  of  some  of  Illinois'  great  men 
were  laid.  This  early  schoolhouse  stood  on  the 
crest  of  the  hill  above  the  natural  spring  at 
Rountree's  pasture,  in  the  eastern  part  of  what 
is  now  the  main  city.  Of  the  teachers  who  in- 
structed in  this  old  house,  it  may  be  said,  that 
they  were  men  and  women  of  culture,  some  of 
whom  arose  to  eminence.  Of  these  we  may 
mention  Maj.  Campbell,  of  Carlisle;  Maj.  John 
*  H.  Rountree,  a  prominent  politician  and  legis- 
lator ;  Hon.  James  M.  Bradford,  who  held 
various  offices,  and  John  Hays,  Mr.  Springer, 
W.L.Jenkins,  Frank  Dickson  and  many  others. 
There  are  man}'  of  the  citizens  of  the  town  and 
count}-  received  their  education  wholly  or  in 
part,  viz.  :  the  Cresses,  Rutledges,  Blackber- 
gers,  Seymours,  Boones,  Grubbs,  Rountrees, 
etc.,  etc.,  also  Revs.  R.  J.  Nail  and  W.  S.  Pren- 
tice, prominent  Methodist  preachers  ;  James 
and  Sidney  Harkey  and  Jacob  Scherer,  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  and  Gen.  Tillson,  of  Quiney, 
whoso  part  in  the  late  civil  war  highly  distin- 
guished him.  Indeed  many  persons  of  distinc- 
tion taught,  or  were  taught  in  that  old  build- 
ing, Hillsboro's  first  schoolhouse. 

No  doubt  the  memories  connected  with  it, 
s:iys  Mr.  Rountree,  are  warm  in  their  hearts, 
but  the  old  house  is  gone.  Other  buildings 
have  been  erected  to  take  its  place.  Our  tine 
brick  free  schoolhouse  is  an  ornament  and  well 


worthy  of  our  pride.  The  old  academy  still 
flourishes.  But  it  is  a  question  if  they  are  more 
useful  in  their  day  than  the  log  houses  for  simi- 
lar purposes  were  in  the  pioneer  days.  Of  the 
new  brick  schoolhouse,  it  is  a  comfortable  and 
commodious  structure,  standing  on  a  beautiful 
lot  north  of  the  court  house.  It  is  built  after 
the  usual  style  of  architecture  of  the  modern 
schoolhouses,  and  is  finished  and  furnished  in 
the  latest  improved  manner. 

The  Academy. — About  the  year  1836,  the 
people  united  together  and  built  the  Hillsboro 
Academy.  At  the  time  of  its  erection  it  was 
one  of  the  most  magnificent  temples  of  learning 
in  the  State.  John  Tillson  was  the  moving- 
spirit  in  its  construction  and  endowment,  and 
to  him,  more  than  to  any  other  single  individual 
is  the  community  indebted  for  the  high  reputa- 
tion of  the  institution.  Young  men  and  boys 
came  from  all  the  surrounding  country  to  re- 
ceive academic  and  collegiate  training  at  Hills- 
boro  Academy,  and  afterward  College.  Here 
the  energy  of  Mr.  Tillson  shone  out.  He 
brought  the  first  Superintendent,  Prof.  Isaac 
Wetherill,  from  the  East,  and  his  wife  for  asso- 
ciate in  the  female  department,  with  Prof.  Ed- 
ward Wyman  associate  in  the  male  department, 
and  Miss  E.  F.  Hadley,  teacher  of  instrumental 
music.  The  first  session  commenced  the  first 
Wednesday  in  November,  1837,  and  was  liber- 
ally patronized  for  years.  It  gave  Hillsboro  so 
great  a  reputation  for  education  and  morality 
that  no  other  public  school  building  was  erected 
until  the  present  brick  edifice  alluded  to  above. 

The  Academy  was  changed  to  a  college  ami 
carried  on  several  years  as  such  by  the  Lu- 
therans,  but  was  abandoned  by  them  in  1852, 
when  they  removed  their  institution  to  Spring- 
field. The  building  then  became  the  property 
of  the  common  schools,  and  has  since  been  used 
by  the  city  as  the  high  school  department.  It 
has  lost  nothing  in  this  capacity  from  the  high 
standard  of  excellence  it  occupied,  and  is  still 
an  educational  institution  of  more  than  ordinary 


•ua 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY 


merit.  It  stands  in  the  most  pleasant  part  of 
the  city,  near  the  center  of  a  gently  rolling 
piece  of  ground,  whose  rich,  grassy  carpet  is 
shaded  with  a  profusion  of  fine  old  forest  trees 
of  a  century's  growth.  In  a  word,  no  city  of  its 
size  and  population  possesses  better  facilities 
than  Hillsboro  for  a  good  common-school  edu- 
cation. 

The  Press. — The  newspapers  of  Hillsboro 
next  claim  our  attention,  and  in  connection  with 
the  educational  history  their  mention  is  pecu- 
liarly appropriate,  as  the  press  has  always  been 
deemed  a  zealous  friend  and  advocate  of  learn- 
ing. From  the  "  Rountree  Letters,"  so  freely 
quoted  from  in  these  pages,  we  gather  the  early 
history  of  the  press  of  Hillsboro,  and  no  man, 
perhaps,  was  more  capable  than  Mr.  Rountree 
of  doing  the  subject  justice. 

The  Prairie  Beacon  was  the  first  paper  pub- 
lished in  Hillsboro,  and  was  established  about 
the  year  1838,  by  a  stock  company.  It  was 
published  in  the  upper  story  of  Hayward  & 
Holmes'  old  storehouse,  and  Aaron  Clapp,  Esq., 
was  its  editor.  He  is  described  as  a  tall, 
straight,  red-haired  man,  badly  cross-eyed,  but 
a  fine  scholar,  fresh  from  an  Eastern  college, 
and  a  friend  and  college-mate  of  Prof.  Isaac 
Wetherill,  then  Principal  of  the  Hillsboro 
Academy.  The  Prairie  Beacon  proved  a  poor 
and  unprofitable  investment,  and  after  strug- 
gling on  for  about  a  year  and  a  half  it  ceased 
publication.  The  press,  type  and  fixtures  were 
sold  to  some  parties  in  Platteville,  Wis.,  where 
it  was  used  in  the  publication  of  a  paper  called 
The  Northern  Badger.  So  disastrous  was  the 
failure  of  the  Prairie  Beacon  that  some  years 
elapsed  before  another  attempt  was  made  to  es- 
tablish a  paper  at  Hillsboro.  In  1850,  Frank 
and  Cyrus  Gilrnore  established  the  Prairie 
Mirror,  with  Rev.  Francis  Springer  as  editor. 
The  boys,  for  the}'  were  but  boys  at  the  time, 
did  all  the  office  work  themselves.  In  national 
politics  the  Mirror  was  Whig,  but  upon  home 
affairs  it  advocated   "  State  policy,"  which  by 


its  success  staved  off  the  building  of  a  number 
of  other  railroads  until  the  building  of  Hills- 
boro's  road.  The  Gilmore  boys  sold  out  to 
William  K.  Jackson  in  1851,  who  became  its 
proprietor,  with  C.  P.  Pickerson  as  editor.  In 
the  reconstruction  of  political  parties  the  Mir- 
ror became  the  exponent  of  the  Know-Nothing 
party.  Pickerson  bought  out  Mr.  Jackson  in 
1854,  and  carried  it  ou  himself  until  1S56,  when 
he  changed  ittothc  Montgomery  County  Herald; 
afterward  sold  it  to  James  Blackmail.  Jr.,  and 
removed  from  Hillsboro. 

The  Herald  was  continued  by  Mr.  Blackmail 
as  a  Know-Nothing  paper  until  1858,  when  he 
sold  out  to  J.  W.  Kitchell  and  F.  H.  Gilmore, 
who  ran  it  as  an  independent  paper  until  t,he 
opening  of  the  campaign  of  1860.  They  then 
sold  it  to  Bavis,  Turner  &  Co.,  who  published 
it  through  the  campaign  as  a  Pemocratic  paper, 
and  late  in  the  season  sold  it  to  F.  H.  Gilmore, 
who  continued  it  as  a  Pemocratic  paper.  In 
1862.  he  sold  it  to  E.  J.  Ellis,  a  refugee  from 
Missouri.  Mr.  Ellis  was  an  old  editor,  and 
after  the  war  returned  to  Missouri,  where,  at 
the  last  account  of  him,  he  was  publishing  a 
paper  called  the  Montgomery  Standard.  He 
sold  the  Herald  to  Ed.  L.  Reynolds  and  Wilbur 
F.  Stoddard.  They  coutinued  it  as  a  Pemo- 
cratic paper  until  1867,  when  they  sold  it  to 
William  McEweu  and  John  Auginbaugh,  who, 
the  next  year  (1868),  sold  it  to  E.  J.  C. 
Alexander.  Mr.  Alexander  continued  the 
paper  as  Pemocratic,  but  changed  its  name  to 
the  Hillsboro  Democrat.  "  He  so  run  the  paper," 
says  Mr.  Rountree,  "  as  to  make  a  fortune  and 
elect  himself  to  the  State  Legislature,  where  he 
is  now  (1873-74)  serving  his  constituents.  While 
it  claims  to  be  a  Pemocratic  paper,  it  is  only 
negatively  so  ;  and  it  is  in  full  accord  with  the 
'  Farmer  movement,'  as  against  both  political 
parties,  hanging  with  the  Pemocrats  in  their 
fight  with  the  Republicans."  With  the  issue 
of  April  29,  1874,  Mr.  Alexander  changed  the 
name  of  the    Democrat   to   that  of    The  Anti- 


CITY    OF    HILLSBORO. 


247 


Monopolist,  and  became  the  zealous  exponent 
of  the  farmer  or  grange  movement.  Still  he 
was  not  happy,  and  another  change  came  over 
his  paper.  This  time  he  called  it  the  Hillsboro 
Blade,  and  changed  its  politics  to  Republican. 
He  then  sold  it  to  James  L.  Slack,  who  again 
changed  its  name,  calling  it  the  Hillsboro  Jour- 
nal. Slack  sold  itto  Charles  R.  Truitt  in  1881, 
the  present  editor  and  publisher.  It  is  a  hand- 
some eight-page  paper,  neatly  and  tastefully 
printed,  ably  edited,  and  is  the  Republican 
organ  of  Montgomery  County. 

About  the  year  1S59  or  1860,  the  Illinois 
Free  Press  was  established  in  Hillsboro,  as  the 
advocate  of  the  views  of  the  Republican  party. 
It  was  published  by  a  stock  company  composed 
of  the  leading  Republicans  of  Hillsboro  and 
Butler,  and  Mr.  D.  W.  Mann  was  its  editor. 
Later  it  was  in  charge  of  J.  B.  Hutchinson  and 
James  Munn.  Hutchinson  afterward  moved  to 
Iowa,  and  Munn  was  slightly  wounded  at 
Ponelson,  Tenn.,  when  he  retired  from  the 
army,  and  finally  returned  East,  whence  he  had 
come,  and  where  he  was  lost  sight  of.  The 
Free  Press  was  never  a  financial  success,  and 
suspended  publication,  but  was  resurrected 
again  in  1863  by  John  W.  Kitchell,  and  the 
name  changed  to  the  Union  Monitor.  D.  W. 
Munn  had  become  sole  proprietor  previous  to 
the  sale  to  Mr.  Kitchell.  It  was  next  bought 
by  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Russell,  Mr.  Kitchell  remain- 
ing as  editor,  until  he  was  drafted  into  the 
army  in  the  spring  of  1865,  when  Mr.  J.  E. 
Henry,  a  native  of  Bond  County,  a  good  writer 
and  an  able  man,  became  editor.  He  afterward 
removed  to  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  Mr.  Alexander, 
afterward  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  !>■  mo- 
crat,  became,  in  May,  1867,  proprietor  of  the 
Monitor,  as  the  Republican  organ,  but  becom- 
ing a  little  "tender-footed,"  as  be  expressed,  it 


on  the  negro  question,  he  sold  out  to  B.  S. 
Hood,  of  Litchfield,  a  man  of  fine  abilities,  but 
not  being  acquainted  with  the  modus  operandi 
of  running  a  newspaper,  did  not  make  a  fortune 
out  of  his  investment.  It  was  removed  to 
Litchfield,  and  for  a  time  was  run  by  a  stock 
company,  Messrs.  Bangs  &  Gray  finally  be- 
came the  purchasers,  who,  after  a  little  while, 
divided  the  office,  and  from  this  division  sprung 
the  News  Letter  of  Hillsboro,  conducted  by  C. 
L.  and  E.  T.  Bangs.  The  remainder  was  sold 
to  Taylor  &  Kimball,  of  Belleville,  who  con- 
ducted the  Monitor  a  few  mouths  by  agents, 
and  then  transferred  it  to  Coolidge  &  Litch- 
field, and  it  became  what  is  now  the  Litchfield 
Monitor. 

The  News  Letter  was  sold  to  Slack  &  Tobin, 
and  the  name  changed  to  the  Hillsboro  Journal. 
Mr.  Tobin  sold  out  to  Slack,  who  sold  to  John- 
son &  Tobin  in  1875.  Up  to  this  time  it  had 
been  Republican  in  politics,  but  Johnson  & 
Tobin  changed  its  name  to  Montgomery  N<  irs, 
and  its  politics  to  Democrat.  In  1876,  Johnson 
sold  his  interest  to  George  W.  Paisley,  ami 
February  6,  1S82,  Paisley  &  Tobin  sold  the 
paper  to  Benjamin  E.  Johnsou,  who  is  the 
present  owner  and  editor.  The  News  is  the 
official  organ  of  the  Democracy  of  Montgomery 
County,  and  is  a  large  eight-page  paper,  well 
edited  by  Col.  Johnson,  a  man  of  considerable 
newspaper  ability,  experience  and  enterprise. 

The  press  of  Hillsboro  at  the  present  time 
is  second  to  that  of  no  town  of  its  importance 
in  Southern  Illinois,  and  the  people  should  be 
justly  proud  of  it,  and  extend  to  it  the  support 
and  patronage  it  so  richly  merits.  No  town 
can  prosper  without  live,  enterprising  news- 
papers, and  such  papers  cannot  exist  without 
liberal  patronage. 


248 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XI.* 

NORTH  LITCHFIELD  TOWNSHIP— DESCRIPTION  AND  TOPOGRAPHY— CHARACTER  OF  SOIL— EARLY 

SETTLEMENTS— THE  BRIGGS  FAMILY— OTHER    PIONEERS— THE  FIRST  PREACHERS  AND 

CHURCHES— SCHOOLS  AND  TEACHERS— PIONEER  INCIDENTS— TAX  RECEIPTS,  ETC. 

—EARLY  DISEASES  AND  DEATHS  — EFFECTS   OF  THE  WAR,  ETC..  ETC 

THIS  township,  lying  on  the  west  side  of  the      the  prairie  and  much  of  the  timber  is  fenced, 
county,  is  south  of  Zanesville,    west  of     and  this  has  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  stock 

law. 

Iu  1816,  Robert  Briggs,  born  east  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  and  emigrating  to  Ohio  en  route  to  Ed- 
wardsville,  where  he   dwelt   in   the   fort,   and 
where    children  were  born  to  him,  located  on 
Lake  Fork  in  Walshville.     He    built  a   cabin 
and  began  a  farm.     Two  years  later,  the  land 
was  bought  from   under    him    by  Government 
entry,  and   Mr.  Briggs,  leaving  his  cribs  filled 
with  corn,  removed  in  1818  to  a  point  nearly  a 
third  of  a  mile  east  of  Martin  Ritchie's  house, 
and  began  anew.     His  old  neighbors  relieved 
himof  hiscribbed  corn,  and  he  had  no  new  neigh- 
bors in  the  modern  meaning  of  the  word.     A 
few  miles  to  the  north,  a  family  settled  a  little 
later,  and  five  miles  to  the  south  were  two  or 
three  families.     The  region  abounded  iu  gray 
wolves,  tall,  fierce,  gaunt  fellows,  and  occasion- 
ally a  black  one  was  seen.     Muskrats  were  nu- 
merous in  the  shallow  ponds,  and  skunks  were 
met  everywhere.     The  few  sheep  Mr.   Briggs 
owned  were  penned  each  night  to  protect  them 
from  beasts  of  prey,  for  black  bears  and  painters 
were  not  quite  unknown.     Grapes  grew  in  the 
woods,  and  "  bee  trees"  yielded  their  delicious 
sweets  to  the  pioneer.     Wagons   were   not  in 
use  ;  in    place  of  them   rude  ox  carts  were  in 
creneral    use,   frequently    made    without   iron. 
Cattle    were    the   exclusively  draft   animals  ; 
horses  were  employed  only  under  the   saddle, 
and  to  plow  corn.     In  dry  weather  an  ox  cart 
in  motion  was  the  equal  in  noise  to  a  Chinese 


^HIS  township,  lying  on  the  west  side  of  the 
county,  is  south  of  Zanesville,  west  of 
Butler,  and  north  of  South  Litchfield.  The 
west  fork  of  Shoal  Creek  passes  from  north  to 
south  through  the  east  side,  and  is  fringed  with 
timber  for  nearly  a  mile  on  each  side.  The 
west  two-thirds  of  the  township  are  prairie. 
The  west  and  north  portions  discharge  their 
surplus  waters  through  a  branch  into  the  creek, 
while  the  southwestern  sections  send  their 
drainage  into  the  Cahokia,  and  the  southeastern 
sections  lie  on  Rocky  Branch,  an  affluent  of  the 
west  fork  of  Shoal  Creek.  For  three  miles  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  railroad  divides  it 
from  South  Litchfield.  The  Jacksonville  road 
enters  at  the  northwest  corner  and  leaves  it  two 
miles  east  of  the  southwest  corner.  The  St. 
Louis  branch  of  the  Wabash,  going  north,  en- 
ters the  township  two  miles  from  the  county 
line  and  leaves  it  two  miles  west  of  the  north- 
east corner.  It  thus  contains  nearly  sixteen 
miles  of  railroad. 

The  soil  along  the  creek  is  white  and  better 
for  straw  grain  than  for  corn.  In  the  prairie 
the  soil  is  black,  glutinous  and  deep.  The  sur- 
face iu  the  prairie  region  requires  artificial  drain- 
age, which  has  been  in  part  supplied  by  the  con- 
struction of  railroads,  and  a  more  careful  at- 
tention to  the  location  and  improvement  of 
ordinary  highways.  In  the  farms  along  the 
timber,  rail  fences  are  the  rule  ;  iu  other  and 
more  recently  cultivated  farms  board  fences 
are  common,  and  many  hedges  are  found.     All 


llv  II.  A.  Ooolidge 


NORTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


249 


orchestra.  Oxen  wrought  in  the  ordinary  yoke, 
but  horses  had  wooden  hames  on  shuck  collars, 
made  by  some  neighbors  and  connected  to  the 
whippletree  with  chains,  supported  by  a  strip 
of  raw  hide  over  the  horse's  back. 

The  cattle  were  natives,  small  and  hardy.  A 
fattened  animal  which  weighed  dressed  half  a 
thousand  pounds  was  a  monster.  The  horses 
were  usually  about  fifteen  hands  high,  and  of 
light  weight.  In  a  few  years  after  Mr.  Briggs' 
settlement,  the  Archy  stock  was  introduced 
from  North  Carolina  and  was  highly  esteemed 
for  the  saddle.  All  travel  was  on  horseback, 
and  a  steed,  sure-footed,  hardy,  and  with  a 
swift,  easy  pace,  was  a  possession  keenly  appre- 
ciated. Swine  of  the  baser  breed  prevailed. 
They  were  not  inclined  to  take  on  flesh,  were 
fleet  of  foot  and  insatiable  in  appetite,  and  pug- 
nacious. The  few  sheep  were  kept  for  the 
wool.  Quail  and  gray  squirrels  and  wild 
turkeys,  water  fowl  and  herds  of  deer,  made  the 
country  a  valuable  game  region.  Of  song 
birds  the  pioneers  do  not  speak  ;  they  came  in 
with  the  cessation  of  the  annual  burning  of  the 
prairie,  and  the  appearance  of  orchards  and 
trees  around  human  habitations. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Briggs  grew  cotton  for 
home  clothing.  When  picked,  it  was  ginned  by 
hand,  and  then  prepared  on  hand  cards  in  the 
house  for  the  spinning  wheel.  Sometimes  wool 
was  mingled  with  the  "batts"  for  spinning. 
The  cotton  was  carded,  spun,  wove  and  dyed  at 
home,  and  the  cloth  fashioned  into  garments 
by  the  housewife's  shears  and  needle.  Nearly 
ever}-  home  contained  a  spinning  wheel  and 
loom  and  a  variety  of  saddles.  The  children 
tasted  neither  tea  nor  coffee.  Sassafras  tea  or 
crust  coffee  does  not  tempt  a  healthy  or  a  ca- 
pricious thirst.  The  johnny  cake  board  was  as 
necessary  in  a  well  regulated  family  as  knives 
and  forks,  and  the  corn  meal  was  brought  from 
Elm  Point  or  the  "  Pepper  Mill."  The  meal, 
wetted  with  water  and  salted  and  baked  on  a 
board  set  sloping  before  the  fire,  and  eaten  with 


milk,  was   a  healthful  food,  and  the  children 
throve  on  it. 

The  Briggs  family  went  to  Old  Ripley,  in 
Bond  County,  for  meal,  and  their  meat  was 
wild  game  ;  the  forest  yielded  them  grapes  and 
plums  ;  their  garden  Irish  potatoes  and  sweet 
ones.  The  father  tanned  each  year,  imper- 
fectly, leather  in  a  trough,  and  from  the  product, 
which  had  the  properties  of  rawhide,  he  made 
shoes  for  his  children.  When  wet  these  shoes 
were  a  world  too  wide  !  When  dried  on  the 
feet  they  shrank  until  they  bound  like  com- 
presses. 

The  first  school  his  children  attended  was  in 
a  log  schoolhouse,  two  miles  and  a  half  east  of 
home,  and  probably  in  Butler  Grove  Town- 
ship. The  second  school  was  taught  in  the  first 
schoolhouse  in  the  township,  a  few  rods  due 
north  of  the  home  of  E.  K.  Austin.  Religious 
meetings  were  first  held  at  private  houses,  but, 
when  schools  were  introduced,  the  school-room 
dining  the  week  was  the  church  on  Sunday. 
The  first  sermon,  so  far  as  known,  was  perhaps 
delivered  by  Bennett  Woods,  a  Hardshell  Bap- 
tist, of  whom  our  informant  narrates  several 
amusing  incidents.  The  preacher  had  on  one 
occasion  forgotten  his  glasses,  and  when  he 
arose  to  give  out  the  hymn — which  it  was  the 
custom  to  "deacon"  in  consequence  of  the 
want  of  hymn  books — he  began  : 

"  My  eyes  ai-e  dim  ;  I  cannot  see, 
I've  left  my  specs  at  home." 

The  leader  of  the  singing  immediately  raised 
the  tune  and  the  congregation  began  to  sing  ! 
"  Stop,  stop  !  That  is  not  the  hymn  ;  I  meant 
to  say  I  forgot  my  spectacles  and  will  not  read 
a  hymn  this  morning." 

On  another  occasion  a  mother  was  carrying 
her  wailing  infant  out  of  the  house  to  avoid 
disturbing  the  congregation.  "  Sister  Sally,  if 
3'ou  go  out,  you  will  not  hear  the  sermon." 
■  Vis.  I  will  ;  I  will  sit  near  the  house,  and  will 
hear  every  word."  In  a  few  moments  Mr. 
Woods  went  to  an  open  window,  and  thrusting 


I>50 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNT!'. 


out  his  head  and  shoulders  continued  his  dis- 
course, in  order  that  "  Sister  Sally  "  should  uot 
lose  the  benefit  of  it. 

The  first  church  in  the  township  was  erected 
near  the  southeast  corner  of  the  west  half  of 
the  northwest  corner  of  Section  33,  or  just  west 
of  State  street,  and  half  a  mile  north  of  the  In- 
dianapolis &  St.  Louis  railroad.  It  was  used 
jointly  by  the  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians. 
This  is  the  popular  opinion  which  has  found 
a  place  in  local  histories,  but  a  log  church  near 
Honey  Bend  was  built  many  years  earlier, 
which  long  since  decayed  to  a  ruin,  but  the  site 
can  be  identified  just  over  the  line  in  Zanes- 
ville  Township.  Near  it  several  hundred  In- 
dians were  encamped  in  huts  of  pawpaw.  The 
unwelcome  visitors  were  energetically  pressed 
to  move  on,  and  their  shelters  perished  by  nat- 
ural decay.  This  church  belonged  to  the  Hard- 
shell Baptists — a  sect  which  believes  in  unsal- 
aried preachers  and  in  paying  their  debts.  The 
second  religious  body  was  the  Williams  Society 
of  Methodists  near  Honey  Bend.  William 
Williams,  the  founder,  is  still  spoken  of  as  a 
godly  man,  whese  piety  was  ardent  and  con- 
sistent. 

Isaiah  Hurley  was  the  first  school  teacher,  a 
mild,  inoffensive  person.  The  Wilkinson  boys 
were  his  especial  tormentors. 

The  Briggs  family  at  first  ate  from  pewter 
plates  and  drank  from  gourds  or  tin  cups.  The 
light  at  evening  was  the  wood  fire,  or,  if  there 
was  any  grease  to  be  had,  a  saucer  was  filled 
with  it,  in  which  a  wick  floated.  Hickory  bark 
or  dry  branches  of  trees  were  used  as  light 
wood  to  illuminate  the  cabins,  and  the  boys 
spelled  out  their  bibles  or  books  by  their  flick- 
ering flame.  Sometimes  buttonwood  balls  were 
gathered,  and,  when  dried,  soaked  in  fat  and 
lighted.  They  afforded  good  light,  but  were 
speedily  consumed. 

Their  earlier  neighbors  were  the  Mathews 
family,  living  a  couple  furlongs  to  the  west. 
That  family  went  west  of  the  river  during  the 


"  twenties,"  leaving  no  representative  here,  but 
a  remembrance  older  than  the  oldest  living  in- 
habitant of  the  township. 

About  the  earliest  physician  was  Dr.  Hillis, 
of  Hillsboro,  lately  deceased.  The  people  did 
not  "  allow  "  to  become  ill,  and  midwives  at- 
tended to  women  in  labor. 

The  scenes  of  Indian  warfare  are  quite  all 
outside  the  county,  but  the  early  settlers  had 
seen  their  portion  of  these  horrors.  Robert 
Briggs'  maternal  grandfather,  living  in  the 
Fort  at  Edwardsville,  rescued  a  daughter  from 
the  savages,  and,  while  bearing  her  home  to 
the  fort,  began  bleeding  at  the  nose  and  died 
from  loss  of  blood.  Samuel  Briggs,  the  eldest 
son,  born  in  1809,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  and  Stephen  R.,  the  second  son, 
born  in  1812,  was  for  eleven  months  a  ranger. 

As  late  as  1S30,  only  a  few  families  had  set- 
tled in  the  township.  Mathews  had  removed  ; 
Wilkinson  and  Lockerman  remained,  and  Will- 
iams and  the  Woods  and  Ash  had  located  along 
the  Three-Mile  Branch. 

The  polls  for  the  earlier  elections  were  held 
at  "  Tennis'  School-house  "  in  Zanesville  Town- 
ship, and  when  the  west  side  of  the  county  was 
divided  into  three  election  precincts  the  polls 
of  Long  Branch  Precinct,  which  included  North 
Litchfield,  were  opened  at- John  A.  Crabtree's 
house  in  South  Litchfield.  The  poll  lists  con- 
tain few  names  ;  from  a  dozen  to  twenty  votes 
would  be  received.  As  the  population  of  North 
Litchfield  by  the  last  census  was,  outside  of  the 
city  of  Litchfield,  only  951  on  thirty-foursquare 
miles,  and  contains  neither  mill  nor  shop  save 
at  Litchfield  and  Honey  Bend,  it  is  credible 
that  the  township  attracted  population  slowly. 
Nearly  all  the  people  are  of  Southern  birth  or 
origin. 

The  elder  ones  still  relate  many  homely  in- 
cidents of  the  early  days.  When  a  family  ar- 
rived and  it  was  understood  that  they  wanted  a 
house,  the  settlers  assembled,  and  some  cut  logs 
and  built  the  walls,  while  others  split  shooks  for 


NORTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


231 


the  roof,  and  others  hewed  puncheons  for  a  floor 
and  another  portion  erected  the  chimney.  They 
did  not  cease  until  the  house  was  ready.  If 
the  supply  of  meal  gave  out,  and  high  water  or 
the  state  of  the  trails  prevented  a  journey  to 
Old  Ripley,  corn  was  bruised  in  a  hollow  block 
of  wood  with  an  iron  wedge  or  a  wooden  pestle. 
The  liner  portions  were  used  for  bread,  and  the 
coarser  part  was  converted  into  honiiny.  Scant 
time  had  the  settlers  for  social  visits,  but  when 
one  was  paid  the  party  came  on  horseback,  the 
wife  en  croupe  behind  her  husband. 

An  annual  visit  to  Mr.  Briggs  by  Mr.  White- 
side, the  partisan  ranger,  well  known  for  his 
prowess  in  Indian  warfare,  was  the  signal  for 
renewed  confabs  on  the  incidents  of  border 
life.  Whiteside,  Robert  Briggs,  Sr.,  and  his  son 
Samuel  were  the  center  of  the  group,  and  the 
children  would  huddle  into  the  corner  terrified 
by  their  tales.  Bits  of  description  in  their  stories 
were  of  high  merit  for  their  graphic  literaluess. 
What  the  good  wives  talked  of  is  beyond  con- 
jecture. He  is  a  bold  man  who  will  venture  an 
opinion  as  to  the  topics  in  a  woman's  palaver. 

The  inquisitorial  list  of  questions  in  the  as- 
sessor's blanks,  prepared  in  the  early  history  of 
the  State  is  inferential  evidence  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  Illinois  homes.  But  we  have  seen 
tax  receipts  of  thQse  relatively  far-off  days,  in 
which  the  taxes  on  six  hundred  acres  of  land 
were  $2.1(1.  and  on  eighty  acres,  12£  cents,  and 
these  receipts  were  given  to  early  settlers  of 
North  Litchfield  and  its  sister  township,  South 
Litchfield.  The  wages  of  a  stout,  willing  boy 
were  a  "  bit "  a  day  during  the  summer,  and  a 
good  harvest  hand  was  paid  as  high  as  half  a 
dollar,  or  the  exact  price  of  a  pound  of  coffee. 
''Hired  girls  "  had  not  become  a  class  ;  in  case 
of  illness  some  young  woman  would  leave 
home  for  a  few  days  to  care  for  the  afflicted 
household,  but  her  services  were  not  rendered 
for  the  pay  she  received.  The  discharge  of  the 
sacred  duty  to  care  for  the  sick  was  the  motive, 
and  it  was  never  neglected.     The  accepted  life 


of  a  woman  was  to  marry,  bear  and  rear  chil- 
dren, prepare  the  household  food,  spin,  weave 
and  make  the  garments  for  the  family.  Her 
whole  life  was  the  grand  simple  poem  of  rug- 
ged, toilsome  duty  bravely  and  uncomplaining- 
ly done.  She  lived  history,  and  her  descend- 
ants write  and  read  it  with  a  proud  thrill,  such 
as  visits  the  pilgrim  when  at  Arlington  he 
stands  at  the  base  of  the  monument  which  cov- 
ers the  bones  of  4,000  nameless  men  who  gave 
their  blood  to  preserve  their  country.  Her 
work  lives,  but  her  name  is  whispered  onl}-  in 
a  few  homes.  Holy  in  death,  it  is  too  sacred  for 
open  speech. 

Some  of  these  cheerful  dames  still  live,  and 
seem  to  regret  the  times  which  will  never  come 
again.  One  of  them  says  the  floor  of  her  cabin 
was  so  uneven  that  she  placed  rude  wedges  un- 
der her  table  legs  to  keep  it  steady,  and  when 
a  heavy  rain  fell  the  water  which  came  down 
the  chimney  formed  a  pool  in  the  depression 
called  a  hearth,  and  she  baled  out  the  water 
with  her  skillet.  Gourds  were  used  for  drink- 
ing cups,  milk  pails,  dippers  and  receptacles 
for  lard,  some  of  them  held  half  a  bushel.  When 
she  became  the  owner  of  a  stone  pitcher,  she 
felt  rich,  and  at  the  table  no  person  could  have 
a  knife  and  fork  ;  if  he  had  the  former,  the  lat- 
ter fell  to  another,  and  often  the  same  knife 
answered  the  table  needs  of  two  or  three. 

Until  1828,  the  whole  county  voted  at  Hills- 
boro,  and  there  was  the  post  office,  store  and 
physician.  In  1830,  twelve  years  after  its  set- 
tlement, but  seven  families  had  located  in  the 
township — Robert  Briggs,  Thomas  Briggs, 
Aaron  Roberts,  Mathews,  Wilkinson  and  Lock- 
erman,  and  possibly  T.  C.  Hughes.  A  war  trail 
from  the  timber  at  the  head  of  the  Cahokia  to 
the  timber  on  Shoal  Creek  ran  along  the  south- 
eastern sections,  and  the  Indian-fighter,  White- 
side, and  his  rangers,  pursued  a  band  of  war- 
riors along  this,  and  brought  on  an  action  near 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  southwest  quarter 
of  Section  26.     Whiteside,  3'ears  after  the  bat- 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


tie.  pointed  out  the  site.  Flint  arrow-heads  and 
tomahawks  have  been  found  there.  Tradition 
has  preserved  no  details  of  the  fight,  save  that 
the  savages  suffered  from  the  shotguns.  White- 
sides  was  a  laborious  slaver  of  Indians,  but 
wrote  no  detailed  history  of  his  exploits  on  the 
trail.  The  early  settlers  lived  in  fear  of  Indians, 
though  no  incidents  are  preserved  of  any  out- 
rage here  later  than  1815. 

Bennett  Woods  settled  in  the  township  east 
of  Shoal  Creek,  and  found  that  in  addition  to 
those  previously  mentioned,  Aaron  Roberts  had 
preceded  him.  Of  this  Mr.  Roberts,  we  can  learn 
only  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  humor,  and 
was  not  of  kin  to  John  C.  or  James  S.  Roberts, 
long  well-known  residents  of  "  Roberts'  Settle- 
ment," the  earlier  name  of  Honey  Bend.  Thom- 
as C.  Hughes  settled  in  1829,  on  the  farm  now 
owned  by  Martin  Ritchie.  Thomas  Briggs,  a 
brother  of  Robert  Briggs,  lived  about  a  mile 
south  of  Hughes.  The  farm  afterward  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Samuel  Kirkpatriek,  brother 
of  the  famous  Sheriff. 

When  1830  dawned,  the  settlers  lived  at  the 
edge  of  the  timber— Bennett  Woods  east  of 
the  Creek,  Aaron  Roberts,  the  third  set- 
ler,  on  the  creek,  and  Mr.  Hughes  and  the  two 
Briggs  west  of  it.  Mathews  had  vanished  and 
there  is  no  mention  of  Lockerman  or  Wilkin- 
son. There  were  certainly  five  families,  and 
possibly  seven  in  the  township.  Mrs.  Bennett 
Woods  died  in  1829,  and  was  the  first  death. 
The  first  marriage  was  Joshua  Martin  to  Sarah 
Briggs,  eldest  daughter  of  Robert  Briggs.  The 
first  sermon  was  preached  at  the  house  of  Ben- 
nett Woods,  by  James  Street  or  Larkin  Craig 
—probably  the  fromer.  They  belonged  to  the 
Missionary  Baptists,  and  their  earliest  house  of 
worship  was  a  log  chapel,  a  few  rods  over  the 
line,  on  Section  35,  in  Zanesville — the  venera- 
ble John  Woods  is  able  to  fix  its  location.  This 
decaying  in  1865,  Little  Flock  Church  was  built 
at  Honey  Bend.  The  Cherry  Grove  Chapel,  in 
Butler  Grove,  was  the  primitive  church  for  the 


Methodists  of  several  townships.  Being  near 
the  line,  the  Methodists  had  no  place  of  wor- 
ship in  this  township  until  1855,  when  the  Hard- 
insburgh  Chapel  was  drawn  to  Litchfield.  Some 
of  the  early  Methodists  attended  at  Asbury 
Chapel,  Raymond  ;  some  at  Cheriy  Grove,  in 
Butler  Grove,  and  some  at  the  Hardinsburgh 
Chapel. 

The  Baptists  first  attended  the  log  church 
near  J.  Woods,'  but  by  the  subdivisions  in 
which  that  denomination  rejoices,  there  are- 
now  four  houses  for  their  occupation. 

The  first  burial  place  was  the  Bennett  Wood's 
Graveyard.  There  were  laid  away  Robert  Briggs 
in  May,  1857,  and  his  wife  in  1850,  Mrs.  Bennett 
Woods  and  other  pioneers.  The  Crabtree  Grave- 
yard was  perhaps  the  second  one,  though  it  is 
in  South  Litchfield.  We  were  not  curious 
enough  about  mortuary  matters  to  seek  to  know 
these  things  in  their  grim  minuteness.  The 
fact  that  a  cemetery  was  found  near  each  church 
or  regular  preaching  place,  points  with  great 
clearness  to  the  fact  that  no  funeral  was  thought 
to  be  properly  conducted  without  a  sermon,  and 
the  exposure  of  the  face  of  the  dead  for  a  last 
look  by  the  spectators,  though  the  Baptists — 
almost  the  sole  religious  denomination — dis- 
countenanced funeral  sermons  or  mortuary  serv- 
ices at  a  church.  The  dead  were  lovingly  borne 
from  the  house  to  the  place  of  burial  and  there 
left  to  the  awful  care  of  the  grave. 

The  coffin  was  the  handiwork  of  a  home 
workman  ;  the  dead  was  arrayed  in  the  chill 
simplicity  of  a  shroud.  It  was  unknown  that 
a  dead  person  was  buried  in  the  dress  worn  in 
life,  or  in  such  a  dress  as  living  people  wear. 
The  defense  of  an}-  custom  is  its  utility,  and 
the  records  of  the  pulpit  contain  little  evidence 
of  abiding  religious  impressions  from  the  fu- 
neral sermons.  Perhaps  they  are  the  Protest- 
ant form  of  praying  for  the  dead. 

The  diseases  were  chiefly  fever  and  chills ; 
at  times  nearly  every  home  contained  more  or 
less  sick  members.     We  have  visited  neighbor- 


NORTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


253 


hoods  in  which  every  house  had  its  sick  in- 
mates. The  first  physician  was  Dr.  Moore,  of 
Woodboro,  and  North  Litchfield  was  the  home 
of  no  physician  until  1854. 

In  1832,  Israel  Fogleman  occupied  his 
life-long  homestead,  though  he  brought  no 
■wife  to  his  cabin  for  six  years.  Peter  Black- 
welder  had  settled  half  a  mile  west,  and 
Aaron  Kean  a  couple  of  miles  north.  The 
Striplings  were  in  the  north  part  of  the 
town,  and  in  1840  the  township  contained 
ten  or  twelve  families.  Alfred  Blackwelder 
settled  south  of  S.  A.  Paden's.  Some  chil- 
dren of  the  first  settlers  married  and  settled 
near  the  ancestral  home. 

The  Bandys  and  Pete  Thompson,  Jesse 
and  Israel  Ash,  John  C.  and  James  Roberts, 
Isaac  Weaver,  Ahart  Pierce,  C.  W.  Sapp  and 
Ralph  and  Jacob  Scherer  and  Elihu  Boan 
came,  and,  in  1850,  there  was  one  school- 
house,  near  the  site  of  the  brick  one,  just 
west  of  Mr.  Austin's.  In  1852,  the  Terre 
Haute  &  Alton  railroad  was  located  on  the 
south  line  of  the  township,  and,  with  the  lay- 
ing out  of  Litchfield  and  the  opening  of  a 
market  for  grain,  and  the  consequent  appre- 
ciation of  land,  a  new  era  dawned.  The 
vacant  prairie  began  to  be  fenced  and  brought 
into  tillage.  The  salient  feature  of  this  de- 
cade was  the  creation  of  the  village  of  Litch- 
field, with  a  population  of  1,500,  many  of 
them  of  different  nationality,  and  widely  dif- 
fering in  manners  and  customs.  The  orig- 
inal settlers  were  conservative  in  habits  and 
modes  of  thought.  Litchfield  was  a  good 
place  to  buy  and  sell  in  ;  it  was  a  conven- 
ience ;  but  socially  and  politically  it  was 
looked  upon  with  coldness.  If  a  Litchfield 
man  wanted  a  county  or  town  office,  he  failed 
to  secure  it. 

When  the  war  was  in  its  earlier  stages, 
various  parties  proposed  to  resist  what  they 
erroneously  supposed  was  in  contemplation. 


Their  fears  were  soon  dissipated,  and  gather- 
ings of  armed  men  at  private  houses,  and 
armed  sentinels  around,  were  omitted.  But 
men  did  meet  at  night  for  instruction  in  the 
military  art,  but  they  soon  became  ashamed 
of  their  untoward  zeal,  which  had  been  stim- 
ulated by  the  presence  of  disloyal  refugees 
from  the  States  in  rebellion.  The  result 
was  an  immediate  feeling  of  unquietness,  but 
no  one  imagined  that  this  spasmodic  moment 
of  feeling  would  glut  itself  in  action.  It 
evaporated  in  fast  riding  and  loud,  boastful 
talk. 

On  an  evening  in  February,  1864,  three 
men  called  at  the  house  of  William  Gk  Por- 
ter, five  miles  north  of  the  city,  and  knocked 
for  admittance.  They  said  they  were  neigh 
bors  on  their  way  home,  and  had  broken  their 
wagon,  and  desired  a  hammer  and  nails  to 
repair  the  injury.  Mr.  Porter  and  his  wife 
were  alone  and  had  retired  for  the  night. 
He  went  to  the  door  with  the  nails,  when  he 
was  seized,  and  a  demand  made  for  his 
money.  Mr.  Porter  showed  fight  in  his 
nightdress.  One  person  stood  guard  and  two 
dealt  with  Mr.  Porter  and  his  wife.  He  re- 
ceived a  slashing  blow  from  a  pistol,  which 
laid  open  a  long  wound,  and  was  shot  in  the 
head,  the  bullet  plowing  into  the  skull,  where 
it  remains.  Porter  made  a  lively  fight,  and 
foiled  the  robbers.  But  help  was  coming, 
and  the  robbers  fled.  No  arrest  was  made, 
as  the  assailants  were  masked.  Their  pur- 
pose was  simple  robbery,  and  no  political 
meaning  was  attached  to  the  affair.  But  in 
October  of  the  same  year,  three  persons,  about 
7:40  P.  M.,  visited  the  house  of  John  C.  Rob- 
erts, of  Honey  Bend,  on  an  errand  of  plun- 
dei\  Each  had  two  revolvers,  and  the  fam- 
ily were  wholly  defenseless.  They  obtained 
a  gold  watch,  §150  in  money  and  the  family 
silver.  One  of  the  robbers,  being  lame, 
walked   on    the   side   of   his    foot,  and   was 


254 


in  STORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


tracked  to  Litchfield.  Arrests  were  made, 
but  as  they  were  refugees  from  Missouri,  a 
presumptive  alibi  was  made  out,  and  they 
were  released.  There  was,  in  the  selection 
of  the  family  and  the  undoubted  character  of 
the  robbers,  a  political  element  in  this  crime. 
Thonrpson  Williams,  a  half-mile  west  of  Mr. 
Roberts,  was  robbed  of  a  gun  the  same  night, 
but  it  was  afterward  found  in  a  field  where 
the  robbers  had  cast  it  away. 

These  three  events  comprise  the  criminal  his- 
tory of  North  Litchfield  for  sixty-four  years, 
for  the  plundering  of  chicken  roosts  and  the 
occasional  relief  of  a  smoke-house,  were  inci- 
dents not  unknown  in  all  frontier  settlements, 
and  were  accepted  at  their  real  significance. 

In  1870,  the  St.  Louis  Division  of  the  Wa- 
bash road  was  built,  and  a  station  was  located 
at  Honey  Bend.  A  town  was  laid  out,  and  a 
post  office  established,  J.  E.  Hickman,  Postmas- 
ter, who  also  opened  a  store  there.  The  place 
has  neither  passenger  nor  freight  depot,  but  the 
shipments  of  cattle  and  grain  have  been  noticed 
in  the  decrease  of  shipments  from  Litchfield. 
The  village  contains  a  church,  schoolhouse  and 
several  shops,  and  about  twenty  neat  dwellings. 

The  adoption  of  township  organization  in 
1872,  and  a  judicious  road  law,  have  wrought 
marvelous  changes  in  the  condition  of  the  high- 
wa3-s.  The  chief  roads  have  been  ditched  and 
graded.  Safe  bridges  and  culverts  were  placed 
at  the  water  courses.  Of  course  taxation  in- 
creased, and  whether  the  consumption  of  iron 
be  the  test  of  civilization  or  not,  no  one  will 
deny  that  increase  in  taxation  marks  the  his- 
tory of  our  settlements.  With  the  growth  of 
wants  comes  a  more  rapid  increase  of  taxation  : 
and  organized  and  regulated  benevolence  and 
administration  of  law,  have  superseded  the  ac- 
tion of  individuals  who  took  care  that  no  de- 
serving persons  suffered  for  food  or  shelter,  or 
set  at  defiance  the  laws  of  mine  and  thine. 

There  are  now  five  school  districts  in  the 
township,  all  with  good  houses  in  which  schools 


are  maintained  for  at  least  eight  months  in  the 
year.  For  the  convenience  of  those  who  had 
worshiped  at  Cherry  Grove,  or  Asbury  Chapel 
or  Litchfield,  Phillips  Chapel,  about  two  miles 
south  of  Honey  Bend,  was  erected  in  1872,  and 
this  house  and  the  one  in  the  Bend,  are  the 
onl}-  religious  houses  in  the  township,  outside 
of  the  city. 

A  brick-yard  is  in  operation  a  mile  east  of 
State  street,  and  the  margin  of  Shoal  Creek  af- 
fords an  abundance  of  compact,  crystalized 
limestone.  Burned  into  lime  it  yields  a  superior 
article,  which  has  been  found  especially  useful  in 
building  the  abutments  of  bridges  and  culverts. 

The  pioneers  of  sixt}-  years  ago  are  repre- 
sented by  gray-haired  men  and  faded-tressed 
women.  The  ox  cart  has  utterly  perished  ;  the 
wooden  plow,  the  winning  shot,  the  sheep  folds, 
exist  only  in  imagination.  The  log  cabin  has 
gone,  the  flax  and  cotton  fields  are  no  longer 
tilled,  the  music  of  the  spinning  wheel  and  the 
beat  of  the  loom  are  silent ;  sidesaddles  are  out 
of  date.  And  we  have  written  of  things  which 
were  the  familiar  sights  and  sounds  of  our 
3'outh,  that  those  in  the  morning  of  life  may 
learn  what  was  only  sixty  years  since. 

Our  rural  friends  are  incredulous  as  to  the 
wonders  of  the  telephone,  and  to  the  child  on 
our  streets  to-day,  the  history  we  have  written 
will  be  incredible  :  but  that  it  is  of  modern 
times  we  have  been  speaking,  he  would  class  us 
among  the  weather  prophets.  Evidence  wins 
assent,  but  experience  commands  belief,  and  we 
chide  not  the  lad  for  believing  .only  what  is 
confined  to  his  own  experience,  when  eminent 
men  contemptuously  reject  whatever  their  poor 
reason  cannot  compress  or  fathom. 

We  have  tried  to  bring  back  to  the  reader 
the  time  which  is  now  purely  historical  in  North 
Litchfield.  The  prevailing  peace  and  quiet  of 
the  people  have  been  due  to  their  own  strong, 
simple,  sturdy,  high  hearted  characters,  and  to 
the  auspicious  fact  that  the  law  and  the  customs 
of  their  age  were  on  a  level  with  the  average 
strong  working  moral  quality  of  the  people. 


SOUTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


255 


CHAPTER   XII* 

SOUTH   LITCHFIELD  TOWNSHIP— ITS    DESCRIPTION,  BOUNDARIES    AND  GENERAL   TOPOGRAPHY 
SETTLEMENT  OF  WHITE  PEOPLE  — THEIR  EARLY  HABITS  AND  INDUSTRIES— FACTS   AND 
INCIDENTS— EDUCATIONAL  AND  RELIGIOUS— MISCELLANEOUS  TOPICS,  ETC..  ETC 


THE  northeast  third  of  this  township  was 
originally  well  timbered,  and  forest  is 
found  on  one  or  two  sections  on  its  south  bor- 
der. The  surface  is  generally  well-drained  by 
Long  Branch,  Shoal  Creek,  Lake  Fork  and  its 
three  northern  affluents.  The  northwestern 
sections  discharge  their  surplus  waters  into  the 
Cahokia.  The  center  and  west  portions  of  the 
township  are  not  as  fairly  drained  as  the  other 
divisions,  and  may  be  called  flat.  The  soil 
obeys  the  general  law  of  change  and  decrease 
in  depth,  as  one  travels  south.  The  black, 
clinging  soil,  peculiar  to  the  prairie,  loses  its 
nortlu'i  n  depth.  White  soil  is  more  frequently 
met.  But  there  is  as  much  in  the  cultivator 
as  in  the  soil,  and  farmers  in  South  Litchfield 
arc  among  the  solid  men  of  the  county.  Brick 
clay  is  found  near  the  town  and  down  by 
Shoal  Creek.  Stone  is  quarried  along  the 
Creek  and  down  Rock}'  Branch. 

The  township  is  exclusively  agricultural. 
There  is  no  shop  or  store  or  mill  now  nearer 
than  Walshville  and  the  city  of  Litchfield;  and 
but  two  churches — a  German  Lutheran  in  the 
south,  and  a  union  house  in  the  east.  The 
people  are  all  farmers.  Three  railroads,  the 
original  Terre  Haute  &  Alton,  the  St.  Louis 
Division  of  the  Wabash,  and  the  Jacksonville  & 
Southeastern — the  last  one  just  opened — con- 
nect the  township  with  the  wide,  wide  world. 

It  was  originally  settled  in  1816,  by  Nicholas 
Lockerman,  who  occupied  the  east  half  of  the 
southeast  quarter  of  Section  15.  now  the  prop- 

*By  H.  A.  Coolidge. 


erty  of  John  A.  Briggs.  The  first  settlement 
in  the  county  was  at  the  Clear  Spring  Church, 
in  Hillsboro  Township,  about  two  miles  east  of 
South  Litchfield,  and  the  early  settlers  located 
in  the  neighborhood,  along  the  West  Fork  of 
Shoal  Creek.  Lockerman  was  not  a  desirable 
neighbor.  His  life  was  a  scandal.  He  had  a 
natural,  but  no  legal  wife,  and  Rev.  James 
Street,  finding  him  and  the  mother  of  his  three 
children  one  day  in  the  corn-field,  lectured  him 
so  sharply  and  effectively  that  he  coerced  him 
to  marry  the  woman,  and  the  ceremony  was 
performed  in  the  field.  It  was  the  first  mar- 
riage in  the  county.  One  of  his  sons  settled  on 
the  Davenport  place,  in  the  city  of  Litchfield, 
and  another  one  on  or  near  the  Martin  Ritchie 
farm  in  North  Litchfield.  He  was  killed,  many 
years  since,  at  Zanesville,  by  Andy  Nash.  The 
family  long  ago  became  extinct  in  this  region. 
Probably  Mr.  Street  settled  at  Clear  Spring  in 
1814,  as  we  have  seen  a  tax  receipt  given  him, 
in  this  county,  dated  that  year.  If  this  be  con- 
clusive as  to  the  date,  the  settlement  of  the 
county  must  be  set  back  a  year  or  two. 

The  Indian  trail,  from  the  timber  on  the 
Cahokia  to  Shoal  Creek,  crossed  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  county.  So  well  was  it  used  that 
the  path,  hard  beaten,  is  still  accurately  re- 
membered, and  flint  arrow-heads  were  frequently 
found  on  the  prairie,  by  the  older  settlers.  The 
existence  of  '•  buffalo  wallows  "  seems  to  indi- 
cate the  fact,  or  at  least  the  belief,  that  buffalo 
once  roamed  this  region,  and  an  occasional 
bear  or  panther  was  seen  by  frightened  fam- 


856 


HISTORY   OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ilies  peering  into  their  homes.  The  fear  of 
Indians  was  not  unknown,  and  the  trampling 
of  a  man's  horse  around  the  house  has  sent 
the  trembling  inmates  into  the  loft,  to  shiver 
in  fright  until  a  new  day  banished  their  terrors 
by  disclosing  the  cause. 

The  political  condition  of  a  people  depends 
on  the  tenure  of  land.  If  a  settler  could  call 
land  his,  in  the  sense  that  a  horse  or  a  rifle 
was  his,  the  region  could  not  be  retarded  in  its 
development,  or  such  grave  embarrassments 
arise  as  have  been  witnessed  in  older  States. 
The  land  tenures  of  the  Northwest  were  per- 
fect, and  hence  its  peace  was  placed  on  a  solid 
basis.  The  sole  contingent  blemish  in  the  titles 
is  the  right  of  eminent  domain.  The  land  in 
this  region  was  put  in  market  for  the  benefit  of 
the  State  by  attracting  settlements.  There 
were  no  "  land  grants  "  in  those  days,  when  the 
price  of  land  was  put  up  to  enrich  the  seller. 
The  worth  of  a  State  is  its  people  and  their 
condition,  and  it  is  yet  a  question  whether  the 
people  which  feed  the  world  or  the  one  which 
clothes  the  world  ;  the  people  who  produce  or 
the  people  who  traffic,  will,  in  the  long  run,  be 
the  world's  arbiters. 

We  have  been  moderately  curious  as  to  the 
motives  which  set  journeying  hither  so  many 
from  the  States  south  of  the  Ohio.  Most  of  the 
emigrants  had  not  reached  life's  meridian. 
They  were  young,  hopeful,  courageous,  and 
poor  in  actual  worth,  but  rich  in  possibilities. 
Illinois  was  a  Territory,  reposing  under  the 
noble  provisions  of  the  famous  Dane  Ordinance 
of  1787.  Not  a  few  of  the  pioneers  have  left 
their  record  that  they  sought  homes  here  be- 
cause the  land  would  not  be  blemished  by 
negro  slavery,  and  civil  and  social  distinctions 
would  be  yielded  only  to  those  who  owned 
"niggers."  A  fat  soil  ready  for  the  plow, 
cheap  lands  and  a  temperate  climate,  were  not 
peculiar  to  Illinois  or  South  Litchfield.  For 
the  grand  simplicity,  the  sturdy  virtue  of 
their  lives,  they  got  recognition  and   fame  as 


Enoch  Arden  did — after  death.  And  though 
few  families  in  South  Litchfield  are  descend- 
ants of  the  pioneers,  3-et  these  few  retain  their 
pre-eminence,  and  from  them  are  selected  with 
rare  assent  of  unanimity,  the  guardians  of  the 
orphans,  the  administrators  of  estates  and  the 
servants  of  the  public  in  township  or  county 
offices. 

We  cannot  write  history  as  a  blind  man  goes 
about  the  streets,  feeling  his  way  with  a  stick. 
The  facts  are  transparent,  and  through  them  we 
catch  gleams  of  other  facts,  as  the  raindrop 
catches  light,  and  the  beholder  sees  the  splen- 
dor of  a  rainbow.  We  are  to  speak  of  common 
men  whose  lot  was  to  plant  civilization  here, 
and  who,  in  doing  it.  displa3'ed  the  virtues 
which  render  modem  civilization  a  boast  and 
a  blessing.  These  early  times  cannot  be  repro- 
duced by  anj'  prose  of  a  historian.  They  had 
a  thousand  years  behind  them,  and  in  their 
little  space  of  time  they  made  greater  progress 
than  ten  centuries  had  witnessed.  Theirs  was 
a  full  life.  The  work  thirty  generations  had 
not  done,  they  did,  and  the  abyss  between  us 
of  to-day  and  the  men  of  sixty  years  ago  is 
wider  and  more  profound  than  the  chasm  be- 
tween 1815  and  the  battle  of  Hastings.  They 
did  so  much  that  it  is  hard  to  recognize  the 
doers.  They  had  a  genius  for  doing  great 
things.  That  olive  leaf  in  the  dove's  beak  per- 
ished as  do  other  leaves,  but  the  story  it  told 
is  immortal.  Of  their  constancy,  one  can  judge 
by  the  fact  that  not  one  of  them  went  back  to 
the  ancestral  South. 

The  only  history  worth  writing  is  the  histoiy 
of  civilization,  of  the  processes  which  make  a 
State.  For  men  are  but  as  coral,  feeble,  insig- 
nificant, working  out  of  sight,  but  the}-  trans- 
mit some  occult  quality  or  power,  upheave 
society,  until  from  the  moral  and  intellectual 
plateau  rises,  as  Saul  above  his  fellows,  a 
Shakespeare,  a  Phidias  or  a  Hamilton,  the 
royal  interpreters  of  the  finest  sense  in  poeti^-, 
in  art  and  statesmanship.     At  the  last,  years 


SOUTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHI.P 


257 


color  life  more  than  centuries  had,  as  the  sun 
rises  in  an  instant,  though  he  had  been  hours 
in  hastening  to  this  moment. 

As  the  county,  in  1830,  contained  but  2,953 
inhabitants,  in  1840,  only  4,490,  and  ten  years 
later  6,277,  it  will  be  understood  that  the  bor- 
der townships,  separated  from  Hillsboro,  the  po- 
litical and  commercial  capital,  by  the  deep  val- 
leys of  Shoal  Creek  and  its  West  Fork,  must 
have  gained  slowly  in  population.  Lockerman's 
cabin  was  the  nucleus  of  the  earliest  settle- 
ment. Melchoir  Foglemau  located  south  of  him 
just  over  the  line  in  Walshville,  and  slowly  pio- 
neers planted  themselves  between  their  homes. 

In  1821,  Melchoir  Fogleman,  John  Norton 
and  James  Bland,  his  son-in-law,  had  their 
homes  ill  South  Litchfield.  It  is  not  possible 
to  determine  the  order  of  their  arrival.  It  ap- 
pears plainly  that  they  located  about  the  same 
time.  There  could  have  been  only  a  few  days 
or  weeks  difference  in  dates.  Fogleman  was  a 
blacksmith,  and  brought  from  his  North  Caro- 
lina home  the  remarkable  sum  of  $800  to  Illi- 
nois, and  after  a  stay  of  two  years  in  South 
Litchfield,  he  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Clear  Spring,  and  in  1824  the  Pepper  Mill  was 
built,  the  first  water-mill  in  the  region.  Nor- 
ton and  Bland  disappeared  from  the  local  his- 
tory, leaving  only  their  names.  Spartan  Gris- 
ham  and  Theodore  Jordan  lived  with  Fogleman, 
and  were  members  of  his  family.  Their  descen- 
dants are  still  among  us.  Thus  in  1820,  Lock- 
erman's was  the  sole  family  in  the  township, 
and  the  population  of  the  county  is  estimated  at 
100 — nearly  all  in  Hillsboro,  and  East  Fork 
Townships.  Lockermau  lived  on  the  southeast 
quarter  of  Section  15,  near  the  spring.  In  the 
ten  years  ending  with  1830,  six  families  had 
settled  in  the  township — four  have  been  named 
and  a  Mr.  Macaffee  had  settled  where  Newton 
Street  now  lives,  and  James  Penter  on  Section 
25,  between  1825  and  1830. 

Anthony  Street,  brother  to  James  Street,  made 
the  gunpowder  for  the  settlers  at  the  Pepper- 


Mill,  and  Spartan  Grisham  and  Theodore  Jor- 
dan had  modest  distilleries  near  b}r.  and  made 
whisky,  which  passed  as  a  legal  tender  at  50 
cents  a  gallon.  Before  the  Pepper  Mill  was 
built  in  1824,  the  people  went  to  Old  Ripley, 
or  Edwardsville,  to  mill,  and  if  those  places 
could  not  be  reached,  corn  was  grated  on  the 
lower  side  of  a  tin  sieve,  or  it  was  shaved  off  by 
a  plane,  or  rudely  crashed  in  a  bowl,  burned 
out  in  the  top  of  a  stump,  by  means  of  a  wood- 
en pestle,  suspended  from  a  spring-pole. 

The  few  families  were  within  two  miles  of  the 
east  line  of  the  township.  In  1830,  or  1831, 
John  A.  Crabtree  located  on  the  farm,  where  he 
lived  in  honor  and  usefulness  until  his  death,  a 
lew  years  since.  Wholly  uneducated  in  books 
he  possessed  the  masculine  average  common 
sense  of  his  times,  and  like  all  other  pioneers, 
was  a  life-long  Democrat. 

It  has  not  been  possible  to  determine  the 
date  of  the  arrival  of  Jesse  Horn,  but  it  is 
possible  it  was  prior  to  1830.  Several  young 
unmarried  men  were  domiciled  with  the  earlier 
families.  The}-  were  sojourners  rather  than  set- 
tlers, and  a  portion  of  them  were  but  the  spume 
which  crested  the  tide  of  advancing  settlements. 
and  having  a  large  region  where  to  choose, 
drifted  to  other  neighborhoods.  Some  of  their 
names  are  remembered,  but  their  history  has 
been  forgotten. 

The  James  Copeland  family  appeared  in  the 
township  about  1832,  and  the  Forehands  moved 
from  Clear  Spring  to  the  bluff  southwest  of 
Truitt's  Ford,  not  earlier  than  1830.  We  can 
hear  of  no  family  here  which  did  not  come  from 
south  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  earliest  ones  were 
from  North  Carolina. 

About  1838,  the  first  schoolhouse  was  built 
a  hundred  and  twenty  rods  east  of  J.  N.  MoEl- 
vain's.  The  first  teachers  are  not  remembered, 
but  in  1843  John  Fogleman  taught  one  term. 
The  usual  terms  were  $2  per  pupil  for  three 
months,  payable  in  grain,  pigs,  a  young  steer  or 
heifer,  or  wood,  and  sometimes  in  money.     All 


258 


HISTORY   OF   MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


the  children  attended.  If  their  parents  could 
pay,  it  was  well.  If  they  could  not,  nothing 
was  said  about  it.  Fogleman  received  about 
$40  for  his  school,  and,  after  paying  his  board, 
had  $30.  The  State  had  no  public  school  sys- 
tem, and  private  schools  alone  were  known 
here.  The  sessions  opened  in  the  morning  and 
continued  until  night.  The  pupils  were  dis- 
missed in  season  to  reach  home  before  dark. 
The  teacher's  hours  were  the  same  as  a  farm 
laborer's — from  sunrise  to  sunset,  and  if  the 
school  was  not  up  to  the  "  graded  "  standard, 
just  consider  how  much  there  was  of  it.  People 
were  not  afraid  their  children  would  injure  their 
health  with  hard  study. 

John  Corlew  moved  into  the  township  in 
1836.  He  was  a  commissioned  officer  in  the 
Mexican  war,  and  was  elected  Sheriff  in  1848, 
and  again  in  1852,  and  since  the  adoption  of 
township  organization,  has  been  almost  contin- 
uously Supervisor.  William  Simpson  was  an 
early  settler  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  town- 
ship. He  was  Count}-  Treasurer  in  1871-73, 
but  with  this  exception  has  attended  strictly  to 
the  care  of  his  farm.  He  came  in  1S31.  By 
1840,  the  township  contained  about  eight  or 
ten  families.  This  year  John  Fogleman  settled 
on  his  present  homestead.  Lewis  McWilliams 
arrived  in  1843,  and  his  brother  Thomas  in 
1849,  and  a  third  brother,  John  M.,  probably 
about  the  same  time.  Ezra  Tyler  located  with- 
in the  city  limits  in  1849. 

Newton  Street  settled  on  his  present  farm  in 
1833,  and  has  restricted  himself  to  agricultural 
pursuits.  About  1S52,  himself  and  John  M. 
Paden  had  a  steam  saw-mill  near  his  house. 
He  feels  the  incurable  illness  of  old  age,  but  is 
still  glad  in  his  conversation  to  live  over  again 
the  half  a  centur}*  he  has  been  an  inhabitant  of 
South  Litchfield. 

The  first  burial-ground  was  the  Crabtree  Cem- 
etery, now  in  parts  thickly  crowded  with  graves, 
and  there  rest  the  early  forefathers.  There 
beneath  noticeable  monuments  lie  buried  Ste- 


phen R.  Briggs,  long  a  Judge  of  the  County 
Commissioners'  Court  ;  Israel  Fogleman,  the 
general  guardian  and  administrator,  and  John 
A.  Crabtree,  the  model  of  consistent  firmness 
and  average  working  good  sense.  The  ceme- 
tery was  laid  out  in  1S43.  and  the  first  inter- 
ment was  Julia  Parmelee,  wife  of  John  Young. 
The  first  church  was  the  Union  Church,  near 
John  Fogleman's,  in  1S53,  and  a  burial-place  is 
near  it.  The  third  church  was  the  German 
Lutheran,  near  Henry  Nemires,  built  about 
fifteen  years  since.  The  Methodist  Chapel,  at 
Hardinsburg,  was  the  second  one,  erected  in 
1853  or  1854,  and  subsequently  removed  to  the 
village  of  Litchfield. 

At  the  close  of  this  .decade,  the  township 
may  have  contained  thirty  families,  chiefly  in 
the  east  half.  The  high  road  from  Hillsboro 
to  Altou,  ran  along  the  south  line  of  the  first 
six  sections,  and  a  mile  from  the  county  line, 
the  village  of  Hardinsburg  was  planned  on 
Section  7.  Seventeen  blocks,  of  eight  lots  each, 
were  laid  out  and  several  families  had  homes 
there.  James  Cummings  kept  the  public  house 
and  afterward  built  a  store  and  was  appointed 
Postmaster.  It  was  the  only  village  between 
Woodboro  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  was  founded 
before  the  hope  was  entertained  of  a  railroad 
in  the  vicinity.  With  the  founding  of  Litch- 
field, its  growth  ceased.  A  part  of  its  buildings 
were  removed  to  the  new  town,  and  in  two 
years  the  site  of  Hardinsburg  was  a  plowed 
field  again.  In  local  history  it  still  retains  its 
place  as  a  village,  as  the  town  plat  has  not  per- 
haps been  legally  vacated.  But  the  passer-by- 
sees  nothing  to  instruct  him  that  this  was  once 
designed  to  be  the  metropolis  of  the  west  side 
of  the  count}'. 

Few  of  the  early  settlers  came  direct  from 
the  South.  The  Foglemans,  the  Streets,  the 
Padens,  the  Forehands  and  the  Corlews 
paused  near  Clear  Spring  or  Woodboro  for  a 
few  years,  before  coming  west  of  Shoal  Creek- 
Brokaw  and  J.  N.   McElvain.  David  Lav  and 


SOUTH    LITCHFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


259 


W.  Meisenheimer  came  during  Fillmore's  ad- 
ministration. Mount  Olive,  in  Macoupin  Coun- 
ty, a  short  distance  from  the  count}-  line,  was  a 
German  settlement,  and  Germans  began  to  buy 
lands  in  South  Litchfield.  They  never  sell,  | 
but  keep  adding  acre  to  acre,  and  to-day  are  the 
owners  of  the  southwest  part  of  the  township. 

The  four  events  which  have  marked  deepest 
the  development  of  the  township  are  the  con- 
struction of  the  Alton  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad 
in  1854 ;  the  city  of  Litchfield  ;  the  Free  School 
law,  and  the  road  law.  The  first  put  the 
people  in  easy  communication  with  the  river 
cities  ;  the  second  afforded  a  local  market ;  the 
third  ministered  to  the  better  worth  of  the 
growing  citizens,  and  the  last  has  improved 
drainage  and  given  safe  highways. 

The  Litchfield  coal  mine,  the  oil  wells  and 
brickyards,  are  in  the  north  part  of  the  town- 


ship, where  are  also  the  water  works  and  huge 
ice  houses. 

During  the  war,  a  few  residents  proposed  to 
nullify  all  laws  for  re-enforcing  the  army  by  a 
conscription.  They  made  furtive  visits  and 
urged  a  neighbor  to  accept  the  leadership  of 
the  enterprise.  They  did  not  desire  the  draft 
enforced,  as  then  they  might  have  occasion  to 
see  Canada.  The  neighbor  declined  their  over- 
ture, and  the  scheme  was  abandoned,  and  the 
authors  went  on  voting  the  same  old  ticket  from 
the  force  of  habit.  Wheat  at  $3.50  per  bushel 
satisfied  their  loyalty. 

The  population  of  the  township  outside  the 
city,  is  nine  hundred  and  forty  nearly,  and 
the  wide  stretches  of  open  land,  which  only  a 
few  years  since  were  numerous,  have  now  been 
reclaimed,  and  the  last  acre  of  speculators'  real 
estate  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  residents. 


260 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY 


CHAPTER    XIII.* 

THE  CITY  OF  LITCHFIELD— ITS  FIRST  SETTLERS— LAYING  OUT  A  TOWN— GROWTH  AND  DEVEL- 
OPMENT—PUBLIC SALE  OF  LOTS  — CITY   IMPROVEMENTS  AND    INCREASE  OF  BUSINESS- 
POPULATION  IN   18.:,?— LITCHFIELD'S  FIRST  CIRCUS— SOME  OK  THE  PIONEER  BUSI- 
NESS MEN— THE    MACHINE    SHOP    AND    MILL    OF    BEACH— LIFE  AND 
CHARACTER  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  EARLY  LITCHFIELD,  ETC.,  ETC. 


"  A  city  that  is  set  on  an  hill  cannot  be  hid.v 
The  city  of  Litchfield,  lying  two-thirds  in 
North  Litchfield  Township  and  one-third  in 
South  Litchfield,  and  two  miles  from  the  west 
line  of  the  county,  is  forty-two  miles  due 
south  of  Springfield,  and  twenty-six  miles 
east,  and  thirty-four  miles  north  of  St.  Louis. 
It  is  310  feet  above  St.  Louis,  and  is  popu- 
larly held  to  be  the  highest  point  on  the  rail- 
road between  Alton  and  Terre  Haute.  Its 
waters  of  drainage  flow  in  three  cardinal  di- 
rections and  find  their  way  to  the  Mississippi 
through  Cahokia  Creek  and  the  Kaskaskia 
River.  The  town  site  is  nearly  level,  one  or 
two  gentle  mounds  alone  breaking  the  mo- 
notonous level. 

The  first  settler  within  the  limits  of  the 
town  was  Isaac  Weaver,  who  in  1842  occu- 
pied a  cabin  at  or  near  the  entrance  to  the 
public  square.  But  in  1835,  Evan  Stephen- 
son entered  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section 
4,  in  South  Litchfield,  and  in  1836,  Joseph 
Gillespie  entered  the  east  half  of  the  south- 
east quarter  of  the  section.  In  1838,  G.  B. 
Yenowine  entered  the  west  half  and  the  south 
half  of  the  east, half  of  the  northwest  quarter 
of  the  section,  and  Isaac  Ross  entered  what 
remained  of  the  northwest  quarter  and  all  the 
northeast  quarter,  while  not  until  1849  did 
John  Waldrori  and  Ezra  Tyler  enter  the  west 
half  of  the  southeast  quarter  of  the  section, 
Tyler  taking  the  south  forty  acres. 

*By  H.  A.  Coolidge. 


But  Weaver's  cabin  was  the  first  building, 
though,  in  1847,  Royal  Scherer  had  a  cabin 
on  the  southeast  slope  of  the  mound  now 
owned  by  W.  S.  Palmer.  Scherer  was  un- 
married and  did  not  occupy  his  hut.  This 
year  Ezra  Tyler  settled  on  his  land,  and  the 
nest  year  Ahart  Pierce  moved  into  his  log 
house,  placed  on  the  mound,  partly  on  the 
street  and  partly  on  the  grounds  of  W.  H. 
Fisher.  In  1849,  Mr.  Pierce  and  Caleb  W. 
Sapp  entered  the  southwest  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 34,  in  North  Litchfield,  the  south  half, 
of  which  became  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  city.  Weaver's  rights  of  pos- 
session were  extinguished  by  purchase,  and 
Sapp  and  Pierce  divided  their  purchase,  the 
former  becoming  the  owner  of  the  south  half, 
which  extended  from  the  Wabash  Railroad 
half  a  mile  east  along  the  Iudianapolis  and 
St.  Louis  Road,  with  a  uniform  width  of  a 
quarter  of  a  mile.  Ezra  Tyler  had  the  east 
half  of  this  tract  in  September,  1850,  which 
in  May,  1861,  passed  to  J.  Y.  McManus,  who 
also  bought  the  west  half.  This  extinguish- 
ed Sapp's  title,  who  had  built  him  a  house  on 
the  south  side  of  the  public  square,  and  the 
remains  of  his  well  are  still  easy  to  recog- 
nize. 

In  April,  1852,  Nelson  Cline  bought  the 
east  forty  of  the  Sapp  purchase,  and  a  year 
later  he  sold  the  west  six  acres  to  Y.  S.  Etter. 
who  also  purchased  the  forty  acres  lying  imme- 
diately west  of  them.      The  same  year  George 


. 


WrrUO  5C  c/ft  &frs£+r* 


l/r\^ 


LIBRARY 

OF  1HE 

UNIVERSITY  oflUmOU 


CITY  OF  LITCHFIELD. 


263 


F.  Pretlow  bought  out  Etter,  aud  when  the 
initial  plat  of  Litchfield  was  laid  out  in  the 
fall  of  1853,  it  covered  only  Pretlow' s  forty- 
six  acres  and  the  thirty-four  acres  recently 
owned  by  Oline. 

In  the  summer  of  1853,  residents  of  the 
present  city  were  Alfred  Blackwelder,  near 
the  site  of  the  Weipert  House,  burned  in  1880; 
Jacob  Scherer,  on  the  mound  in  the  north- 
western quarter  of  the  city ;  his  brother,  Kalph 
Scherer,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east  of  him; 
Nelson  Cline,  two  doors  east  of  Fred  Stahl's; 
Ahart  Pierce,  on  the  schoolhouse  mound;  J. 
Y.  Etter,  between  Martin  Haney's  restaurant 
and  the  Wabash  Railway;  O.  M.  Roach  in 
a  diminutive  room  in  Cummings  &  McWill- 
iams'  addition;  Ezra  Tyler,  in  the  southeast 
part  of  town,  and  J.  W.  Andrews  on  the 
Davenport  estate.  The  site  of  the  town  laid 
out  for  building  purposes  was  a  corn  field, 
and  when  Simeon  Ryder  and  Hon.  Robert 
Smith,  of  Alton,  Hon.  Joseph  Gillespie,  of 
Edwardsville,  Philander  G.  Huggins,  of 
Bunker  Hill,  Josiah  Hunt,  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  lerre  Haute  &  Alton  Railway,  and 
John  B.  Kirkham,  formed  a  syndicate  to  pur- 
chase the  sites  of  prospective  stations  along 
the  line  of  the  road  then  in  process  of  con- 
struction, they  bought  out  Mr.  Cline.  They 
agreed  to  lay  out  a  town  on  the  eighty  acres 
owned  by  Pretlow  and  Cline,  and  after 
reserving  the  land  needed  for  streets,  public 
squares,  and  railroad  uses,  to  reconvey  to 
Pretlow  one-half  the  lots  and  blocks  on  his 
forty-six  acres,  in  full  payment  for  the 
remainder.  Mr.  Kirkham  was  made  the 
agent  of  the  syndicate,  but  in  a  few 
days  he  was  replaced  by  P.  C.  Hug- 
gins,  who  retained  his  position  through  suc- 
cessive purchases  of  .additional  land  to  be 
laid  out  in  village  lots,  until  E.  B.  Litchfield, 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  became  the  sole  owner  of 
the  company's  interest  in  the  city.     The  rail- 


road was  completed  no  farther  than  Bunker 
Hill  from  the  western  end,  when  Thomas  A. 
Gray,  County  Surveyor,  in  October,  1853, 
laid  out  among  the  standing  corn  the  origi- 
nal plat  of  the  town.  Gillespie  was  also  laid 
out  and  Messrs.  R.  W.  O'Bannon,  T.  W. 
Elliott,  H.  E.  Appleton,  James  W.  Jefferis 
and  J.  P.  Bayless,  and  W.  S.  Palmer,  of 
Ridgely,  Madison  County,  having  decided 
to  remove  to  a  point  on  the  proposed  road, 
drew  straws  to  determine  whether  to  locate  at 
Gillespie  or  Litchfield.  The  fates  willed  in 
favor  of  the  latter  town.  Accordingly,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1854,  Mr.  O'Bannon  bought  the  east  half 
of  the  block  facing  on  State  Street  and  lying 
between  Ryder  and  Kirkham  streets  for  $120, 
on  time.  Any  part  of  the  east  front  would 
now  be  a  bargain  at  that  price  for  a  single 
foot.  This  was  the  first  purchase  in  the  pro- 
posed town.  He  at  once  began  arrangements 
to  build  a  store  on  the  southeast  corner  of 
his  purchase.  Mr.  Jefferis  appears  to  have 
been  the  second  purchaser,  and  Mr.  Appleton 
and  Mr.  Palmer  must  have  secured  lots  soon 
after.  Mr.  O'Bannon  obtained  lumber  for  the 
frame  of  his  store  in  the  neighborhood,  but 
the  other  lumber  was  obtained  at  Carlinville. 
His  store  was  completed  and  occupied  April 
24,  1854,  and  Mr.  Jefferis  had  his  dwelling, 
now  the  south  part  of  the  George  B.  Litch- 
field House,  nearly  ready  for  his  family;  but 
Mr.  Elliott,  by  bringing  here  the  material  of 
his  home  at  Ridgely,  managed  to  get  his 
family  placed  in  it  May  5,  1854,  and  thus  he 
was  the  pioneer  settler  of  the  town,  though 
his  home  was  antedated  by  the  Jefferis  house. 
Mr.  Jefferis'  family  came  three  days  later  than 
Mr.  Elliott,  whose  home  stood  nearly  on  the 
ground  now  covered  by  the  Parlor  Shoe  Store. 
The  fourth  building  was  a  rude  blacksmith 
shop,  on  Mr.  Southworth's  corner.  W.  S. 
Palmer,  in  May,  began  the  erection  of  the 
west  half  of  the  building  the  first  door  above 


264 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


L.  Hoffman's  bakery,  but  as  Mr.  Palmer  went 
to  the  woods  and  hewed  out  the  framing  tim- 
mer,  he  did  not  finish  his  store  until  fall. 
The  next  building  was  erected  by  E.  Tyler, 
for  a  grain  warehouse,  on  the  side  of  the 
"0.  K."  Mill. 

There  was  not  time  to  build  houses,  and 
rude  structures  and  small  buildings  were 
drawn  over  the  slimy  prairies  on  runners 
from  other  points.  Thus  J.  P.  Bayless 
brought  here  on  rollers  one-half  of  what  had 
been  a  blacksmith  shop  at  Hardinsburg.  It 
had  no  door,  floor  or  window  He  placed  it 
on  the  corner  north  of  Mr.  E.  Burdett's  shop 
and  made  it  do  for  a  home  for  several  years. 
Up  to  this  date  Mr.  Tyler  supplied  meals  and 
lodging  to  the  men  who  were  founding  the 
town.  As  to  roads,  the  great  highway  from 
Hillsboro  to  Bunker  Hill  ran  a  mile  south  of 
the  town,  and  the  route  from  Edwardsville 
by  way  of  Stanton  to  Taylorville,  entered  the 
town  near  its  present  southwest  corner,  and 
ran  diagonally  to  the  half-section  line  of 
Section  34,  in  North  Litchfield.  The  road 
was  laid  out  by  striking  a  furrow  on  one  side 
for  several  miles  and  then  returning  with  a 
furrow  on  the  opposite  side.  The  road  lay 
between  these  shallow  ditches,  and  marked 
the  route  well  enough  for  the  few  people  who 
were  condemned  to  use  it. 

Mr.  Pretlow  dying  in  the  spring  of  1S54, 
the  lots  owned  by  him  were  kept  out  of  mar- 
ket for  a  whole  year.  Mr.  O'Bannon,  wishing 
a  quiet  home,  bought  a  couple  of  acres  of  Mr. 
Pierce  on  State  street,  between  Division  and 
Third  streets,  and  built  his  present  home  on 
the  gentle  swell,  diu-ing  the  summer  of  1854, 
and  placed  his  family  in  it  during  the  fall, 
while  it  was  unfinished. 

Mr.  Appleton  built  a  wagon  shop  just  in 
the  rear  of  Jefferis'  blacksmith  shop,  during 
the  fall,  and  used  the  rear  portion  as  a  dwell- 
ing.     Mr.     Palmer     and     Mr.     Mayo,     his 


brother-in-law,  put  a  stock  of  general 
merchandise  in  the  store  just  built  by 
the  former,  and  the  east  end  was  also 
his  family  residence.  There  had  plant- 
ed themselves  here  by  the  latter  part  of  1854, 
six  families,  and  the  town  consisted  of  about 
a  dozen  buildings,  of  which  one  was  a  wagon 
shop,  one  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  two  were 
stores.  By  November,  1855,  the  number  of 
dwelling-houses  had  increased  to  eleven,  and 
the  town  seen  under  a  December  sky  had  an 
uninviting  aspect.  The  population  must 
have  been  at  least  one  hundred,  for  when 
need  comes,  folks  can  be  compacted  together 
as  close  above  ground  as  in  it. 

By  October,  the  railroad  was  opened  as  far 
as  Clyde,  and  in  January  the  Pretlow  estate 
was  sold  by  his  executor.  The  sale  was  held 
in  the  store  of  W.  T.  Elliott  (the  firm  of  E. 
W.  O'Bannon  and  W.  T.  Elliott  was  so  ad- 
vertised by  a  sign  over  the  door)  and  the  day 
is  still  widely  remembered  for  the  dense  rain 
which  prevailed.  The  embankment  for  the 
railroad  had  formed  a  dike  across  State  street, 
and  interrupted  its  drainage.  A  miniature 
lake  was  formed,  and  it  was  the  policy  of 
parties  owning  land  just  west  of  the  town 
plat,  to  have  the  dyke  maintained,  in  order 
to  force  the  location  of  the  passenger  station 
in  their  vicinity,  where,  in  anticipation  of  a 
decision  in  their  favor,  a  side-track  had  al- 
ready been  graded.  Mr.  O'Bannon,  Mr.  Bay- 
less,  and  others,  cut  the  dike,  and  thus  averted 
the  location  of  the  passenger  house  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  to  the  westward. 

The  earlier  sales  of  lots  on  State  street  had 
been  made  at  the  rate  of  $30  for  sixty-six  feet 
front.  The  price  in  May,  1854,  was  increased 
to  $50.  There  were  no  apparent  natural  ad- 
vantages for  the  creation  of  a  prosperous 
town.  It  was  not  known  that  the  railroad 
shops  would  be  located  here.  Shoal  Creek 
was  a  serious  barrier  to  communication  with 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


265 


the  country  to  the  east ;  and,  on  other  sides, 
the  prairie  still  spread,  with  here  and  there  a 
settler  who  was  toilsomely  breaking,  breaking 
the  virgin  sod.  The  site  of  the  plat  had  been 
bought  in  midsummer,  1853,  at  S8  or  810  per 
acre,  and  the  plat  gave  two  acres  to  eight  lots 
and  the  surrounding  streets.  At  the  Pretlow 
sale  one  half  the  lots  in  the  west  part  of  the 
town  were  sold  by  public  outcry,  and  it  is  in- 
structive to  note  the  purchasers  and  the  prices 
paid.  But  few  of  the  buyers  have  represen- 
tatives in  the  city.  The  terms  were  one-third 
down  and  the  balance  in  one  year.  The  Pret- 
low estate,  after  the  original  plot  had  been  re- 
corded, consisted  of  Blocks  6,  8,  10,  12,  '22, 
24,  26,  28,  the  west  half  of  Block  20,  Lots  2 
and  3,  Block  4,  Lot  10,  Block  3,  and  Lots  2, 
4,  6  and  8,  in  Block  33.  One  familiar  with 
their  location  will  readily  understand  how 
sadly  the  withholding  this  real  estate  from 
sale  and  improvement  delayed  the  growth  of 
the  town.  The  influence  of  this  was  fully 
seen  in  the  two  years  immediately  following 
the  sale. 


PURCHASERS. 

Lt'T. 

Block. 

PltTCE. 

W.  T.  Elliott  &  Co 

1 

2 

3  \-  4 
5 
6 

7 
8 
1 
o 

3 

4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
2 
4 
6 
8 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 

28 
28 
28 
28 

28 
28 
28 
26 

:;; 

37 
37 
37 
37 
37 
37 
33 
33 
33 
33 
22 
22 
32 

22 

22 
22 

$164  00 
100  oo 

200  on 

T.  C.  Kirkland 

140  00 

J.  W.  Andrews 

IIS  1-0 

T.  C.  Kirkland 

160  50 

loo  oo 

S.  C.  Simmons 

56  25 

Addison  M'Lain 

:;r  oo 

William  Holloway 

26  00 

David  Corlew 

12  on 

R.  II.  Cline 

(iii  25 

Peter  Shore 

"ill    llll 

T.  C.  Kirkland 

66  on 
127  25 

W.  C.  Henderson 

loo  no 

L.  Sweet 

57  00 

80  00 

L.  Sweet 

52  00 

James  Camming* 

92  nn 

James  Cummings 

60  00 

T.  L.  Van  Dorn 

I'1  -Mi 

A.  MeLain 

54  no 

Benjamin  Hargraves 

77  nn 

T.  L.  Van  Dorn 

ii 

PURCHASERS. 


J.  W.  Andrews 

J.  W.  Andrews 

John  M.  Mc Williams. 

T.  C.  Kirkland 

L.  F.  McWilliams.  ... 

John  S.  Roberts 

J.  W.  Wade 

P.  Shore 

H.  II.  Hood 

T.  L.  Van  Dorn 

John  S.  Stewart 

O.  F.  Jones 

W.  M.  Bronson 

W.  M.  Bronson 

H.  II.  Hood 

Charles  Davis 

[saac  Baker 

J.  B.  Kirkland 

Peter  Thompson 

John  P.  Bayless 

A.  J.  Thompson 

J.   h.  Wallis 

A.  J.  Thompson 

R.  M.  Gamble 

R.  M.  Gamble 

W.  II.  Furdown 

William  Allen 

.1.  W.  Jefferis 

Samuel  Harris 

Joseph  Davis 

Joseph  Davis 

J.  W.  Jefferis 

John  C.  Hughes 

R.  II.  Clin,-. 

T.  D.  Whiteside 

J.  P.  Bayless 

Don  Wade 

W.  H.  Furdown 

S.  ('.  Simmons 

J.  C.  Hughes 


Lot. 

Block. 

7 

22 

8 

22 

3 

20 

4 

20 

5 

20 

6 

20 

2 

4 

3 

4 

1 

12 

o 

12 

3 

12 

4 

12 

5 

12 

6 

12 

7 

12 

8 

12 

1 

24 

2 

24 

1 

6 

2 

36 

3 

3(1 

4 

36 

1 

8 

2 

8 

3 

8 

4 

8 

2 

24 

3 

24 

4 

24 

5 

24 

6 

24 

7 

24 

1 

10 

2 

10 

3 

10 

4 

10 

5 

10 

6 

10 

7 

in 

8 

10 

Pbice. 


67  00 
100  50 
111  00 

8 > 

86  no 
155  on 
60  00 
51  no 
77  00 
60  00 
41  00 
55  00 
50  00 
50  00 
i:;;  50 
83  on 
31  00 
20  00 
39  00 

36  00 
:;:,  50 

37  00 
28  00 
is  .-,() 
17  no 

16  ;:> 

17  50 

15  oo 

17  00 

16  50 
15  00 
13  50 
20  nn 
20  00 
20  25 
20  25 
20  50 

i;  75 
23  25 

38  50 


One  of  the  lots  would  to-day  sell  for  300 
per  cent  more  than  the  sixty-six  did  at  that 
sale,  which  was  at  least  four  times  greater 
than  the  value  of  half  tho  town  site  before  it 
was  laid  out. 

In  1854,  •"Nigger  Dan,"  from  Carlinville, 
built  a  hotel  which  is  now  the  east  part  of 
the  Phosnix  House.  He  was  able  only  to  in- 
close  the  building,  and  such  as  it  was,  it  was 
the  first  house  of  entertainment  in  the  town. 
The  next  year,  E.  W.  Litchfield  supplied 
means  to  finish  it.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn  his  real  name  or  subsequent  history. 
Dr.  Gamble  was  the  first  physician,  and  lived 


360 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


on  a  lialf-floored  house  west  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  Dr.  H.  H.  Hood,  who  first  opened 
an  office  at  Hardinsburg,  was  the  second  one, 
and  had  his  office  (in  August)  at  J.  M.  Mc- 
Willianis  store,  which  was  between  the  Phoe- 
nix House  and  the  Central  Hotel.  On  No- 
vember 24,  of  this  year,  the  railroad  was 
opened  to  Litchfield  and  the  sale  of  the  Pret- 
low  property  soon  following,  the  town  received 
an  impetus  which  it  has  not  since  lost,  though 
panics,  fires,  the  war,  and  the  removal  of  the 
railroad  shops,  have  each  given  a  breathing 
time  to  lay  wiser  plans  and  build  its  prosperi- 
ty on  a  more  stable  basis. 

By  the  close  of  the  year,  eight  or  nine  fam- 
ilies had  homes  in  the  city  in  addition  to  six 
or  seven  families  on  farm  lands  when  the 
town  was  surveyed.  We  can  enumerate  R. 
W.  O'Bannon,  W.  T.  Elliott,  H.  E.  Appleton, 
J  as.  Jefferis,  J.  P.  Bayless,  W.  S.  Palmer, 
"Nigger  Dan,"  and  probably  G.  Evans.  T. 
G.  Kessinger  came  in  not  much  later.  In 
the  spring  of  1855,  Messrs.  E.  W.  Litchfield, 
E.  E.  Litchfield,  E.  S.  Litchfield,  George  H. 
Hull,  and  the  three  Dix  brothers,  and  C.  P. 
How,  came  from  Central  or  Western  Now 
York;  all  related  to  E.  C.  Litchfield,  who  had 
become  practically  the  owner  of  the  town  site. 
Several  additions  to  the  town  were  laid  out. 
James  Cummings  removed  his  store  and  con- 
tents from  Hardinsburg,  and  placed  it  just 
west  of  the  cigar  factory  on  Ryder  street. 
He  was  the  first  Postmaster.  The  original 
plat  of  the  town  which  bore  the  name  of 
Huntsville  was  never  recorded.  It  was  the 
purpose  to  have  the  name  of  the  post  office 
the  same  as  the  name  of  the  town,  and  as 
there  was  a  post  office  called  Huntsville  in 
Schuyler  County,  the  name  of  the  town  was 
changed  to  Litchfield  in  honor  of  its  virtual 
proprietor.  Up  to  this  date,  the  present 
townships  of  North  Litchfield  and  South 
Litchfield  were  a  part  of  Long  Branch  (Elec- 


tion Precinct),  and  I  have  heard  an  early  resi- 
dent say,  that  a  dozen  ballots  would  be  cast 
at  an  election. 

The  railroad  being  open  to  Alton,  Messrs. 
E.  W.  Litchfield  and  C.  F.  How  began  tim- 
idly the  sale  of  lumber,  buying  a  carload  or 
two  at  Alton  and  unloading  it  where  State 
street  crosses  the  railroad.  E.  E.  Litchfield 
bought  the  Tyler  grain  warehouse,  and,  remov- 
ing it  to  the  site  of  D.  Davis'  grocery  store, 
converted  it  into  a  store  and  began  the  sale 
of  dry  goods.  A  year  or  two  later,  he  went 
out  of  dry  goods  and  became  a  hardware  mer- 
chant. James  and  William  Macpherson 
erected  a  flouring  or  grist  mill  and  a  residence 
just  north  of  the  Planet  Mills'  office.  These 
were  the  first  buildings  south  of  the  railroad. 
In  the  fall,  ground  was  broken  for  the  railroad 
shops,  but  when  S.  E.  Alden  arrived  in  No- 
vember, there  were  but  eleven  dwellings  and 
a  few  shops  or  stores  in  the  place.  W.  T. 
Bacon,  from  Adrian,  Mich.,  had  formed  a 
partnership  with  Messrs.  How  &  Litchfield  to 
deal  in  lumber,  and  had  projected  a  planiug- 
mill.  The  winter  of  1855-56  was  an  open 
one,  and  the  tide  of  emigration  setting  in 
deep  and  steady,  building  went  on  during  the 
entire  season,  and  a  hundred  dwellings  and 
other  buildings  were  put  up  by  the  close  of 
1856.  The  passenger  station  had  been  com- 
pleted and  the  round-house  with  thirteen  stalls 
had  been  inclosed,  and  the  foundation  laid  for 
the  machine-shops.  The  town  had  been  incor- 
porated as  a  village;  R.  W.  O'Bannon,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  public 
houses  had  increased  to  four  ;  The  Mont- 
gomery House,  now  the  Phoenix,  by  A.  C. 
Paxson  ;  the  Litchfield  House,  opposite  Wood- 
man's lumber-yard,  by  Mr.  Johnson,  the  nu- 
cleus of  the  Central  Hotel,  by  J.  Hawkins, 
and  the  beginning  of  the  Palace  Hotel,  by  R. 
Chism.  The  Methodist  and  Presbyterian 
Churches  were  built,  but  not  quite  completed. 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


2C7 


Hood  &  Bro.,  and  Dr.  Grinsted,  had  drug 
stores,  the  first  adjoining  O'Bannon's  store 
on  the  north,  and  the  second  in  the  building 
now  occupied  by  G.  B.  Litchfield  as  a  restau- 
rant. Bagby  &  Corrington  had  succeeded 
McWilliams  &  R.  N.  Paden  in  the  State 
Street  store  south  of  the  public  square. 
O'Bannon  &  Elliott  and  Palmer  &  Jefferies,  in 
their  own  buildings,  continued  to  sell  dry 
goods  and  clothing  ;  and  Henderson,  Hull  & 
Hawkins  had  a  store  across  the  street  south 
of  Woodman's  lumber-yard.  Til.  Shore  sold 
stoves  and  hardware  in  the  Harris  Building, 
below  Brewer  &  Grubb's  Bank,  which  he  had 
erected  in  1855;  E.  E.  Litchfield  was  in  the 
same  line  on  his  corner;  James  Cummings  & 
Son  were  merchants  in  the  Cummings  Build- 
ing, opposite  the  Central  Hotel;  John  Mc- 
Ginnis  sold  clothing  and  groceries  where  Ju- 
lius Machler's  saloon  now  is.  John  P.  Bay- 
less  had  succeeded  James  Cunmrings  in  the 
post  office,  which  was  in  O'Bannon's  store. 
There  was  one  saloon  open  a  part  of  the  time 
where  Peter  Kane  dispensed,  and  B.  C.  Beards- 
ly  had  begun  business  in  Litchfield's  store. 
There  were  two  physicians,  Hood  and  Grinsted, 
but  no  lawyer;  one  schoolmaster,  and  no  resi- 
dent preacher. 

When  the  railroad  was  opened  as  far  east 
as  Litchfield,  John  P.  Bay  less  was  appointed 
the  first  agent,  and  his  office  was  among  the 
foundation  timbers  of  the  water  tank,  which 
stood  near  the  southwest  corner  of  the  car 
works  office,  while  a  sister  tank  stood  about 
on  the  site  of  the  present  one  R.  E.  Burton 
was  the  painter  and  photographer;  John  P. 
Davis  &  Brothers,  the  plasterers  ;  William 
Downey,  the  brick-layer.  Farrar  &  Sinclair 
had  the  livery  stable  where  Griswold's  stable 
is.  P.  J.  Weipert  made  and  sold  horse  fur- 
niture, and  C.  Hoog  made  boots  and  shoes, 
and  J.  W.  Cassiday  was  the  one  sufficient 
tailor.     Mr.  Johnson  and  his  sons,  with  saws 


and  bucks,  cut  the  fuel  for  the  locomotives. 
G.  W.  Nelson — "  Fiddler  George ' ' — was  the 
Constable,  and  L.  D.  Palmer,  the  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  J.  L.  Hood  sold  furniture  in  the 
Cummings'  building  for  Olcott  &  Co.,  of 
Alton  ;  and  W.  B.  Charles — "  Captain 
Charles"— -in  his  old  age  had  deserted  the 
river  steamer,  and  had  a  little  stock  of  cloth- 
ing in  the  same  building.  Carpenters  were 
counted  by  the  score,  and  their  wages  were 
high. 

The  population  had,  by  1857,  risen  to  six 
or  seven  hundred.  The  earliest  residents 
were  chiefly  from  the  slave  states,  Kentucky 
or  North  Carolina.  Messrs.  Appleton,  Grin- 
sted, and  Mr.  Long,  his  assistant,  and  a 
Mr.  Thomas,  were  of  English  birth.  Messrs. 
Hoog  and  Weipert  were  Germans.  A  few 
came  from  Ohio,  and  there  was  a  liberal  in- 
fusion of  persons  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  the  Irish  brogue  was  heard  con- 
stantly. 

The  spring  of  1857  opened  late  with  rain 
and  cold.  The  streets  were  gorged  by  the 
depth  of  black,  unctions,  tenacious  mud. 
Sidewalks  there  were  none.  The  second 
block  east  of  State  street  was  a  shallow  pondr 
much  visited  in  the  season  by  water  fowl. 
Drains  and  sewers  were  unknown,  and  the 
rainfalls  skulked  and  dodged  through  grass 
and  rubbish  to  the  heads  of  the  water  chan- 
nels which  begin  half  a  mile  or  more  distant. 
A  few  dwellings  boasted  more  than  two 
rooms.  The  people  stayed  here,  comforting 
themselves  with  hopes  of  improved  futures 
and  release  from  narrow  surroundings.  The 
railroad  had  been  opened  to  Terre  Haute  the 
previous  year.  Edwin  C.  Dix  had  succeeded 
Mr.  Bayless  as  station  agent.  And  occasion- 
ally some  merchant  would  tell  that  he  had, 
the  previous  year,  shipped  several  car-loads 
of  grain  in  sacks  to  St.  Louis.  The  nom- 
inal village  organization  was  kept  up,  E.  C. 


268 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Dix  being  its  President.  Some  ordinances 
were  adopted,  but  not  enforced.  The  town 
was  the  common  fighting  ground  for  the  sur- 
rounding county.  A  group  of  bullies  would 
ride  into  town,  hre  their  courage  with  whisky, 
if  they  could  get  it,  and  then  gallop  through 
the  streets,  shouting  and  carrying  clubs  or 
weapons,  seeking  a  fight.  On  such  occasions, 
"  Old  Shake,"  foreseeing  their  purpose,  would 
usually  lock  his  door,  and  disappear  for  the 
day,  under  the  pretense  of  hunting  or  fishing, 
though  a  thinner  excuse  than  fishing  could 
not  be  imagined. 

The  first  circus  tent  spread  here  drew  not 
less  than  five  thousand  persons  to  town,  peo- 
ple coming  as  much  as  forty  miles  to  witness 
the  moral  horsemanship,  and  be  astonished 
at  the  wit  of  the  clown,  and  admire  the  frisky 
mules.  Still  the  religious  impressions  of  the 
performances  in  the  ring  have  not  yet  been 
observed,  or,  if  so,  have  failed  of  a  chron- 
icler, though  the  town  is  not  wholly  ignorant 
of  preachers  who  thought  the  noblest  passage 
in  the  Bible  was  Job's  description  of  ahorse. 
There  have  been  circuses  here  since,  but  not 
to  arouse  the  excitement  of  that  first  one,  and 
men  are  said  to  have  gone  fishing,  but  no 
one  with  so  good  a  purpose  as  "Old  Shake," 
or  equally  commendable  results.  The  most 
noticeable  effect  observed  has  been  the  repu- 
tation of  the  fishermen  for  accuracy  of  state- 
ment. Had  the  fish  been  bigger,  their  repu- 
tation would  have  acquired  the  rudiments  of 
a  moral  quality. 

At  length — it  was  in  1855 — the  domination  of 
bullydom  came  to  inglorious  grief.  Bullies 
had  paraded  the  town  nearly  the  entire  day 
putting  quiet  citizens  to  great  fear  of  per- 
sonal violence.  At  last  one  of  the  gang  stood 
up  a  citizen  against  Palmer's  store  and  cursed 
him  with  Satanic  eloquence  and  energy.  He 
hoped  to  tempt  him  to  some  act  of  resistance. 
A  crisis  was  imminent,  when  a  preacher  of  the 


Christian  Church,  just  risen  from  a  sick  bed, 
came  down  the  street.     He  comprehended  the 
situation  and  said  it  was  time  to  push  things. 
A  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist's  coincided, 
aud,  saying  he  had  in  his  store  a  basket  of  fine 
savory  eggs  well  matured  for  use   in   such  a 
case,  brought  them  forward.     The   eggs  were 
thrown  at  the  bully  with  malignant  precision, 
the  missiles  as  they  crushed  on  his  face  and 
against  his  person  emitted  a  pungent  odor.     It 
was  afterward  thought  the  eggs  were  addled  ;  no 
one  knew  ;  there  were  none  left  to  experiment 
with.     The  gang  fled,  but  the  crowd,  in  antici- 
pation of  this  had  taken  possession  of  a  pile  of 
spalls  at  the  railroad  crossing,  and  as  the  odor- 
ous bully  and  his  confederate  came  up  a  volley 
of  stones  was  hurled  at  them  with  convincing 
effect.     He  never  recovered  from  his  injuries, 
but  died  a  few  years  later  of  consumption.    One 
other  event  completed  the  subjugation  of  the 
rowdy*   element.     In    1S87,  the  same   element 
proposed  to  "  run"  the  town  for  a  day  ;  the  plan 
— a  rough  one — prospered  until  evening  ;  when 
the  shopmen  were  going  home  to  supper,   the 
opportunity  was  too  rich  for  county  blood  ;  a 
demonstration  was  made  on  a  workman,  and 
incontinently,   the    aggressor,   was    the   worst 
whipped  man  in  Central  Illinois.     The  victory- 
was  complete,  the  town  had  conquered  a  peace. 
Thenceforward  there  was  amity  between  town 
and  county  rowdy,  and  no  town  of  the  State  of 
equal  population  since  that  event  shows  a  bet- 
ter record  as  to  breaches  of  the  peace. 

Manufactures. — At  the  founding  of  the  city 
the  only  manufactories  of  the  neighborhood 
were  a  blacksmith  shop  at  Hardinsburg,  a 
tread-wheel  carding  machine  near  Wilson  Mei- 
senlieimer's,  a  steam  saw-mill  near  Newton 
Street's,  a  second  one  near  Judge  Briggs'  home, 
and  perhaps  a  grain  mill  at  Truitt's  ford. 

In  1S54,  James  Macphersou,  aud  William, 
his  brother,  built  a  grain  mill  and  residence  on 
the  site  of  the  Planet  Mill,  and  these  were  the 
first  buildings  south  of  the  railroad,  after  the 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


269 


laying-out  of  the  town.  The  mill  would  be 
called  a  humble  affair  to-day,  but  then  it  was 
ample  for  local  wants.  The  next  year  R.  H. 
Peall  and  J.  M.  McWilliams  became  the  owners, 
and  enlarged  it  and  added  expensive  machinery. 
McWilliams  dying  in  1857,  the  mill,  under  the 
operation  of  law,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ezra 
Tyler,  who  ran  it  with  the  aid  of  his  sons  until 
1860,  when  he  sold  it  to  M.  J.  Gage.  He  at 
once  put  in  a  new  engine  and  sets  of  buhrs, 
and  other  needed  machinery,  fully  doubling  its 
size  and  capacity.  Practically,  he  made  the 
mill  anew  one.  He  subsequently  admitted  his 
son  to  a  partnership,  and  when  he  sold  it,  in 
1866,  he  had  paid  his  indebtedness  and  was 
the  possessor  of  a  moderate  fortune.  Best  & 
Sparks,  the  purchasers,  leased  it  first  to  E.  A. 
Cooley  and  John  Best,  and  then  to  A.  W.  Sam- 
son. While  the  latter  was  the  lessee,  the  own- 
ers planned  to  replace  the  wooden  structure  by 
a  brick  mill.  The  main  building  was  erected, 
when,  in  1870,  an  evening  fire  destroyed  the 
mill,  and  the  project  of  replacing  it  was  first 
deferred  and  finally  abandoned.  For  ten  years, 
at  least,  it  was  a  flouring-mill,  and  shipped  its 
goods  to  Eastern  markets. 

A  second  flouring-mill  was  completed  in 
1860,  half  a  mile  up  State  street,  by  John  C. 
Reed  and  James  Macpherson.  In  the  spring 
of  1863,  this,  in  an  unknown  manner,  was  also 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  attempt  to  connect  its 
destruction  with  military  and  political  troubles 
had  no  sufficient  basis.  Perhaps  some  card- 
playing  youths  knew  more  than  they  told.  The 
mill  was  not  rebuilt. 

Wesley  Best  and  David  R.  Sparks,  from 
Staunton,  completed  a  300-barrel  mill,  on  the 
railroad  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  of  State  street 
The  mill  was  twice  enlarged,  and  its  goods 
achieved  a  flattering  reputation.  It,  too,  was 
burned,  in  Februarj-,  1879,  and  arrangements 
were  made  to  rebuild  it  in  1881.  bat  when  the 
walls  were  fairly  begun,  the  property  was  sold 
to  D.  L.  Wing  &  Co.,  who  demolished  what  had 


been  built,  and  the  barren  site  is  to-day  the 
sole  memorial  of  what  was  one  of  the  best  old 
style  mills  in  Central  Illinois.  As  long  as  it 
stood,  the  city  maintained  its  pre-eminence  as 
a  local  market  for  wheat,  and  its  destruction 
was  a  general  calamity. 

Peter  Boxberger,  in  1S68,  built  a  flouring- 
mill  on  the  railroad,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east  of 
State  street.  Three  years  later  he  sold  it  to 
Daniel  McLenan,  in  whose  charge  it  was  when 
destroyed  by  Are  in  1873,  bringing  financial 
ruin  to  its  owner.  About  this  time,  T.  G.  Kes- 
singer  had  a  custom  mill  opposite  Best  & 
Sparks'  mill,  but  it  was  not  kept  up  long.  In 
1871,  Mr.  Boxberger  changed  the  furniture 
factory  of  Whitaker  &  Rogers  into  a  grist  and 
flouring  mill,  and  held  it  for  two  years,  when 
L.  G.  Hicks  and  T.  G.  Kessinger  obtained  pos- 
session of  it.  The}'  remained  in  control  as  long 
as  possible.  Whitaker  &  Rogers  ultimately 
regained  it  by  litigation,  and  the  junior  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  still  runs  it.  In  1873,  Mr.  Box- 
berger built  the  flouring-mill  near  the  Indian- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  depot.  Becoming  embar- 
rassed, he  formed  a  partnership  with  Julius 
Machler,  and  the  firm  failed.  The  mill  was 
sold,  and  for  a  year  it  was  operated  by  L.  Whit- 
aker, but  in  18S1  J.  W.  Thynne  came  into 
control,  and  it  is  now  run  under  his  manage- 
ment. All  the  mills  used  buhr  stones,  and 
completed  the  manufacture  of  flour  in  two 
grindings.  Their  capacity  was  limited,  and  un- 
til the  opening  of  the  coal  mines  and  the  intro- 
duction of  water  works,  they  struggled  under 
formidable  difficulties.  But  in  the  spring  of 
1881,  Messrs.  D.  L.  Wing  &  Co.,  of  Springfield, 
Mass.,  began  the  erection  of  the  Planet  Mill, 
which  by  reason  of  its  capacity  and  the  new 
system  of  converting  wheat  into  flour  and  the 
character  and  completeness  of  its  appointments 
will  bear  a  rapid  description. 

The  mill  building  proper  is  50x100  feet,  and 
five  stories  high,  exclusive  of  basement  and 
texas.   The  basement  contains  shafting  and  main 


270 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


driving  pulley,  elevators,  fans  and  wheat  sink. 
The  main  floor  contains  seven  reduction  mills  for 
grinding  middlings,  and  nine  sets  of  smooth 
and  corrugated  rolls,  fifteen  purifiers,  six  bolt- 
in  l:  chests  and  flour  chests,  packers  and  clean- 
ing machines.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  know 
that  flour-making  consists  of  about  thirty  oper- 
ations. A  barrel  of  flour  is  made  every  two 
minutes  and  a  half.  The  motive  power  is 
given  by  a  300- horse-power  engine.  The  grain 
elevator  has  a  capacity  of  100,000  bushels. 
There  are  six  buildings  belonging  to  the  mill, 
and  the  out  and  the  in  business  is  equal  to 
twelve  car  loads  per  day.  Sixty-five  men  are 
employed.  The  cost  of  the  mill  was  §200,000; 
W.  N.  Hewitt,  Superintendent.  The  mill  went 
into  operation  in  November,  1881,  and  the 
wheat  is  nearly  all  obtained  from  the  close 
neighborhood.  The  O.  K.  Mill  was  put  in  op- 
eration about  1873,  and  is  owned  by  Perley, 
Beach  &  Co.  In  1881,  Mr.  Whitnall  opened 
tile  works  on  the  east  margin  of  the  city.  His 
wares  are  for  the  most  part  shipped  to  other 
counties. 

The  foundry  and  machine  shop  of  H.  H. 
Beach  &  Co.  was  built  in  1857,  and  operated  as 
a  separate  interest  until  1876,  when  by  sale 
they  were  consolidated  with  the  car  works. 
The  original  concern  for  years  supplied  the 
railroad  repair  shop  with  castings,  and  was 
largely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  engines 
and  mill  machinery.  The  concern  worked  an 
average  of  fifty  men.  The  work  is  kept  up  by 
the  new  company. 

As  early  as  1856  a  planing- rnill  was  running 
where  is  now  Weigreffe's  lumber  yard.  In  a 
few  years  it  was  dismantled,  and  in  1867,  Mr. 
Weigreffe  built  his  sash,  door  and  blind  fac- 
tory, which  was  discontinued  in  1876,  and  the 
machinery  removed.  L.  Hoffman  had  a  brew- 
ery where  the  coal  shaft  is,  and  finding  the  bus- 
iness ruinous  abandoned  it.  J.  E.  Gay  had  a 
carriage  factory,  working  twenty  hands.  He  had 
no  capital,  and  went  into  the  bankrupt  class. 


The  railroad  shops  were  removed  to  Mattoon 
in  1870-71,  and  the  spacious   buildings  stood 
tenantless    and   silent.     Those    who  imagined 
that  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  city  depended 
on  retaining  the  shops,  began  to  look   for  the 
signs  of  decay.      The  mystery  of  cause  and 
effect,  is  insoluble,  but  as  a  sequence,  the  city's 
gift  of  $50,000  to  the  Decatur  &  East  St.  Louis 
Railroad  was  followed  closely  by  the  removal 
of  the  shops,  and  when  that  decision  was  made 
public  the  population  had  sunk  to  the  lowest 
point  touched  in  twenty  years.     It  was  learned 
that  the  shops  could  be  obtained  on  a  long 
lease  for  a  low  sum.     They  could  quickly  and 
cheaply   be    turned   into  car  works,  and    the 
scheme   was  elaborated    to    orgauize    a  stock 
company  to   build  railway   cars  and    coaches. 
Parties  from  the  East  offered  to  conduct  the 
business  if  Litchfield  would  supply  the  capital. 
The  proposal  was  declined  without  thanks.     In 
the  winter  of  1871-72,  the  company  was  formed 
and  in  May  work  was   begun.     A  year  later  a 
fire  from  the  cupola  destroyed  the  foundry  and 
machine  shop.     This  portion  of  the  works  was 
rebuilt.     In  a  few  years  the  company's  patron- 
izing roads  were  unable  to  meet  their  engage- 
ments and  the  company  obtained  an  extension 
on  its  own  paper,  and   at  the  appointed  dates 
honored  all  its  obligations.     The  company  re- 
organized in  1877   with  a  diminished  capital 
stock,  but  in  effect  with  enlarged  resources,  and 
has  been  prosperous.     Last  year  the  pay-roll 
bore   over  400  names,  and  the   monthly   pay 
sheet  exceeded  $19,000.     The  coal  mine  and 
the  car  works  employed  nearly  six  hundred 
and  fifty  men  and  the  monthly   wages  were 
83(1.(100. 

The  influence  of  manufactures  on  population 
can  be  learned  from  a  comparison  of  the  census 
returns  for  a  series  of  years,  with  the  condition 
of  our  industrial  enterprises.  For  1870  and 
1880,  the  Federal  census  is  given;  for  the  other 
years  the  school  census  is  used  : 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


271 


1869. 
1870. 
1871. 
1872. 
1873. 
1874. 


4036 

1875 

3750 

1876 

3837 

1877 

4289 

1878 

4432 

1879 

4358 

1880 

4100 

4135 

3730 

3685 

3959 

4343 

In  1877  and  1878,  the  car  works  were  re- 
suming business,  and  but  few  workmen  were 
employed.  The  full  consequences  of  the  panic 
of  1873  had  reached  the  climax.  The  fluctua- 
tions in  the  census  accurately  measures  the  ac- 
tivity in  productive  industries.  In  1881,  the 
population  reached  5,250,  and  over  a  hundred 
dwellings  were  constructed. 

We  herewith  give  a  statement  of  the  busi- 
ness done  in  the  Litchfield  Post  Office,  during 
the  past  five  years  ending  June  30,  1882  : 

GROSS  RECEIPTS. 

July  1,  1877.  to  June  30,  1878 $3,266  88 

July  1,  1878,  to  June  30,  1879 3,496  41 

July  1,  1879,  to  June  30,  1880 3,865  17 

July  1,  1880,  to  June  30,  1881 4,572  69 

July  1,  1881,  to  June  30,  1882 5,279  35 

SAT.ES  OF  DOMESTIC  MONET  ORDERS. 

July  1,  1877.  t:>  June  30,  1878 $2,117  00 

July  1,  1878,  to  June  30,  1879 2,303  00 

July  1.  1879,  to  June  30,  1880 2,083  00 

July  1,  1880,  to  June  30,  1881 3,088  00 

July  1,  1881,  to  June  30,  1882 3,301  00 

The  sales  of  international  money  orders  during 
the  past  live  years  amount  to  $450,  and  there  have 
been  registered  in  the  same  period  2,057  letters  and 
parcels,  against  1,188  for  the  eight  years  previous  to 
June  15,  1877. 

,  Perhaps  the  growth  of  local  or  city  taxation 
for  school  and  city  purposes  may  bear  on  this 
question  of  manufactures  and  growth  of  the 
city.  For  1859,  the  taxes  given  are  for  the 
levy  of  that  year  ;  then  until  1872,  the  taxes 
are  the  sum  called  for  by  the  Collector's  war- 
rant, which  includes  the  yearly  lev3-  and  all 
back  takes.  Until  1865,  the  City  Council  served 
without  pay.  Subsequently  the  members  were 
paid : 


Tear.  Tax. 

1867 $19,098  94 

1868 22,307  23 

1869 22,802  63 

1S7U 27,114  62 

1871 19,936  75 

1872 18.457  29 


Tear.  Tax. 

1859 $2,187  89 

1861 1,511  93 

1862 1,531  59 

1863 2,000  19 

1864 2,149  39 

1865 11,547  91 

1866 18,146  53 

The  sum  of  $4,000  should  be  added  to  the 
figures  for  1871-72  for  interest  on  railroad 
bonds,  which  is  collected  as  a  part  of  the  State 
tax. 

Until  1873,  the  city  taxes  were  levied  on  the 
assessment  made  by  the  City  Assessor,  and 
were  collected  by  the  City  Collector.  From 
that  year  the  taxes  for  the  city  were  levied  by 
the  State  authorities  in  part,  by  the  School 
Board  in  part,  by  the  City  Council  in  part,  and 
in  part  by  the  citizens  of  North  Litchfield  and 
South  Litchfield  in  town  meeting.  For  five 
years  the  School  Board  and  the  City  Council 
was  the  same  body,  but  acting  in  two  capaci- 
ties. 

It  appears  proper  to  give  a  more  detailed 
statement  of  local  taxes  from  1873  inclusive, 
representing  only  the  amounts  extended  on  the 
tax  books,  but  having  nothing  to  do  with  the 
amounts  collected,  and  nothing  to  do  with  the 
expenditures  of  each  year  for  current  purposes. 

Tear.  Mayor.        Assessments.  Local  Taxes. 

I  City $9,447  98 

School 7,500  00 

1873 W.  S.  Palmer 81,485,868 \  City  Bond 3,394  74 

[     Total 820,342  72 

fCity 814,646  70 

|  School 15,602  29 

1874 S.  M.Grubbs 12,239,894 \  City  Bond 4,409  42 

[     Total $37,716  42 

I  City $14,439  18 
School 10,436  74 
Bond 5,217  18 
Total $30,093  10 

(City $11,157  20 
School 5,157  47 
Bond 5,487  89 


.D.  Davis 1,106,379.. 


1877 W.  Best- 


Total $21,802  56 

fCitv $7,218  11 

School 4,088  54 

Bond 4,765  13 


Total $16,071  78 


272 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Tear. 


Mayor. 


Assessments. 


1878 P.  B.  Updike.. 


.' — ,  1  ■ .  >  . 


Local  Taxes. 

"City $5,358  74 

School 3,534  14 

Bond 4.7U7  09 


1879 D.  Davis.. 


,R.  F.  Beuu.tt 394,235.. 


.E.  .Southward 433,927.. 


Total $13,599  97 

f  City $4,1)42  64 

|  School 3,021  45 

429,958 '.  Bond 4,308  09 

[     Total $11,372  18 

fCity $3,514  88 

I  School 4,025  20 

.J  Bond 8,158  17 

|_     Total  $10,698  25 

f  City $3,917  18 

School 7,170  34 

.  j  Boud 3,G50  26 

I  Sinking  Fund  2,259  70 


[     Total $16,997  48 

During  each  year  the  city  was  in  the  re- 
ceipt of  a  revenue  from  miscellaneous  sources 
of  at  least  $6,000,  which  with  the  taxes  col- 
lected represent  the  total  yearly  expenditure 
for  city  purposes.  The  era  of  high  taxes  rep- 
resents the  years  of  building  the  new  school- 
house,  and  the  quickly  abandoned  policy  of  pay- 
ing oil  floating  and  bonded  indebtedness. 

We  make  no  attempt  to  explain  the  decrease 
in  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  city,  nor  the 
wonderful  sums  yearly  spent  under  the  ambig- 
uous heading  of  city  expenses. 

In  April,  1857,  the  first  number  of  the  Litch 
field  Journal  appeared,  of  which  a  fuller  account 
will  be  found  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  In 
March,  M.  B.  Savage,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  ap- 
peared here  to  become  a  partner  of  E.  E. 
Litchfield  ;  J.  W.  Haggart  succeeded  E.  C.  Dix. 
as  railroad  agent.  J.  L.  Childs  had,  a  few  weeks 
earlier,  become  the  successor  of  E.  W.  Litch- 
field in  the  lumber  firm.  Mathew  Cyrus  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Paxson  in  the  Montgomery  house, 
and  in  May  or  June,  H.  W.  Beach  and  D.  C. 
Amsden  arrived  to  begin  the  erection  of  a 
foundry  and  machine  shop.  This  was  made 
the  terminal  point  of  the  division  of  the 
railroad,  and  work  was  begun  on  railroad 
machine  shop.  Messrs.  O'Bannou,  E.  W, 
Litchfield  and  E.  L.  Dix  opened  a  lumber 
yard  where  the  Ballweg  elevator  stands.  The 
railroad    employes     abounded,    and    railroad 


talk  drowned  politics.  Shore's  steam  saw-mill, 
on  Rocky  Branch,  after  sawing  three  cuts  had 
settled  down  to  permanent  idleness,  and  the 
ruin  of  its  owner.  This  year  the  railroad  en- 
gine house,  machine  shop  and  blacksmith  shop 
were  built  and  supplied  with  machinery,  and 
there  was  a  sudden  increase  of  population — 
the  families  of  mechanics  and  laborers  in  the 
shops.  John  S.  Miller  was  the  master  mechanic. 
The  road  was  not  prosperous,  only  one  freight 
train  each  way  per  day.  and  the  train  as  low  as 
three  cars.  Pay  day  was  irregular  and,  with 
the  panic  which  set  in  with  tremendous  severi- 
ty, and  low  wages,  the  profits  of  labor  were 
scanty.  O'Bannon  and  Litchfield's  lumber 
yard  was  sold  to  Perley  &  Co.,  a  firm  consist- 
ing only  of  R.  G.  Perley.  The  year  went  out 
in  gloom  and  various  helps  to  discouragement. 
A  second  saloon  had  been  opened,  a  billiard 
table  set  up,  two  more  physicians  had  settled 
here,  and  a  couple  of  lawyers  had  an  office  ;  of 
these  brief  mention  should  be  made,  for  they 
were  conspicuous  persons  for  a  few  years. 

B.  M.  Munn,  a  young  man,  came  here 
from  Charleston.  He  was  a  man  of  untiring 
industry,  a  gentleman  in  dress,  temper  and 
manners,  ambitious  and  hospitable.  But  he 
was  poor  and  impatient  to  become  rich.  He 
borrowed  money  and  his  plans  did  not  prosper. 
He  lost  public  confidence,  went  out  as  a  three 
month's  man  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and 
drifted  to  Cairo  and  ceased  to  be  a  member  of 
the  county  bar. 

He  had  hardly  opened  his  office  in  the  fall, 
when  T.  N.  Marron,  a  native  of  Lewis  County 
N.  Y.,  in  some  way  lounged  into  town,  nearly 
or  quite  penniless,  and  with  but  an  apology  for 
personal  baggage.  He  said  he  had  during  the 
summer  been  engaged  iu  the  survey  of  railroads 
in  Iowa,  and  had  tailed  to  receive  his  pay. 
Mr.  Munn  tendered  him  a  desk  in  his  office, 
shared  his  slender  purse  with  him,  and  sought 
to  aid  him  in  securing  legal  business.  But 
Marron  was  a  Bohemian  lawyer  and  no  student. 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


273 


He  was,  however,  dignified  and  impressive  in 
his  manners,  and  soon  was  noted  for  the  con- 
densed energy  of  his  conversation.  Though 
quick  of  resentments,  he  delighted  in  festive 
scenes  and  noise.  Whatever  his  theory  as  to 
the  adequacy  of  statute  law  and  legal  prece- 
dents as  a  good  substitute  for  principles  founded 
on  Christian  morals,  he  failed  to  win  clients, 
and  in  the  second  year  of  the  war  he  disap- 
peared, and  was  afterward  seen  in  Cairo,  where 
former  acquaintances  deemed  it  proper  not  to 
covet  his  society.  His  will  acted  in  whirls 
and  side  currents,  and  he  was  as  poor  a  friend 
to  himself  as  he  was  to  others.  He  was  a  man 
of  impulses,  jealous  of  others'  success,  ignobly 
poor,  with  tastes  which  a  fortune  alone  could 
gratify  ;  he  neglected  the  patient  industry  in- 
dispensible  to  a  lawyer  who  would  rise  in  his 
profession. 

If  the  year  ended  in  omens  of  disaster,  judged 
by  the  usual  but  fallacious  standards  adopted 
elsewhere,  there  was  no  time  for  despondency. 
The  better  wealth  of  the  town  lay  in  the 
character  and  temper  of  its  people.  Messrs. 
Hood  &  Fields,  of  Michigan,  had  built  and 
occupied  a  grocery  store  on  the  lot  immediately 
north  of  Litchfield's  hardware  store.  Burr  Rob- 
bins,  of  circus  fame,  and  his  brother  began  a 
saloon  on  the  next  business  lot,  and  the  brother 
dying  the  property  was  bought  by  C.  W.  Ward, 
who  enlarged  the  building  and  carried  out  the 
design  of  the  original  owners.  In  May,  D.  C. 
Amsden  and  family  arrived  from  Wisconsin, 
and  the  next  month  was  joined  by  H.  H.  Beach, 
his  brother-in-law.  Mr.  Beach  brought  the  en- 
gines and  equipment  for  a  machine  shop  and 
foundry,  and  running  up  a  huge  barn-like 
structure,  put  the  furnace  in  blast  two  months 
afterward,  and  then  as  resident  partner  and 
manager  of  the  firm  of  Williams.  Angel  &  Beach, 
entered  upon  a  career  of  brilliant  usefulness 
and  prosperity  as  a  mechanic  and  citizen.  He 
was  in  the  forenoon  of  life,  and  fully  trained  in 
practical   mechanics  and  railroad  work.      He 


may  have  been  worth  a  thousand  dollars  in  his 
own  right,  but  had  a  sound,  healthy  intelligence 
in  his  profession.  He  built  his  shops  for  the 
future,  and  then  awaited  the  developments  of 
business.  He  had  the  only  foundry  and  ma- 
chine shop  between  Alton  and  Terre  Haute. 
Soon  after  kindling  his  fires,  the  dread  panic 
desolated  the  country,  paralyzing  enterprise, 
and  bringing  financial  ruin  to  many,  and  hard- 
ship to  all.  For  weeks  Mr.  Beach  was  on  the 
brink  of  failure.  Only  by  his  popularity  and 
personal  influence  could  he  get  money  to  keep 
his  shops  open.  The  age  of  iron — the  badge  of 
power  and  industrial  development — was  about 
to  dawn  here,  and  its  harbinger  was  the  inevita- 
ble train  of  disaster  which  preceded  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  radical  change  in  the  methods 
and  implements,  and  machines  in  the  world  of 
production  and  trade.  The  hour  for  an  expe- 
dient had  come.  He  bought  on  credit  a  mill 
for  corn  meal,  and  placing  it  in  the  loft  over 
his  machine  shop.  Mr.  Amsden  to  his  other 
incongruous  duties  added  the  care  of  the  mill. 
Corn  was  abundant  and  cheap,  and  meal  was 
high.  Each  week  a  shipment  to  St.  Louis 
brought  in  money  to  keep  affairs  in  order,  and 
by  spring  the  crisis  in  his  fortunes  was 
fairly  over.  The  year  had  tested  men.  Who- 
ever could  see  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
could  then  have  predicted  the  future  of  the 
town. 

Its  history  is  but  the  simple  monotonous 
story  of  the  life  of  a  little  community,  which 
had  no  startling  or  exceptionable  incidents.  If 
life  here  was  quiet,  it  was  intense  and  stern. 
All  commercial  and  industrial  facilities  had 
been  made  the  most  of.  It  was  not  quite  a  fron- 
tier or  pioneer  town,  but  when  it  was  founded 
the  region  around  was  sparsely  settled,  and 
large  tractsof  land  were  uninclosed  and  untitled . 
The  people  were  rich  in  the  prospective  appre- 
ciation of  their  lands,  but  poor  in  actual  wealth. 
They  had  clung  to  the  timber  along  the  streams, 
and  the  more  sanguine  had  excited  the  deri- 


274 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


sion  of  their  neighbors  by  saying  that  in  half  a 
centufy  settlement  might  advance  several  miles 
into  the  prairie.  Wheat  sold  at  Alton  for  20 
cents  a  bushel  above  the  incidental  expenses  of 
transportation  on  wagons.  The  best  wealth  of 
the  town  was  the  sort  of  people  who  gave  it 
tone  and  character.  No  one  hoped  to  get  on 
by  pulling  a  neighbor  down.  The  latest  arrival 
was  welcomed  and  helped  to  make  a  start. 
Competing  tradesmen  were  warm  personal 
friends.  There  was  a  broad  public  sentiment 
which  attracted  population.  There  was  prompt 
co-operation  in  each  new  enterprise.  Each  man 
thought  he  would  best  benefit  himself  by  con- 
tributing to  the  common  weal.  Life  was  a 
good,  earnest,  manly  fight  with  narrow  fortunes. 
It  was  won  by  character,  intelligence,  industry, 
prudence  and  courage.     And  it  needed  to  be 


so.  A  greater  progress  than  had  cheered  the 
last  century  was  to  be  crowded  into  twenty 
years  ;  the  full  work  of  four  generations  of  an 
earlier  day,  was  now  flung  on  one.  A  better 
Thermopylae  was  here,  but  the  myriad  Helots 
who  died  on  Persian  swords  to  lend  deathless 
fame  to  their  three  hundred  masters,  had  no 
representatives.  Only  a  few  men  could  do 
much,  but  all  did  what  was  possible.  Through 
that  year  and  subsequent  ones,  can  be  traced 
like  a  fairy  ring,  the  example  and  influence  of 
a  few  men  from  the  East,  who  being  full  of  go, 
sent  their  fieiy  energy  and  daring  through  the 
community.  Their  positive  incisive  traits  were 
as  strong  as  passions  and  beautiful  as  hope. 
They  came  to  succeed  and  stay,  and,  believing  in 
themselves,  they  did. 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


275 


CHAPTER  XIV.* 

LITCHFIELD— INCREASE  OF  POPULATION— EARLY  POLITICS— POLITICIANS  AND  POLITICAL  QUES- 
TIONS—THE JOURNALS— DOUGLAS  AND  LINCOLN— INCORPORATION  OF  LITCHFIELD  AS  A 
CITY— THE  FIRST  MAYOR  — SOME  OF  THE  LATER  BUSINESS  MEN  — PHYSICIANS- 
PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION  OF  I860  AND  ITS  RESULTS— THE  CITY  DURING  THE 
WAR— FIRES— REMOVAL  OF  RAILROAD  SHOPS— RECAPITULATION,  ETC. 

were    gathered    Thomas    C.    Hughes,    Elihu 


"  Recollection  is  the  only  paradise  from  which  we 
cannot  be  turned  out." — Richter. 

BY  the  beginning  of  1858,  the  population 
of  Litchfield  might  have  been  a  thous- 
and, nearly  all  drawn  hither  from  a  distance. 
They  were  poor,  if  reckoned  by  material  stan- 
dards, but  young,  earnest,  pushing,  resolute, 
and  able  and  willing  to  make  favorable  cir- 
cumstances if  they  could  not  rind  them. 
Their  true  power  and  wealth  lay  in  their  ca- 
pacity to  work  and  their  skill  in  their  callings, 
and  their  readiness  to  multiply  themselves  by 
doing  so  many  unlike  things  well.  They  had 
to  succeed.  The  population  was  a  busy  one, 
and  splendidly  in  earnest.  Somehow  they 
tore  their  way  upward.  The  same  man  was 
in  the  course  of  the  day  a  coal  dealer,  super- 
intendent of  the  foundry,  melting  three  tons 
at  a  heat;  ran  a  corn-mill,  carrying  the  corn 
in  the  ear  on  his  back  to  the  second  story, 
shelling  it  and  sifting  the  meal  by  hand, 
sacking  it  for  shipment;  keej>ing  the  books  of 
the  firm,  taking  the  time  of  the  workmen,  at- 
tending to  the  correspondence,  and  in  the  in- 
tervals doing  the  "  chores  "  around  the  estab- 
lishment. 

Everybody,  not  a  railroadman,  talked  pol- 
itics, if  not  with  wide  knowledge,  yet  with 
zeal  and  earnestness.  The  Democratic  head- 
quarters were  at  O'Bannon's  store,  and  there 
on  rainy  days  as  well  at  sundry  other  times 

*  By  H.  A.  Cuolidge. 


Boan,  Stephen  R.  Briggs,  Israel  Fogleman, 
John  A.  Crabtree,  with  "  Uncle  Dick"  as  Mod- 
erator, smoking  amicable  pipes  and  turning 
over  their  oft-expressed  opinions  as  to  the  is- 
sues then  prominent  in  Kansas.  All  these 
had  been  born  and  reared  in  slave  States, 
and  cherished  the  views  peculiar  to  the  South. 

They  believed  as  tneir  party  believed,  and 
small  forbearance  had  they  for  any  one  who 
uttered  to-day  what  the  party  would  not  utter 
until  to-morrow.  Next  to  being  an  Aboli- 
tionist, was  the  effrontery  of  believing  any- 
thing until  the  party  believed  it,  unless  he 
was  in  Congress  or  had  owned  a  "nigger." 
It  was  all  the  force  of  habit,  and  an  endless 
diversion. 

The  Republicans  were  few  but  conspicuous. 
Andrew  Miller,  H.  H.  Hood,  D.  C.  Amsden, 
W.  S.  Palmer  and  H.  H.  Beach  could  not  be 
overlooked  in  any  community.  They  held 
caucuses,  voted  a  straight  ticket,  and  were 
uniformly  beaten.  Mr.  Miller  was  suspected 
of  being  a  train  dispatcher  on  the  Under- 
ground Railroad.  Dr.  Hood  alone  was  an 
Abolitionist,  and  it  was  no  festive  thing  to 
be  an  Abolitionist  where  one  of  your  neighbors 
had  been  one  of  the  hunters  of  fugitive  slaves 
for  the  lowest  motive  men  dare  to  acknowl- 
edge, and  which  if  good,  will  excuse  Arnold's 
meditated  betrayal  of  West  Point.  Poli- 
tics or  self  love  had  no  little  to  do  with  a 


276 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


condition  of  things  which  ultimately  was  no 
disadvantage.  For  twenty  years  the  town 
had  only  forlorn  friends  beyond  its  own  limits. 
There  was  a  unanimous  discrimination  against 
its  citizens  in  business  and  matters  political, 
and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  though  Litch- 
field contained  one-fifth  the  population,  it  saw 
but  one  of  its  citizens  elevated  to  a  cotmty 
office.  The  noble  consequence  was  that  no 
one  here  was  spoiled  or  made  a  bench  loafer 
by  seeking  or  holding  an  office. 

In  April,  1857,  was  begun  the  publication 
of  the  Litchfield  Journal.  The  office  was 
brought  hither  from  Central  New  York,  on 
representations  and  assurances  which  were 
coolly  repudiated  when  they  had  served  their 
purpose.  The  paper  had  a  small  circulation 
and  little  other  patronage.  The  publisher  did 
not  grow  quickly  rich,  and  seven  years  after- 
ward he  sold  out  and  turned  his  attention  to 
other  things.  He  was  so  poor  that  no  one 
would  give  him  credit.  He  thus  kept  out  of 
debt,  though  his  subscribers  did  not,  and  the 
statute  of  limitation  long  since  restored  his 
books  to  white  paper,  or  something  even  less 
valuable. 

The  spring  of  1858  was  phenomenal  for 
mud  and  bad  roads.  Even  good  intentions 
will  not  pave  a  prairie  road  in  March.  The 
cars  ran  ricocheting  along  the  iron  rails,  and 
the  rain  fell  dense  day  after  day.  Farm  work 
was  delayed.  In  January  the  highways  were 
hard  and  dusty,  and  many  a  plow  was  stir- 
ring. The  frostless  nights  ushered  in  delicious 
days,  and  winter  was  side-tracked  up  North. 
February  brought  a  change,  and  it  was  long 
ere  we  saw  hard  ground  or  a  clear  or  warm 
day.  Not  a  few  improved  the  weather  by 
falling  ill,  and  potion  glasses  were  a  relief 
from  the  drip  and  mud.  We  learned  in  the 
schools  which  fools  patronize,  the  mysteries 
of  a  Western  winter.  During  the  summer 
the  car  shop  and  the  paint  shop  were  built, 


the  Montgomery  House  enlarged,  and  the 
railroad  continued  its  monthly  issues  of  scrip 
in  jocular  payment  of  its  employes.  The 
Linder  Brothers  gave  up  business;  Cum- 
mings  &  Son  failed  to  meet  their  engage- 
ments; Henderson,  Hull  and  Hawkins  were 
embarrassed,  and  E.  E.  Litchfield  owed  more 
than  he  could  pay.  E.  W.  Litchfield  built 
Empire  Hall,  and  a  brass  band  was  formed. 
Our  sorrows  came  not  alone,  but  in  battalions. 
Senator  Douglas,  whose  official  term  was 
about  to  expire,  was  a  candidate  for  re-elec- 
tion. A  chasm  had  opened  between  him  and 
his  party.  Illinois  had  gone  Republican  at 
the  State  election  two  years  before,  and  he 
could  hope  for  no  aid  from  the  National  Ad- 
ministration, and  had  grounds  for  anticipat- 
ing its  hostility,  whether  covert  or  open. 
On  the  Legislature  to  be  chosen  in  the  fall 
depended  his  hopes,  and  if  he  would  not  fail, 
he  deemed  it  essential  that  he  should  make  a 
popular  canvass.  The  central  counties  were 
the  debatable  region,  and  on  their  political 
complexion  rested  the  prospect  of  success. 
Mi-.  Lincoln,  the  Republican  candidate  op- 
posed to  him,  gained  the  initiative  before 
his  return  from  Washington.  And  soon  af- 
ter Douglas  began  his  popular  efforts,  the 
terms  of  the  famous  forensic  contest  between 
them  were  settled.  Their  joint  debate  re- 
duced to  the  plainness  of  axioms  the  pending 
issues  in  the  irrepressible  conflict.  Trumbull 
also  entered  the  canvass,  and  in  an  address 
at  Chicago,  spoke  of  cramming  the  lie  down 
Douglas'  throat.  Douglas'  readiness  and 
anxiety  to  meet  his  accuser  on  the  hustings 
for  a  reply  to  this  insult  was  well  understood. 
The  day  that  Trumbull  spoke  here,  Douglas 
had  an  appointment  at  Gillespie.  John  M. 
Palmer  was  aunounced  to  follow  Trumbull  in 
the  evening,  from  the  Republican  stand  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  public  square. 
Several  Democrats  visited  Gillespie  to  invite 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


i77 


Douglas  here  to  speak   in  the  evening.      A 
rude  stand  was  improvised  against  the  north 
side  of  Empire  Hall,  where  there  was  an  open 
space  about  fifty  feet  by  one  hundred,  thickly 
strewn  with  brick-bats.     Douglas   came,  and 
proclamation  was  made  that  he  would  speak. 
When  the  hour  came,  no  one  was  at  the  Re- 
publican stand,  and  several  hundred  persons 
were  at  the  other  one.     Trumbull  was  not  in 
the  crowd,  but   a  few  rods  away,   where  he 
could  hear.     Douglas  knowing  this,  replied 
to  the  boast  made  in  Chicago:   his  remarks 
were  not  reported,  but  it  would  be  a  charity 
to  pretend  that  his  language  was  parliamen- 
tary.    It  was  vigorous,  and  uttered  with  a 
fiery  vehemence  and  passion  which  manifested 
its  earnestness.       When  he    concluded,    the 
Democrats  shouted  for  Dick   Merrick,  who 
accompanied     Douglas.       The     Republicans 
yelled  for  Palmer.     The  former  claimed  the 
stand;  the   latter    clamored    for    fair    play. 
They  wanted  Douglas  to  draw  a  crowd  for 
their  side.     The  shouting  went  on.     If  there 
was  a  lull,  it  was  only  to  take  breath.     The 
brick-bats   were   suggestive.       Some   of   the 
people  laughed  at  the  confusion,  and  some 
grew  red  in  the   face  with  anger  or  excite- 
ment.    Finally,    Judge    Weir    mounted   the 
stand,    and  in  a  few  sentences  brought  the 
meeting  to  a    close.      The  Republicans    ad- 
mitted the  provocation  under  which  Douglas 
spoke,  and  the  boisterous  display  of  feeling 
when  he  sat  down,  led  to  no  serious  results. 
A  few  days  later  was  election,  and  the  total 
vote  of  the  Litchfield  Precinct,    and  the  359 
majority  for  the  Douglas  candidates  for  the 
Legislature,  were  so  unexpected  that  the  le- 
gality of  the  vote  was  questioned  at  Spring- 
field in  an  unofficial  way,  and  the  suspicion 
was  removed  only  by  the  aggregate  of  the  city 
election  the   following  spring.     During  the 
year  the  removal  of  John  P.  Bayless,  Post- 
master, was  attempted  on  a  charge  of  virtual 


Abolitionism.  Had  the  allegation  been  sus- 
tained, his  official  sin  would  have  been  unpar- 
donable. He  was  invited  to  reply  to  the 
charge,  which  he  accomplished  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  Department,  and  he  was  not 
again  molested  in  his  office  until  Lincoln  was 
seated  in  the  White  House. 

The  village  organization  had  been  dissolved, 
and  in  November  a  special  charter  was  draft- 
ed, for  presentation  to  the  Legislature  about 
to  convene  for  the  incorporation  of  the  town 
as  city.  At  a  series  of  public  meetings  this 
draft  was  submitted  to  the  citizens,  and,  be- 
ing approved,  B.  M.  Munn  went  to  the  cap- 
ital to  urge  its  passage.  On  the  19th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1859,  it  became  a  law,  and  at  the  first 
election  under  it,  in  April,  W.  E.  Bacon  was 
chosen  Mayor,  and  C.  W.  Ward  City  Clerk, 
and  James  Kellogg  Street  Commissioner. 
The  next  year  Mr.  Bacon  was  re-elected 

The  new  city  had  an  onerous  task.  An 
entire  code  of  ordinances  was  to  be  framed 
and  adopted,  and  public  opinion  to  be  edu- 
cated to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  to 
wholesome  municipal  regulations.  The 
Council  served  with  no  compensation.  The 
City  Clerk  received  $60  a  year;  all  other  offi- 
cers accepted  their  fees  in  full  of  salaries, 
and  sidewalks  were  laid  at  the  expense  of  real 
estate  thus  improved.  The  first  year  a  tax 
of  $2,200  was  levied  for  schools  and  munici- 
pal purposes,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  the 
Treasury  contained  a  few  hundred  dollars  to 
the  credit  of  the  next  twelve  months. 

The  first  stage  of  the  transition  period  had 
been  reached.  The  business  fever  of  the 
day  when  people  wore  daily  arriving  with 
their  little  accumulations  to  buy  or  bui  Id 
homes,  was  passing,  and  the  hope  of  the  peo- 
ple lay  in  their  daily  wages  and  employments 
here.  Corn  in  the  fall  of  1859  sold  at  10 
cents  a  bushel,  and  the  railroad  continued  its 
payment  of  "  scrip,"  which  was  worthless  in 


278 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  city  mai-ket.  Debt  was  universal;  but  as 
frost  pulverizes  the  earth  for  a  future  crop, 
so  adversity  prepared  the  people  for  a  sounder 
prosperity.  The  class  of  adventurers,  the 
Jeremy  Diddlers,  was  weeded  out.  The  men 
who  could  not  pay  and  would  not  work, 
drifted  to  other  places. 

A  telegraph  line  had  been  built,  and  George 
H.  Smith  appointed  operator.  An  effort  to 
secure  the  location  of  the  County  Fair  was 
unsuccessful,  through  a  dishonesty  not  to  be 
extenuated.  The  commercial  influence  of  the 
town  was  rapidly  fostering  political  impor- 
tance. A  big  Democratic  majority  in  Litch- 
field was  something  bound  to  be  respected, 
especially  as  the  party  was  run  by  men  who 
three  years  before  were  Henry  Clay  Whigs, 
and  a  fervent  class  not  to  be  moderate  in 
views  or  zeal. 

In  1859,  E.  Southworth,  wearied  of  failure 
to  gain  a  livelihood  on  a  farm  where  some 
calamity  robbed  him  each  year  of  the  expect- 
ed fruits  of  his  labor,  and  judging  the  future 
by  the  past,  came  to  the  city  to  become  a 
lawyer.  He  had  crossed  the  plains  on  foot 
to  be.  a  miner  in  California;  had  taught 
school  and  tried  farming.  Here  he  read  law 
fifteen  hours  a  day.  He  preserved  the  hon- 
esty of  common  life,  and  circumstances  bowed 
down  to  his  energy.  He  was  an  officer  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war;  has  served  as  Alder- 
man and  Mayor,  and  been  State  Senator.  He 
rose  to  the  leading  position  at  the  city  bar, 
and  looks  for  promotion. 

William  A.  Holmes,  formerly  of  Morris- 
ville,  N.  Y.,but  later  of  Platteville,  Wis.,caine 
here  about  the  same  date,  in  the  vain  hope 
that  the  milder  climate  of  Central  Illinois 
would  stay,  if  not  heal,  the  pulmonary  dis- 
ease of  his  invalid  wife.  A  man  of  social 
tastes,  of  warm  sensibility,  and  ardent  affec- 
tions, he  never  rallied  after  her  death  a  year 
after  his  arrival.      For  a  time  he  sought  legal 


business,  but  though  a  dozen  years  before 
distinguished  by  forensic  ability,  he  shunned 
the  court  room  and  became  distinctively  an 
office  lawyer,  and  confined  himself  to  the 
preparation  of  court  business.  In  the  sus- 
pension of  litigation  which  accompanied  the 
war,  he  failed  to  improve  his  fortunes,  and 
sought  to  dispel  the  gloom  in  which  his  days 
were  shrouded  by  irregular  indulgences.  He 
died  on  that  terrible  New  Year's  day  of  1864, 
in  the  absence  of  the  early  friend  who  alone 
here  knew  the  secret  of  his  earlier  life,  and 
had  been  glad  and  proud  of  his  friendship. 
By  temperament  born  to  suffer,  and  in  his 
pride  strong  to  keep  silence,  he  lost  no  friend 
and  made  no  enemy. 

Messrs.  D.  and  O.  Quick  came  here  in  186<  I, 
and  remained  but  a  few  mouths.  They  did 
not  distinguish  themselves  at  the  bar.  Lit- 
igation was  of  the  simpler  kind  and  afforded 
but  small  opportunity  for  lawyers.  Hugh 
Colton,  a  young  Irishman,  needed  toning 
down.  He  was  impulsive,  and  had  not  learned 
that  an  orator  at  the  bar  succeeds  quite  as 
surely  by  being  a  profound  lawyer  as  by  his 
rhetoric.     His  stay  here  was  not   a  long  one. 

George  L.  Zink  passed  from  a  lawyer's  office 
in  Steubenville,  Ohio,  to  a  pedagogue's  chair 
in  Gillespie,  and  in  1865,  came  here  to  begin 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  bringing  his 
political  principles  from  the  sanguinary  field 
of  Perryville.  He  had  the  legal  cast  of 
mind,  was  a  hard  student  and  a  forcible 
speaker.  When  he  became  associated  with 
E.  McWilliams,  he  entered  at  once  on  a  lu- 
crative practice.  Subsequently,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  legal  firm  of  Southworth  & 
Zink,  and  on  its  dissolution  opened  an  office  in 
his  own  rooms.  In  1868,  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Republican  National  Convention,  and 
four  years  later  went  into  the  Greeley  party, 
and  in  1878  was  sent  by  the  Democrats  to  the 
Legislature. 


U3RAHY 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


281 


Eobert  McWilliains  flitted  from  Shelby  - 
ville  to  Hillsboro,  when  J.  M.  Davis  was  most 
intolerant  of  the  presence  of  a  second  lawyer 
in  the  county.  Whether  from  constitution 
or  abstemiousness,  the  plan  of  drinking  him 
out  of  the  county  was  a  failure,  and  Mc Will- 
iams had  clients  and  success  in  the  courts. 
He  was  a  Republican,  and  the  time  came 
when  he  re-enforced  his  exhortations  by  en- 
listing and  raising  a  company  and  going  into 
the  field.  At  his  own  request,  he  was  relieved 
from  service  just  prior  to  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville; but  his  Irish  temperament  would  not 
let  him  come  home  until  he  fought  through 
that  decisive  affair.  About  18(36,  he  removed 
to  Litchfield,  and  asserted  himself  at  the  bar, 
in  real  estate  operations  and  politics.  He 
has  just  closed  a  term  as  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  and  the  charity  of  the  reader 
will  not  deem  this  much  of  a  stain  on  a  lawyer. 
Somebody  must  go  to  the  Legislature  and  be 
misreported. 

George  A.  Talley,  who  completed  his  legal 
studies  in  McWilliams'  office,  and  on  his  ad- 
mission to  the  bar  became  his  partner,  re- 
mained a  few  years,  and  then  removed  to 
Chicago.  Though  young  in  his  profession, 
he  had  earned  a  high  reputation  for  honesty 
and  thoroughness.  He  had  the  aptitude  of 
a  student.  He  learned  to  know  before  decid- 
ing or  giving  opinions.  He  knew  the  law 
that  others  knew,  and  much  that  they  did  not. 
He  cherished  an  honest  judgment,  and  his 
departure  was  sincerely  regretted. 

There  is  an  inevitable  meanness  in  every 
grand  event,  and  homeliness  of  detail  in  each 
heroic  life  which  time  does  not  wholly  erase. 
We  go  a  thousand  miles  away  to  get  the 
mountain's  height,  and  we  are  too  near  the  men 
and  things  of  which  we  write.  The  present 
tense  is  the  fit  one  for  our  task.  A  fine  ear 
would  still  detect  the  echoes  of  the  first  ham- 
mer strokes   in  the  town.      The  writer  was  a 


part  of  what  he  writes,  and  as  the  sentences 
grow,  the  events  return  in  their  freshness, 
and  he  is  moved  by  his  recollections  as  he 
was  moved  by  the  events  themselves,  and  he 
cannot  compose  a  history  of  the  city  on  per- 
spective, and,  like  a  Chinese  draughtsman, 
leave  the  background  and  shadow  out.  Any 
one  can  be  wise  for  yesterday,  for  he  has  re- 
sults to  guide  his  judgment.  But  Litchfield 
scarcely  has  a  yesterday.  Its  history  still 
retains  the  morning  freshness  of  to-day.  The 
incidents  of  its  first  years  are  as  freely  can- 
vassed as  those  of  the  present.  Each  feeling 
and  prejudice  has  been  mused  to  keep  it 
warm. 

Dr.  Gamble  was  the  first  physician.  He 
dwelt  in  a  log  cabin  half  floored,  a  couple  of 
blocks  west  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  left 
but  a  faint  record.  H.  H.  Hood  transferred 
his  office  from  Hardinsburg  to  Litchfield  in 
the  summer  of  1854.  A  man  of  decided 
opinions,  active,  persistent  and  inflexible,  he 
is  familiarly  known  to  all.  Dr.  John  Grin- 
sted  came  in  1856,  from  Woodburn,  and, 
opening  a  drug  store,  practiced  as  a  physician 
until  advancing  years  compelled  his  retire- 
ment. In  1S57,  Drs.  Strafford  and  Speers 
located  here  from  St.  Louis.  Speers  so- 
journed but  a  short  time,  but  Dr.  Stafford, 
much  reduced  in  health,  remains  here.  He 
never  gained  the  position  to  which,  by  his 
skill,  he  might  properly  have  aspired.  Dr. 
Ash  was  here  a  year  or  two,  but  the  field  was 
too  unpromising,  and  he  removed  to  Brigh- 
ton. Dr.  John  Skillman,  from  Alton,  sought 
employment  here,  and  then  returned  to  Alton, 
but  came  back  to  die.  His  history  is  com- 
prised in  his  Alton  life. 

Dr.  R.  F.  Bennett  located  here  in  1862, 
and  has  gained  a  large  practice,  and  possesses 
a  modest  fortune.  He  has  been  twice  May- 
or, and  twice  an  Alderman.      Of  Dr.  Neff  it 

is  proper  to  say  that  he  is  better  remembered 

p 


282 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


for  his  financial  transactions  than  for  his  pro- 
fessional successes.  Dr.  Colt,  forced  by  the 
failure  of  his  health  from  service  in  the  gun- 
boat fleet,  came  here  in  18(33,  and  has  reached 
an  enviable  rank  in  his  prof  ession.  He  loves 
the  science  of  medicine,  and  the  rod  and  gun, 
when  he  can  steal  a  day  with  them.  Dr. 
Backwelder  went  with  Sherman  to  the  sea, 
and  finally  settled  here,  and  has  a  large  list 
of  patients  Dr.  Clearwater  was  for  many 
years  the  country  physician.  His  practice 
was  enormous,  and  hiB  fees  would  have  been 
large  had  he  exacted  them.  His  reputation 
is  built  on  his  success  in  healing  his  patients. 
Dr.  James,  after  serving  in  Price's  army, 
came  here.  He  lost  his  health,  tried  farming, 
and  went  to  Virginia  to  die,  but  regained  his 
health,  and  now  attends  to  professional  duties. 
Dr.  Leach  was  the  first  homeopathist,  and 
since  his  removal,  ten  or  twelve  years  ago, 
has  not  been  seen  here. 

Early  in  the  "  sixties,"  Ben  Davis,  the 
"  snapping  doctor,  "made  semi-monthly  visits. 
His  audience  room  in  the  Cummings  Build- 
ing contained  several  backless  benches,  on 
which  were  seated  a  score  or  two  of  patients, 
as  grave  and  silent  and  patient  as  "mourners" 
at  a  religious  assembly.  Davis  circulated 
about  the  apartment,  snapping  his  fingers 
like  castanets,  and  professing  to  heal  diseases 
by  occult  magnetic  influences  inijnarted  from 
himself.  The  cures  did  not  follow.  His 
visits  have  been  nearly  forgotten,  and  the 
burly  Ben  is  dimly  remembered. 

Only  by  an  effort  can  the  names  of  several 
other  physicians  who  tarried  here  be  recalled. 

In  the  long,  honorable  list  but  three  names 
have  fallen  to  the  ground.  Drs.  Alexander, 
Skillman  and  Grinsted  have  died.  It  is  the 
best  evidence  of  their  worth  and  skill  that,  with 
the  increase  of  population,  the  bills  of  mortal- 
ity in  1881  were  but  little  larger  than  in  1857, 
with  only  one-eighth  of  the  present  population. 


In  1860,  Litchfield  was  a  microcosm.  Not 
a  speech  at  Washington,  not  an  editorial  by 
Greeley  or  Medary,  or  an  utterance  of  the 
Charleston  Courier,  which  was  not  re-echoed 
here.  Not  a  general  interest  could  be  touched 
and  not  affect  some  business  here.  Politics 
was  a  study  for  each  one.  Supreme  attention 
was  paid  to  the  presidential  canvass,  and 
there  was  much  whistling  to  keep  up  a  show 
of  courage  and  hopefulness.  Lincoln  was 
elected,  and  the  outlook  was  toward  clouds 
and  darkness.  All  classes  here  desired  peace, 
and  petitioned  for  the  passage  of  the  Critten- 
den resolutions. 

For  some  reason  as  inscrutable  as  a  prize 
conundrum,  a  delegate  Democratic  State 
Convention  was  called  to  meet  at  Springfield 
to  deliberate  on  public  affairs  and  offer  sug- 
gestions. A  county  convention  was  accord- 
ingly held  to  appoint  delegates.  The  writer 
drafted  and  presented  resolutions  to  the 
effect  that  as  the  Republicans  already  were 
in  power  in  the  State,  and  were  about  to  go 
into  power  in  the  nation,  and,  therefore, 
would  be  responsible  for  the  administration 
of  public  affairs,  it  would  be  time  enough  for 
Democrats  to  give  advice  when  it  was  asked 
for;  as  the  Democratic  party  when  in  power 
had  not  averted  the  present  danger,  it  was  not 
clear  how  any  advice  they  could  give  would 
now  meet  it;  and  hence  the  county  should 
send  no  delegates  to  the  proposed  State  Con- 
vention. Every  member  save  Jesse  M.  Phillips 
and  B.  M.  Munn,  was  in  favor  of  peace  and 
a  peaceful  policy.  Those  two  gent'emen 
breathed  war  and  battle.  The  resolutions 
were  adopted  and  fully  met  the  views  of  the 
people — a  fact  whose  significance  became  ap- 
parent within  a  few  years. 

The  Peace  Congress  was  held,  and  accom- 
plished nothing  it  was  convened  to  accom- 
plish,   and  much  that  was  not  anticipated. 

Wrongs   it  mijjht  have  redressed,    but    it 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


283 


could  not  change  the  fixed  purpose  of  the 
South,  which,  by  dividing  the  party,  had 
caused  the  election  of  Lincoln,  and  then  plead 
the  consequences  of  its  own  act  as  a  pretext 
for  the  consummation  of  a  policy  pursued  for 
years.  The  Southern  members  of  that  Con- 
gress did  not  seek  means  of  pacification. 
Their  solicitude  was  to  learn  if  the  Yankees 
would  fight.  The  answer  covered  more  than 
the  question.  We  quote  the  verbal  version  of 
it.  as  told  by  a  member  of  the  body : 

"  If,  on  a  summer  morning,  in  the  season, 
you  visit  the  wharf  of  any  of  the  little  sea- 
ports near  Boston,  you  will  see  many  little 
undecked  boats  newly  arrived  from  the  fish- 
ing-ground with  their  night's  catch.  The 
owners  are  marine  farmers.  They  gain  their 
livelihood  by  fishing.  The  sea  and  their 
boats  are  their  patrimony.  Enter  into  con- 
versation with  the  fisherman  who  is  tossiner 
his  catch  on  the  wharf.  Dispute  his  asser- 
tions; call  him  a  liar.  'Mister,  I  can  prove 
what  I  say.'  Spit  in  his  face,  and,  as  he 
wipes  off  the  saliva  with  his  brown  arm,  he 
will  reply:  'Mister,  look  out!'  Abuse  his 
State,  and  '  Mister,  my  State  supplies  your 
shi  es,  your  clothes  and  your  markets.'  You 
cannot  anger  him  or  provoke  him  to  a  breach 
of  the  peace.  You  conclude  he  has  no  spirit. 
But  touch  one  of  hie  fish,  and  in  a  moment 
he'll  thrash  yuu  within  an  inch  of  your  life. " 
The  Southerner  stood  on  the  principle  of  per- 
sonal honor,  a  shadowy  thing,  while  the 
Northerner  stood  by  the  rights  of  property. 

The  one  was  a  chimera;  the  other  is  the 
foundation  of  States  and  the  iEgis  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  news  of  the  attack  and  capture 
of  Fort  Sumter  was  known  here  dimly  on 
Sunday  afternoon.  The  next  mornin"-  the 
daily  papers  brought  the  details,  and  the  hu- 
miliation of  the  policy  which  would  not  be- 
lieve or  act.  A  call  was  at  once  made  for  a 
public  meeting  in  the  evening.     Empire  Hall 


was  packed,  and  R.  W.  O'Bannon  presided. 
Several  brief,  pointed  speeches  were  made. 
The  sentiment  was  that  as  war  had  actually 
begun,  force  must  be  met  with  force,  National 
supremacy  be  maintained,  National  property 
protected,  and  the  Union  preserved.  The 
hour  for  debate  had  gone  by.  Action  was 
the  alternative,  and  forty  persons  that  even- 
ing enlisted  to  tender  their  services  to 
the  General  Government.  In  two  days  more 
the  ranks  were  filled,  and  on  the  third  day 
the  company  departed  for  Camp  Yates,  at 
Springfield,  to  be  mustered  into  service  in 
the  first  regiment  raised  in  the  war. 

By  association  and  early  residence,  this  re- 
gion was  friendly  to  the  South.  But  her 
conduct  startled  the  people  to  a  comparison 
of  the  claims  of  duty  against  the  glamour  of 
sentiment.  Everybody  lost  his  feet,  and 
bowed  to  the  whirlwind  of  feeling  in  behalf 
of  the  Union.  At  a  later  day,  a  lower  set  of 
principles  came  into  prominence,  and  men 
gave  to  party  what  belonged  to  the  country. 

The  history  of  the  city  during  the  war  be- 
longs in  part  to  a  distinct  chapter.  But  as 
the  value  of  slavery  as  a  preponderating  sec- 
tional issue  flung  off  disguises  which  misled 
no  one  who  did  not  wish  to  be  misled,  and  its 
disappearance,  by  changing  public  policy, 
consigned  a  proud  party  to  disaster  and  a 
minimum  of  influence,  a  changed  attitude 
was  assumed  by  not  a  few.  A  lodge  of  the 
Golden  Circle  met  in  the  city.  Men  met  by 
moonlight  for  military  drill.  Speeches  were 
made  on  the  main  streets,  exhorting  the  peo- 
ple to  resist  the  draft.  Men  left  the  station 
for  Ohio  to  vote  for  Vallandigham.  Others 
departed  for  Chicago  to  co-operate  in  St. 
Leger's  conspiracy  to  capture  Camp  Doug- 
lass. Refugees  from  Slave  States  led  furtive 
lives  here,  and  used  a  freedom  of  speecn  not 
permitted  at  home.  The  war  was  denounced, 
because  in  camp  the  "  Democrat  boys"  became 


284 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Republicans.  Both  the  Democratic  papers  in 
the  county  were  conducted  by  war-Democrats, 
and  the  elements  of  hostility  to  the  war  lacked 
coherence  for  want  of  leadership  and  public 
expression.  About  this  time  one  B.  F.  Bur- 
nett came  to  town  to  gain  a  livelihood  by  so- 
liciting legal  business.  His  success  as  a  law- 
yer was  not  great,  but  he  prated  dolorously 
of  the  misery  of  war,  the  sorrow  it  brought 
to  uncounted  families,  and  the  blessings  of 
peace.  He  knew  some  law,  and  might  have 
been  a  reputable  citizen  if  he  had  not.  He 
became  a  nucleus  for  disloyal  manifestations 
— a  fit  office  for  a  loose-tongued  scoundrel. 
Secret  organization  provoked  a  rival  organi- 
zation, and  in  the  spring  of  1863,  a  Union 
League  Lodge  was  established  here,  meeting 
in  the  engine  house  of  the  car  shops.  The 
League  decided  to  seek  control  of  the  city 
government,  and  all  the  measures  were  quietly 
made.  A  messenger  was  sent  on  Sunday  to 
Alton  to  procure  ballots,  and  the  printer  was 
taken  from  church  to  provide  them.  The 
messenger  could  not  return  until  nearly  noon 
of  election  day.  The  Democrats  were  igno- 
rant of  what  was  devised,  and  only  themselves 
attended  the  polls,  and  few  ballots  were 
offered.  The  Republicans  seemed  to  have 
lost  their  interest  in  civil  affairs.  The  train 
came  in  from  the  west,  and  with  electric 
quickness  the  ballots  were  distributed,  and 
by  evening  were  in  the  ballot  boxes.  The 
result  indicated  that  about  half  of  them  had 
been  dejjosited  by  former  Democrats,  and  the 
League  ticket  had  a  tremendous  majority. 
The  Democrats  were  dumb  with  amazement, 
and  the  Leaguers,  delighted  by  their  success, 
celebrated  the  result  in  a  manner  which  left 
headaches  the  next  morning.  The  astound- 
ing change  in  public  sentiment  was  not  fruit- 
less. Numerous  volunteer  associations  arose 
to  aid  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  in  vari- 
ous ways  to  remember  the  boys  in  blue.     But 


here,  as  in  all  popular  effervescences,  the 
worst  elements  came  uppermost.  Efforts 
were  made  to  hurry  the  League  into  measures 
to  gratify  personal  malignancy,  and  they 
were  promptly  discountenanced  and  their 
authors  vanished.  Rixmor  magnified  the 
strength  and  purposes  of  the  League.  About 
the  county,  measures  were  concerted  for  forci- 
ble resistance  to  a  draft.  A  military  organi- 
zation was  maintained  for  the  purpose.  But 
it  was  known  that  boxes  of  Ballard  rifles  had 
been  procured  by  the  Leaguers  to  preserve 
the  peace  and  the  supremacy  of  the  law. 
Bounty- jumpers  skulked    along   the    streets. 

An  emissary  of  the  Golden  Circle  paid  a 
visit  to  a  Leaguer  who  was  his  personal 
friend.  He  said  that  he  had  heard  that  5,000 
stand  of  arms  were  in  Litchfield.  His 
friend  gave  an  ambiguous  assent.  He  exhib- 
ited to  him  a  Ballard  rifle  as  a  sample  of  half 
the  weapons,  and  then  producing  a  Henry 
rifle,  or  a  sixteen  shooter,  affirmed  the  second 
half  of  the  arms  were  of  that  pattern.  What 
report  was  made  to  the  Circle  has  not  been 
made  public,  but  there  was  no  longer  danger 
that  Litchfield  would  be  molested,  or  the 
draft  resisted. 

The  town  was  startled  by  fires,  clearly  the 
result  of  gross  carelessness  or  incendiarism, 
and  there  was  a  disposition  to  connect  them 
with  political  troubles.  That  pretence  was 
speedily  abandoned  The  disappearance  of 
specie  as  a  circulating  medium,  the  deprecia- 
tion of  greenbacks,  and  the  augmentation  of 
the  paper  currency,  inflamed  prices  and  the 
city  rushed  into  public  improvements.  Taxes 
went  up  like  a  rocket.  A  city  hall  was  built, 
a  schoolhouse  was  built,  and  the  money  was 
in  good  part  borrowed  at  15  per  cent.  The 
city  was  drunk  on  the  excellence  of  its  credit. 
Population  rose  to  4,300;  wheat  was  $3.50, 
and  corn  95  cents  a  bushel;  sugar,  four 
pounds  for  $1;  muslin,  40  cents   a  yard,  and 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


285 


flour  $19  per  barrel.  Those  were  good  times, 
but  they  did  not  last.  The  people  went  wild 
on  railroads.  The  sum  of  $50,000  was  voted 
to  the  stock  of  a  railroad  west  to  Louisiana, 
Mo. ;  the  same  amount  to  the  St.  Louis  divis- 
ion of  the  Wabash,  and  $75, 000  to  the  Spring- 
field &  St.  Louis  road.  Fortunately,  only 
the  second  one  was  built,  and  the  other  sub- 
scriptions lapsed.  The  town  gradually 
adapted  itself  to  the  changed  conditions  pre- 
vailing since  the  war.  Population  had  fallen 
ofl',  the  decadence  of  prices  was  established, 
and  the  Granger  element  was  about  to  begin 
its  by-play. 

The  removal  of  the  railroad  shops  was  com- 
pleted in  1871,  and  the  leading  market  for 
labor  was  closed.  The  spacious  shops  stood 
silent  and  tenantless.  The  city's  opportunity 
had  come;  difficulty  was  but  a  goad  to  spur 
it  on.  Several  parties  here  organized  a  com- 
pany to  lease  the  shops  for  the  manufacture 
of  rolling-stock  for  railways.  The  stock  was 
eagerly  taken,  and  in  1872  the  fires  were 
lighted  and  the  machinery  set  in  motion. 
The  new  enterprise  soon  disclosed  that  it 
would  do  more  for  the  city  than  railroad  shops 
had  done.  But  within  two  years  a  series  of 
fires,  not  all  accidental,  perhaps,  had  raged 
on  State  street.  The  schoolhouse,  the  pride 
of  the  community,  had  gone  down  in  flame 
and  ruin,  and  now  a  conflagration  burst  forth 
in  the  car  works.  Fortunately,  most  of  the 
works  were  saved,  but  the  loss  of  property 
and  time  was  still  serious.  The  town  was 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  imperative  want 
of  water  for  industrial  and  fire  purposes. 

It  is  proper  to  be  specific  by  way  of  reca- 
pitulation. In  April,  1867,  a  fire  kindled  in 
the  rear  of  the  hardware  store  near  the  south- 
west angle  of  the  public  square,  had  humbled 
to  ashes  three  stores  and  most  of  their  con- 
tents, bringing  financial  ruin  to  two  of  the 
owners,   and  causing  a  total  loss  of  $25,000. 


Fires  mysteriously  appeared  in  the  rear  of 
other  business  houses,  and  were  discovered  in 
season  to  avoid  damage.  In  the  fall  of  1871, 
the  alarm  of  fire  again  startled  the  town.  A 
crown  of  flame  rested  on  the  Journal  build- 
ing, and  the  rear  rooms  glowed  with  the  yel- 
low radiance  of  a  fire  fed  by  dry  pine.  Five 
buildings  crumbled  to  blackness  in  a  couple 
of  hours,  and  the  losses  were  not  light  to  bear. 
A  year  or  two  later,  fire  bells  summoned  the 
people  to  witness  the  conflagration  of  six  bus- 
iness places,  from  the  O'Bannon  corner  north 
on  State  street.  The  Criterion  Mill,  in  the 
early  morning,  went  down  in  smoke  and  flame, 
and  the  Gage  Mill  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  lay 
under  a  pillar  of  smoke.  Pale  flames  trav- 
eled through  the  interior.  The  blaze  broke 
white  through  the  roof,  and  for  a  few  mo- 
ments the  people  forgot  the  disaster  in  the 
presence  of  the  magnificent  spectack  In 
1873,  the  car  works  had  their  baptism  of  fire. 
Brick  walls  and  earnest  labor  checked  the 
flames  when  their  fury  was  but  half  glutted. 
All  these  fires,  most  of  them  compressed  in- 
to two  years,  had  touched  only  individuals, 
and  any  philosopher  can  maintain  his  equa- 
nimity in  the  presence  of  his  neighbor's  ca- 
lamity. The  vagueness  of  each  one's  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  general  welfare,  and  it 
is  only  personal  interest  which  moves  the 
common  mind,  provoked  only  unsubstantial 
regrets.  The  losses  did  not  directly  touch 
the  purses  of  the  many.  In  whatever  the 
public  undertakes,  it  is  seldom  indifferent  to 
its  own  advantage.  It  was  so  in  Litchfield. 
But  this  complacency  at  the  prevalence  of 
fires  was  rudely  shattered.  The  spacious 
schoolhouse,  overlooking  the  city,  and  in  its 
designs  and  proportions  as  beautiful  as  a 
poem,  was  the  pride  and  the  object  of  the 
personal  affection  of  every  citizen.  For  sev- 
eral days  the  teachers  and  their  800  pupils 
had   been  choking   with  the   acrid    odor    of 


2Q6 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


smoldering  wood.  Like  a  gangrene,  the 
perfume  clung  to  the  rooms.  No  smoke  was 
seen,  no  fire  discovered.  A  superficial  survey 
detected  no  cause  for  the  poison  which  had 
insinuated  itself  throughout  the  building.  It 
was  a  Monday  evening,  about  6:30.  A  young 
married  woman  lay  dying  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. A  lambent  flame  was  seen  quivering 
on  the  roof  near  the  south  chimney.  Black 
smoke  crowned  the  summit.  Pale  tongues  of 
fire  lapped  at  the  woodwork.  All  the  city 
rushed  to  the  school  grounds.  The  house 
burned  like  a  flambeau.  Nothing  could  be 
done  to  stop  its  destruction,  and  the  people 
stood  in  speechless  sorrow  and  saw  the  tire 
crawl  downward  from  floor  to  floor,  and  ex- 
pire in  the  cellar  for  want  of  fuel.  Each  one 
knew  the  tire  brought  financial  loss  to  him, 
and  that  with  proper  water-works  $40,000 
would  have  been  saved  the  city. 

The  frequent  recurring  fires,  and  the  extent 
of  the  losses,  gave  emphasis  to  a  desire  for 
protection  from  further  losses  of  a  similar 
character.  Protection  was  better  and  cheaper 
than  insurance.  There  was  forced  or  hurried 
eagerness  to  meet  this  general  demand.  Va- 
rious schemes  were  considered.  The  cost  of 
providing  cisterns  and  a  fire  engine  was  com- 
puted, and  the  annual  outlay  of  the  system 
was  found  to  be  10  per  cent  on  the  cost  of  a 
different  system  which  would  afford  greater 
protection,  and  in  addition  produce  a  revenue 
from  its  value  to  shops,  mills  and  households. 
In  ltSTH,  the  car  works  brought  water  here 
by  railroad.  Best  &  Sparks  paid  $1,000  to 
teams  to  draw  water  four  miles  to  their  mill. 
The  desirability  of  a  water  supply  was  not 
questioned,  and  there  was  a  unanimous  desire 
to  fling  a  strong  dike  across  Long  Branch,  a 
mile  south  of  the  city,  and  from  the  capaaious 
reservoir  thus  created,  send  water  into  the 
heart  of  the  town,  under  conditions  which 
would  meet  our  varied  requirements. 


Th  e  sort  of  works  demanded  was  in  substance 
the  Holly  system,  or  the  system  of  direct  pres- 
sure on  the  mains  equal  to  the  maintenance  of  a 
column  of  water  400  feet  high,  and  through  100 
feet  of  hose  would  project  a  stream  upward  of 
100  feet  into  the  air.  Estimates  of  the  cost  of 
such  a  system  were  made  to  include  only  the 
dike,  the  mains  and  the  pumping  machinery, 
and  this  estimato  was  promulgated  as  a  fair 
statement  by  experts  of  the  cost  of  the  water- 
works. We  make  no  excuse  for  the  error  in 
simple  multiplication,  which  affected  the  cost 
of  the  dike  100  per  cent.  We  have  no  comment 
on  the  suppression  in  the  exhibit  submitted 
to  the  citizens  of  numerous  expensive  items 
of  cost,  which,  in  the  aggregate,  were  truly 
formidable.  The  facts  speak  for  themselves. 
A  few  citizens  knew  the  water-works  could 
not  be  built  within  $25,000  of  the  explained 
estimates,  and  their  voices  were  overruled 
and  they  reduced  to  silence.  They  would, 
at  the  proper  hour,  have  appealed  to  <he 
courts  to  prohibit  the  issue  of  bonds  byalleg- 
ing  a  want  of  power  to  legalize  them.  They 
could  not  be  blind  to  the  mendacity  or  want 
of  rudimentary  capacity  to  make  simple  cal- 
culations on  the  part  of  those  who  held  that 
it  was  none  of  the  tax  payers'  business  how 
they  run  things.  Again,  it  was  a  matter  of 
law  against  expediency,  as  if  it  can  be  expe- 
dient to  do  wrong. 

People  are  easily  deceived  when  they  want 
to  be  deceived.  There  was  no  uncertainty  as 
to  the  value  of  water-works,  none  as  to  the 
ability  of  the  city  to  build  them,  but  there 
was  a  broad,  explicit  prohibition  of  law 
against  going  into  debt  beyond  5  per  cent  of 
the  last  assessed  valuation  of  property,  and 
our  municipal  debt  was  at  that  time  within 
$12,000  of  that  limit.  But  the  debt  was  in 
great  part  nominal,  and  not  virtual.  Since 
the  completion  of  the  Wabash  road,  in  aid  of 
which  the  debt  was  created,  the  assessed  val- 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


287 


nation  of  property  had  increased  $800,000, 
and  by  the  Railroad  Aid  Law,  the  State 
taxes  on  that  amount  were  appropriated  to 
paying  the  debt.  This  tax  met  annual  inter- 
est, and  left  an  excess  of  several  thousand 
dollars  as  a  sinking  fund  which  would  quite 
extinguish  the  principal  at  maturity.  It 
was  this  law  which  alone  induced  the  city  to 
issue  $50,000  in  bonds  to  secure  the  road. 
The  bonds  were  against  the  city,  but  the 
State  agreed  to  pay  them.  This  debt  then 
was  treated  as  virtually  canceled,  and  taking 
this  view,  and  listening  to  the  vehement  as- 
surances of  men  in  power  that  the  water- works 
completed  could  not  cost  more  than  $42,000, 
or  by  adopting  the  higher  plan,  $55,000,  and 
there  was  no  intention  of  doing  this,  the  citi- 
zens in  various  ways  expressed  their  enthus- 
isatic  approval  of  the  project  at  an  extreme 
cost  of  $45,000. 

This  was  the  plan  approved  by  the  com- 
munity, under  the  knowledge  that  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Railroad  Aid  Law  released  them 
from  liability  for  the  bonds  granted  to  a 
railroad. 

True,  in  letter,  they  were  bound ;  but  in 
fact,  the  debt  was  to  be  paid  not  at  their 
charges.  But  when,  after  expending  nearly 
$20,000  on  the  ground  dike  anl  facing  walls, 
the  authorities  ordered  the  preparation  of 
bonds  for  $50,000  additional,  framed  so  as  to 
give  full  effect  to  the  legal  inhibition  against 
their  issue,  and  so  as  to  give  the  city  ground  to 
content  their  payment,  because  issued  in  viola- 
tion of  law;  and  the  omission  in  the  recital 
which  was  to  do  this  was  passed  over  in  silence 
— the  thing  became  too  flagrant.  Yet  at  home 
complaints  came  too  late.  Nothing  could  be 
done  to  stop  the  authorities,  and  soon  there 
was  a  wide  suspicion  that  private  objects 
were  sought  under  guise  of  zeal  for  public 
ends.  The  works  were  completed  by  contract, 
and   as  well  and  economically  as  the  public 


is  usually  served  by  contractors.  The  work 
was  done  when  labor  and  material  were  one- 
fourth  dearer  than  two  or  three  years  later, 
when  by  comparison  with  the  reduced  prices, 
men,  having  their  own  aggrandizement  only 
in  view,  bellowed  about  the  town  vague  ac- 
cusations of   fraud  and  veritable  peculation. 

Not  one  of  these  fellows  could  be  induced 
to  make  and  stand  to  a  single  specific  charge. 
They  proved  their  statement  by  numberless 
repetitions — a  sort  of  evidence  better  for  a 
certain  class  than  positive  proof. 

The  works  cost  $77,000  against  the  $45,  - 
000  they  were  to  have  been  built  for.  But 
they  stand,  and  have  not  in  eight  years  failed 
in  their  duty  for  an  hour.  They  are  worth 
all  they  cost,  and  more,  and  the  clamor  about 
them  which  had  no  higher  origin  than  a  per- 
sonal difference  about  matters  disconnected 
with  public  affairs,  would  have  died  away 
had  it  not  been  kept  alive  by  the  city's  repu- 
diation of  her  bonds.  Noisy  advocates  for 
the  works  refused  to  pay  taxes  to  meet  any 
part  of  the  indebtedness,  and  the  Council, 
by  resolution,  refused  the  payment  of  interest. 
Suit  was  instituted,  and  in  the  court  of  last  re- 
sort a  decision  was  obtained  that  the  issue  of 
the  bonds  was  illegal.  The  vast  majority  of 
the  citizens  desire  their  payment,  and  the  de- 
cision defeats  their  wishes. 

This  narrative  of  our  shame  had  not  been 
written  or  been  true,  had  not  the  opinion 
crept  into  officers  that  their  delegated  powers 
were  a  franchise  to  be  exercised  according  to 
their  caprice.  They  forgot  their  represen- 
tative position,  and  spurned  conference  or 
opinions  from  a  tax  payer.  They  never  for- 
got self,  and  no  offense  was  so  great  as  the 
assertion  that  the  people  had  any  rights  not 
vested  in  them. 

In  1870,  the  population  had  fallen  below 
three  thousand  seven  hundred.  The  variance 
in  population  is  the  exact  criterion  of  the  in- 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


dustries  of  the  town.  In  1880,  the  total  was 
reported  at  4,343,  and  this  was  known  to  be 
too  small.  In  1881,  the  Jacksonville  road 
had  been  extended  to  the  city,  a  second  coal 
shaft  had  been  opened,  oil  had  been  found, 
the  Planet  Mill  was  in  course  of  construction, 


the  car  works  were  over-crowded  with  work, 
and  100  buildings  were  erected,  as  the  pop- 
ulation had  risen  to  5,250,  and  the  city  had 
again  rehearsed  the  old  lesson  that  the  peo- 
ple are  the  city,  and  that  their  future  would 
be  what  they  willed  it  to  be. 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


280 


CHAPTER  XV.* 

LITCHFIELD— EDUCATIONAL  HISTORY— THE  CITY  SCHOOLS— GRAMMAR  SCHOOLS— BOARDS,  PRIN- 
CIPALS,   TEACHERS,     ETC.  — THE    PRESS— ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    •' JOURNAL" —THE 
"MONITOR"    AND  OTHER   PAPERS— BANKS    AND   BANKING— COAL    INTERESTS  OF 
LITCHFIELD— THE  DIFFERENT  SHAFTS  AND  THEIR  EXTENT  AND  CAPACITY 
—THE    SANITARY  CONDITION  OF    THE    CITY. 


A  SCHOOL  fails  in  its  office  if  its  educa- 
-^— *-  tional  value  to  its  pupils  is  not  greater 
than  the  wages  paid  its  teacher.  If  it  be 
true,  as  the  wise  affirm,  that  education  is  the 
awakening  of  the  mind  to  think  and  reason 
correctly,  rapidly  and  persistently,  to  improve 
the  heart  and  enlarge  the  understanding,  the 
office  of  a  school  has  specific  limitations. 
All  its  instruction  should  be  subordinate  to 
education.  Whatever  be  the  amount  of  knowl- 
edge imparted  in  scholastic  studies,  it  is  true 
that  the  only  positive  instruction  obtained  in 
a  school,  which,  under  all  circumstances  is 
available  and  used  precisely  as  it  was  learned, 
is  reading  and  the  multiplication  table. 
The  lumber  of  text-book  rules  becomes  in 
actual  life  dry  and  pithless.  They  teach 
only  to  swim  on  dry  land.  The  man  needs 
the  result  of  scholastic  training;  the  proc- 
esses are  but  as  the  scaffolding  to  a  builder. 
At  last  education  makes  a  man  more  valuable 
to  his  community  than  to  himself. 

The  city  north  of  the  railroad  was  included 
in  School  District  No.  1,  of  North  Litchfield; 
the  territory  south  of  it  belonged  to  the  Crab- 
tree  District,  in  South  Litchfield,  whose 
schoolhouse  stood  a  few  rods  south  of  the 
residence  of  Samuel  Stratton.  District  No. 
1  used  the  Lutheran  Church,  near  the  south- 
east corner  of  Scherer's  Addition,  for  a  school- 

*By  H.  A.  Coolidga. 


room,  and  here  B.  S.  Hood,  of  Jerseyville, 
taught  a  school  for  six  months,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1854.  Lusk  Wilson  taught  there — a 
winter  term  in  1854-55  and  a  summer  term 
of  1855.  The  Cummings  building  was  erect- 
ed in  1856,  and  the  west  half  of  the  second 
floor,  was  the  schoolroom  for  several  years, 
and  H  A.  Wells  opened  there  the  winter  term 
of  185(1-57.  He  continued  in  charge  of  the 
public  school  until  1800.  Julia  Palmer  was 
first  assistant  in  the  Scott  &  Long  building, 
then  standing  on  the  north  side  of  Division 
street,  a  few  yards  east  of  Jackson.  Hannah 
Skillman  was  the  second  assistant  in  the 
house  two  or  three  doors  below  the  store  of 
Thorp  &  Leach.  For  a  term  of  six  months. 
Mr.  Wells  received  $360  and  his  assistants 
each  $200.  This  was  the  first  school  of  the 
Litchfield  School  District,  created  by  the  city 
charter,  the  Council  exercising  the  combiued 
powers  of  Trustees  and  Directors. 

In  the  summer  of  18(50,  Mr.  Wells  sudden- 
ly disappeared,  leaving  his  bills  uncollected 
and  his  few  debts  unpaid.  The  next  year, 
he  as  suddenly  reappeared.  In  explanation 
of  his  flight,  he  professed  forgetfulness  of  his 
departure.  His  life  was  a  blank  to  him.  He 
had  a  lucid  moment  at  Niagara  Falls  and  was 
astonished  to  find  himself  there;  then  he 
again  became  unconscious  of  his  movements 
for  an  unknown  period.  When  reason  returned 


290 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


to  him,  he  was  in  mid- ocean  on  a  vessel  bound 
to  England.  Friends  told  him  that  he  sought 
their  party  at  the  Falls;  he  journeyed  with 
them  to  Quebec,  and  when  they  said  they 
were  going  to  England,  he  declared  that  he, 
too,  would  go.  He  was  transferred  to  a 
homeward  bound  ship,  and  came  to  America. 
Of  his  wanderings  for  a  year  after  he  landed 
on  native  soil,  he  gave  no  clear  account.  He 
arrived  here  in  the  fall  of  1862,  coming  from 
the  West.  He  said  he  had  just  been  dis- 
charged from  military  service.  His  subse- 
quent conduct  throws  much  doubt  on  his  ver- 
sion of  the  history  of  his  flight. 

In  the  fall  of  1860,  the  grammar  school 
was  opened  with  two  departments.  Samuel 
Taylor,  of  Terre  Haute,  was  elected  Principal, 
and  Sarah  G.  Perrot,  assistant;  the  three 
ward  schools  were  conducted  by  Hannah 
Skillman.  Julia  P.  Palmer  and  Mary  Gill- 
ham.  The  schools  were  notoriously  insuffi- 
cient for  the  instruction  of  the  children  in 
the  city.  This  fact  was  very  widely  re- 
gretted, and  the  schools  were  not  distin- 
guished for  educational  value. 

The  Litchfield  School  District  had  vainly 
tried  to  obtain  possession  of  the  avails  of  the 
levy  made  in  1857,  by  District  No.  1,  to 
build  a  schoolhouse  on  the  northwest  coiner 
of  Block  68,  where  L.  Settlemire's  residence 
stands,  the  site  having  been  given  by  E.  B. 
Litchfield  for  that  purpose.  The  Litchfield 
School  District  contained  nearly  95  per  cent 
of  the  property  of  the  present  district,  and 
the  holder  of  the  school  funds — not  the 
Township  Treasurer — declined  to  recognize 
the  legality  of  the  claim.  An  act  of  the 
Legislature  was  obtained  on  the  joint  re- 
quest of  all  parties  apportioning  that  build- 
ing fund  to  the  City  School  District  and 
District  No.  1,  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
raised  by  each,  and,  after  some  delay,  the 
parties  who  had  borrowed  it  liquidated  their 


indebtedness,  and  the  city  district  used  its 
share  to  support  its  schools. 

For  1861-62 — and  the  public  schools  were 
maintained  only  six  months  in  the  year,  the 
summer  schools  being  private  ones  —  the 
wages  of  the  Principal  were  fixed  at  $45  per 
month,  while  his  four  assistants  were  allowed 
$27.  George  C.  Mack  was  chosen  Principal 
and  Mrs.  Abby  Paxton,  now  Mrs.  H.  H.  Hood, 
was  his  assistant,  and  two  teachers  in  each 
ward  school.  All  applicants  for  positions  in 
the  schools  were  specially  examined  by  Prof. 
Miller,  of  Hillsboro,  at  the  request  of  the 
School  Board,  and  it  was  thought  Litchfield 
school  officers  were  becoming  particular  when 
the  certificate  of  the  County  Superintendent 
was  not  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  pedagogical 
qualifications.  But  the  board  was  not  content 
with  the  learn-as-you-please  style  of  teaching. 

Mrs.  Paden  declining  her  appointment, 
Mrs.  Stevenson  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
The  disbursements  during  this  school  year 
were  $1,863.76,  which  included  $780.24  for 
seats,  repairs  and  payments  on  grammar 
school  building,  and  the  liabilities  amounted 
to  $2,097.71,  chiefly  for  teachers  and  balance 
due  on  house  and  loans  from  the  general 
fund.  The  fiscal  statements  were  made  up 
in  March  of  each  year,  before  the  close  of  the 
schools  and  before  the  receipt  of  the  school 
tax  or  the  State  fund. 

For  1862-63,  Mr.  Mack  was  again  employed 
as  Principal.  Miss  J.  N.  Lauder  was  his  as- 
sistant and  five  teachers  were  employed  for 
the  three  ward  schools;  two  of  the  five  were 
termed  assistant  teachers,  and  their  wages 
were  fixed  at  $15  per  month.  Mr.  Mack  did 
not  complete  his  term  and  a  Mr.  Morrison 
was  appointed  in  his  place.  Miss  Lauder  ap- 
pears not  to  have  accepted  her  appointment, 
as  Mrs.  Stevenson's  name  is  borne  on  the 
rolls  as  assistant  in  the  grammar  school.  The 
disbursement  from  the  school  treasury  for  the 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


291 


year,  for  school  purposes,  was  $1,622.41,  and 
$511.50  were  drawn  from  it  and  expended  on 
the  streets,  and  the  district  liabilities  were 
$2,028.61.  Probably  the  School  Board  be- 
lieved the  money  would  do  more  good  on  the 
streets  than  on  schools.  Like  matrimony, 
the  schools  were  accepted  "  for  better  or 
worse,"  and  if  it  was  illegal  to  use  school 
funds  to  improve  streets,  no  one  objected  to  it. 

For  1863-64,  eight  teachers  were  employed 
in  the  four  schools.  P.  H.  Pope,  Principal, 
and  Miss  Hyde,  his  assistant.  The  expendi- 
tures were  $1,470;  liabilities,  $1,493,  and 
the  treasury  showed  a  balance  in  its  favor  of 
$2,078.24. 

The  following  year,  the  grammar  school 
was  closed  and  two  teachers  were  placed  in 
each  of  the  three  ward  schools.  Among  these 
were  Blanche  Keating,  now  Mrs.  D.  Davis; 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Burton,  now  Mrs.  G.  P. 
Hanks;  Miss  Kate  Hyde,  and  Julia  P.  Palmer, 
now  Mrs.  George  Stevens,  of  Jacksonville. 
The  expenditure  amounted  to  $1,547.97;  the 
liabilities  were  $14.35  and  the  balance  on 
hand,  $591.60.  When  the  average  man  buys 
a  piano,  another  farm,  or  goes  to  the  White 
Mountains,  he  finds  it  necessary  to  "  retrench" 
by  having  school  only  half  the  time  and  cut- 
ting down  teachers'  wages. 

By  the  summer  of  1865,  the  population  of 
the  city  had,  from  temporary  causes,  risen  to 
4,300,  money  was  abundant  and  the  city  had 
no  debt.  The  time  had  arrived  to  place  the 
schools  on  a  higher  plane.  The  School  Board 
informally  decided  to  erect  a  house  for  a 
graded  school  large  enough  for  the  present 
and  prospective  wants  of  the  district.  By 
several  purchases  from  B.  H.  Hargraves, 
'  Wilder  W.  Davis  and  Ahart  Pierce,  an  en- 
tire block  was  obtained  on  the  west  slope  of 
Pierce's  mound,  on  which  to  built  the  school- 
house,  at  a  contemplated  cost  of  $15,000, 
though  a  proper  house  should  be  built  even  if 


it  cost  a  third  more.  In  July  of  this  year, 
Messrs  D.  R.  Sparks,  Thomas  G.  Kessinger 
and  W.  S.  Palmer,  of  the  School  Board,  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  select  a  plan  and 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  desired  house,  for 
the  consideration  of  the  Board  and  definite 
action.  The  committee  chose  the  design  pre- 
pared by  George  P.  Randall,  of  Chicago;  the 
board  confirmed  their  selection  and  the  con- 
tract was  given  to  W.  P.  Bushnell,  of  Men- 
dota,  for  the  building  above  the  stone  base- 
ment, at  the  outside  figure  of  $28,000.  His 
contract  was  $5,500  higher  than  the  architect's 
estimate,  yet  did  not  include  seating  or  heating 
apparatus. 

In  September,  1865,  six  teachers  were  em- 
ployed for  the  three  ward  schools,  half  of 
them  at  $35  per  month  and  half  at  $30.  The 
grammar  school  building  did  fairly  well  for 
the  Second  Ward,  but  the  other  houses  were 
tolerated  only  for  the  reason  that  no  better 
ones  could  be  leased.  Not  much  was  expect 
ed.  and  the  public  expectation  was  not  disap- 
pointed. 

The  expenditures  for  this  fiscal  year  were 
$4,526.90,  and  $1,992.02  were,  in  effect, 
loaned  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment. Nearly  half  the  disbursements  for 
school  objects  was  applied  on  the  new  school- 
house.  The  increase  of  taxation  was  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  contractor. 

In  March,  1867,  Mr.  Bushnell  was  at  his 
request  released  from  his  contract,  as  it  was 
evident  that  he  could  not  fulfill  it.  An  expert 
was  employed  to  examine  the  work  up  to  date, 
and  his  report  confirmed  the  opinion  that  in 
all  respects  it  was  satisfactory.  During  the 
spring  and  summer,  the  house  was  completed 
and  furnished  under  the  direct  orders  of  the 
board,  the  price  of  labor  and  material  being 
something  frightful;  the  cost  of  the  property 
was  swelled  to  $48,000;  a  large  debt  was  in- 
curred, bearing  usurious  interest. 


292 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


The  School  Board  containing  such  men  as 
D.  C.  Amsden,  D.  R.  Sparks,  John  L.  Hink- 
ley  and  S.  M.  Keithly  and  David  Davis,  pro- 
posed that  a  new  era  should  dawn  on  the  city 
with    the    opening    of    the    graded   school. 
Much  anxiety  was  manifested  to  secure  an 
accomplished  and  efficient  Principal.     Confi- 
dential  inquiries  were  made,  and  Mr.  A.  J. 
Blanchard,   of  the  Sycamore  Graded  School 
was  unanimously  selected,  at  a  salary  of  $1,- 
500  for  a  term  of  forty  weeks,  and  he  was  re- 
quested to  select  his   assistants,  with  a  view 
of  securing  harmony  in  the  corps  of   instruc- 
tion and  a  fair  trial  of  his  system  in  school. 
Mr.  Blanchard,  a  man  tall,  well  proportioned, 
muscular,  in  the  meridian  of  life  and  of  great 
intensity  of  character,  began  his  preparation 
of  re-organizing  the  school,  by  approving  the 
selection  of  such   teachers  as  Misses  Fanny 
E.  Tower,   Kimberly,  Dustin,    Lauder.  Lyon 
and  Mrs.  Abby  Paden  and  Hull.     The  house 
he  was  about  to  enter  was  a  three-story  brick 
edifice,  heated  by  furnaces   and  seated  in  the 
best  manner.     The  twelve  rooms  had  a  seat- 
ing capacity  for  800  pupils.     New  test-books 
had  been  adopted.     Six  of  his  eleven  assist- 
ants were  from  abroad,  and,  at  the  close  of 
the  winter  session,  no  more  than  two  home 
teachers  remained  in  the  school.     New  rules 
of  government  and  new  modes  of  instruction 
were  introduced,  and  the  teachers  had  good 
wages  and  they  earned  them.     There  was  a 
tremendous  amount  of   application  to  study, 
and,  for  the  first   time  in  our  school   history 
the  capacity  of  the  pupil  was   not  underesti- 
mated, nor  his  comprehension  of  former  stud- 
ies  exaggerated.     The  Principal  put  double 
energy    and    industry   into  the    school,    and 
sought  only  the  educational  welfare  of  his 
pupils.     He  made  it  his  chief  business  to  see 
that  each  teacher  did  her  utmost  for  the  true 
benefit  of  those  under   her  charge.      He  be- 
lieved in  good  teaching;  he  believed  equally 


well  in  good  study.  He  handled  young  men 
as  other  teachers  handle  children:  he  subju- 
gated the  vicious  and  willful;  stimulated  the 
languid  and  idle;  punished  the  insubordi- 
nate and  controlled  the  mischievous. 

Of  course,  this  could  not  be  done  without 
raising  issues,  which,  though  not  forgotten, 
it    is    not   wise   to   revive.       Mr.    Blanchard 
thought    to    maintain     himself    by    success 
in    the    schoolroom    alone.      He  failed  just 
as    others    have    who    relied    on  the    same 
merit.      Outside  dissatisfaction,  by  the  close 
of    the    winter    term,    had    grown    until    it 
was  in    doubt  whether  the  school  must  not 
be     closed.       At    the     decisive    moment,    a 
county   teachers'    institute  was  held  in    the 
house,  and  several  of  the  teachers  consented 
to  illustrate  the  methods  of  study  and  teach- 
ing pursued  in  the   school  by  having  their 
classes  recite  in  the  presence  of  the  institute. 
The  examples   exemplified  how  lessons  were 
learned   and  how  recited,  and  the  result  of 
the  double  process,  as  shown  by  the  rapid  ad- 
vancement of  their  pupils.     The  spectators, 
and  among  them  were  not  a  few  of   the  opin- 
ion-makers of  the  town,  were  amazed  and  de- 
lighted.    They  saw  what  could  be  done   in 
school  with   competent  teachers   and  correct 
methods,  and  the  fate  of  the  Litchfield  school, 
which  had  been  in  fearful   jeopardy  was  set- 
tled at  once  and  for  many  years.      The  entire 
term  was  completed  and  Mr.  Blanchard  de- 
clining a  re-engagement,   Mr.  P.   K.   Kider, 
now  of  the  Missouri  Normal  School,  of  Cape 
Girardeau,  became  his  successor.     Wages  and 
salary  were  reduced,  and  seven  home  teachers 
were  engaged.       Then  began  the  policy  of 
employing  teachers  because  they  lived  here 
instead  of  on  account  of  their  success  in  the 
schoolroom. 

The  next  year,  B.  F.  Hedges,  proposing  to 
take  sole  charge  of  the  high  school,  was  em- 
ployed as  Principal,  but  when  elected,  earnest- 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


293 


ly  solicited  an  assistant.  Mrs.  Lockwood,  of 
Alton,  was  selected.  A  German  department 
was  added.  The  total  enrollment  exceeded  a 
thousand.     Mr.  Hedges  remained  two  years. 

In  1871-  73, W.  C.  Catherwood,  from  Jackson- 
ville, was  the  Principal — a  thorough  teacher 
and  hardly  an  apology  for  a  Superintendent. 
The  tax  bills  for  those  years  are  conclusive 
as  to  the  existence  of  a  public  school.  Early 
in  April,  1872,  the  schoolhouse  caught  fire  in 
the  roof,  and,  in  the  presence  of  thousands, 
burned  like  a  candle  down  to  the  basement. 
A  portion  of  the  seats  and  the  library  were 
saved.  The  insurance  covered  two-thirds  the 
loss.  This  misfortune  closed  the  public 
school,  and  private  schools  were  speedily 
opened  in  different  parts  of  the  city. 

Contracts  for  rebuilding  the  house  were 
made  with  John  D.  Carson,  with  no  avoidable 
delay,  on  a  modification  of  the  original  de- 
sign. Pending  its  completion,  public  schools 
were  resumed  in  the  fall  in  the  several  build- 
ings around  the  public  square. 

The  second  schoolhouse  was  occupied  in 
the  fall  of  1873,  under  the  super intendency 
of  L.  M.  Hastings,  from  Iowa,  at  a  yearly 
salary  of  SI,  650,  for  a  term  of  thirty-six 
weeks.  The  five  assistants  who  accompanied 
him  from  that  State  were  a  valuable  addition. 
One  of  them,  Miss  Mary  Fredericks,  is  fondly 
remembered  as  a  teacher  of  wonderful  quali- 
fication, aptitude  and  success.  By  the  fail- 
ure of  her  voice  near  the  end  of  her  fifth  ses- 
sion, she  was  compelled  to  retire  for  a  season 
from  the  schoolroom.  On  her  return  to  her 
profession  in  Iowa,  the  deplorable  fret  and 
wear  of  teaching,  lessened  her  usefulness  by 
inducing  a  nervous  condition  of  irritability 
and  peevishness.  The  harmony  of  the  school 
was  sadly  violated  by  the  controversy  with 
Mrs.  Johnson.  The  affair  is  too  recent  for 
description,  though  the  district  records  are 
voluminous  on  one  side  of  the  trouble.     Mr. 


Hastings'  management  of  the  school  and  the 
character  of  the  teaching,  were  in  brilliant 
contrast  with  the  previous  five  years  and  the 
succeeding  ones. 

J.  N.  Dewell,  of  Pike  County,  was  the 
Principal  for  1875-77,  and,  under  his  care, 
there  were  no  complaints  of  over  study  or 
rigid  school  duties.  The  first  year,  a  Board 
of  School  Inspectors  were  appointed,  but  their 
powers  and  duties  not  being  clearly  settled 
by  usage,  the  Council  soon  supplanted  them. 
The  Inspectors  retired.  Thus  ingloriously 
ended  this  honest  attempt  to  take  the  school 
out  of  politics  and  favoritism.  It  was,  per- 
haps, significant,  that  our  Council  usually 
begins  its  reformatory  measures  just  as  a 
majority  are  going  out  of  office,  and  thus 
leave  them  to  be  carried  out  by  their  succes- 
sors. 

The  school  year  was  reduced  to  eight 
months,  or  thirty-six  weeks,  and  George  C. 
Boss,  of  Jackson  County,  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  school  for  a  year  at  a  salary  of 
$1,000.  An  unseemly  struggle  in  the  School 
Board  over  the  election  of  teachers,  during 
which  the  value  of  the  applicants  in  school 
work  was  subordinated  to  personal  feeling, 
was  followed  by  the  inevitable  result.  The 
school  was  a  general  and  profound  disap- 
pointment. 

For  the  last  three  years,  Thomas  J.  Charles 
has  been  the  Principal. 

The  Press. — At  the  solicitation  of  E.  B. 
Litchfield,  the  proprietor  of  the  town  site,  and 
on  his  assurance  of  a  large  and  profitable  line 
of  work — an  assurance  which  was  wholly  il- 
lusory. H.  A.  Coolidge,  in  February,  1857, 
removed  his  printing  office  from  Cazenovia, 
N.  Y.,  to  Litchfield.  Mi-.  Litchfield,  in  antici- 
pation of  his  arrival,  erected  him  an  office,  on 
Jackson  street,  better  known  as  the  grammar 
school  building.  Here  he  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  Litchfield  Journal,  in  April 


294 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


though  dated  in  May.  The  paper  was  a  four- 
page,  six-column  sheet,  set  in  long  primer 
and  minion,  and,  as  there  were  then  no  "  pat- 
ent insides,"  the  editor  and  his  assistants 
were  busy  in  the  mechanical  department. 
The  circulation  did  not  exceed  200,  and, 
during  the  six  years  of  his  control,  never  rose 
to  400.  The  paper  was  welcomed,  but  the 
town  was  too  small  and  the  neighborhood 
too  scanty  in  population  to  afford  the  venture 
an  adequate  support.  Those  were  the  days 
of  credit,  and  the  payment  of  subscriptions 
was  frequently  omitted.  The  county  was 
Democratic  and  intensely  pro-slavery  and  the 
political  views  of  the  Journal  not  altogether 
satisfactory  to  the  arbiters  of  local  opinion. 
The  attitude  of  men  on  the  "  Kansas  Ques- 
tion," where  the  doctrine  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty was  exemplified  by  open  war  and  the 
mockery  of  political  rights,  was  the  crucial 
test  of  his  party  fealty.  The  Journal  dared, 
in  May,  to  announce  the  views  held  by  Doug- 
las in  the  following  December  in  the  Senate, 
and,  for  its  temerity  in  disseminating  opin- 
ions in  advance  of  an  utterance  by  a  party 
leader,  it  fell  under  a  suspicion  of  unsound- 
ness, and  there  is  no  forgiveness  in  politics. 
Success  alone  condones  offenses,  and  the 
Journal  received  late  toleration.  It  sup- 
ported Douglas  for  Senator  in  1858,  and  for 
President  two  years  later. 

The  panic  of  1857  nearly  caused  its  sus- 
pension. For  sixteen  consecutive  days  in  the 
February  following,  its  total  receipts  were 
half  a  dollar.  Somehow  the  paper  lived, 
and  in  mechanical  appearance  has  not  been 
excelled  in  the  county.  The  editor  was  a 
Yankee  with  an  odor  of  books,  and  to  be  a 
Yankee  here  was  to  lead  no  popular  life. 

Lincoln  entered  the  White  House,  and  in 
April  the  war  of  the  rebellion  began  at  Charles- 
ton. The  evening  after  the  heavy  news 
was  received,   a  public  meeting  was  held  at 


Empire  Hall,  and  the  editor  briefly  urged 
that  the  integrity  of  the  Union  must  be  pre- 
served and  force  be  repelled  by  force.  The 
Journal,  foreseeing  the  influence  of  the  war 
on  parties,  continued  to  advocate  and  sustain 
the  policy  of  military  coercion.  Arms  had 
been  selected  by  the  South  as  the  arbiter  of 
its  pretensions,  and  the  Journal  accepted 
the  arbitrament.  By  degrees  a  large  section 
of  the  local  Democracy  first  deprecated  this 
policy,  and  then  actively  connived  to  thwart 
the  Union  arms  and  openly  "  sympathized  " 
with  the  South.  The  patrons  of  the  office 
fell  away,  income  dwindled,  and  at  one  time 
a  rush  was  made  to  wreck  it  for  alleged 
"  copperheadism. "  The  attempt  was  de- 
feated by  the  Union  men  of  the  city. 

In  1863,  the  office  was  leased  to  a  Mr. 
Cook,  and  then  to  John  Harris,  now  of  Clyde, 
and  Thomas  B.  Fuller,  of  Calhoun.  The 
publishers  changed  the  name  to  Litchfield 
Democrat,  and  placed  its  editorial  manage- 
ment in  the  hands  of  B.  F.  Burnett,  Esq., 
who  well  understood  the  art  of  writing  with- 
out saying  anything,  but  week  by  week  in 
the  thick  coming  news  of  Union  victories, 
prated  dolefully  of  the  horrors  of  war  and 
the  woe  of  desolated  families,  and  the  beau- 
ties of  peace.  He  was  the  perpetual  Chair- 
man of  the  standing  committee  of  dissent. 
He  had' principles,  but  would  have  been  a 
better  citizen  if  he  had  not. 

The  next  year  Mr.  Coolidge  sold  the  office, 
which  for  four  years  had  been  located  in  the 
Journal  building  on  State  street,  to  E.  J. 
Ellis,  a  refugee  from  Troy,  Mo.,  whose  cli- 
mate had  become  pernicious  to  his  health 
.since  bushwhacking  ceased  to  pay  in  that  re- 
gion. He  called  his  paper  the  Prairie  City 
Advocate.  He  toiled  assiduously  and  was 
repaid  for  his  labor.  The  war  being  over,  he 
desired  to  retire  to  the  congenial  wilds  of 
Missouri,  and   sold,  October,  1S65.  his  office 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


205 


to  E.  J.  C.  Alexander,  from  Greenville,  who 
changed  the  name  again  to  the  Litchfield 
News,  and  declared  it  a  Republican  journal. 
He  did  not  meet  with  distinguished  success. 

In  April  of  the  following  year,  the  ma- 
terial of  the  Union  Monitor,  of  Hillsboro, 
was,  to  evade  a  seizure  by  the  Sheriff,  con- 
veyed to  him  and  the  publication  of  a  news- 
paper in  Litchfield  was  discontinued  until 
the  last  of  1867,  The  News  office  was  kept 
open  for  job  work  and  advertisements,  which 
were  sent  in  type  to  Hillsboro.  The  Monitor 
was  regularly  dated  at  Hillsboro,  T.  J.  Rus- 
sell, editor,  on  the  first  page,  while  the  third 
page  was  headed  Litchfield  News,  dated  at 
Litchfield,  E.   J.   C.  Alexander,  editor. 

In  a  short  time  the  second  head  disap- 
peared from  the  third  page,  but  when  the 
Hillsboro  editor  of  the  Monitor  was  struck 
off,  the  head  and  date  line  were  changed  to 
Litchfield  News,  and  half  a  dozen  quires 
were  printed  for  the  Litchfield  folks. 

From  April,  lNtiO,  to  December,  1S6T,  no 
newspaper  was  printed  in  the  town,  with  a 
population  four  thousand.  This  was  not 
satisfactory— Alexander  was  "  not  the  man  for 
Galway."  Steps  were  taken  in  1867  to  re- 
establish a  home  paper,  and  it  became  cer- 
tain that  B.  S.  Hood  would  be  the  editor. 
Money  was  furnished,  and  Alexander  learn- 
ing what  had  been  done,  and  what  was  con- 
templated, changed  his  politics  one  day  while 
crossing  the  street,  and  sold  out  to  Mr.  Hood, 
who  began  in  the  basement  of  Masonic 
Block  the  publication  of  the  Republican 
Monitor,  which  in  four  months  became  the 
Litchfield  Union  Monitor.  From  these  sub- 
terranean quarters  he  removed  the  office  to 
Ferguson's  Hall,  enlarged  to  eight  pages 
with  "patent  insides,"  and  late  in  1870,  with 
more  experience  than  profit  from  his  venture, 
transferred  the  office  to  Messrs.  C.  L.  Bangs 
and    Ed.  Gray,   of    Carlinville,    both  excel- 


lent printers.  In  the  spring  of  1871,  J.  H. 
C.  Irwin  was  selected  as  editor  and  the 
Monitor  had  in  addition  C.  L.  Bangs  and 
Emma  Bangs  as  editorial  writers,  and  B.  S. 
Hood  as  local  editor.  Irwin  excelled  in 
"  memories  of  the  future,''  Bangs  para- 
graphed en  woman's  rights,  and  Hood  did 
the  city  locals.  The  paper  was  too  rich  for 
common  blood,  and  in  October,  1871,  Bangs 
&  Gray  disposed  of  the  Monitor  to  Kimball 
&  Taylor,  of  Belleville.  William  Fithian,  a 
graduate  of  the  Carlinville  Democrat  office, 
was  put  in  the  office  as  editor  and  manager.  In 
a  year,  the  proprietors  sunk  a  couple  of  thou- 
sand dollars  and  sold  out  at  heavy  loss  to  H. 
A.  Coolidge,  who  thus  found  himself  again 
in  the  editorial  chair  with  the  press  and 
much  of  the  printing  material  he  had  brought 
West  fifteen  years  earlier.  His  absence  for 
eight  years  from  the  newspaper  world  had 
taught  him  the  value  of  a  journal  to  the 
community  where  it  is  published.  He  was 
now  to  learn  that  this  value  was  quite  dis- 
tinct from  any  value  to  its  publisher. 

He  admitted  G.  B.  Litchfield  as  a  partner. 
The  office  was  removed  to  Empire  Hall  until 
the  fall  of  1874  when  it  again  began  its 
wanderings.  Litchfield  withdrew,  1874,  to 
begin  the  Montgomery  County  Democrat,  and 
Coolidge  for  a  year  managed  to  conduct  the 
Monitor  without  the  handicap  of  a  partner. 
In  1876,  F.  O.  Martin  became  his  pa  tner — a 
good  printer — and  remained  until  1878,  when 
the  paper  was  sold  to  Charles  Walker  and  B. 
S.  Hood.  Walker  went  out  of  the  concern 
in  three  months,  and  Mr.  Hood  in  the  spring 
of  1881  put  in  a  Campbell  press  and  took  in 
J.  G.  Campbell  as  a  partner.  The  circula- 
tion under  his  management  rose  to  1,100  or 
nearly  double  what  any  predecessor  had  been 
able  to  obtain. 

In  the  fall  of  1861,  a  Union  ticket  for 
county  officers  was  presented  as  a    rallying 


296 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


point  for  such  as  cared  most  for  the  country. 
To  aid  the  design  involved  in  the  ticket,  the 
Campaigner  was  founded  by  J.  P.  Bayless, 
with  whom  Dr.  H.  H.  Hood  was  associated. 
It  was  intended  to  maintain  it  only  until  the 
fall  election,  and  was  issued  from  the  Jour- 
nal office.  Not  a  copy  of  it  is  known  to 
exist. 

About  May,  1SG2,  the  Illinois  Free  Press 
was  removed  here  from  Hillsboro,  J.  B. 
Hutchinson,  editor.  It  found  a  home  in  the 
Cummings  Building,  and  after  languishing  a 
few  weeks,  ceased  to  exist.  In  June,  1871, 
Messrs.  Kimball  &  Taylor  bought  G.  B. 
Litchfield' s  printing  material  in  the  Elliott 
Building  and  began  the  publication  of  the 
Independent,  an  eight  column  quarto  sheet, 
three  pages  of  which  came  ready  printed. 
H.  A.  Coolidge  was  the  salaried  editor. 
The  paper  went  up  like  a  rocket.  No  such 
prosperity  had  attended  a  paper  in  this  re- 
gion. It  began  without  a  subscriber,  and  on 
its  consolidation,  by  purchase,  with  the  Moni- 
tor, had  two-thirds  its  circulation.  Only 
fifteen  numbers  were  issued  until  it  was  lost 
in  its  ancient  neighbor. 

Mr.  Fithian  having  ceased  to  be  editor  of 
the  Monitor,  in  the  late  summer  of  1872.  pur- 
chased a  newspaper  outfit  and  began  the 
publication  of  the  Review,  George  B.  Litch- 
field, printer.  The  5th  of  the  following 
December,  Mr.  Litchfield  retired  from  the 
Review,  which  thereupon  suspended,  and 
subsequently,  the  material  was  sold  to 
Messrs.  Coolidge  &  Litchfield  of  the  Monitor. 
In  November,  1874,  Mr.  Litchfield  and 
Robert  S.  Young  issued  the  first  number  of 
the  Montgomery  County  Democrat  in  a  room 
over  Beach,  Davis  &  Co.'s  Bank.  Mr. 
Young,  the  editor,  owning  none  of  the  ma- 
terial, was  in  a  few  months  out  of  the  edi- 
torial chair,  and  Mr.  Litchfield  assumed  the 
sole  management.     For  a  year,  embracing  a 


portion  of  1879-80,  Col.  Beu.  E.  Johnson,  of 
Hillsboro,  was  associated  with  Mr.  Litch- 
field as  editor  and  business  manager  of  the 
Democrat.  On  his  retirement,  Mr.  Litchfield 
again  became  editor  and  proprietor  until  Au- 
gust, 1881,  when  he  sold  to  Charles  Tobin, 
late  of  the  Hillsboro  News.  Mr.  Tobin.  in 
March  following,  enlarged  the  paper  wdiich 
he  renamed  the  Litchfield  Advocate,  to  a  six- 
column  folio,  and  is  doing  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness, increasing  his  list  of  readers  and  hur- 
ried by  job  work. 

Quite  a  thousand  copies  of  the  Monitor 
and  Advocate  are  taken  at  the  home  post 
office.  Both  attend  chiefly  to  local  matters 
and  leave  editorials  proper  to  the  imagination 
of  their  subscribers.  The  papers  are  con- 
ducted on  business  principles,  and  like  news- 
papers generally  are  more  valuable  to  the 
town  than  to  their  proprietors. 

Banking.— In  1862,  Haskell,  Davis  &  Co., 
of  Hillsboro,  opened  a  private  bank  in  a 
wood  building,  whose  site  is  now  occupied 
by  Updike's  hardware  store,  Thomas  F.  Sey- 
mour being  clerk  or  manager.  Five  years 
later,  the  name  of  the  firm  was  Haskell, 
Seymour  &  Co.,  Mr.  Davis  being  succeeded  by 
Mr.  Seymour.  Mr.  Haskell  had  removed  to 
Alton,  and  in  December,  1869,  his  interest 
appears  to  have  been  purchased  by  Judge 
Brewer,  of  Hillsboro,  and  the  firm  became 
Brewer,  Seymour  &  Co.,  and  S.  M.  Grubbs 
entered  the  bank  as  Teller.  The  following 
year  the  present  banking  house  was  built, 
and  for  ten  years  the  firm  remained  unchanged. 
Then  Mr.  Seymour's  sight  failing,  he  was 
forced  to  retire  from  business,  and  the  firm 
became  Brewer  &  Grubbs.  The  house  passed 
through  the  panic  of  1873  with  unimpaired 
credit  and  resources,  as  whatever  its  nominal 
capital,  its  virtual  capital  was  twenty  times 
greater.  Its  solvency  was  not  for  a  moment 
in   doubt.      Its   present  officers  are:    S.    M. 


LIBRARY 

UNivasinr  Illinois 


CITY  OF   LITCHFIELD. 


2D9 


Grubbs,  Manager,  and  T.  F.  Davis,  Book- 
keeper. The  volume  of  business  transacted 
over  its  counter  must  be  left  to  conjecture, 
as  all  information  on  this  point  is  refused. 

In  1860-61,  John  W.  Haggart  opened  a 
bank  in  Beardsley's  jewelry  store,  and  dealt 
in  exchange  and  occasional  loans.  He  was 
not  believed  to  control  sufficient  capital,  and 
did  but  a  meager  businesi.  His  "  bank"  soon 
ceased,  and  its  funds  were  easily  transferred 
to  a  vest  pocket,  and  the  "banker"  departed 
to  another  State. 

Under  a  special  charter,  the  Litchfield  Bank, 
Nathan  Kenyon,  President,  and  N.  P.  B. 
"Wells,  Cashier,  opened  in  July,  1S70,  with  a 
paid-up  capital  of  £20,000.  The  officers 
were  from  Brockport,  N.  Y. ,  and  held  half 
the  stock;  the  balance  was  held  here.  Fi- 
nancially, the  institution  was  not  fortunate, 
and  ere  the  first  year  was  over,  Kenyon  sold 
his  stock  and  retired  from  the  house.  Thir- 
teen of  the  original  stockholders  formed  a 
partnership  under  the  name  of  Beach,  Davis 
&  Co.,  and,  dissolving  the  corporation,  con- 
tinued the  business  with  D.  Davis,  Manager, 
and  D.  Yaa  Deusen,  Cashier.  The  bank  was 
located  in  Hoog"s  Building,  where  Mr.  Smith, 
now  is.  The  new  firm  began  business  in 
their  proper  name  in  May.  1871.  Two  years 
later,  the  articles  of  partnership  were  revised, 
three  new  partners  admitted,  and  the  paid-up 
capital  increased  quite  fourfold.  The  bus- 
iness had  been  remarkably  prosperous,  and 
the  stock  was  hold  firmly. 

When  the  panic  came,  and  the  balances 
held  in  foreign  banks  became  unavailable  by 
reason  of  closing  their  doors,  a  meeting  of 
the  partners  was  held  in  the  bank  parlor,  and 
the  situation  was  rapidly  considered.  A  rush 
on  the  bank  was  anticipated,  but  in  a  few 
hours  the  current  funds  bad  been  increased 
threefold,  and  all  paper  was  met,  and  no  en- 
gagement was  delayed  or  abandoned.  The 
bank  pays  regular  dividends. 


The  Coal  Mine.—  From  1817  to  1855.  wood 
was  the  only  fuel  in  use  in  this  county  for 
household  and  heating  purposes.  Until  185S, 
the  nearest  coal  mine  was  thirty  miles  to  the 
southwest,  and  not  until  the  railway  was 
opened  for  traffic  was  it  expedient  to  change 
to  coal  for  shops  or  mechanical  uses.  In 
1858,  there  was  not  a  coal-burning  locomotive 
on  the  railroad.  Fitful  attempts  to  find  coal 
in  this  neighborhood  were  prosecuted  in  the 
mid  "50's,"  and  to  no  purpose. 

As  early  as  1856-57,  coal  from  the  Wood 
River  Mine  was  bought  at  a  cost  of  !?17 
freight  for  a  car  load,  and  closed  out  from 
the  car  at  15  cents  a  bushel,  the  buyer  pay- 
ing for  draying  and  weighing.  Gradually 
the  price  fell  to  eight  bushels  for  the  dollar, 
though  if,  as  not  unfrequently  happened, 
the  supply  ran  short,  the  price  leaped  up 
to  18  and  22  cents  a  bushel.  The  flouring 
mills  and  car  shops  were  large  consumers, 
the  annual  consumption  being  estimated  at 
300,000  bushels  per  year.  If  the  supply  at 
any  time  failed,  the  writer  is  afraid  to  recol- 
lect the  fabidous  sum  he  gladly  paid  for 
wood. 

In  the  first  part  of  1867,  Andrew  Howard, 
of  Bunker  Hill,  a  practical  coal-miner,  pro- 
posed to  Messrs.  Beach  &  Amsden  and  Best 
&  Sparks,  that  for  a  bonus  of  $2,000  he  would 
sink  a  coal-shaft  350  feet,  and  these  firms 
guaranteed  its  acceptance.  Howard's  capi- 
tal consisted  chiefly  in  his  skill,  energy,  hope- 
fulness and  a  high-shouldered  mule.  A  few 
acres  of  land  were  bought  on  Rocky  Branch, 
just  outside  the  corporation,  and  in  March. 
1867,  he  began  work.  Mi-.  Howard's  purse 
was  soon  exhausted,  but  he  persevered, 
being  effectually  aided  by  the  late  M.  C. 
Manly.  The  bonus  was  expended  and  Mr. 
Manly  was  unable  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  work.  A  few  citizens  deeply  in- 
terested   in     discovering     coal    here,      and 

Q 


300 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


opening  and  working  a  coal  mine,  were 
convened,  and  Mr.  Howard  requested  the 
formation  of  a  mining  company,  with  a 
capital  of  $20,000,  into  which  he  would  enter, 
putting  in  the  unfinished  shaft  at  $5,000,  to 
continue  the  work.  His  request  was  prompt- 
ly acceded  to,  a  company  was  formed  and 
incorporated,  officers  chosen,  with  R.  W. 
O'Bannon,  President;  D.  R.  Sparks,  Treas- 
urer, and  H.  A.  Coolidge,  Secretary.  The 
stock  was  taken  by  nearly  fifteen  persons, 
Arnsden  &  Beach  and  Best  &  Sparks  sub- 
scribing largely,  and  others  according  to 
their  ability.  The  shaft  went  down  slowly; 
the  cost  was  nearly  $5( )  per  foot,  and  when, 
in  December,  1868,  a  thirty-two  inch  vein  of 
coal  was  reached  at  a  depth  of  416  feet,  the 
entire  capital  had  been  consumed,  and 
no  one  was  willing  to  contribute  more 
capital  to  open  and  work  the  vein.  Some 
debts  had  been  incurred,  and  in  the  summer 
of  1869  the  mine  was  sold  at  auction  to  pay 
debts,  and  was  bid  in  by  Warder  Cummings, 
acting  in  behalf  of  a  new  organization  inside 
the  mining  company.  A  new  company  was 
at  once  legally  organized.  The  stock  of  the 
old  one  was  worth  only  five  per  cent,  and 
most  of  the  stockholders  did  not  receive  even 
that  pitiful  legacy.  The  capital  of  'the  new 
company  was  $10,000.  Mr.  Howard  was  dis- 
discharged,  and  Messrs.  Green  &  Little,  of 
Moro,  111.,  took  the  contract  to  finish  sinking 
the  shaft.  A  third  vein  of  coal  was  reached 
at  a  depth  of  500  feet,  and  then  the  company 
learned  to  their  consternation  that  it  costs  as 
much  to  open  a  mine  as  for  sinking  the  shaft. 
The  operatives  wanted  lawyers'  wages;  $20,- 
000  beyond  the  capital  stock  was  expended, 
and  still  the  mine  was  not  prepared  to  put 
out  coal. 

In  this  emergency,  Messrs.  D.  C.  Amsden, 
H.  H.  Beach,  James  W.  Jefi'eris,  J.  Smith 
Tally,  Charles  E.  Benton  and  Warder  Cum- 


mings formed  a  partnership  and  leased  the 
mine,  and  assumed  the  payment  of  the  debt 
from  the  lease  money.  In  1874,  these  part- 
ners had  become  possessed  of  the  entire  shares 
of  the  mining  company,  which  was  thereupon 
dissolved,  as  its  predecessor  had  been,  and 
the  Litchfield  Coal  Company  organized,  with 
a  nominal  capital  of  $10,000,  but  with  a 
property  which  had  cost  six  times  that 
amount.  This  third  company  still  operates 
the  mines,  and  by  prudent  management  has 
reduced  the  expense  of  mining  so  that  coal 
is  delivered  to  local  buyers  at  10  cents  a 
bushel,  and  yet  satisfactory  profits  have  been 
gathered.  The  price  of  mining  was  at  one 
time  such  that  miners  received  upward  of 
$30  a  week. 

In  1878,  a  second  shaft  was  sunk  at  one- 
half  the  cost  of  the  first  one,  and  the  output 
rose  to  5,000  bushels  a  day  in  the  busy  season. 
At  the  foot  of  the  second  shaft  a  boring-rod 
was  sent  down  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet, 
to  develop  the  character  of  the  underlying 
strata,  and  coal  oil  was  reached.  The  aston- 
ishment of  the  miners  was  unbounded.  The 
news  was  received  with  incredulity.  But  the 
oil  rose  to  the  bottom  of  the  mine  and  over- 
flowed the  floor.  A  few  barrels  of  it  were 
collected  and  the  well  carefully  closed  in 
order  to  the  safety  of  the  mine. 

Secret  Societies. — Whether  it  be  from  the  dis- 
position of  the  human  mind  which  would  pry 
into  a  knowledge  of  the  paintings  on  the  left- 
hand  side  of  the  temple  of  Paphos,  or  from  the 
absence  of  the  joys  of  home,  or  from  a  desire  to 
draw  closer  the  ties  of  brotherhood,  or  from 
purposes  streaked  with  self- hood,  secret  socie- 
ties were  early  planted  in  Litchfield,  and  have 
flourished  in  undecayed  vigor  and  influence 
and  usefulness. 

The  list  of  secret  organizations  of  a  temper- 
ance character  is  long,  and  the  history  of  each 
one  is  brief  and  uneventful.     They  were  each 


CITY   OF   LITCHFIELD. 


301 


short  lived,  and,  like  the  "  Murphy  movement," 
have  died  and  left  no  sign  or  contingent  memo- 
rial. Total  abstinence  organizations  are  not 
unknown  here,  but  none  of  them  are  secret. 

Until  1857,  the  Masonic  fraternity  had  no 
lodge  nearer  than  Hillsboro.  But,  on  the  4th 
of  March  in  that  year,  a  dispensation  was 
granted  to  <;.  (i.  Withington,  W.  S.  Palmer,  W. 
H.  Curamings,  R.  H.  Peall,  James  Thalls,  Sam- 
uel Boothe,  S.  W.  McDonald  and  C.  W.  Parish, 
who  instituted  Charter  Oak  Lodge  in  the  city, 
and  the  first  regular  communication  was  held 
on  that  date,  W.  S.  Palmer,  Master.  The  lodge 
met  in  the  texas  of  Cummings'  building,  which 
was  occupied  jointly  with  the  Odd  Fellows  un- 
til 1865. 

R.  H.  Peall  was  the  second  Master.  In  1850, 
W.  H.  Cummings  was  Master,  and  then  in  suc- 
cession came  J.  T.  Duff,  W.  T.  Elliott  (for  two 
years).  C.  W.  Parish,  W.  T.  Elliott  and  D.  C. 
Anisdeu.  In  1865.  the  lodge  removed  to  the 
Elliott  corner,  State  and  Kirkham  streets. 
Mr.  Amsden  was  re-elected  in  December,  1866, 
and  ( r,  M.  Loughmiller  in  1867.  James  Rogers 
was  chosen  Master  in  1868,  and  Gr.  W.  Amsden 
in  1869,  and  James  Gowenloek  in  1870.  G. 
M.  Loughmiller  was  Master  1871,  1S72,  1873, 
1  374  and  1S75.  But  in  1876,  G.  W.  Hathaway 
was  Master,  though  in  1877, 1878,  1879,andl880 
G.  M.  Loughmiller  was  Master.  In  December, 
1881,  the  usual  time  of  election,  J.  W.  Hose  was 
chosen  Master.  In  1S68,  the  lodge  moved  to 
the  third  floor  of  Masonic  Block,  across  the 
street  from  its  previous  rooms. 

St.  Omer  Commandery,  No.  30,  Knights  Tem- 
plar, was  organized  under  dispensation  Septem- 
ber 3,  1868,  H.  W.  Hubbard  acting  as  Eminent 
Commander,  assisted  by  several  Knights  from 
Alton.  On  November  6,  1868,  the  charter  was 
granted  to  Sirs  George  H.  Pomeroy,  S.  P.  Kirk- 
patriek,  George  M.  Raymond,  James  Rogers, 
George  W.  Amsden,  Wesley  Best,  P.  B.  Up- 
dike, D.  R.  Sparks,  B.  C.  Beardsley  and  Janus 
Davie.     George  H.  Pomeroy  served  as  Eminent 


Commander  the  first  year,  since  which,  George 
M.  Raymond  has  continuously  filled  the  office, 
James  Rogers  has  been  the  constant  Secretary, 
and  B.  C.  Beardsley,  the  Treasurer.  The  Com- 
mandery has  fifty  members. 

August  9,  IS67,  a  dispensation  was  granted 
to  G.  M.  Raymond,  W.  E.  Bacon,  S.  D.  Kirk- 
patrick,  James  W.  Davenport,  H.  C.  Watson, 
C.  W.  Parish,  S.  S.  Tyler,  George  A.  Stoddard, 
John  B.  Hall,  N.  C.  Alexander  and  Wesley 
Best  for  a  second  lodge  here,  which  was  to  be 
called  Litchfield  Lodge.  September  3,  1867, 
the  regular  charter  was  received  and  G.  M.  Ray- 
mond was  chosen  Master,  and  re-elected  the 
following  year,  when  he  was  followed  by  W.  E. 
Bacon,  and  lie  in  turn  ljy  George  A.  Stoddard. 
By  years,  the  successive  Masters  have  been : 
1S71,  G.  A.  Stoddard;  1872,  G.  M.  Raymond  ; 
1873,  G.  W.  Goodell  ;  1874,  G.  W.  Goodell  ; 
1875,  W.  E.  Bacon  ;  1876,  W.  E.  Bacon  ;  1877, 
A.  T.  Keithley  ;  1878,  W.  E.  Bacon ;  1879, 
W.  E.  Bacon  ;  1880,  W.  E.  Bacon  ;  1881.  W. 
E.  Bacon  ;  18S2,  A.  T.  Keithley. 

Of  Elliot  Chapter,  No.  120,  no  facts  have 
been  learned  beyond  the  facts  of  its  existence 
and  that  George  W.  Amsden  has  for  ten  con- 
secutive years  been  High  Priest. 

Litchfield  Lodge,  No.  202,  of  Odd  Fellows, 
was  instituted  by  D.  B.  Jackson,  of  Hillsboro, 
March  28,  1856,  with  the  following  charter 
members  :  R.  N.  Paden,  S.  W.  McDonald,  E.  R. 
White,  E.  W.  Miller  and  John  P.  Davis.  Mr. 
Miller  was  the  first  presiding  officer. 

Until  1866,  the  lodge  met  in  the  Cummings 
building.  Fur  three  years  it  met  at  Cheap 
Cornel',  and.  since,  has  occupied  a  hall  on  the 
third  door  of  the  .Masonic  building. 

Jackson  Encampment,  No.  88,  of  Odd  1V1- 
•  was  instituted  by  D.  B.  Jackson,  July  22, 
1S6S.  The  charter  members  were  J.  K.  Milnor, 
H.  M.  Langley,  William  M.  Beindorf,  R.  Ochli  r, 
Joseph  F.  Chuse,  Louis  Turner  and  M.  P. 
Thompson.  Louis  Turner  was  the  first  presid- 
I  in"'  officer. 


302 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


White  Cross  Lodge,  No.  G6,  Knights  of  Pyth- 
ias, was  founded  April  27,  1876,  by  W.  T.  Van- 
dever,  of  Taylorville.  The  charter  members 
were  Joseph  Lawrence,  J.  R.  Blackwell,  G.  W. 
Rattenbury,  E.  C.  Thorp,  L.  G.  Tyler,  J.  W. 
Steen,  T.  J.  Cox,  C.  Paullis,  Jr.,  George  S.  Webb, 
Ben.  C.  Best,  George  Kilmer,  H.  G.  Tuttle  and 
A.  J.  Reubart.  Mr.  Rattenbury  was  the  chief 
officer. 

February  14,  1875,  Augusta  Lodge,  No.  507, 
of  Odd  Fellows,  was  instituted.  This  is  a  Ger- 
man lodge,  and  the  ritual  and  the  proceedings 
are  in  that  language.  They  had  a  separate 
lodge  room  here,  initiated  thirty-eight  members, 
and  received  eleven  by  card.  Three  members 
here  died,  and  fifteen  have  terminated  their 
membership  by  removal  or  otherwise.  The 
present  list  contains  the  names  of  forty-four 
members.  The  lodge  has  had  peace  and  pros- 
perity within  its  gates. 

Sanitary. — As  early  as  1854,  cholera  ap- 
peared in  South  Litchfield,  by  importation 
from  a  river  town.  Several  cases  terminated 
fatally,  but  the  disease  did  not  visit  the  scanty 
population  of  the  village. 

In  1857  or  1858,  a  case  of  small-pox  was 
declared  in  Litchfield  ;  the  patient,  a  man 
named  Johnson,  was  removed  to  a  pest  house 
a  mile  from  State  street,  where  he  died.  A 
few  of  the  citizens  were  attacked,  but  they 
recovered.  In  later  years,  sporadic  cases 
were  exhibited.  There  is  no  tradition  as  to 
their  origin.  No  alarm  was  manifested;  suit- 
able precautions  were  observed,  and  no  fatal 
results  followed.  But  in  the  winter  of 
1881-82,  the  loathsome  contagion  gained  here 
a  determined  lodgment.  It  was  a  sequence 
of  immigration  or  railroad  travel.  Notwith- 
standing the  prompt  adoption  of  preventive 
or  remedial  measures,  the  fearful  plague  con- 
tinued its  insidious  advances  until  forty-four 
persons  had  been  smitten,  of  whom  nine  died. 


The  mortality  might  have  been  less  had  all 
the  sick  refrained  from  grossly  imprudent 
courses.  General  vaccination  was  enforced, 
and  the  disease  starved  out. 

In  the  summer  of  1867,  five  members  of  a 
circus  company  were  seized  with  cholera  the 
same  night  while  at  a  hotel.  The  patients 
rallied  enough  to  be  removed  to  Pana,  where 
it  is  believed  they  died.  The  pestilence 
spread,  and  several  citizens  fell  its  victims. 
Seven  years  later,  the  conditions  were  favor- 
able for  its  re- appearance.  The  heated  teim 
was  intense  and  protracted,  and  sanitary  mat- 
ters were  generously  suffered  to  run  them- 
selves. An  elderly  couple  from  Tennessee 
came  in  on  the  railroad,  ill  with  cholera. 
They  were  removed  to  a  private  house,  and 
within  twenty- four  hours  were  dead.  Other 
persons  were  speedily  attacked,  and  in  a  few 
hours  were  moribund.  On  two  occasions,  the 
deaths  were  four  per  day.  The  total  number 
of  cases  was  nearly  ninety,  and  the  deaths 
were  reported  to  be  thirty-nine.  The  stroke 
was  swift.  Men  in  apparent  sound  health  at 
night  would  be  dead  in  the  morning. 

In  each  visitation  of  cholera,  the  disease 
was  plainly  of  a  foreign  origin,  and  if  the 
contagion  theory  be  well-founded,  the  ravages 
here  have  been  only  such  as  may  be  appre- 
hended in  any  town  so  placed  that  careless  or 
infected  strangers  are  constantly  on  its  streets 
or  stopping  at  its  hotels. 

The  average  annual  mortality  cannot  be 
accurately  given.  The  usual  record  of  inter- 
ments is  of  no  use  here;  as  for  family  reasons, 
sepulture  is  in  distant  cemeteries,  while  the 
city  cemeteries  are  used  by  town  and  city 
alike.  It  is  certain  that  the  ratio  of  mortal- 
ity in  the  city  is  as  low  as  in  the  country, 
and  last  year  did  not  exceed  two  per  cent. 
With  a  population  exceeding  five  thousand, 
the  total  deaths  were  about  eighty. 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


303 


CHAPTER  XVI.* 

TOWNSHIP  OF  NOKOMIS— POSITION  AND  BOUNDARIES— SURFACE,  SOIL,  STREAMS,  ETC.— FOREST 
GROWTHS— AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTIONS— EARLY   SETTLEMENTS— ROADS— SCHOOLS, 

CHURCHES,   ETC. 


"  Once  o'er  all  this  favored  land, 
Savage  wilds  and  darkness  spread." 

^VTOKOMIS  occupies  a  scope  of  territory 
-L^  lying  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  west  of  Audubon  and  east  of 
Rountree  Township.  It  borders  on  Christian 
County  on  the  north,  Witt  Township  on  the 
south,  and  is  admirably  located  with  reference 
to  railroad  and  other  accommodations.  Its 
close  proximity  to  the  flourishing  towns  of 
Hillsboro,  Morrisonville,  and  other  equally  good 
market  places,  affords  many  advantages  to  the 
citizens  which  they  have  not  been  slow  to  avail 
themselves  of,  as  is  shown  by  the  increased 
prosperity  of  the  agricultural  interests  through- 
out its  territory.  The  distinguishing  charac- 
teristics of  Nokomis  are  its  fine,  undulating 
prairie  lands,  which,  in  point  of  fertility  and 
productiveness,  are  unsurpassed  by  any  other 
similar  amount  of  territory  in  the  State.  The 
northern  portion  is  somewhat  flat,  and  in  certain 
places  contains  some  low,  marshy  land,  but  the 
great  majority  of  its  acres  are  susceptible  of  a 
high  degree  of  cultivation,  as  is  attested  by 
the  rank  which  the  township  takes  as  an  agri- 
cultural district.  In  the  southern  part,  along 
the  several  water-courses  and  among  the  wooded 
portions,  the  surface  is  more  rolling,  but  in  no 
place  is  it  too  broken  or  uneven  for  tillage. 
The  soil  is  generally  a  fine  quality  of  loam, 
mixed  with  clay  in  certain  localities,  and  sand 
in  the  low  places  along  the  creeks.  The  town- 
ship is  sufficiently  well  watered  for  agricultural 
purposes  and  stock-raising,  with  several  beau- 

*By  G.  N.  Berry. 


tiful  streams  traversing  it  in  different  directions, 
the  chief  of  which  is  the  East  Fork  of  Shoal 
Creek.  This  is  a  stream  of  considerable  size 
and  importance  in  the  southern  townships  of 
the  countj',  and  has  its  source  in  Section  1, 
from  whence  it  flows  in  a  southwesterly  direc- 
tion through  Sections  22,  28  and  33.  A  small 
stream  flows  through  the  northeastern  part  of 
the  township,  draining  that  portion,  and  receiv- 
ing in  its  course  a  number  of  rivulets  which  are 
not  designated  by  any  particular  names. 

Originally,  about  one-sixth  of  the  township's 
area  consisted  of  timbered  land,  the  wooded 
districts  lying  chiefly  in  the  southern  and  south- 
western parts.  The  productions  of  these  forests 
were  at  one  time  the  source  of  considerable 
wealth  to  those  who  settled  in  the  timber  and 
made  the  lumber  business  a  specialty.  At  the 
head  of  these  forest  products  stands  the  black 
walnut,  a  tree  unequaled  in  the  United  States 
for  its  many  uses  in  cabinet-making.  It  is  be- 
coming scarce  in  this  part  of  the  country  on 
account  of  its  wide  demand,  and  owing  also  to 
the  prodigal  manner  in  which  much  of  it  was 
destroyed  by  many  of  the  pioneer  settlers. 
Next  in  value  is  the  oak,  of  which  several  va- 
rieties are  to  be  found  growing  in  the  forests  of 
this  township.  It  affords  the  principal  amount 
of  lumber  for  all  practical  purposes  to  the 
farmers  in  this  section  of  the  country,  and  con- 
siderable quantities  of  it  have  been  shipped  to 
other  localities.  Another  of  the  forest  mon- 
archs  is  the  elm,  which  grows  to  gigantic  sizes 
in  the  low  lands  skirting  the  water-courses. 
There  are  several  different  kinds  of  maple  to 


304 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


be  seen  here,  all  of  which  are  much  used  for 
artificial  groves,  on  account  of  their  hardiness 
and  rapid  growth.  These  species  are  highly 
ornamental,  delighting  the  eye  of  the  most 
careless,  and  giving  a  charm  to  the  most  unin- 
viting prospect.  Hickory  is  found  in  certain 
localities,  and  is  much  used  in  the  manufacture 
of  carriages,  sleighs,  and  almost  all  agricultural 
implements  made  in  the  different  factories 
throughout  the  State.  Besides  the  different 
varieties  already  enumerated,  there  are  many 
trees  and  shrubs  of  smaller  growth  known  as 
underbrush,  much  of  which  has  been  cleared 
away  of  late  years. 

Of  the  farm  products  we  can  speak  only  in 
a  general  way,  as  no  statistical  information 
concerning  them  was  obtained.  Agricultural 
productions  of  every  kind  indigenous  to  this 
latitude  are  certain  of  a  rapid  growth  and  large 
returns.  As  is  shown  by  the  vast  wealth  that 
has  been  drawn  from  the  bosom  of  the  soil 
during  the  thirty  years  that  have  passed — a 
wealth  that  has  covered  its  surface  with  beau- 
tiful homes,  and  contributed  toward  feeding  the 
hungry  millions  of  other  lands.  Wheat  is  and 
has  been  the  staple  product  of  Nokomis,  to 
which  its  soil  seems  peculiarly  adapted,  and 
has  been  known  to  yield  as  high  as  thirty-five 
and  forty  bushels  per  acre  in  favorable  seasons 
although  its  average  production  is  much  less. 
Other  cereals  are  raised  in  the  same  proportion, 
particularly  oats  and  rye,  which  return  abund- 
ant and  well-paying  harvests  almost  every  year- 
As  a  corn  district,  this  part  of  the  country  will 
compare  favorably  with  anj7  other  locality  in 
the  county,  as  the  land  in  the  main  is  sufficient- 
ly rolling  to  render  drainage  eas}-.  While  other 
townships  in  the  county  suffered  more  or  less 
severely  during  the  drought  of  1881,  the  farmers 
of  Nokomis  raised  a  sufficient  amount  of  corn 
for  home  consumption  and  some  for  market 
also.  Apple  orchards  are  beginning  to  be  ex- 
tensively cultivated,  and  fruits  of  the  finest 
and  hardiest  varieties  yield  abundantly,  and  are 


being  produced  in  large  quantities,  while  the 
already  large  area  of  orchards  receives  yearly 
additions.  This  product  alone  in  a  few  years 
will  form  one  of  the  principal  articles  of  sale 
during  its  season. 

The  early  settlement  of  Nokomis  is  so  inter- 
woven with  the  pioneer  settlements  of  the  ad- 
joining townships  that  their  history  is,  in  the 
main,  almost  identical.  The  same  difficulties 
were  experienced,  the  same  hardships  endured 
by  the  pioneers  of  Nokomis  that  for  years  re- 
tarded the  development  and  advancement  of 
older  municipalities.  There  were  no  roads,  so 
to  speak,  no  stores  nor  mills  nearer  than  Gris- 
ham  and  Butler  Townships,  a  distance  of  twen- 
tj-  or  thirty  miles  ;  no  school  buildings  except 
of  a  very  primitive  character,  and  no  places  of 
worship  except  the  houses  of  the  pioneers. 
These  and  other  experiences  of  a  similar  char- 
acter were  what  the  first  settlers  of  Nokomis 
had  to  contend  with  in  the  days  of  its  infancy, 
but,  thanks  to  the  energy  and  thrift  with  which 
the  earl}'  settlers  were  characterized,  all  these 
difficulties  have  been  successfully  overcome,  and 
on  every  hand  are  to  be  seen  well-tilled  farms, 
elegant  private  residences,  good  roads,  hand- 
some church  edifices,  commodious  school-build- 
ings, and  other  evidences  of  prosperity,  which 
combine  to  make  this  part  of  the  county  a  de- 
sirable locality. 

The  first  permanent  settler  in  Nokomis  Town- 
ship, as  it  is  now  designated,  was  one  Bluford 
Shaw,  the  exact  date  of  whose  arrival  could  not 
be  ascertained,  although  it  is  supposed  to  have 
been  prior  to  the  year  1840.  In  the  year  1S43, 
Hugh  Hightower.  a  name  familiar  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  county,  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  on  a  piece  of  laud  lying  in  Section  33. 
Here  he  erected  the  first  house  ever  built  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  township,  traces  of  which 
still  remain.  For  the  space  of  three  3-ears, 
Hightower  was  the  only  resident  in  this  part  of 
the  county,  his  nearest  neighbors  living  at  a 
distance   of    at   least  ten  miles  awav.     John 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


305 


Heury  located  here  iu  1846,  securing  land  in 
Section  26,  which  he  improved  quite  exten- 
sively. After  him  came  John  Lower,  John 
Nichols,  Mason  Jewett  and  an  old  man,  by 
name  Redden,  all  of  whom  located  near  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Nokomis.  In  the  year 
1854,  a  number  of  settlers  located  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  township,  where  they  founded 
quite  an  extensive  cominuuity.  Among  this 
number  can  be  mentioned  the  names  of  Royal 
N.  Lee,  John  Wetmore,  William  Bonton,  Ab- 
salom Van  Hooser,  William  Lee  and  Andrew 
Coiner,  several  of  whom  are  still  living  on  the 
farms  they  settled,  and  numerous  descendants 
are  scattered  over  different  parts  of  the  county. 
The  northeastern  part  of  the  township  was  set- 
tled principally  bj-  an  intelligent  and  thrifty 
class  of  Germans,  who  have  improved  that  lo- 
cality until  it  is  now  one  among  the  very  best 
farmed  sections  of  country  in  the  township,  and 
in  point  of  improvements,  as  houses,  barns,  etc., 
it  will  compare  favorably  with  any  other  com- 
munity within  the  limits  of  the  county. 

It  has  been  asserted,  and  wisely  so,  that  the 
avenues  of  communication  are  an  undoubted 
evidence  of  the  state  of  society.  The  history 
of  this  planet  from  its  earliest  days  furnish  in- 
disputable proof  of  this  now  universally  admit- 
ted truth.  As  civilization  progresses,  intercom- 
munication increases,  and  the  channels  of  trade 
are  improved,  while  the  conveyance  of  products 
and  the  movements  of  armies  require  an  unob- 
structed highway.  Of  the  Eastern  nations  who 
comprehended  the  truth  of  this  great  principle, 
the  chief  were  the  Romans,  whose  broad  high- 
way s  and  ruined  arches  still  survive  to  remind 
us  of  the  former  power  and  greatness  of  those 
masters  of  the  world.  While  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  Mexican  causeways  and  Peruvian 
stone  roads  attest  the  vigor  of  a  national  life 
centuries  departed.  But  the  trails  across  the 
prairies  and  through  the  forests  of  this  part  of 
the  country — ample  for  the  aborigines  of 
Illinois,  and  withal  equal  to  their  capacity,  have 


given  place  iu  turn  to  a  network  of  highways, 
while  not  comparable  to  the  military  roads  of 
the  Romans  or  ancient  Mexicans,  and  perhaps 
far  inferior  to  the  turnpikes  to  be  seen  in  older 
States,  arc  at  least  equal  to  the  requirements  of 
a  highly  civilized  people.  The  first  road  estab- 
lished in  Nokomis  passed  through  the  township 
in  a  northeasterly  direction,  and  was  known  as 
the  Hillsboro  and  Nokomis  road.  Its  original 
course  has  been   changed,  although   it  is  still 

j  one  of  the  important  highways  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  county.  A  road  leading  from  the 
town  of  Nokomis  to  Irving  was  laid  out  and 
improved  in  an  early  day,  but  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  properly  established  until  several 
years  later.  One  of  the  most  important  high- 
ways passes  through  the  central  part  of  the 
township  from  north  to  south,  and  is  rather  ex- 
tensively traveled.  The  greater  number  of 
roads  which  traverse  the  township  in  all  direc- 

|  tions  have  been  established  in  recent  years,  and 

j  are  well  improved.  Like  the  highways  in  all 
parts  of  Central  and  Southern  Illinois,  these 
thoroughfares,    during   certain  seasons  of  the 

[  year,  become  well-nigh  impassable,  owing  to 
their  muddy  condition.  The  porous  nature  of 
the  soil,  however,  causes  this  mud  to  dry  up 
quite  rapidly,  and  in  a  comparatively  short 
time  after  the  frost  leaves  the  ground  in  the 
spring,  the  roads  improve  and  remain  in  good 
traveling  order  until  the  following  winter. 

Passing  through  the  southeast  corner  is  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  which  has 
promoted  the  material  interests  of  the  town- 
ship more  than  any  or  all  other  improvements 
combined.  In  its  course,  it  passes  through 
Sections  32,  28,  22,  14  and  12.  intersecting  the 
southern  boundary  at  a  point  about  one  and  one- 
half  miles  from  the  Rountree  Township  line, 
and  the  eastern  boundary  two  miles  south  of 
Christian  County.  The  city  of  Nokomis  owes 
much  of  its  prosperity  to  this  road,  as  does 
also  the  township  at  large. 

It  is  a  fact  which  the  splendid  educational 


306 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


institutions  of  the  present  make  it  difficult  for 
us  to-day  to  comprehend,  that  in  the  early  set- 
tlement of  the  country,  one  of  the  greatest  dis- 
advantages under  which  the  pioneer  labored 
was  the  almost  entire  absence  of  facilities  for 
the  education  of  his  children.  When  the  ques- 
tion of  keeping  soul  and  body  together  had 
once  been  solved  by  the  constantly  increasing 
acreage  of  farm  land,  and  the  corn  waved  over 
the  spot  which  required  toil  and  perseverance 
to  conquer  from  its  primitive  natural  state,  and 
bountiful  harvests  told  of  no  more  immediate 
wants,  then  the  pioneer's  attention  was  called 
to  the  necessity  of  schools,  and  means  of  sup- 
plying the  want  were  most  earnestly  sought. 
A  man  by  the  name  of  Henry  Lower,  an  excel- 
lent teacher  by  the  way,  is  said  to  have  taught 
the  first  school  in  the  township,  at  his  private 
residence,  about  the  year  1848.  It  was  attend- 
ed by  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  new  settlement 
and  supported  by  subscriptions,  as  were  all  the 
early  schools  in  the  county.  The  first  house 
erected  for  educational  purposes  was  built  on 
Section  27,  and  is  still  in  use.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  good  frame  sehoolhouses  in  the  township, 
and  the  citizens  can  point  with  pride  to  their 
educational  institutions,  which,  for  efficiency 
and  thoroughness  of  work,  are  unsurpassed  by 
any  in  the  county.  Many  facts  relating  to 
educational  matters  of  the  township,  belong 
properly  to  the  town  of  Nokomis,  and  will  be 
spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  history  of  that 
place  in  the  next  chapter. 

One  of  the  first  public  officials  of  the  town- 


ship was  John  J.  "Wetmore,  who  was  elected 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  an  early  day,  although 
we  are  unable  to  give  the  date.  About  the 
same  time,  J.  W.  Hancock  was  elected  Con- 
stable, in  which  capacity  he  served  the  town- 
ship several  years.  His  marriage  to  Miss 
Margaret  Meratt  was  the  first  event  of  the  kind 
ever  solemnized  in  Nokomis.  Several  healthy 
religious  organizations,  with  as  many  substan- 
tial temples  of  worship,  are  the  most  convincing 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  high  moral  princi- 
ples, and  a  sense  of  religious  duty  on  the  part 
of  the  people.  The  Methodists  organized  the 
first  church  in  the  township,  and  their  ministers 
were  the  first  to  find  their  way  to  the  cabins  of 
the  pioneers,  and  preach  the  everlasting  truths 
of  the  Gospel  to  the  early  inhabitants.  Rev.  J. 
L.  Crane  conducted  the  first  religious  services, 
and  assisted  in  the  organization  of  several 
churches  of  his  denomination,  in  the  township 
and  town  of  Nokomis.  The  first  church  edifice 
was  built  by  the  Lutherans,  in  the  town  of  No- 
komis, and  will  be  more  particularly  spoken  of 
in  the  chapter  devoted  to  that  place.  The  Luth- 
erans and  Methodists  have  several  good  societies 
in  the  township,  whose  congregations  are  in 
excellent  condition,  and  destined  to  accomplish 
a  great  amount  of  good  in  their  respective  com- 
munities. For  want  of  particulars  concerning 
the  various  churches,  the  writer  is  obliged  to 
give  them  the  above  very  brief  notice.  For 
further  church  history,  see  the  following  chap- 
ter on  city  of  Nokomis. 


TOWN   OF    NOKOMIS. 


307 


CHAPTER  XVIL* 

TOWN  OF  NOKOMIS— ITS    LOCATION   AND    SETTLEMENT— THE  FIRST  STORES,  MILLS  AND  OTHER 
BUSINESS— GRAIN  TRADE  OF  NOKOMIS—  MANUFACTURE  OF   AGRICULTURAL    IMPLE- 
MENTS—SCHOOLHOUSES,    ETC.— THE     PRESS-RELIGIOUS     HISTORY— THE 
DIFFERENT  CHURCHES,  PREACHERS,  ETC.,  ETC 


"History  enriches  the  mind,  gratifies  a  worthy- 
desire  to  be  informed  on  past  events,  and  enables  us 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  experience  of  our  prede- 
cessors." 

IT  is  not  expected  that  the  simple  narrative 
of  these  pages  will  be  anything  more  than 
a  mere  record  of  events  that  have  occurred 
within  the  limits  of  this  quiet  little  town.  To 
sketch  its  progress  and  improvement  from  the 
building  of  the  first  cabin  to  its  present  growth 
and  prosperity,  is  the  extent  of  our  aim  in  this 
chapter.  In  the  preceding  chapter,  the  history 
of  Nokomis  Township  has  been  given  by  another 
writer,  and  hence  the  village  only  will  occupy 
our  attention.  In  gathering  statistics  concern- 
ing early  settlements,  organization  of  churches, 
etc.,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  find  records 
which  will  give,  with  certainty  and  accuracy, 
the  information  wanted.  While  we  have  taken 
pains  to  secure  facts,  it  is  possible  that  in  the 
following  pages  there  are  inaccuracies. 

The  town  of  Nokomis  was  settled  as  a  village 
about  the  year  1 855.  It  was  laid  out  by  T.  C. 
Huggins,  of  Bunker  Hill,  111.,  and  Capt.  Simeon 
Ryder,  of  Alton,  111.,  and  it  is  beautifully  situ- 
ated on  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad, 
about  twenty  miles  northeast  of  Hillsboro,  the 
county  seat.  It  was  incorporated  as  a  village 
March  9, 18G7,  and  has  since  been  incorporated 
as  a  town  under  special  charter.  It  is  the  third 
town  in  the  county  in  size  of  population,  and  is 
a  place  of  considerable  business,  having  a  large 
grain  trade. 

*  By  Rev.  T.  E.  Spilman. 


The  first  store  in  the  village  was  owned  by 
Oliver  Boutwell.  He  was  bought  out  by  H.  F. 
Rood,  who  built  another  store  in  the  year  1859. 
The  first  hotel  was  built  by  a  Mr.  Hart,  and  is 
the  same  building,  which,  witli  recent  improve- 
ments, is  now  called  the  Eureka  House,  and 
stands  north  of  the  railroad.  The  second  hotel 
was  built  by  James  Bone,  in  the  year  1865, 
and  burned  down  in  1881.  The  first  physician 
locating  in  Nokomis  was  Dr.  James  Welch,  who 
came  to  the  place  about  the  year  1859. 

A  flouring-mill  was  built  in  1857,  by  Jewett 
&  Wetmore.  This  mill,  as  well  as  the  third 
one,  which  was  built  by  Mulkey  &  Gamble, 
burned  down.  The  second  mill  built,  which  is 
the  one  now  standing,  and  doing  good  work, 
was  built  by  Rhoades  &  Boxberger.  It  is  now 
owned  and  operated  by  Hobson  &  Hartsock. 

The  first  schoolhouse  in  Nokomis  was  a 
one-story  rame,  built  in  the  year  1858,  and 
served  the  wants  of  the  town  for  educational 
purposes  until  the  present  handsome  brick 
building,  containing  seven  rooms,  was  erected 
in  the  year  1871.  This  edifice  cost  a  little 
over  113,000,  and  is  finished  and  furnished 
in  the  latest  improved  style. 

The  Nokomis  Post  Office  was  probably 
opened  about  the  year  1856,  and  had  for 
Postmaster  Oliver  Boutwell.  In  1858,  Mr. 
H.  F.  Rood  took  the  position  of  Postmaster. 
He  was  followed  about  the  year  1861  by  W. 

F.  Mulkey.       Mr.  Mulkey  held  the  situation 

probably   something  less  than  a  year,  when 


308 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  office  came  again  into  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Rood,  who  conducted  it  until  probably  about 
the  year  18(34,  when  it  came  into  the  hands 
of  Thomas  Judson.  The  present  Postmaster, 
D.  P.  Broj>hy,  came  into  possession  of  the 
office  in  the  year  1865,  and  is  a  faithful  and 
efficient  officer. 

The  grain  trade  was  commenced  in  Noko- 
mis  probably  as  early  as  the  year  18(30,  by 
H.  F.  Rood.  In  1868,  there  were  four  par- 
ties buying  grain;  at  the  present  time  there 
are  three.  The  country  in  the  vicinity  of 
Nokomis  is  a  fine  one  for  agriculture,  and  the 
grain  market  is  good. 

The  oldest  dwelling  house  standing  in  the 
town  is  probably  the  small  building,  made  of 
logs,  now  boarded  upon  the  outside,  stand- 
ing south  of  the  lumber  yard. 

Nokomis  has  never  been  much  of  a  manu- 
facturing town,  but  has  paid  most  of  ber  at- 
tention to  grain  and  merchandise.  J.  C. 
Runge  &  Bro.  commenced  the  manufacture 
of  agricultural  implements  about  the  year 
1868.  Their  factory  is  now  worked  by  a 
steam  engine,  of  about  eighteen-horse-power. 
They  do  quite  a  large  business. 

The  Nokomis  National  Bank  had  its  origin 
in  the  year  1872.  Its  Directors  were  James 
Pennington,  A.  E.  McKinney,  J.  H.  Beatty, 
T.  Ernst,  Jacob  Haller,  John  Johns  and  C. 
W.  Townsend.  Its  President  was  J.  W. 
Beatty;  Vice  President,  John  Johns,  and  its 
Cashier,  B.  F.  Culp.  It  commenced  business 
with  a  capital  of  $50,000.  It  now  has  a  sur- 
plus of  $10,000.  The  President  of  the  bank 
at  this  time  is  H.  F.  Rood;  Vice  President, 
George   Tayloi-,  and  Cashier.  Alfred    Griffin. 

Secret  and  benevolent  institutions  are  rep- 
resented in  Nokomis  by  Masons,  Odd  Fellows 
and  Knights  of  Honor.  The  society  of  Free- 
masons was  organized  in  the  year  1856,  the 
Odd  Fellows  in  1866,  and  the  Knights  of 
Honor  February  6,    1879.     These  organiza- 


tions  have   comfortable  halls,  and  appear  to 
be  in  a  nourishing  condition. 

Newspapers. — The  first  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  Nokomis  was  the  Nokomis  Adver- 
tiser, edited  and  published  by  Draper  &  Hen- 
derson. It  was  established  in  the  year  1868, 
and  had  a  free  circulation.  It  was  devoted 
largely  to  the  land  interest  of  the  country. 

About  the  year  1871,  Messrs.  Picket  & 
White  came  to  the  place  and  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  Gazette.  At  this  time 
the  Advertiser  was  suspended,  and  the  whole 
field  given  to  the  Gazette.  The  expenses  of 
publication  being  greater  than  were  antici- 
pated, the  concern  was  sold  to  meet  encum- 
brances. A.  H.  Draper  then,  in  1873,  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  Bulletin.  Its 
career  was  closed  in  1876. 

After  a  time,  the  publication  of  the  Bulle- 
tin was  resumed,  taken  up  at  first  by  H.  F. 
White,  one  of  its  former  proprietors,  and 
afterward  passed  through  the  hands  of  sev- 
eral successive  publishers. 

In  1877,  E.  M.  Hulburt  entered  upon  the 
publication  of  the  Free  Press,  and  in  March, 
1878,  it  was  consolidated  with  the  Gazette, 
and  took  the  name  of  the  Free  Press- Gazi  ll<  . 
the  consolidated  paper  being  edited  and  pub- 
lished by  E.  M.  Hulburt. 

In  1880,  H.  M.  Graden  commenced  the 
publication  of  the  Nokomis  Atlas,  which 
closed  its  career  in  1881. 

In  December,  1SS0,  E.  M.  Hulburt  began 
to  publish  a  paper  in  the  German  language, 
called  the  Deutsch  Amerikaner. 

In  the  year  1881,  Mr.  Hulburt  purchased, 
and  has  now  in  successful  operation,  a  Camp- 
bell cylinder  press. 

The  Free  Press-Gazette,  and  the  Deutsch 
Amerikaner,  under  the  control  of  Mr.  Hul- 
burt, are  the  only  papers  now  published  in 
the  town  of  Nokomis. 

Churches. — In  the  year  1855,   St.   Mark's 


TOWN    OF    NOKOMIS. 


309 


Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  was  organized 
at  the  village  of  Audubon,  seven  miles  east 
from  the  present  site  of  Nokomis.  and  was 
called  Zion's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Clmrch. 
Sometime  afterward,  an  organization  of  th9 
Lutheran  Church  was  formed  in  Nokomis. 
A  house  of  worship  was  built,  being  the  first 
house  of  worship  erected  in  Nokomis,  the 
cost  being  about  $4,500.  This  house  was 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God  by  the  Luth- 
eran Church  October  21,  1866,  the  dedicatory 
sermon  being  preached  by  Rev.  M.  M.  Bar- 
tholomew. The  two  churches,  the  one  at 
Audubon,  and  the  one  at  Nokomis,  were  or- 
ganized into  one  October  22,  1866,  and  called 
St.  Mark's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 
The  names  of  those  who  signed  the  Constitu- 
tion of  this  new  organization  were  as  follows: 
Christian  Easterday,  Anna  M.  Easterday, 
Daniel  Easterday,  Jane  Easterday,  Leonard 
Leas.  Mary  Leas,  George  Culp,  Elizabeth 
Culp.  Stephen  L.  Latimer,  Joseph  Miller, 
Isabella  Miller,  Solomon  Miller,  Samuel 
Friend.  Martin  V.  Easterday,  J.  W.  Russell, 
Martha  B.  Russell,  Isaac  F.  Strider,  Amos  W. 
Easterday,  Anna  M.  Easterday,  Hannah  M. 
Easterday,  Benjamin  F.  Culp,  Barbara  A. 
Culp,  Sophia  Graden.  The  first  pastor  chosen 
by  this  church  was  Rev.  M.  M.  Bartholomew. 
His  successors  have  been  Revs.  John  Rugan, 
M.  L.  Kunkelman,  J.  C.  Wesner,  D.  M.  Henkle, 
D.  D. ,  and  John  Booher,  the  present  supply, 
a  student  not  yet  having  completed  his  theo- 
logical studies. 

The  first  Elders  chosen  by  the  church  were 
Leonard  Leas  and  Joseph  Miller.  The  first 
Deacons  were  S.  L.  Latimer  and  J.  W.  Rus- 
sell. The  church  has  a  membership  at  pres- 
ent of  fifty,  and  maintains  a  good  Sunday 
school. 

The  Baptist  Church  of  Nokomis  was  organ- 
ized in  the  year  1856,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Hutsen, 
at  a  schoolhouse  in   what  was  known  as  Cot- 


tingham's  Grove.  The  following  are  the 
names  of  those  who  at  that  time  entered  in- 
to the  organization:  Mason  Jewett,  Royal  W. 
Lee,  Christopher  Jewett,  Polly  Lee,  Jane 
Jewett,  Melvina  Wetmore,  Mary  Jewett  and 
Marcusia  Smith.  The  house  of  worship  now 
occupied  by  this  church  in  the  town  of  No- 
komis was  built  in  1870,  and  the  first  seiwice 
held  in  it  was  on  the  9th  of  July  of  the  same 
year.  The  following  ministers  have  been 
supplies  of  this  church:  Revs.  R.  R.  Coon, 
Jacob  V.  Hopper,  E.  Jones,  J.  H.  Mize  and 
the  present  supply,  Rev.  S.  G.  Duff.  The 
present  membership  is  probably  near  fifty. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Noko- 
mis had  an  imperfect  organization  as  early  as 
about  the  year  1857,  and  appointed  as  its 
Class-Leader  James  Watson.  In  the  year 
1860,  the  society  was  more  perfectly  organ- 
ized by  Rev.  John  E.  Lindley,  at  that  time 
supplying  the  Irving  Circuit.  About  the 
year  1S73,  Mr.  Lindley  was  appointed  to  the 
Nokomis  Circuit,  and  died  while  in  charge, 
February  19, 1S75.  His  remains  were  buried 
in  the  cemetery  near  the  town.  The  first 
sermon  preached  in  Nokomis  Township  was 
by  James  L.  Crane,  a  Methodist  minister, 
about  the  year  1848.  The  house  of  worship 
now  occupied  by  the  Methodist  Church  was 
built  in  1869,  and  dedicated  November  14  of 
the  same  year. 

The  pulpit  of  the  Methodist  Church  has 
been  regularly  sujjplied  by  the  following 
ministers:  Revs.  Taylor,  Kershner,  John  E. 
Lindley,  P.  Honnold,  E.  E.  Copperthwait,  S. 
H.  Whitlock,  Martin  Miller,  George  Miller, 
J.  M.  West,  T.  M.  Dillon,  L.  T.  Janes,  and 
the  present  pastor,  J.  W.  Crane. 

The  roll  of  the  original  members  has  been 
imperfectly  kept;  but  the  following  is  prob- 
ably nearly  correct:  Mr.  Taylor,  Jonathan 
G.  Fellers,  Margaret  Fellers,  Nancy  Rood, 
Horace  Graves,  Ann  Graves,  Elias  P.  Baxter, 


310 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


Elizabeth  Baxter,  James  Watson,  Mary  Wat- 
son, Solomon  Smith,  Mary  F.  Bone,  Susan 
Brophy,  John  Hancock,  Margaret  Hancock, 
Alexander  Vanhauten,  Martha  Jane  Vanhau- 
ten, Stephen  B.  Waples.  The  present  mem- 
bership of  the  church  is  probably  about  one 
hundred  and  fifteen.  A  Sunday  school  is 
carried  on  the  year  round. 

The  Christian  Church  of  Nokomis  was  or- 
ganized by  Rev.  William  Vanhooser  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  with  the  following  members: 
John  Lower,  Mrs.  Magdalena  Lower,  Miss 
Diana  Lower.  A  B.  Vanhooser,  Mrs.  Mary 
Vanhooser,  Mrs.  Mary  Swords,  F.  M.  Osborn. 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Osborn,  E.  M.  Thompson,  Mrs. 
Ann  Thompson,  Miss  Malissa  Thompson, 
Rev.  William  Vanhooser,  Mrs.  Jane  Van- 
hooser, W.  F.  Mulkey,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Mulkey, 
Milliam  R.  Vanhooser,  J.  A.  Vanhooser,  Miss 
R.  A.  Vanhooser,  Miss  N.  E.  Vanhooser,  T. 
Patterson,  Mrs.  M.  J.  Patterson  and  Mrs. 
Maria  Lant.  At  the  time  of  organization, 
the  congregation  worshiped  in  the  public 
schoolhouse.  The  present  house  of  worship. 
at  a  cost  of  about  $4,000,  was  completed  and 
opened  for  worship  in  1863.  Rev.  A.  D. 
Northcut  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon, 
assisted  in  the  service  by  Rev.  Newton  Mul- 
key. 

The  following  ministers  have  been  regu- 


larly employed  as  Pastors  of  the  church: 
Revs.  William  Vanhooser,  Abraham  Martin, 
John  Friend  and  James  Ament.  Rev.  Will- 
iam Vanhooser  has  been  re-employed,  and  is 
at  present  the  Pastor  of  the  church.  Several 
other  brethren  have,  for  a  few  months  at  a 
time,  also  been  supplies  of  the  pulpit.  The 
church  has  at  present  a  membership  of  about 
fifty.  Only  five  of  the  original  members  are 
now  residents  of  the  town. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nokomis  was 
organized  by  Rev.  Joseph  Gordon,  in  June, 
1862,  with  the  following  members:  Thomas 
Derr,  David  Nickey,  Wilson  Sible,  Jane 
Nickey,  Rebecca  Matkin,  Eglantine  Stridor, 
Rebecca  Sible,  Phcebe  D.  Derr,  Nellie  A. 
Derr,  Irene  B.  Derr,  Amanda  E.  Matkin, 
Nancy  Yarnell.  David  Nickey  was  chosen 
Ruling  Elder.  Rev.  Joseph  Gordon  was  the 
first  regular  supply  of  the  pulpit.  His  suc- 
cessors have  been  Revs.  Gideon  C.  Clark,  C. 
K.  Smoyer,  N.  Williams,  J.  P.  Mills,  James 
Lafferty,  D.  L.  Gear,  and  the  present  supply, 
T.  E.  Spilman. 

This  comprises  a  brief  sketch  of  the  town 
of  Nokomis  from  its  laying-out  as  a  village  to 
the  present  time.  As  both  time  and  space 
were  limited,  we  have  confined  ourself  to  a 
brief  statement  of  facts,  avoiding  all  unnec- 
essary embellishments. 


mMm^m 


EAST   FORK   TOWNSHIP. 


311 


CHAPTER  XVIII.* 

EAST  FORK  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES— WATER-COURSES— EARLY  SETTLERS— MILLS  AND  CATTLE- 
RAISING— ROADS— CHURCHES,  SCHOOLS  AND  SECRET  SOCIETIES. 

the  best  townships  in  the  county.  The  north- 
ern boundary  is  Irving  ;  eastern,  Fillmore  ;  its 
southern  boundary  is  La  Grange  Township,  of 


"  Like  the  race  of  leaves  is  that  of  human  kind. 

Upon  the  ground  the  winds  stir  one  year's  growth, 

The  sprouting  grove  puts  forth  another  brood  that 

Sport  and  grow  in  the  spring  season. 

So  is  it  with  man, 

One  generation  grows  while  one  decays." — Mad. 

|~T  is  difficult  to  realize  as  we  travel  along 
J-     the  highways  that  traverse  this  beautiful 
prairie  township,  and  note  the  broad,   fertile 
acres  of  well-tilled  soil  and  the  stately  farm- 
houses, where  the  happy  husbandman  lives  in 
the   midst   of    plenty    and    contentment,    that 
scarcely  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  these 
luxuriant  plains  were  peopled  by  a  few  wan- 
dering savages  and  formed  part  of  a  vast,  un- 
broken wild,  which  gave  but  little  promise  of 
the  high  state  of  civilization  it  has   since  at- 
tained. ■  Instead   of   the   primitive   log   cabin 
and  diminutive  board  shanty,  we  now  see  dot- 
ting the  prairie  in   all  directions  comfortable 
and  elegantly  formed  mansions  of  the  latest 
style  of  architecture,  graceful,  substantial  and 
convenient.     We  see  also  the   bosom   of  the 
country  decked  with  church  structures  of  all 
religious  denominations  and  well-built  school- 
houses  at  proper  intervals.    Her  fields  are  laden 
with  the  choicest  cereals,  her  pastures  all  alive 
with  numerous  herds  of  the  finest  breeds  of 
stock,  and  everything  bespeaks  the  thrift  and 
prosperity  with  which  the  farmer  in  this  fertile 
division  of  the  county  is  blessed.     East  Fork 
is  one  of  the  southern  townships  of  Montgomery 
County,  and  is  also  one  of  the  largest,  being  ten 
miles  in  extent  from  north  to  south  and  six  miles 
from  east  to  west.     It  contains  sixty  square 
miles  of  land,  and  is,  in  many  respects,  one  of 

•By  G.  N.  Berry. 


Bond  County.  It  is  bounded  on  the  west  by 
Hillsboro  and  Grisham  Townships.  The  area 
embraces  one  township  and  a  half,  the  northern 
part  being  designated  as  Township  8  north, 
Range  3  west,  while  that  division  lying  south  of 
the  dividing  line  is  known  as  Township  7  north, 
of  Range  3  west.  The  township  is  well  drained 
by  a  number  of  small  creeks  and  their  tribu- 
taries, which  meander  through  the  prairie  in 
many  different  directions.  The  most  prominent 
of  these  are  McDavid's  Branch,  in  the  south- 
eastern part,  and  the  East  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek, 
near  the  eastern  boundary.  The  first  named 
rises  near  the  northeastern  corner  of  the  town- 
ship, flows  in  a  zigzag  channel  toward  the 
southwest,  to  within  a  mile  of  the  county  line 
where  it  empties  into  Shoal  Creek. 

East  Fork,  the  largest  and  most  important 
water-course,  flows  in  a  southerly  direction 
through  the  eastern  part  of  the  township,  and 
affords  an  excellent  system  of  natural  drainage 
plenty  of  stock  water  and  is  indispensable  to 
the  success  of  the  farmer  and  grazier  in  this 
region.  Bear  Creek  is  a  stream  of  considerable 
size  in  the  western  portion.  It  receives  many 
small  tributaries,  which  frequently  flood  the 
lands  through  which  they  flow  during  very  rainy 
seasons.  Brush  Creek  flows  in  a  northwest- 
erly direction  and  intersects  the  northern  bound- 
ary at  a  point  about  one  half  mile  east  of  Hills- 
boro Township.  Wolf  Pen  Branch  and  Indian 
Camp  Branch  arc  small  streams  in  the  western 
part,  but  are  of  no  considerable  importance. 
The  greater  part  of  the  surface  of  East   Fork 


•312 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


consists  of  undulating  and  gently  rolling  prai- 
rie lands,  of  the  very  best  and  most  fertile  soil 
in  the  county.  In  the  southern  and  southeast- 
ern parts,  for  about  three  miles  along  Bear 
Creek  and  McDavid'a  Branch,  the  surface  is 
broken  and  in  some  places  hilly.  The  soil  on 
these  high  places  differs  very  materially  from 
that  of  the  prairies,  being  thinner  and  more 
sandy,  but  nevertheless  very  productive. 

The  greater  amount  of  timber  is  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township,  adjacent  to  the 
creeks  already  named.  There  are  also  small 
strips  of  woodland  in  the  eastern  and  north- 
eastern parts,"  but  the  most  of  this  has  been 
cleared  and  put  in  cultivation.  Like  the  tim- 
ber in  the  other  townships  of  the  county,  the 
varieties  consist  of  elm  along  the  water-courses, 
hickory,  oak  and  walnut  on  the  uplands.  The 
best  of  the  timber  was  cut  years  ago,  what  is 
left  being  merely  a  new  growth,  which  has  made 
its  appearance  since  the  country  was  settled. 
On  McDavid's  Branch,  in  the  western  part  of 
the  township,  is  a  large,  beautiful  spring,  where 
the  Fox  Indians,  in  j-ears  gone  by,  made  their 
home.  Near  this  spring  numerous  relics  have 
been  found,  such  as  beads,  flint  spear  heads, 
silver  trinkets  of  various  kinds,  pipes,  stone 
axes,  etc.  These  Indians  did  not  remain  long 
after  the  white  man  made  his  appearance,  but 
left  for  parts  unknown  in  the  year  1828.  Scat- 
tered bauds  frequently  visited  the  scene  of  th<  ir 
former  camping  grounds  in  after  years,  but 
they  never  remained  for  any  great  length  of 
time.  These  visits  were  finally  discontinued, 
and  no  Indians  have  been  seen  in  East  Fork 
since  1835.  The  first  settler  in  this  township 
was  William  Me  David,  who  came  to  Illinois 
from  Tennessee  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1820, 
and  entered  a  piece  of  land  lying  in  Seel  ion 
34,  near  the  place  now  known  as  McDavid'a 
Point.  He  came  in  company  with  one  Jesse 
Johnson,  who  stopped  at  the  little  settlement 
in  Grrisharn  Township,  near  where  the  village 
of  Donnellson  now  stands. 


At  the  time  McDavid  settled  in  East  Fork, 
there  was  no  house  nearer  than  five  miles,  and 
for  several  months  his  neighbors  were  few 
and  scattering.  Time,  however,  makes  great 
changes,  and  within  a  few  years  the  little  set- 
tlement became  one  of  the  most  thrifty  and 
flourishing  communities  in  the  county.  Mo- 
David  lived  in  the  place  where  he  first  settled 
exactly  forty-six  years.  He  died  the  14th  day 
of  February,  1800.  His  wife  is  still  living, 
having  reached  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-two 
years.  The  old  homestead  is  now  owned  by 
his  son,  T.  W.  McDavid,  who  has  added  to  it 
much  of  the  surrounding  land.  His  farm  is 
one  of  the  largest  in  the  county.  Another  son, 
W.  C.  McDavid,  lives  on  the  farm  adjoining 
that  of  his  brother.  He  was  the  first  white 
person  born  in  the  township,  and  his  whole  life 
has  been  passed  within  its  borders.  The  next 
settler  of  whom  anything  definite  is  known  was 
James  Card.  He  found  his  way  into  the  wilds 
of  East  Fork  in  the  year  1821,  and  located  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Daniel  Cress  in  Section  4. 
Here  he  erected  a  cabin  and  lived  one  year, 
when  his  wife  died,  after  which  he  returned  to 
his  former  home  in  Kentucky.  In  the  3-ear 
1823,  he  came  back  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
the  northern  part  of  East  Fork,  near  the  Irving 
Township  line,  where  he  remained  for  two 
years.  He  moved  from  this  last  place  to  Fill- 
more Township.  Card  came  from  the  mount- 
ains of  North  Carolina,  and  was  in  many  re- 
spects a  remarkable  man.  Daring,  intrepid 
and  intensely  religious,  he  knew  no  such  word 
as  fail,  and  all  his  undertakings  were  crowned 
with  success.  He  made  the  first  journey  from 
this  township  to  St.  Louis  for  flour  for  the  set- 
tlement, a  task  at  that  day  attended  by  no  little 
trouble  and  inconvenience,  as  there  were  no 
roads  in  the  country.  He  directed  his  course 
across  the  almost  trackless  prairies  by  means 
of  a  pocket  compass,  cut  his  own  roads  in  the 
woods  through  which  he  was  obliged  to  pass,  and 
readied  his  destination  after  many  weary  days' 


EAST    FORK  TOAVNSHIP. 


313 


traveling  with  his  slow  ox  team.     The  return 
trip  was  made  in  face  of  fully  as  man}-  difficul- 
ties, as  he  was  more  heavily  loaded,  and  the 
way    was   made   almost   impassable   in   some 
places  by  the  heavy  rainfall.     Several  sons  of 
Mr.  Card   are  living  in  Illinois,  one  of  them 
being  a  business  man  of  Hillsboro.     A  number 
of  settlers  located  in  the  southern   part  of  the 
township   between   the  years  1821  and   1826, 
among    whom     were   the   following:     Joseph 
Williams,   John  Kirkpatrick,  E.  Ghiin,  Henry 
Rowe  and  David  Bradford.     Williams  settled 
on  the  farm  where  Riley  Hampton  now  lives. 
Kirkpatrick  located  in  the  southwest  comer  of 
the  township  near  the  village  of  Donnellson. 
The  places  on  which  the  other  three  settled  is 
not  known,  nor  could  the  dates  of  their  deaths 
be    ascertained.     The    earliest    settler   in   the 
northern   part    of   East    Fork    was    Benjamin 
Rhodes.     He  came  here  from  Southern  Indiana 
in  the  year  182G  and  located  a  farm  in  Section 
8,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Hillsboro. 
Aside  from  the  little  settlement  at  McDavid's 
Point   already    alluded   to,  Rhodes'  cabin  was 
the  only   house  in  the  township  at  this  time. 
He  died  in  1877.     William  R.  Linxwiler,  a  step- 
son of  the  preceding,  came  to  East  Fork  while 
very  young,  and  has  lived  here  ever  since.     His 
whole  life  has  been  identified  with  the  growth 
and  development  of  his  township  in  which  he 
takes  a  deep  interest.     He  has   lived   on  the 
farm   which  he  now  owns   for  the  last  thirty 
years,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  citizens  in  East 
Fork. 

Among  the  first  settlers  was  Jordan  Williford, 
a  Tennessean,  who  came  in  an  early  day  and 
rented  a  small  piece  of  land  lying  in  the  central 
part  of  the  township.  This  was  in  the  year 
1825.  The  following  year,  he  located  on  Mc- 
David's Branch,  where  he  lived  for  three  years. 
when  he  sold  his  farm  to  William  McDavid, 
and  moved  farther  west  on  Shoal  Creek.  Here 
he  purchased  an  extensive  tract  of  land,  which 
was  his  home  till  the  year  1856,  at  which  time 


he  disposed  of  all  his  possessions  in  this  State 
and  moved  to  Arkansas. 

He  was  a  man  of  sterling  integrity,  high, 
moral  character  and  unbounded  hospitality. 
No  one  was  ever  allowed  to  leave  his  pioneer 
home  in  need  of  anything  which  his  liberal 
hand  could  supply.  He  raised  a  family  of 
eleven  children  of  whom  seven  are  still  living. 
Andrew  J.  Williford,  one  of  the  sons  of  Jordan 
Williford,  can  be  called  an  early  settler,  as  he 
came  here  with  his  father  when  but  eleven 
years  old,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  the  town- 
ship ever  since.  He  is  a  Baptist  preacher,  and, 
like  his  father  before  him,  is  a  man  universally 
respected  by  the  community  in  which  he  has 
resided.  Robert  and  Joseph  Mann,  two  broth- 
ers, were  among  the  first  settlers  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  East  Fork.  Little  is  known  defi- 
nitely  about  them,  as  to  where  they  came  from 
or  how  long  they  remained,  but  they  are  spoken 
of  as  good  citizens,  and  were  well  thought  of. 
Just  south  of  the  place  where  the  Mann  broth- 
ers settled,  James  Wiler  located,  though  how 
long  he  remained  was  not  learned.  The  Aliens 
were  also  an  old  family  of  East  Fork,  and  set- 
tled here  prior  to  the  year  1830.  Many  repre- 
sentatives of  this  family  are  still  living  in  the 
county. 

Prominently  identified  with  the  early  history 
of  this  township  was  one  Samuel  Haller,  who 
settled  near  the  northeast  corner  on  a  large 
tract  of  land  known  as  the,  old  Haller  farm. 
Here  he  built  his  little  cabin,  and  raised  a 
goodly  family  of  children,  who  figured  largely 
in  the  early  settlement  of  the  county.  One  of 
these,  T.  B.  Haller,  is  now  one  of  the  leading 
physicians  of  the  State,  and  is  located  at  Van- 
dalia.  Many  privations  were  experienced  by 
the  early  settlers,  among  which  was  the  diffi- 
culty of  obtaining  flour.  In  order  to  obtain 
this,  they  were  obliged  to  go  to  St.  Louis  or  Ed- 
wardsville,  which  required  a  great  deal  of  time, 
as  there  were  but  few  if  any  good  roads  in  those 
early  days.     For  a  number  of  years,  the  mill  at 


314 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Edwardsville  and  the  little  mill  on  Shoal  Creek, 
in  Grisbam  Township,  were  the  only  places 
where  breadstuff's  could  be  obtained.  The  first 
mill  in  the  township  was  built  by  G.  W.  Tray- 
lor  in  the  southeastern  part,  about  the  year 
1830,  as  near  as  could  be  ascertained.  This 
was  a  steam  mill  with  saw  attached,  and  was  in 
operation  about  twenty-five  years.  Another 
mill  run  by  steam  was  that  of  D.  M.  Williams, 
in  the  southern  part.  This  mill  was  in  opera- 
tion as  early  as  the  year  1840,  but  at  just  what 
date  it  was  erected,  and  how  long  it  was  run, 
was  information  which  the  writer  was  unable  to 
obtain.  A.  M.  Miller  built  a  mill  in  1867,  which 
is  still  in  operation.  This  is  a  steam  mill  with 
saw  attached,  and  is  doing  a  good  business. 
The  Brown  Mill  was  moved  into  this  township 
about  the  year  1875,  and  operated  till  1877, 
when  it  was  torn  down,  and  taken  to  Fillmore 
Township,  a  few  miles  away,  where  it  is  still 
standing. 

C.  C.  Root  has  a  saw-mill  in  operation  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township,  which  is  doing  a 
large  and  paying  business.  There  have  been 
several  portable  mills  in  the  township  at  vari- 
ous times,  but  none  of  them  did  business  on  a 
very  extensive  scale.  The}-  have  all  been  re- 
moved, and,  at  the  present  time,  there  ai-e  but 
the  two  mills  already  mentioned  in  operation 
in  this  section  of  the  county. 

The  stock  business,  breeding,  raising  and 
shipping  stock,  receives  considerable  attention 
from  the  citizens  of  East  Fork,  and  a  number 
of  large  farms  are  to  be  seen  where  large  herds 
of  fine  cattle  and  sheep  are  kept. 

Prominent  among  those  who  make  the  stock 
business  a  specialty  are  J.  B.  McDavid,  William 
H.  Wilson  and  Thomas  H.  Wilson.  McDavid 
owns  one  of  the  most  extensive  tracts  of  land 
in  the  county,  there  being  in  his  farm  over  one 
thousand  acres.  Here  can  be  seen  some  very 
fine  cattle  that  have  been  bought  and  reared 
with  no  little  expense. 

The    farm   of  W.  II.  Wilson  contains  nine 


hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  choice  land, 
which  is  well  stocked.  Thomas  H.  Wilson 
owns  some  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of 
land  in  the  best  part  of  the  township,  aud 
has  some  very  fine  breeds  of  cattle  and 
sheep.  The  first  stock-markets  were  reached 
by  driving  the  cattle  overland  to  St.  Louis,  but 
!  the  presence  of  railroads  in  the  county  brings 
the  market  nearer  home.  The  first  roads  through 
East  Fork  were  probably  better  than  the  early 
roads  in  any  other  part  of  the  county,  as  there 
are  but  few  hills  to  cross  and  little  woods  to  go 
through.  The  township  is  now  well  supplied 
with  good  roads  passing  through  it  or  along  its 
boundaries. 

The  oldest  road  through  the  township  is  the 
Vandalia  and  Hillsboro  road,  which  connects 
those  two  places,  aud  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant highways  in  the  county.  It  intersects 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the  township  at  a  point 
about  one  mile  and  a  half  southeast  of  Hillsboro, 
and  passes  through  the  township  in  a  south- 
easterly direction.  Its  course  varies  but  little 
till  within  a  couple  of  miles  from  the  line  which 
separates  the  township  from  Fillmore,  where  it 
bears  southward  for  a  short  distance.  The  Hills- 
boro and  Fillmore  road  passes  through  the 
northern  part  of  the  township  from  east  to  west, 
and  is  one  of  the  early  roads  of  the  county.  It 
was  laid  out  in  the  year  1823,  and  established 
in  1S27.  Among  the  first  roads  laid  out  in 
the  township  was  the  Irving  road  which  runs 
through  the  western  part  from  north  to  south. 
It  intersects  the  Fillmore  and  Hillsboro  road 
at  right  angles,  about  one-half  mile  from  the 
Irving  line  and  the  Vandalia  and  Hillsboro 
road  at  McDavid's  Point  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  township.  The  Hillsboro  aud  Greenville 
road  runs  in  a  southerly  direction  from  Hills- 
boro and  forms  part  of  the  boundary  between 
East  Fork  and  Grisham  Townships.  These 
roads  are  all  kept  in  good  condition,  and  are 
among  the  best  highways  in  the  country. 
Many  roads  of  minor  importance  traverse  the 


L'C^?^<X<4 


LIBRARY 

Of   1HE 

UNIVf-Kbll  Y   ut  ILLINOIS 


EAST   FORK    TOAVNSHIP. 


317 


township  in  different  directions  and  intersect 
each  other  at  various  points,  but  they  are  known 
by  no  particular  names. 

The  early  pioneers  of  East  Fork  were  a 
moral  and  religious  people  as  is  evidenced  in 
the  fact  of  a  church  being  established  as  far 
back  as  the  year  1830.  The  Bethel  Regular 
Baptist  Church  dates  its  organization  from  this 
year,  though  there  had  been  religious  services 
held  at  different  places  in  the  township  several 
yars  previous  to  that  time.  The  first  sermon 
was  preached  by  Elder  James  Street,  in  a  pri- 
vate dwelling  house.  He  was  assisted  in  the 
services  by  Elder  Jordan,  and  together  they 
organized  the  church  already  named  some  time 
afterward. 

The  first  meetings  of  this  church  were  held 
in  private  dwellings  of  the  members  in  cold  ami 
inclement  weather,  and  in  the  groves,  "  God's 
first  temples,"  when  the  weather  would  admit 
of  out-door  services.  Among  the  first  mem- 
bers of  this  church  were  the  following  :  Eleanore 
Freeman,  Mary  Goodwin,  James  Card,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Colbert  Blair,  not  one  of  whom  is  now 
living.  James  Street  was  the  first  pastor,  in 
which  capacity  he  acted  for  about  twenty-five 
years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Elder  Larkin 
Craig,  of  Kentucky,  who  ministered  unto  the 
church  for  a  period  of  about  forty  years. 
Craig  was  a  fine  pulpit  orator  and  a  man  of 
more  than  ordinary  vitality  and  energy.  He 
would  frequently  travel  twenty-five  miles  on 
Saturday,  preach  Saturday  night,  Sunday 
morning,  afternoon  and  evening,  and  be  at 
home  in  time  to  do  the  greater  part  of  a  day's 
work  the  following  Monday.  Elder  Scars 
assisted  Craig  for  several  years,  preaching  in  the 
latter's  absence. 

Willis  Dodson  had  charge  of  the  church  for 
five  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Elder  Peter 
Long,  who  preached  for  the  congregation  a  long 
time.  The  present  pastor,  A.  J.  Williford,  has 
been  preaching  for  the  church  during  the  last 
twenty  years.     The  house  in  which  the  church 


was  organized  belonged  to  Elisha  Freeman, 
and  stood  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  town- 
ship. This  was  the  principal  place  of  worship 
for  about  ten  years.  The  first  church  edifice 
was  built  of  logs  and  stood  one  mile  north  of 
the  place  where  the  church  was  organized.  It 
served  as  a  place  of  worship  about  six  years, 
when  the  organization  was  moved  farther  west 
and  the  meeting  place  changed  to  a  little  school- 
house  on  Shoal  Creek.  The  congregation  met 
at  this  place  until  the  year  1855,  at  which  time 
the  building  in  which  they  now  worship,  was 
erected.  This  house  stands  on  an  acre  of 
ground  which  was  donated  the  church  by 
Samuel  Brockman.  The  house  was  remodeled 
in  the  year  1880,  and  is  a  very  pleasant  and 
comfortable  house  of  worship.  The  church 
has  decreased  somewhat  in  membership  through 
deaths  and  removals,  having  at  present  only 
about  thirty  names  on  the  books.  The 
Presbyterians  organized  a  society  in  the  j'ear 
1833,  under  the  auspices  of  Revs.  Joel  Knight 
and  John  Barber.  The  original  membership 
was  about  ten  or  twelve  in  number,  mostly 
from  other  churches  in  the  county.  Their  first 
building  was  of  logs,  and  stood  on  Section  4, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  township.  For  a 
number  of  years  public  services  were  conduct- 
ed at  this  place,  but  the  organization  was 
finally  abandoned  or  moved  to  some  other  place. 
Nothing  definite  concerning  this  church  could 
be  learned. 

The  Methodists  have  an  organization  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township,  where  for  years 
a  faithful  band  of  Christians  have  met  to  wor- 
ship. This  church  is  no  longer  the  stronghold 
that  it  used  to  be,  many  of  the  members  hav- 
ing died  and  many  moved  to  distant  places. 

The  writer  was  unable  to  obtain  any  facts  or 
data  concerning  this  society,  and  much  to  his 
regret  was  obliged  to  pass  it  by  with  the  fore- 
going brief  notice. 

The  Presbyterians  organized  a  society,  known 
as  the  McDavid's  Point  Cumberland  Presbyte- 


318 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY 


rian  Church,  in  the  year  1857.  The  organiza- 
tion was  brought  about  by  the  labors  of  Revs. 
Joel  Knight  and  Joseph  Bone. 

The  records  of  the  church  give  the  names  of 
ten  persons  as  constituting  the  original  mem- 
bership, most  of  them  being  from  the  church  at 
Donnellson.  We  eive  some  of  their  names  as 
follows  :  William  Linxwiler  and  wife.  J.  B.  Mc- 
David  and  wife,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  McDavid.  Many^ 
of  the  best  citizens  from  time  to  time  been  mem- 
bers of  this  church.  The  first  building  used  for 
a  place  of  worship  was  the  schoolhouse,  where 
the  congregation  met  for  almost  three  3_ears. 
As  the  church  increased  in  numbers,  a  larger 
bouse  was  required,  and  their  present  com- 
modious structure  was  erected  in  the  year  1S60. 
This  building  is  30x40  feet  frame,  and  will  com- 
fortably seat  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 
It  cost  the  sum  of  $2,000  and  is  one  of  the  most 
comfortable  and  substantial  church  edifices  in 
the  county.  It  was  dedicated  in  the  year  1861, 
by  Rev.  J.  B.  Logan.  A  flourishing  Sunday- 
school  is  maintained  in  connection  with  the 
church,  and  like  the  congregation,  is  in  splendid 
working  order.  Rev.  J.  B.  Logan  was  the  first 
pastor  of  the  church.  He  was  succeeded  by  L. 
P.  Dutheridge,  who  ministered  in  the  congre- 
gation for  several  years,  and  was  in  turn  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  T.  W.  McDavid. 

Revs.  Daniel  Bell,  E.  R.  Jones  and  E.  R. 
Rogers  have  preached  for  the  church  at  different 
times,  though  not  as  regular  pastors.  At  pres- 
ent the  congregation  is  without  a  pastor.  The 
Walnut  Grove  Free  Methodist  Church  is  located 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  and  was 
organized  in  the  spring  of  1880  by  F.  H.  Ash- 
croft,  with  a  membership  of  twenty-nine. 

For  six  months  after  the  organization,  all  the 
public  services  of  the  society  were  held  in  the 
barn  and  private  dwelling  of  William  Neal. 
The  house  in  which  the  congregation  now  wor- 
ships was  built  in  the  fall  of  1880.  This  is  a 
very  tastefully  arranged  little  building,  and  cost 
about  $000.     The  first  sermon  was  preached  in 


the  new  house  by  Rev.  E.  Outlander.  The  first 
pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  C.  A.  Flemming. 
Present  membership,  about  thirty  ;  services  are 
held  every  Sabbath  ;  prayer-meetings  every 
Wednesday  evening.  It  is  impossible  to  esti- 
mate the  great  good  done  by  these  religious  so- 
cieties, in  the  communities  where  the}'  are  to 
be  found.  They  have  had  a  tendency  to  elevate 
the  morals  and  strengthen  the  nobler  instincts 
of  life.  Many  vices  have  been  shunned  through 
their  influence,  and  the  result  is  an  abundant 
harvest  of  pure  lives.  May  the  churches  con- 
tinue their  well-begun  work  until 

"All  crimes  shall  cease,  anil  ancient  frauds  shall  fail 
Returning  justice  lift  aloft  her  scale. 
Peace  o'er  the  world  her  olive  wand  extend, 
And  white-robed  innocence  from  Heaven  descend." 

The  early  school  history  of  the  township  is 
almost  wholly  lost  in  the  shadows  of  the  past. 
and  many  dates  and  interesting  incidents  relat- 
ing thereto,  have  been  forgotten  long  since, 
hence,  we  cannot  hope  to  give  it  with  perfect 
correctness.  The  first  schoolhouse,  as  near  as 
can  be  learned,  was  built  in  the  year  1828,  on 
Section  8.  This  was  a  diminutive  log  cabin,  of 
the  most  primitive  kind,  no  vestige  of  which  re- 
mains to  show  the  exact  spot  where  it  stood. 
One  of  the  first  schools  was  taught  by  Lewis 
Cass,  in  the  year  1829.  The  house  in  which 
Cass  wielded  the  birch  stood  near  McDavid's 
Branch,  and  was  similar  in  rnauy  respects  to 
most  of  the  schoolhouses  of  that  day.  having 
neither  floor  nor  chimne^y.  A  log  removed  from 
the  side  of  the  building  left  a  considerable  open- 
ing, over  which  greased  paper  was  pasted,  thus 
affording  a  very  fair  substitute  for  a  window. 
Fires  were  built  in  one  end  of  the  room,  the 
smoke  finding  its  way  out  through  a  large  open- 
ing in  the  roof  the  best  way  it  could.  The  fur- 
niture was  of  the  simplest  kind,  consisting  of 
a  few  benches  made  of  hewed  logs,  and  a  broad 
writing-desk,  fastened  to  the  wall  by  means  of 
several  long  pins.  These  early  schools  were  all 
supported  by  subscription,  and  were  attended  by 


EAST   FORK   TOWNSHIP. 


319 


the  children  of  the  settlers  from  miles  around. 
The  first  public  school  was  taught  by  A.  J. 
Williford,  in  a  little  house  which  stood  near  the 
county  line.  This  school  was  taught  in  1839, 
and  lasted  but  three  months.  Michael  Walker 
was  one  of  the  early  teachers  of  East  Fork,  hav- 
ing taught  a  school  in  the  western  part  of  the 
township  in  the  year  1830. 

The  first  frame  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1843, 
on  McDavid's  Branch.  There  are  now  seven  good 
schoolhouses  in  the  township,  five  of  them  frame 
and  two  brick.  The  school  board  is  composed 
of  the  following  gentlemen,  viz.,  John  Fath,  W. 
S.  Barry,  A.  C.  Williams,  Trustees ;  George 
Linxwiler.  Treasurer. 

The  East  Fork  Post  Office  was  established  in 
the  year  1873,  with  S.  H.  Smith  as  Postmaster. 
This  office  was  kept  in  Smith's  store,  in  the 
western  part  of  the  township.  It  was  discon- 
tinued several  years  since. 

The  first  store  in  the  township  was  kept  by  a 
Mr.  Cockerel,  whose  stock  of  merchandise  con- 
sisted of  groceries,  boots,  shoes,  dry  goods  and 
whisky.  His  place  of  business  was  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township,  and  was  the 
scene  of  many  knockdowns  and  riots,  occa- 
sioned by  a  too  free  use  of  the  fire-water.  One 
evening  a  man  stopped  here,  on  his  way,  as  he 
said,  to  Kentucky.  He  drank  heavily,  and  did 
not  take  his  departure  until  a  late  hour  in  the 
night.  The  next  morning  his  dead  body  was 
found  a  short  distance  below,  oil  which  were 
marks  indicating  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
choked  to  death.  The  supposition  was  that  he 
had  been  followed,  robbed  and  murdered  by 
some  unknown  parties  who  had  been  on  his 
track  for  the  purpose.  No  clew  to  the  mystery 
was  ever  found.  The  body  was  buried  near  the 
spot  where  it  was  found,  according  to  the  law 
of  that  day. 

A  man  by  name  of  Rutter  was  killed  near 
this    place  in  the  year  1838,  by  a  certain  Jack 


Wood.  It  seems  that  the  two  had  some  diffi- 
culty, during  which  Rutter  became  very  abus- 
ive, and  wanted  to  fight  Wood.  The  latter 
tried  to  get  away,  and  begged  to  be  let  alone, 
as  he  wanted  no  trouble.  Rutter,  however, 
would  not  be  pacified,  but  continued  to  follow 
Wood  up,  and  finally  struck  him.  Wood  re- 
turned the  blow,  and  struck  Rutter  on  the  neck 
just  below  the  ear.  The  blow  was  fatal.  Rut- 
ter dropped  and  died  instantly.  Nothing  was 
ever  done  with  Wood  for  the  killing. 

A  part  of  the  village  of  Donnellson  lies 
in  East  Fork,  though  none  of  the  original 
plat  of  the  town.  There  is  one  good  store 
here  kept  by  R.  C.  Clark,  whose  stock  of 
merchandise  represents  a  capital  of  several 
thousand  dollars.  M.  N.  Allen  keeps  an  agri- 
cultural store  in  connection  with  his  blacksmith 
shop,  and  is  doing  a  veiy  fair  business. 

Over  Clark's  storeroom  is  a  nice,  commodious 
Hall,  where  Lodge  No.  255,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  holds 
its  meetings.  This  lodge  was  established  Octo- 
ber 8,  1858,  by  Most  Worshipful  Master  Harri- 
son Dill,  with  a  membership  of  seven.  Their 
names  are  as  follows  :  William  Gordon,  M.  S. 
Davenport,  J.  C.  Banner,  P.  S.  Davenport, 
Casba  Hawkins,  Tipton  Cox  and  James  H. 
Moss.  The  first  officers  were  :  William  Gordon, 
W.  M.;  M.  S.  Davenport,  S.  W.;  J.  C.  Hanner, 
J.  W.  The  hall  was  built  in  the  year  1861. 
Present  officers  of  the  Lodge  are  :  M.  N.  Allen, 
W.  M.;  R.  C.  Clark.  S.  W.;  F.  W.  Kummell,  J. 
W.;  J.  B.  Casy,  S.  D.;  H.  S.  Hanner,  J.  D.;  B.  F. 
McLain,  Sec;  William  Williams,  Treas.;  Henry 
Walkerline,  Tiler.  Present  membership,  35. 
At  one  time,  this  was  one  of  the  strongest 
lodges  in  the  county,  but  of  late  years  the 
un'iniii'i'ship  has  decreased  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. 

Several  granges  and  farmers'  clubs  have 
been  organized  throughout  the  township,  but 
at  present  there  are  none  in  existence. 


320 


HISTOKY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   XI.X* 

FILLMORE  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES— FIRST  GROWTH— PIONEERS— MILLS— SCHOOLS- 
CHURCHES,  ETC. 


••  To  the  West,  to  the  West,  there  is  wealth  to  be 
won  ; 
The  prairie  to  break  is  the  work  to  be  done — 
We'll  try  it,  we'll  do  it,  and  never  despair 
While  there's  light  in  the  sunshine  and  breath  in 

the  air ; 
The  bold  independence  that  labor  shall  buy, 
Shall  strengthen  our  hands  and  forbid  us  to  sigh. 
Away,  far  away.  let  us  hope  for  the  best, 
And  build  up  new  homes  in  the  land  of  the  West." 

— Mackay, 

THE    great   rapidity  with   which   certain 
portions  of  the  Western  States  have  been 
explored,   mapped  out   and  settled,   and   the 
numerous   changes  that  have  been  made  by 
bringing  the  vast  fertile   prairies,  but  a  few 
years  ago  the  roving  grounds  of  savage  In- 
dians and  vast  hereis  of  deer  and  buffalo,  into 
cultivation,  furnishing  happy  homes  for  hun- 
dreds of  the  restless  population  of  the  South 
and  East,  have  excited  the  wonder  and  admi- 
ration  of  the  entire  country.      Especially  is 
this    true    of    that    portion   of    Montgomery 
County  to  which  this  chapter  is  devoted;  al- 
though settled  in  a  very  early  day,  it  is,  com- 
paratively speaking,   a    new    country.     Fill- 
more is  situated  in  the  southeastern  part  of 
the  county,  and  extends  from  Witt  Township 
on  the  north  to  Bond  County  on  the 'south,  a 
distance  of   ten  miles.      Shelby  and   Fayette 
Counties    form   its  eastern,  while   East   Fork 
Township  forms  its  western  boundary.      It  is 
drained   chiefly   by   the   East  Fork  of  Shoal 
Creek,  a  stream  of  some  size,    flowing   in  a 
southerly  direction,  near  the  western  part. 
A  stream  of  considerable   importance  has 

"By  (;.  s.     wry. 


its  source  in  Section  10,  and  flows  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  chaining  that  part  of  the 
township.  Hurricane  Creek  and  Dry  Fork 
are  the  principal  water-courses  in  the  south- 
ern portion,  and  along  which  the  first  settle- 
ments of  the  county  were  made.  The  surface 
is  undulating  and  gently  rolling  in  the  north- 
ern half,  while  along  the  course  of  Shoal 
Creek  the  land  is  more  broken,  being  consid- 
erably hilly  in  some  localities.  The  soil  like 
that  of  the  greater  part  of  the  county,  is  a 
rich,  dark  loam,  sand  mixed  in  certain  places 
near  the  streams,  and  very  fertile.  Clay  un- 
derlies a  great  deal  of  the  surface,  making  it 
easily  drained.  Gravel  beds  and  sand  banks 
of  considerable  extent  are  found  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Shoal  Creek  and  other  water-courses, 
sufficient  for  building  roads  and  all  other 
practical  purposes.  The  southern  part  was 
at  one  time  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of 
deciduous  timber,  among  which  was  a  very 
large  proportion  of  walnut,  maple,  oak,  hick- 
ory and  other  valuable  varieties.  Much  of 
this  was  used  for  rails,  and  destroyed  by  the 
early  settlers  in  clearing  their  lands,  as  they 
then  had  no  adequate  idea  of  its  value.  Some 
years  since,  many  thousand  feet  of  black  wal- 
nut were  exported  annually,  besides  immense 
quantities  of  oak,  maple  and  sycamore  lum- 
ber. There  is  still  a  good  supply  left,  which, 
by  judicious  management,  will  supply  all  de- 
mands for  lumber  for  many  years  to  come. 

The  forest  productions  in  Fillmore  are  not 
excelled  in  quantity  or  quality  by  any  other 
township  in  Montgomery  County. 


FILLMORE    TOWNSHIP. 


321 


The  principal  crops  to  which  the  farmer 
looks  for  his  maintenance  are  wheat,  to  which 
the  soil  seems  peculiarly  adapted;  corn,  rye, 
oats,  hay,  vegetables,  fruits — in  short,  all  the 
productions  common  to  Southern  Illinois. 

The  first  settlements  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Fillmore  Township  were  made  by  a  small 
band  of  pioneers  from  the  State  of  Kentucky, 
as  early  as  the  year  1817.  The  previous  year 
had  been  spent  by  them  within  the  present 
limits  of  Bond  County,  although  at  that  time 
there  were  no  civil  divisions,  Illinois  being  a 
Territory. 

Being  considerably  harassed  by  Indians, 
they  were  compelled  to  fortify,  which  they 
did  by  building  a  block- house,  where  the  en- 
tire company  took  refuge.  Several  attacks 
were  made  at  different  times  on  this  fort,  but 
so  obstinately  was  it  defended  by  the  brave 
little  garrison  that  the  savages,  finding  they 
could  accomplish  nothing  by  their  hostility, 
finally  withdrew,  and  gave  the  settlers  no  fur- 
ther trouble.  Parties  from  this  little  settle- 
ment passed  through  the  southern  part  of  the 
present  township  of  Fillmore  in  one  of  their 
hunting  excursions,  and,  being  favorably  im- 
jiressed  with  the  appearance  of  a  tract  of  land 
on  Hurricane  Creek,  induced  the  company  to 
locate  there,  which  they  did  in  the  sj)ring  of 
1817.  This  was  the  first  settlement  by  white 
men  in  Montgomery  County.  Among  this 
little  band  of  pioneers  were  Harris  Revis, 
Henry  Hill,  Levi  Casey,  Aaron  Casey,  John 
Lee,  and  a  number  of  others  whose  names 
have  faded  from  memory.  Their  little  cabins 
were  built  in  a  group  around  a  large  spring, 
from  which  each  family  obtained  its  supply 
of  water.  The  Indians  at  that  time  had  un- 
disputed sway,  but  caused  the  settlers  no  an- 
noyance after  they  located  in  this  locality. 
Bears  aud  wolves  infested  the  woods  in  great 
numbers,  proving  very  destructive  to  the  live 
stock,  which  had  to  be  closely  watched  to  in- 


sure safety.  It  required  will,  nerve  and  a 
determined  resolution  to  successfully  grapple 
with  the  many  serious  obstacles  presented; 
yet,  despite  all  the  hardships  and  trials 
through  which  they  were  called  to  pass,  the 
pioneers  flourished  and  were  happy.  As  time 
passed,  the  different  members  of  the  little 
community  selected  the  lands  destined  for 
their  future  homes. 

Revis  located  his  claim  on  Dry  Fork  Creek, 
near  the  southeast  corner  of  the  township, 
where  he  lived  until  the  year  1840,  at  which 
time  he  died.  Several  grandchildren  are  liv- 
ing in  Fillmore  and  adjoining  townships. 
Henry  Hill  entered  a  piece  of  land  adjoining 
that  on  which  Revis  settled. 

Both  of  these  places  are  now  owned  by 
Samuel  Hill,  a  grandson  of  Henry  Hill,  and 
one  of  the  well-to-do  citizens  of  Fillmore. 

John  Hill  improved  a  farm  in  the  vicinity, 
which  is  still  in  the  possession  of  his  descend- 
ants. 

Levi  Casey  settled  on  the  place  since  known 
as  the  Briggs  farm.  He  sold  the  place  in 
1837,  and.  with  his  family,  moved  to  Shelby 
County,  where  he  afterward  died. 

Aaron  Casey,  a  son-in-law  of  Revis,  settled 
on  a  part  of  the  Samuel  Hill  farm,  which 
was  his  home  for  twenty-three  years.  A  por- 
tion of  this  place  was  improved  by  John  Lee, 
also,  who  purchased  it  about  one  year  after 
its  settlement  by  Revis.  Joseph  Wright  was 
one  of  the  little  community.  The  place  which 
was  selected  for  his  home  is  now  owned  by 
his  son,  Jarrett  Wright,  a  prominent  citizen 
of  the  township.  A  part  of  the  Wright  farm 
was  improved  by  Henry  Piatt,  who  came  to 
the  State  in  the  year  1818.  He  was  an  up- 
right,  honorable  man,  and  one  of  the  leading 
citizens  in  the  community.  He  became  the 
possessor  of  a  considerable  tract  of  land,  and 
a  number  of  his  grandchildren  are  now  liv- 
ing in  the  county.     One  of  the  most  promi- 


322 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


neut  pioneers  of  Fillmore,  and  one  who  did 
as  much,  if  not  more,  than  any  other  man  to 
advance  its  material  interests,  was  Newton 
Coffee,  father  of  Cleveland  S.  Coffee.  Iden- 
tified with  the  early  history  of  the  county,  his 
life  demands  more  than  a  mere  passing  no- 
tice. He  was  born  among  the  hills  of  Ken- 
tucky, where  were  passed  his  youth  and  early 
manhood  in  those  rugged  out-door  pursuits 
which  so  well  fitted  him  for  a  pioneer.  When 
he  came  to  Illinois,  the  terrritoy  now  embraced 
in  Montgomery  County  wan  a  wilderness,  into 
which  but  few  white  men  had  penetrated. 
The  one  small  settlement  already  referred  to 
was  the  only  spot  within  its  borders  cheered 
by  the  presence  of  civilization,  and  of  this 
little  community  he  had  no  knowledge  until 
nearly  one  year  passed  away.  He  built  a 
little  cabin  in  the  timber  near  the  Bond 
County  line,  and  lived  there  for  several  years, 
with  no  neighbors  nearer  than  eight  miles. 
This  was  in  the  fall  of  1817.  After  locating 
his  place  here,  he  went  farther  north  and  en- 
tered the  land  where  Hillsboro  now  stands, 
twenty  acres  of  which  he  afterward  donated 
for  the  county  seat.  He  died  in  the  year 
1 8  lit.  at  a  good  old  age.  The  place  where  he 
settled  lies  in  Section  18,  South  Fillmore, 
and  is  at  present  owned  by  his  son,  Cleveland 
S.  Coffee.  A  number  of  early  settlers  locat- 
ed in  the  vicinity  of  the  Coffee  farm  in  1819 
and  1820,  among  whom  were  Easton  Whitten, 
Colbert  Blair.  Thomas  Beck  and  Stephen 
White.  They  were  all  Kentuckians.  Whit- 
ten bought  a  tract  of  land  on  Dry  Fork, 
which  he  improved  the  year  after  coming  to 
the  State.  The  place  is  now  in  possession  of 
his  son,  Thomas  Whitten.  Beck  settled  an 
eighty-acre  lot  lying  just  north  of  Coffee's 
farm.  This  comprises  the  early  settlement 
of  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  as  far 
as  we  have  been  able  to  learn  its  history. 
Other  early  settlers  there  probably  were  whose 


names  properly  belong  to  the  foregoing  list, 
but  in-  oxvc  research  we  have  been  unable  to 
obtain  any  particulars  concerning  them.  The 
northern  part  of  the  township  was  settled  by 
emigrants  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and 
North  Carolina,  but  it  was  a  number  of  years 
after  the  settlements  already  referred  to  were 
made.  Among  the  first  to  locate  and  improve 
farms  in  North  Fillmore  were  James  Card, 
T.  J.  Todd,  John  Alexander  and  M.  Mason. 

The  oldest  settler  now  living  in  the  county 
is  Cleveland  S.  Coffey.  He  was  fifteen  years  of 
age  when  his  father  came  to  this  part  of  the 
State,  and  for  sixty-five  years  has  been  a  res- 
ident of  Fillmore  Township.  He  is  still  a 
vigorous  man  for  his  years,  and  in  possession 
of  all  his  mental  faculties.  The  writer  will 
always  remember  the  pleasant  hours  passed 
under  the  hospitable  roof  of  this  stanch  old 
pioneer  while  gleaning  the  facts  of  history 
contained  in  these  pages. 

For  many  years  during  the  early  history  of 
this  section  of  the  country,  the  lives  of  the 
pioneers  were  not  enviable  ones.  Their  trials 
were  numerous,  and  the  hardships  they  were 
called  upon  to  encounter  would  discourage  the 
bravest-hearted  of  the  present  day.  Hard  as 
was  the  life  in  the  wilderness,  it  had  its  seasons 
of  recreation,  when  the  pioneers  would  meet, 
recount  various  incidents,  talk  over  old  times, 
and  thus  relieve  the  monotony  of  their  iso- 
lated situation.  Light  hearts,  good  health 
and  clear  consciences  made  the  toilsome  hours 
pass  pleasantly,  and  old  men  now  living  whose 
youth  was  passed  amid  the  stirring  scenes  of 
those  times  look  back  with  pleasure  to  the 
old  days  as  the  most  enjoyable  period  of  their 
existence.  The  nearest  market  where  grocer- 
ies could  be  obtained  was  St.  Louis,  then  but 
a  mere  village,  fifty-five  miles  distant.  Flour 
aud  meal  were  obtained  at  Pad's  Mill,  about 
ten  miles  nearer.  Many  of  the  early  families 
manufactured  their  own  meal.    Cleveland  Cof- 


FILLMORE    TOWNSHIP 


323 


fey  gives  the  following  description  of  a  primi- 
tive hand-mill  used  by  his  father :  ' '  The  top  of 
a  solid  hickory  stump  was  hollowed  out  to  the 
depth  of  about  eight  or  ten  inches.  Over  this 
was  suspended  a  heavy  iron  wedge  made  fast  to 
a  pole,  after  the  manner  of  an  old-fashioned 
well-sweep.  By  working  this  up  and  down 
with  considerable  force,  the  corn  in  the  hol- 
low could  be  crushed  and  a  very  good  meal 
obtained."  Wild  meat  of  all  kinds  was 
plenty,  on  which  the  pioneer's  family  fared 
sumptuously.  Tanned  deer-skins  formed  the 
wearing  apparel  of  the  men,  while  the  women 
clothed  themselves  with  a  coarse  cloth  manu- 
factured from  cotton,  of  which  each  settler 
raised  a  goodly  patch.  The  first  mill  in  Fill- 
more was  erected  in  the  year  1825,  by  John 
Beck.  This  was  merely  a  tread-mill,  which 
the  proprietor  operated  with  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
and.  although  an  insignificant  affair,  it  aU- 
swered  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intend- 
ed, and  for  a  number  of  years  did  all  the 
grinding  for  the  entire  neighborhood.  New 
machinery  was  afterward  supplied,  and,  alto- 
gether, the  mill  was  in  operation  about  twenty 
years.  Benjamin  Rose  built  a  little  horse- 
mill  in  Section  18  about  the  year  1838,  and 
operated  it  ten  years,  when  he  sold  it  to  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Austin.  Austin  kept  the 
machinery  running  several  years,  and  did  a 
very  nourishing  business. 

The  next  mill  of  which  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge was  a  steam-mill,  built  by  John  Hill, 
near  where  the  village  of  Van  Burensburg 
now  6tands,  in  1840.  The  mill  had  but  one 
buhr,  and  was  kept  running  almost  constantly 
in  order  to  supply  the  increasing  demand  for 
its  products.  It  was  sold  to  Harris  Wright 
and  James  Kirk  in  1842,  and  by  them  operat- 
ed until  the  year  1846.  It  was  torn  down  a 
number  of  years  ago.  The  first  lumber  man- 
ufactured in  the  county  was  sawed  by  hand 
with  a  whip-saw,  and  used  in  the  construction 


of  Newton  Coffey's  dwelling  house.  Some 
of  this  lumber  can  still  be  seen  in  the  kitchen 
of  Cleveland  Coffey's  residence. 

A  saw-mill  was  built  by  John  Fuller,  in 
Fuller's  Grove,  about  four  miles  west  of  Van 
Burensburg,  in  the  year  1840.  It  was  in  oper- 
ation a  little  more  than  one  year,  when  it 
was  sold  and  removed  from  the  township.  A 
steam  saw-mill  was  built  on  Shoal  Creek, 
near  where  the  Vandalia  road  crosses  that 
stream,  many  years  ago.  It  was  in  operation 
but  a  very  short  time.  A  great  amount  of 
lumber  has  been  sawn  in  the  forests  skirting 
the  several  creeks,  by  portable  mills,  at  differ- 
ent times.  Several  of  these  mills  are  in  oper- 
ation at  the  present  time,  and  the  lumber 
business  still  continues  to  be  an  important 
industry. 

In  educational  matters,  Fillmore  is  not  be- 
hind her  sister  townships  in  the  county. 
Her  citizens  have  always  taken  special  inter- 
est and  pride  in  the  public  schools,  which 
have  been  well  sustained  and  patronized.  Its 
school  history  begins  with  the  year  1825,  or 
with  the  advent  of  Mr.  Hatchett,  the  first 
teacher.  This  gentleman  taught  school  in  a 
little  log  house  that  had  formerly  been  used 
as  a  residence  by  the  family  of  Aaron  Casey. 
It  was  situated  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
township,  on  Hurricane  Creek. 

The  following  winter,  Benjamin  Bobbins 
taught  school  in  a  cabin  that  stood  on  the 
east  bank  of  Shoal  Creek,  near  the  eastern 
boundary.  Josiah  Whitten  was  one  of  the 
pioneer  teachers  of  the  county,  having  taught 
several  terms  in  the  southern  part  of  Fillmore, 
when  the  early  settlements  were  in  the  infancy 
of  their  existence. 

In  these  early  schools,  nothing  but  the 
simplest  elementary  instruction  was  imparted, 
as  many  of  the  first  teachers  were  men  of  lim- 
ited intellectual  attainments.  Reading,  writ- 
ing, spelling,  and  the  rudiments  of  arithmetic, 


324 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


comprised  the  sum  total  of  branches  taught. 

The  first  schoolhouses  were  built  of  round 
logs,  undressed,  with  chunks  in  the  cracks 
and  daubed  with  mud.  Puncheon  at  the  bot- 
tom and  split  sticks  at  the  top>  were  the  chim- 
ney material,  with  pounded  dirt  jambs  and 
packed  mud  hearths.  No  floors  were  laid; 
the  earth  being  smoothed  off  by  constant  use, 
became  in  time  very  compact. 

There  were  puncheon  and  plank  seats,  with- 
out backs.  A  long  window  around  the  room, 
with  a  rough  writing-desk  against  the  wall, 
complete  the  picture  of  one  of  these  primitive 
college  buildings.  This  may  be  taken  as  a 
sample  and  general  description  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  schoolhouses  in  this  part  of  the 
county  from  the  year  1820  to  1845. 

The  first  frame  schoolhouse  was  built  about 
the  year  1845,  near  the  little  village  of  Van 
Burensburg,  and  was  known  as  the  Easley 
Schoolhouse.  The  township  has  a  number  of 
good,  substantial  frame  schoolhouses,  all  well 
furnished  with  patent  seats  and  desks,  globes, 
maps,  charts,  and  other  necessary  requisites 
to  education.  The  old  cramped  ideas  of  in- 
struction have  long  since  been  abandoned, 
and  the  schools  are  now  enlivened  by  an  in- 
vasion of  fresh  ideas  and  methods,  which  have 
been  well  received  throughout  the  township. 
Near  the  Dry  Fork  of  Hurricane  Creek,  a 
burial-ground  was  staked  off  in  the  year  1821. 
This  graveyard  is  the  site  of  an  old  battle- 
field, where  at  one  time,  many  years  before, 
an  encounter  took  place  between  a  detach- 
ment of  United  States  troops  and  a  band  of 
hostile  Indians.  Many  human  bones,  musket 
balls,  spear-heads,  knives,  etc.,  have  been 
brought  to  the  surface  at  different  times, 
while  graves  were  being  digged.  The  first 
interment  in  this  cemetery  was  that  of  Ste- 
phen White,  who  died  in  the  summer  of  1 82 1 . 
The  first  marriage  in  what  is  now  Fillmore 
Township  took  place  in  1822,  the  contracting 


parties  being'John  Revis,  son  of  Harris  Re  vis, 
and  Patsey,  daughter  of  Newton  Coffey.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Squire  Levi  Casey. 
A  daughter  of  John  Beck  was  the  first  white 
child  born  in  the  county.  This  birth  oc- 
curred in  1819,  the  same  year  that  the  fam- 
ily came  to  the  State. 

As  the  country  increased  in  population, 
good  roads  became  a  necessity,  and  many  of 
the  old  crooked  by-ways  were  abandoned. 
The  Vandalia  road,  which  passes  through  the 
township  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  was  the 
first  regularly  established  highway.  A  county 
road  was  surveyed  and  established  through 
the  southern  part  of  the  township  in  an  early 
day,  the  exact  date  of  which  was  not  learned. 
Many  other  roads  were  laid  out  and  improved 
as  the  settlements  increased,  but,  as  none  of 
them  were  roads  of  much  importance,  a  f  urther 
description  is  unnecessary. 

Van  Burensburg  is  a  small  village,  situated 
near  the  southwest  corner  of  the  township, 
about  fifteen  miles  from  the  city  of  Hillsboro. 
It  was  founded  by  Joshua  White,  in  the  year 
1842,  who  kept  a  store  there  for  several  years. 
There  are  now  one  store,  post  office,  black- 
smith shop  and  two  churches.  The  post  office 
was  established  about  the  year  1837,  with 
Benjamin  Roberts  as  Postmaster.  The  sec- 
ond Postmaster  was  Robert  White.  It  is 
kept  at  present  by  a  maD  by  the  name  of 
Bookstrock.  One  of  the  first  stores  in  the 
place  was  kept  by  a  Mr.  Eddy,  whose  stock 
of  merchandise  consisted  of  groceries,  a  few 
dry  goods  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  whisky. 
A  man  by  the  name  of  Nathan  Harmon  was 
killed  at  this  pi  ace  shortly  after  Eddy  started 
his  saloon,  under  the  following  circumstances: 
It  appears  that  Harmon  was  a  dissipated, 
worthless  character,  and,  when  under  the 
influence  of  whisky,  very  quarrelsome  and 
abusive.  Upon  the  occasion  referred  to,  he 
had  been  drinking  rather  freely,  and,  seeing 


FILLMORE   TOWNSHIP. 


835 


a  stranger  pass  the  door  of  the  saloon,  made 
some  insulting  remark  to  h  im.  To  this  speech 
the  stranger  paid  no  attention,  but  kept  on 
his  way,  whereupon  Harmon  became  very  fu- 
rious, and  started  in  pursuit,  for  the  purpose, 
he  said,  of  killing  the  "damned  scoundrel.'' 
The  stranger  tried  hard  to  avoid  having  any 
difficulty  with  the  drunken  man,  but  Harmon, 
with  many  fearful  oaths,  sprang  upon  him. 
Calmly  the  stranger  met  him,  turned  aside 
his  high,  wild  thrusts,  and,  in  return,  struck 
him  several  well-directed  and  crushing  blows 
on  the  chest  and  head.  Harmon  fell,  and  in 
a  short  time  expired.  The  citizens  regarded 
it  as  a  just  punishment,  and  no  arrest  was 
made. 

The  early  pioneers  were  not  derelict  in 
their  religious  duties,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact 
that  devotional  exercises  were  conducted  in 
the.  little  settlement  on  Hurricane  Creek  the 
first  year  in  which  it  was  founded.  These 
social  meetings  were  held  as  often  as  circum- 
stances would  admit,  in  the  houses  of  differ- 
ent members  of  the  community,  and  were  led 
by  some  one  selected  on  account  of  his  pecu- 
liar fitness.  The  first  church  established  was  in 
1820  or  1821,  by  the  Regular  Baptists,  who 
were  more  numerous  than  any  other  religious 
denomination.  This  church  was  organized 
under  the  pastoral  labors  of  Elder  James 
Street,  a  preacher  who  figures  rather  promi- 
nently in  the  early  church  history  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
powers  of  intellect,  to  which  were  added  fair 
scholastic  attainments  and  a  persuasive  power 
of  oratory  rarely  excelled.  He  assisted  in 
the  organization  of  all  the  early  churches  of 
his  sect  in  the  county,  and  of  him  it  can  truly 
be  said,  ' '  his  life  was  spent  in  traveling  about 
doing  good. " 

The  first  congregation  was  known  as  the 
Hurricane  Creek  Regular  Baptist  Church,  to 
which   nearly  all  the  early  settlers  on  Dry 


Fork  and  Hurricane  Creek  belonged.  For 
several  years,  public  services  were  held  in 
private  dwelling  houses,  but  in  course  of  time 
a  log  church  was  built,  which  stood  until  the 
year  1862.  At  that  date,  a  frame  edifice  was 
erected,  in  which  the  congregation  has  wor- 
shiped until  the  present  time.  Among  the 
pastors  of  this  church  were  the    following: 

Henry   Sayers,   James    Street, Prather 

and  Jackson  Williford. 

The  Methodists  held  meetings  at  several 
different  places  in  the  township  during  the 
early  days  of  its  history,  as  did  also  the  Pres- 
byterians. Among  the  pioneer  preachers  of 
the  latter  denomination  can  be  named  Revs. 
Knight,  Barlow  and  Finley.  The  Shiloh 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  was  in  ex- 
istence as  early  as  the  year  1837.  It  was 
organized  by  the  Rev.  William  Finley,  in  the 
little  village  of  Van  Burensburg,  with  a  con- 
siderable membership.  The  first  ordained 
Elders  were  John  Blair,  James  R.  Abell  and 
Benjamin  Rose.  Since  its  organization,  the 
church  has  had  seventeen  ordained  Elders. 
The  church  was  re-organized  several  years 
ago,  and  the  place  of  meeting  changed  from 
Van  Burensburg  to  a  point  about  four  miles 
west,  where  a  neat  house  of  worship  was 
erected.  The  following  preachers  have  min- 
istered to  the  congregation:  Joseph  Barlow, 
Joel  Knight, Smith,  William  Hutchin- 
son,  Williain   Turner,   J.   B.    Mitchell, 

Linxwiler, Porterfield, Deather- 

idge, Reppito  and  T.  W.  McDavid. 

The  Methodist  Church,  known  as  Fuller's 
Chapel,  was  organized  at  Fuller's  Grove  many 
years  ago.  A  house  of  worship  stood  a  little 
north  of  the  grove.  It  was  burned  in  the  year 
1880,  and  since  that  time  the  congregation 
have  met  for  worship  in  different  places.  The 
Lutherans  have  an  organization  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  township,  but  nothing  was 
learned  concerning  this  church. 


326 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


The  United  Baptist  Church  was  organized 
by  Elder  Richard  Keel  in  the  year  I860,  at 
the  East  Fork  Schoolhouse.  The  first  mem- 
bers of  this  congregation  were  the  following: 
Richard  Blackburn  and  wife,  George  Black- 
burn, Cyrus  Whitten  and  wife,  Cleveland  S. 
Coffey,  Moses  Fuller,  Malinda  Hurd,  Anna 
Whitten  and  Betsey  Evans. 

Richard  Keel  was  the  first  pastor,  in  which 
capacity  he  acted  for  two  years.  Richard 
Gregg  succeeded  Keel,  and  preached  about 
eighteen  years.  He  was  followed  by  David 
Barber,  who  had  charge  of  the  congregation 
two  years.  Newton  Coffey  has  preached 
for  the  church  about  six  months.  Their  pres- 
ent church  edifice  is  situated  about  one  mile 
and  a  half  northeast  of  Fuller's  Grove,  and 
was  built  in  the  year  1861. 

The  Methodist  Church  at  Van  Burensburg 
was  organised  about  the  year  1877.  They 
have  a  good  house  of  worship,  which  cost 
about  $1,200. 

In  addition  to  the  churches  already  enu- 
merated, there  are  two  other  organizations  in 
the  township,  of  which  no  particulars  were 
obtained  bv  the  writer. 


Fillmore's  war  record  stands  out  untar- 
nished. She  might  risk  her  reputation  on  the 
evidences  of  loyalty  she  exhibited  during 
those  dark  hours  when  the  gallant  ship  of 
state  was  almost  stranded  upon  the  rugged 
rocks  of  disunion.  She  furnished  her  full 
quota  of  volunteers,  and  more.  Indeed,  Fill- 
more could  not  have  done  otherwise,  as  loy- 
alty is  a  ruling  passion  among  her  sons.  But 
few  firesides  were  unrepresented  where  age 
would  permit.  Those  remaining  at  home  con- 
tributed freely  and  generously  of  their  means, 

i  whereby  they  sought  to  reward  the  brave  boys 
who  donned  the  blue.     We  should  be  pleased 

!  to  name  each  volunteer  from  this  township, 
and  point  out  his  destiny,  but  space  forbids. 
Broken  firesides  ever  remind  us  that  many  a 
brave  boy  who  responded  to  his  country's  call, 
went,  but  never  returned;  and,  although  no 
towering  shaft  nor  storied  urn  marks  their 
last  resting-place,  a  grateful  Republic  and  a 
grateful  people  will  cherish  their   memory, 

;  and  the  nation's  fame  and  greatness  will  be 

t  their  appropriate  monument. 

"  Their  swords  are  rust  ;  their  good  steeds  dust  ; 
Their  souls  are  with  the  saints,  we  trust." 


BUTLER    GROVE    TOWNSHIP. 


327 


CHAPTER    XX.* 

BUTLER  GROVE  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES— SOIL— TIMBER— EARLY   SETTLERS— ROADS— EDUCA- 
TIONAL AND  RELIGIOUS-VILLAGE  OF  BUTLER— BUSINESS  INTERESTS— SECRET 

SOCIETIES,  ETC. 


IN  obtaining  the  fragments  of  history  con- 
tained in  the  following  pages,  we  bave 
been  obliged  to  rely  largely  for  much  of  the 
information  upon  persons  who  have  long 
been  residents  of  the  township,  and  whose 
lives  have  been  identified  with  its  develop- 
ment. It  may  be  that  some  of  the  facts  and 
dates  which  are  given  are  only  approxima- 
tions to  the  truth ;  other  facts  of  interest  may 
be  omitted,  while  others  still  may  not  be  ac- 
curately recorded,  jet  we  believe  that  the  fol- 
lowing statements  can  be  relied  upon  as  a 
brief  synopsis  of  history  free  from  any  seri- 
ous errors. 

Butler  Grove  was  one  of  the  first  settled 
townships  of  Montgomery  County,  and  was 
surveyed  in  the  year  1819,  at  which  date 
there  was  but  one  white  family  living  with- 
in its  boundaries.  It  lies  in  the  central  part 
of  the  county,  with  the  following  townships 
as  boundaries:  Raymond  on  the  onrth,  Irving 
on  the  east,  Hillsboroonthe  south,  and  North 
Litchfield  on  the  west.  Like  the  greater 
part  of  the  county,  Butler  Grove  is  composed 
of  fine,  fertile  prairie  lands,  interspersed  with 
numerous  groves  and  thickly  wooded  mounds. 
There  are  no  very  large  hills,  although  the 
southern  part  is  somewhat  broken.  But  lit- 
tle of  the  land,  however,  is  too  broken  for 
cultivation.  The  most  extensive  wooded 
districts  are  in  the  northern,  northeastern 
and  southern  parts.      There  is  also  a  grove  of 

*  By  G.  N.  Berry. 


many  acres  in  the  central  part  of  the  town- 
ship, known  as  Ware's  Grove,  having  derived 
its  name  from  an  old  settler,  who  formerly 
resided  there.  It  is  estimated  that  the  wood- 
land of  this  township  comprises  about  one- 
tenth  of  its  area,  the  remainder  being  rich,  roll  - 
ing  prairie,  and  contains  some  of  the  finest 
farming  lands  of  Southern  Illiuois.  The  qual- 
ity of  the  soil  on  the  uplands,  in  the  southern 
part,  is  rather  inferior  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses, although,  by  proper  tillage,  remuner- 
ative crops  are  often  obtained.  The  timber 
is  composed  mainly  of  the  following  varieties: 
Black  oak,  white  oak.  hickory,  walnut  and 
cottonwood  on  the  upland,  while  skirting  the 
creeks  on  either  side  are  large  willows  and 
gigantic  sycamore.  The  best  timber  has  dis- 
appeared long  since,  as  the  lumber  business 
was  carried  on  quite  extensively  at  an  early 
date. 

This  township  is  watered  and  drained  by 
Brush  Creek,  the  Middle  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek, 
and  their  tributaries.  The  former  has  its 
source  in  the  northern  part,  and  flows  in  a 
southwesterly  direction,  crossing  the  town- 
ship line  about  one  mile  west  of  the  village 
of  Butler.  Shoal  Creek  flows  in  a  south- 
easterly direction  through  the  southeast  cor- 
ner of  the  township,  and  receives  as  a  tribu- 
tary the  East  Fork  of  Brush  Creek  about  one 
half  mile  north  of  the  township  line.  There 
is  a  small  creek  in  the  northern  part  which 
flows  in  a  northerly  direction,  but  it  is  an  in. 


328 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


significant  stream,  being  dry  the  greater 
part  of  the  warm  season.  Aside  from  the 
creeks  enumerated,  there  are  no  other  streams 
of  importance  in  the  township.  During  very 
rainy  seasons  these  creeks  frequently  overflow 
their  banks  and  do  considerable  damage  to 
the  farms  through  which  they  run,  often 
times  carrying  away  many  rods  of  fencing, 
and  sweeping  away  entire  fields  of  grain. 

The  early  pioneers  of  this  section  found  no 
royal  pathway  to  affluence,  and  have  prob- 
ably witnessed  as  great  changes  wrought  by 
the  onward  march  of  civilization  as  any  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  entire  State.  They  came 
here  when  Illinois  was  in  its  infancy  as  a 
State  and  when  the  great  West,  particularly 
that  portion  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
was  occupied  almost  wholly  by  wild  Indian 
tribes.  They  have  heard  and  seen  the  dy- 
ing away  of  the  voyager's  song  upon  our 
western  waters.  They  have  seen  proud  cities 
rear  their  regal  heads  upon  the  favorite  hunt- 
ing grounds  of  the  red  men,  and  the  iron 
horse,  the  modern  civilizer,  dart  with  the 
speed  of  the  hurricane  along  the  paths  beaten 
into  the  prairie  by  the  hoofs  of  the  buffalo 
ages  before  the  white  man  ever  dreamed  of 
battling  with  the  wilderness  of  the  unknown 
West.  All  these  and  many  other  changes 
have  these  hardy  pioneers  witnessed  since 
they  first  made  their  appearance  in  this  part 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  opened  up  its 
broad  acres  to  the  world's  traffic. 

The  first  white  settler  of  Butler  Township 
was  Jacob  Cress,  whe  moved  here  with  his 
family  during  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1818,  and  located  the  farm  known  as  the 
"  Old  Cress  Farm,"  now  owned  by  Jacob 
Scherer  in  Section  34.  Mr.  Cress  was  from 
Indiana,  but  originally  from  North  Carolina, 
from  which  State  he  moved  in  the  year  1815. 
The  journey  of  this  hardy  old  pioneer  to  his 
new  home  in  the  West  was  replete  with  many 


interesting  incidents  and  stirring  adventures, 
and  many  days  were  required  to  reach  his 
destination.  It  was  during  the  hottest  part 
of  the  year  that  this  journey  was  made,  and 
the  emigrants  found  it  impossible  to  travel 
during  the  day,  owing  to  the  excessive  heat 
and  the  immense  swarms  of  flies,  which  proved 
a  serious  hindrance  to  the  live  stock  which 
Mr.  Cress  brought  with  him.  At  that  early 
date  there  was  not  a  regularly  laid  out  road 
in  the  southern  part  of  Illinois,  all  roads  be- 
ing mere  trails  or  buffalo  paths  across  the 
prairies;  so  Mr.  Cress  had  nothing  by  which 
to  direct  his  course  but  these  trails  and  the 
stars. 

Mr.  Cress  brought  a  great  deal  of  live 
stock  with  him  to  Illinois,  part  of  which  con- 
sisted of  a  large  drove  of  hogs.  To  keep 
them  from  being  lost  on  the  prairie,  he  had 
bells  put  upon  them,  so  the  loneliness  of 
their  night  journeyings  was  relieved  some- 
what by  the  tinkling  music  never  before 
heard  in  this  western  country.  Mr.  Cress 
died  in  the  year  1865,  full  of  years  and  ripe 
with  honors.  By  his  industry  and  many 
sterling  qualities,  he  did  much  toward  de- 
veloping the  resources  of  his  township  and 
bringing  it  up  to  its  present  high  standard  of 
civilization.  Of  the  children  of  Mr.  Cress 
there  are  living  at  this  time  one  son  and  four 
daughters,  all  of  whom  are  residents  of  But- 
ler Township. 

The  next  settler  was  Israel  Seward,  who 
moved  from  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  in  the 
year  1819,  and  located  his  home  upon  what 
is  known  as  "  Seward's  Hill,"  about  one  half 
mile  south  of  the  village  of  Butler.  Mr. 
Seward  was  a  noble  type  of  the  pioneer,  a 
man  of  more  than  ordinary  powers  of  intel- 
lect, and  a  devoted  Christian.  Though  dead, 
he  still  lives  in  the  influence  which  he  for- 
merly exerted  upon  the  community  that  he 
was    instrumental    in  founding.     The    exact 


15VTLER    GROVE    TOWNSHIP. 


329 


date  of  Mr.  Seward's  death  was  not  obtained. 
William  Seward,  a  son,  was  born  in  Indiana 
one  year  before  the  family  moved  to  Illinois. 
He  was  for  a  number  of  years  mail  carrier 
between  the  cities  of  Hillsboro  and  Jackson- 
ville. His  whole  life  has  been  identified 
with  the  history  of  the  township  and  he  is 
justly  considered  one  of  its  most  prominent 
citizens.  The  original  home  of  Israel  Sew- 
ard is  now  owned  by  his  son  George  C.  Sew- 
ard, the  first  white  child  born  in  Butler  Grove 
Township.  He  was  born  October  11,  1821, 
and  has  resided  at  the  home  he  now  occupies 
for  the  last  thirty-six  years.  One  incident  in 
the  life  of  Mr.  Seward  is  remembered  with 
interest  by  his  friends.  It  was  his  lot  in  his 
younger  days  to  carry  the  mails,  as  we  have 
stated,  between  Jacksonville  and  Hillsboro, 
and  also  between  Hillsboro  and  Alton.  At 
one  time  there  came  a  freshet  which  raised 
the  waters  of  Shoal  Creek  to  an  immense 
height.  Mr.  Seward  tried  to  cross  the  creek 
with  a  two  horse  conveyance,  but  a  part  of 
the  bridge  being  carried  away  by  the  flood, 
he  found  that  his  vehicle  could  not  with- 
stand the  force  of  the  current;  so  driver,  car- 
riage and  horses  were  carried  a  considerable 
distance  down  the  stream.  Mr.  Seward  got 
out  of  the  carriage,  and,  stepping  upon  one  of 
the  horses,  caught  hold  of  a  small  elm  tree, 
which,  after  becoming  thoroughly  wet,  he 
succeeded  in  climbing.  The  stream  at  that 
time  was  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide, 
and  the  current  baffled  their  efforts  to  reach 
the  tree.  The  logs  which  were  being  car- 
ried down  by  the  stream  would  strike  the 
tree  with  such  foice  that  he  found  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  maintain  his  hold  on  the 
branches.  From  his  lofty  perch  he  could 
see  and  hear  his  friends,  which  served  to  be- 
guile the  long,  weary  hours  he  was  compelled 
to  pass  in  his  airy  prison.  He  remained  in 
his  uncomfortable   quarters  all  night,  and  it 


was  not  until  9  o'clock  the  next  day  that  his 
friends  succeeded  in  rescuing  him  by  means 
of  long  poles  and  a  horse  trough. 

A  daughter  of  Israel  Seward.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Gowan,  lives  in  the  village  of  Butler,  where 
she  has  resided  tbe  greater  part  of  her  life. 
Israel  Seward  was  a  cousin  of  the  late  Will- 
iam H.  Seward,  who  served  as  Secretary  of 
State  during  the  administration  of  President 
Lincoln,  and  whose  name  is  among  the 
brightest  upon  the  pages  of  American  his- 
tory. 

Prominent  among  the  early  settlers  of  But- 
ler Grove  was  Obadiah  Ware,  who  came  to 
Montgomery  County  in  1823,  locating  the 
west  half  of  the  northwest  quarter,  and  the 
west  half  of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section 
15,  upon  which  land  he  resided  during  a 
period  of  fifty-one  years.  The  life  of  this 
good  man  demands  more  than  a  passing  no- 
tice in  these  pages.  Mr.  Ware  was  a  native 
of  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  born  in  the 
year  17'.).j.  Beared  upon  a  farm,  his  early 
life  was  passed  in  the  usual  routine  of  farm 
labor,  and  he  grew  to  rugged  manhood  amid 
the  bracing  airs  of  his  mountain  home,  where 
he  was  taught  the  dignity  and  nobility  of  la- 
bor, and  those  lessons  of  economy  and  fru- 
gality which  so  well  fitted  him  to  encounter 
the  difficulties  incident  to  the  life  of  a  pio- 
neer. In  1821,  after  his  marriage,  he  and 
his  young  bride  started  for  the  Far  West  to 
secure  a  home.  Across  the  great  States  that 
stretched  away  in  unbroken  and  uninter- 
rupted grandeur  from  the  Mississippi  east- 
ward, they  journeyed  until  they  reached  the 
then  diminutive  city  of  St.  Louis.  He  lo- 
cated near  that  city  temporarily,  remaining 
two  years,  where  he  engaged  in  farming. 
Having  a  determination  to  remove  to  a  point 
where  land  could  be  entered,  he  visited  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  entered  the  land 
before  referred  to.      At  his  home,  after  a  long 


330 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


lih'e  of  usefulness,  his  wife  died  in  the  year 
1858.  Mr.  Ware  survived  her  twenty-eight 
years,  dying  September  24,  1876.  The  fol- 
lowing testimonial  appears  in  biographical 
sketches  of  citizens  of  Montgomery  County, 
from  which  many  of  the  above  facts  have 
been  gleaned.  "  Mr.  Ware  has  been  a  lead- 
ing and  influential  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  for  nineteen  years,  during  which 
time  he  has  given  liberally  of  his  means  for 
the  dissemination  of  Gospel  truths,  and  for 
the  building  of  houses  dedicated  to  the  wor- 
ship of  God.  Educational  matters  have  also 
elicited  considerable  attention  from  him,  and 
he  has  ever  been  active  and  generous  in  his 
assistance  to  every  project  looking  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  educational  facilities.  He 
placed  a  proper  and  very  correct  estimate 
upon  the  value  of  our  common  school  system, 
regarding  it  as  invaluable  to  the  State  and 
the  surest  bulwark  of  constitutional  liberty." 
A  very  eloquent  funeral  oration  was  delivered 
over  the  remains  of  Mr.  Ware  by  the  Rev. 
John  Hamilton,  which  has  been  published 
and  extensively  circulated.  Two  daughters 
and  one  son  of  Mr.  Ware  are  still  living — 
Mrs.  Hulda  Harris,  Elizabeth  Wescott  and 
Benjamin  Ware.  The  old  Ware  farm  is  now 
owned  by  William  A.  Young. 

Benjamin  Ware,  a  brother  of  Obadiah.  was 
also  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  township, 
locating  upon  land  adjoining  that  of  his 
brother's.  Like  the  former,  he  was  one  of 
the  substantial  citizens  of  the  county,  and 
left  a  reputation  upon  which  no  one  dared 
cast  a  single  aspersion.  A  son,  Justus  Ware, 
occupies  the  farm  formerly  owned  by  his 
father. 

Many  other  early  settlers,  additional  to 
those  already  mentioned,  are  entitled  to  a 
notice  in  these  pages.  Among  these  were 
William  Townsend,  who  located  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township  as  early  as  the 


year  1824.  He  remained  here  as  a  citizen 
for  a  number  of  years.  The  exact  date  of  his 
death  could  not  be  ascertained,  and  none  of 
his  children  are  living  in  this  part  of  the 
State. 

William  H.  Cass  came  to  the  county  in  the 
year  1824,  and  settled  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  township,  on  Section  5.  Many 
other  names  could  be  added  to  the  list  al- 
ready given,  but  the  dates  of  their  settlement, 
and  the  facts  concerning  their  early  life 
have   been   obscured   by  the  lapse  of  time. 

Thus  many  of  the  old  pioneers  who  were 
prominently  identified  with  the  early  history 
of  the  township  have  passed  away  "  as  a  tale 
that  is  told,"  many  being  scattered  to  other 
lands,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  have 
passed  to  "  that  mysterious  bourn  from  which 
no  traveler  ever  returns."  The  first  improve- 
ment of  importance  to  the  pioneer  after  he 
has  erected  a  shelter  for  himself  and  family, 
is  a  mill,  an  industry  that  always  advances 
with  civilization.  The  early  settlers  of 
Montgomery  County  were  obliged  to  go  to 
St.  Louis  for  their  breadstuff's,  and  several 
days  were  often  required  to  complete  the 
journey.  As  early  as  the  year  1823,  a  mill 
was  built  at  Edwardsville,  a  distance  of 
thirty-five  miles  from  Hillsboro,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  the  source  of  supplies  during 
the  following  two  years.  The  first  mill  in 
the  township  was  built  by  Jacob  Cress,  in 
the  year  1825,  and  was  known  throughout 
the  entire  country  as  the  "  horse  mill,"  horses 
supplying  the  power  by  which  the  machinery 
was  run.  This  mill  was  kept  running  day 
and  night,  and  supplied  flour  and  meal  to 
the  country  within  a  radius  of  twelve  miles 
around,  people  often  coming  much  farther 
and  remaining  several  days  in  order  to  get 
their  grinding  done.  At  that  early  date,  the 
threshing  machine  was  unknown,  wheat  be- 
ing tramped  out  by  horses  and  sifted  by  hand 


BUTLER    GROVE    TOWNSHIP. 


331 


at  the  mill  through  the  large  seive  made  for 
that  purpose.  The  mill  was  run  in  this  way 
until  1845,  when  the  old  machinery  was  taken 
out,  the  building  remodeled,  and  new  ma- 
chinery put  in,  run  by  steam.  One  year 
later,  a  saw  was  attached.  The  mill  was  kept 
running  a  great  many  years,  until  the  ma- 
chinery was  worn  out.  The  engine  was  re- 
moved in  the  year  1881,  and  taken  to  the 
village  of  Butler.  The  old  building  is  still 
standing,  a  monument  of  the  days  that  were. 
The  next  mill  was  built  by  a  Mr.  Seward, 
about  one-half  mile  south  of  the  town  of 
Butler.  This  was  a  combination  mill  also, 
steam  supplying  the  power.  It  was  erected 
in  the  year  1839,  birt  did  not  prove  a  finan- 
cial success,  as  it  was  built  upon  a  scale  too 
extensive  for  the  country  at  that  time.  In 
the  enterprise,  Mr.  Seward  became  financially 
embarrassed,  and  the  mill  was  in  operation 
but  a  short  time.  Mr.  Seward  left  the  mill 
standing  idle,  and  went  to  California,  where 
he  remained  for  several  years,  amassing  quite 
a  fortune  in  the  meantime.  He  afterward 
returned  home,  satisfied  his  creditors,  and 
disposed  of  the  mill,  which  was  torn  down 
and  the  machinery  removed  to  the  village  of 
Butler. 

Another  flouring-mill  was  built  by  Mr. 
Hoffman  west  of  the  town  of  Butler,  but  the 
exact  date  of  its  erection  could  not  be  ascer- 
tained. It  was  the  only  mill  of  its  kind  in 
the  township  for  several  years,  and  was  torn 
down  in  1881. 

At  the  present  writing  there  is  a  very  ex- 
tensive mill  in  process  of  construction  just 
north  of  the  village  of  Butler,  which,  when 
completed,  will  be  one  of  the  most  complete 
mills  in  the  county.  The  building  is  of 
brick,  23x30  feet,  the  engine  room  40x18 
feet,  and  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $4,500. 
This  mill  will  have  three  run  of  stone,  and 
a  capacity  of  about  thirty-six  barrels  of  flour 


per  day.  The  aggregate  cost  of  the  mill  will 
probably  reach  $6,000.  It  is  owned  by  J.  S. 
Emery,  late  of  Ohio,  a  man  who  has  spent 
his  life  in  the  milling  business. 

An  extensive  creamery  was  built  in  the 
town  of  Butler,  in  the  year  1875,  at  a  cost  of 
$3,500;  the  apparatus  cost  $1,600.  This  fac- 
tory was  owned  by  a  stock  company,  and  was 
known  as  the  Monte  Cabonne  Creamery  Com- 
pany. The  enterprise  proved  very  remuner- 
ative, but  was  in  operation  only  two  years, 
being  completely  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  year 
1877.  The  loss  occasioned  by  this  fire  ag- 
gregated about  $6,000.  There  have  been 
several  planing-mills  in  the  township  at  dif- 
ferent times,  but  none  of  them  did  business  on 
a  very  large  scale.  D.  W.  Manners  built 
and  operated  a  planing  mill  one-half  mile 
west  of  the  town  of  Butler,  but  it  is  not  in 
operation,  it  having  been  injured  by  fire  some 
time  since.  Aside  from  the  industries  re- 
ferred to,  there  have  been  no  others  deserv- 
ing of  particular  mention  in  the  township. 

The  first  roads  through  Butler  Grove  were 
not  laid  out  with  any  reference  to  section 
lines.  Each  settler  took  the  shortest  route 
across  the  prairie  in  order  to  arrive  at  his 
destination  as  quickly  as  possible,  and,  as  a 
result,  there  are  a  great  many  zigzag  roads, 
which  have  been  a  source  of  considerable  an- 
noyance to  the  land-owners  through  whose 
farms  they  pass.  Efforts  are  being  made, 
however,  to  have  the  roads  properly  estab- 
lished, and  in' time  it  will  be  effected.  The 
first  road  that  was  extensively  traveled  in 
this  part  of  the  county  was  the  old  Spring- 
field road,  which  passes  through  Butler  Grove 
from  northeast  to  southwest.  As  early  as 
the  year  1825,  this  was  one  of  the  principal 
thoroughfares  of  Southern  Illinois.  The 
Taylorville  road  runs  through  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  township,  and  intersects  the  St. 
Louis  road  at  a  point  not  far  from  the  south- 


332 


HISTOKY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ern  township  line,  near  the  city  of  Hillsboro. 
The  St.  Louis  mad  forms  part  of  the  southern 
boundary  of  this  township,  and  is  probably 
the  oldest  road  in  the  county. 

The  township  in  the  main  is  well  supplied 
with  good  roads,  which  are  kept  in  good  con- 
dition, as  the  citizens  are  alive  to  all  public 
improvements.  There  are  no  pikes  in  the 
township,  owing  to  a  scarcity  of  gravel. 

During  the  early  spring  seasons  many  of 
tho  roads  become  well-nigh  impassable,  es- 
pecially those  which  run  through  the  low 
prairie  lands,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  way 
of  obviating  the  difficulty. 

There  is  one  railroad  that  passes  through 
this  township,  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis, 
which  affords  ample  means  for  farmers  to 
ship  their  agricultural  products  and  live 
stock.  This  railroad  passes  through  the 
southern  part,  running  northeast  to  the  vil- 
lage of  Butler,  where  it  describes  a  curve, 
then  bears  southeast,  crossing  the  southern 
boundary  line  at  a  point  near  the  Shoal  Creek 
bridge.  This  railroad  has  aided  largely  in 
the  development  of  the  township,  although 
it  has  had  a  tendency  to  affect  the  business 
interests  of  the  town  of  Butler  in  such  a  way 
as  to  discourage  business  men  from  locating 
th ore,  the  greater  amount  of  traffic  being 
taken  to  the  cities  of  Litchfield  and  Hills- 
boro. 

A  great  deal  of  attention  is  given  to  the 
cause  of  education  in  this  township,  and  the 
schools  are  among  the  very  best  in  the  State. 
"  The  opportunities  for  acquiring  an  educa- 
tion in  the  early  pioneer  times  were  scarce, 
and  books  were  limited,"  although  a  school 
was  organized  as  early  as  the  year  .1823. 
This  school  was  taught  in  a  little  log  cabin, 
located  on  Section  31.  The  length  of  the 
term  was  three  months,  and  the  school  was 
supported  by  subscription.  The  name  of  the 
teacher  was  Mrs.  Mary  Towusend.     The  first 


schoolhouse  was  originally  a  part  of  the  resi- 
dence of  Capt.  Thomas  Philips,  situated  on 
Section  29.  Reuben  Boss  assisted  Mr. 
Philips  in  fitting  it  up  for  school  purposes. 
This  was  the  only  schoolhouse  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  township  for  a  number 
of  years.  The  next  schoolhouse  was  a  log 
cabin  built  in  the  year  1839,  near  where  the 
Montgomery  Schoolhouse  now  stands,  on  Sec- 
tion 12.  The  first  school  taught  in  this  house 
was  by  Miss  Mary  Burnap.  the  year  after  it 
was  built.  One  among  the  first  buildings 
used  for  school  purposes  was  part  of  the  res- 
idence of  Mr.  Seward,  near  the  village  of 
Butler.  This  building  was  torn  down  and 
moved  to  the  town  many  years  ago,  and  now 
forms  part  of  the  residence  of  Mr.  Crowley. 

Butler  Grove  now  has  seven  schoolhouses, 
all  good,  substantial  buildings,  five  of  them 
frame,  and  two  of  them  brick.  There  are  six 
whole  districts,  and  five  union  districts  in  the 
township,  and  six  schools  outside  of  the  town 
of  Butler. 

The  following-named  gentlemen  comprise 
the  present  Board  of  Township  Trustees: 
William  A.  Young.  Isaac  Doyle,  Charles  W. 
Jenkins  aiid  Kobt.  Bryce,  the  last  named  being 
Township  Treasurer  and  Clerk  of  the  Board. 
The  school  year  begins  the  first  Monday  in 
October,  and  the  average  length  of  the  term 
is  about  six  and  one-half  months. 

The  neat  little  village  of  Butler  is  situated 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  on  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Ealiroad,  and  was 
at  one  time  one  of  the  most  thriving  business 
points  in  the  county.  The  growing  cities  of 
Hillsboro  and  Litchfield,  on  either  side,  and 
within  a  few  minutes'  ride,  have  affected  its 
business  interests  to  such  an  extent  that  its 
traffic  is  no  longer  of  auy  great  importance, 
although  there  are  several  firms  that  are  do- 
me a  verv  fair  of  amount  of  business.  This 
town  derived   its  name   from  the  fact  that  a 


//^.^f^r^A. 


LIBRARY 

Of    1HE 
UNtVEKbl  f  V  ut  ILLINOIS 


BUTLER    GROVE    TOWNSHIP. 


335 


great  many  of   ito  early  settlers  came  from 
Butler  County,  Ohio.      The  village  was  built 
upon   land   formerly  belonging   to    William 
Seward,  and  was  laid  out  by  him  in  the  year 
1853.     The  first  survey  of  lots  was  made  by 
James  Starr,   who  surveyed    eighty-six    lots 
and  within   a  short  time   afterward  the  re- 
maining lots  were  surveyed  and  laid  out  by 
a  Mr.  Bayless.      The  first  store  was  kept  by 
Williain   Wood,  who  built  a  very   large  and 
substantial  brick  building  upon  the  east  side 
of  the  principal  street,  about  one  square  north 
of  the  railroad.     Mr.    WTood  kept  a  general 
stock  of  merchandise  in  his   store,  and  was 
for   a  number  of  years  one  of  the  leading 
merchants    of    Montgomery    County.       This 
store  building  was  completely  destroyed  by 
fire  during  the    conflagration    which    swept 
away  the  greater  part  of  the  town,   and  of 
which  a  more  extended  notice  will  be  given 
further  on  in   these   pages.      There  were    a 
number  of  other  business  houses  built  and 
operated  successfully,  but  the  writer  was  un- 
able to  obtain  any  authentic  facts  concerning 
them.      At  one  time   in  the  history   of  this 
town  there  was  more  grain   aud   live   stock 
handled  here  than  there  was  at  any  other 
town    in  the  county   outside  of  the  city  of 
Litchfield.      The   grain  trade  is  still  an  im- 
portant   industry,    and  is   carried  on  by  the 
Brown  Bros. ,   who  own  the   warehouse,  and 
buy  and  ship  grain   during  the   entire  year. 
The  town  was  incorporated    in   the   year 
1865.      The  first  schoolhouse  built  in  the  vil- 
lage was  erected  iii  the  year  1857,   by  John 
McGowan;  an   addition   was   put  to  it  eight 
years  after,  so  that  it  consisted  of  two  rooms. 
When  there  were  more  pupils  than  the  house 
could    accommodate,    the  deficiency  was  met 
by  securing  t  e  use  of  rooms  in  private  dwell- 
ing houses.     In  the  year  1863,    the  present 
handsome   and  commodious  school  building 
was  erected.     It  is  a  two-story  brick  build- 


ing, containing  four  large  and  handsomely 
furnished  school  rooms,  and  is  siu-mounted 
by  a  lofty  steeple.  The  location  is  an  emi- 
nence on  the  eastern  slope  of  Seward's  Hill, 
in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  town,  and 
commands  an  extensive  view  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  This  building  was  erected  at 
a  cost  of  $11,000,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  completely  furnished  schoolhouses  in 
Montgomery  County.  The  first  school  in  the 
village  was  taught  by  Charles  Seward,  in  the 
year  1S57.  This  school  lasted  but  two 
months,  and  was  supported  by  subscription. 
Among  the  early  teachers  were  George  Pais- 
ley, Edmund  Keeler,    Charles  Parks,    Jesse 

Barrett,  Rev.  Daniel  Lee  and  Rev. Mize. 

The  last  named  was  a  Baptist  preacher  of 
considerable  ability,  and,  in  addition  to  his 
duties  as  teacher,  he  ministered  to  the  Bap- 
tist Church  during  the  time  that  he  remained 
in  the  village.  The  schools  are,  at  the  pres- 
ent writing,  under  the  efficient  management 
of  Prof.  Nathan  T.  Veatch,  A.  M.,  assisted 
by  Lucy  Stuckey,  Josephine  Wilson  and 
Grace  Bryce.  The  average  attendance  dur- 
ing the  past  year  was  135.  The  citizens  of 
Butler  are  justly  proud  of  their  schools, 
which,  in  point  of  discipline  and  thorough- 
ness of  the  work  done,  will  compare  favorably 
with  the  best  conducted  schools  in  the  State. 
The  first  physician  to  locate  in  Butler  was 
Charles  Harper,  who  came  to  Illinois  in 
company  with  his  early  friend,  ex-Gov.  Bis- 
sell,  with  whom  he  practiced  his  profession 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  is  not  at  present 
a  practicing  physician,  having  retired  from 
the  profession  several  years  ago  on  account 
of  his  advanced  age  and  infirmities  incidenl 
thereto.  The  date  of  his  location  in  Butler 
was  the  year  1857,  and  he  is  still  a  residenl 
of  the  village. 

The  following  list  comprises  the  physicians 
who  have  practiced  medicine  in   Butler  at 


336 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


different  times:  Sargent,   J.  B.  White, 

Jesse  Stick,  C.  R.  Ross,  Daniel  Schadron, 
P.  L.  Brown,  Benjamin  Perlee,  J.  H.  Kes- 
ler,  A.  Gifford.  The  present  physician  is 
Dr.  M.  L.  Moyer,  of  whom  a  more  extended 
notice  will  be  given  in  the  biographical  de- 
partment of  this  work. 

Henry  Richmond  was  the  first  Postmaster 
of  the  town.  The  office  was  established 
sometime  in  the  year  1856,  and  was  the  first 
post  office  in  the  township. 

Bryant  McReynolds  kept  the  first  hotel  in 
the  Butler  House  in  the  year  1858.  This 
house  is  still  standing,  and  is  kept  at  present 
by  Henderson  Howard,  who  has  been  in  the 
hotel  business  here  for  a  number  of  years 
past.  The  business  of  Butler  is  represented 
by  the^following  parties  and  firms : 

J.  W.  Weisner,  M.  D. ,  druggist  and  dealer 
in  groceries,  notions  and  fancy  articles. 
Dr.  Weisner  keeps  a  very  complete  stock  of 
goods,  and  reports  his  business  good. 

Hoes  &  Bros.,  is  the  leading  dry  goods 
house  in  the  town.  They  also  keep  a  line  of 
boots  and  shoes,  hats  and  caps,  and  ready- 
made  clothing.  Their  business  is  in  a  pros- 
perous condition,  and  their  stock  represents 
capital  to  the  amount  of  several  thousand 
dollars. 

H.  Boss  keeps  a  shoe-shop  and  restau- 
rant. 

N.  J.  Rhodes,  dealer  in  dry  goods,  boots, 
shoes  and  groceries. 

Webber,  merchant  tailor. 

Robert  Bryce,  blacksmith  and  dealer  in  ag- 
ricultural implements. 

Brown  &  Bro. ,  grain  buyers  and  stock 
dealers.  This  firm  is  one  of  the  strongest 
grain  firms  in  the  county,  owning  warehouses 
here,  and  a  large  elevator  in  Hillsboro. 

Robert  Henderson,  barber. 

J.  C.  Sammons  and  Conrad  Hentus,  black- 
smiths. 


William   N.    Brookman,    Henry    Wilson, 
Hiram  Nail  and  James  White,  carpenters. 

J.  C.  Emery,  miller. 

H.  Howard,  veterinary  surgeon. 

The  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ities both  have  lodges  in  Butler.  Butler 
Lodge,  No.  617,  I.  O  O.  F.,  was  organized 
in  the  year  1865,  with  the  following-named 
persons  as  charter  members:  Henry  Rich- 
mond, G.  W.  Brown,  Jr.,  W.  B.  McReynolds, 
Samuel  Berry,  Alexander  Gray,  William 
Williamson  and  George  Grassell.  The  char- 
ter was  issued  October  11,  of  the  above  year, 
by  A.  S.  Barry,  G.  M.  The  present  officers 
of  this  lodge  are  as  follows:  Daniel  Pope, 
N.  G. ;  A.  D.  Washburne,  V.  G. :  George 
Sharpe,  Secretary;  George  W.  Brown,  Treas- 
urer; William  N.  Brookman,  Warden;  Fred 
Luddcke,  I.  G. ;  R.  B.  Hough,  O.  G. ;  S.  M. 
Stuckey,  Conductor;  C.  O.  Brown,  R.  S.  N. 
G. ;  W.  A.  Weisner,  L.  S.  N.  G. ;  James 
Duke,  R.  S.  V.  G. ;  A.  H.  Brown.  L.  S.  V. 
G. ;  T.  S.  Hoes,  R.  S.  S. :  M.  L.  Moyer,  L.  S.  S. ; 
W.  A.  Weisner,  M.  L.  Moyer,  Fred  Luddcke, 
F.  S.  Hoes,  R.  B.  Hough,  Trustees.  The 
lodge  numbers  about  forty  members,  and 
meets  every  Saturday  night  in  the  hall  which 
they  own  in  connection  with  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

Butler  Lodge,  No.  459,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  established  in  1865,  with  nine  charter 
members.  The  first  officers  of  this  lodge 
were  Samuel  Holmes,  W.  M. ;  James  Rogers, 
S.  W. ;  J.  A.  Roth.  J.  W.;  C.  M.  Ross,  Sec- 
retary; William  Wood,  Treasurer;  J.  Judd, 
S.  D.;  M.  Helm,  J.  D.;  G.  W.  Van  Sandt, 
Tiler.  The  first  petition  was  presented  Aug- 
ust 1.  1865,  by  Thomas  T.  Eliman.  The 
present  officers  are:  G.  W.  Brown,  Jr., 
W.  M.;  M.  M.  Stuckey,  S.  W.;  Isaac  Doyle, 
J.  W. ;  Charles  O.  Brown,  Secretary;  H.  S. 
Stanley,  Treasurer;  W.  G.  Diddle,  S.  D.; 
William    Eliman,   J.    D. ;    John    Van    Dorn, 


BUTLER  GROVE  TOWNSHIP 


337 


Tiler.  There  are  about  forty-five  members 
of  this  lodge,  and  it  is  in  good  working  con- 
dition. The  hall  in  which  both  lodges  meet 
is  very  nicely  furnished,  and  is  situated  on 
the  main  street  of  the  village.  It  was  built 
in  the  year  1866. 

Several  very  destructive  fires  for  so  small  a 
place  have  visited  Butler  at  different  periods 
dm-ing  its  history.  In  1866,  the  large  store 
building  occupied  by  J.  R.  Roth,  near  the 
railroad,  and  the  saloon  adjoining  it,  were  to- 
tally destroyed  by  fire,  entailing  a  very 
heavy  loss  upon  the  owners  of  the  property. 
The  planing-mill  of  D.  W.  Manners,  located 
in  the  western  part  of  the  town,  was  burned 
to  the  ground  in  the  year  1867.  In  the 
spring  of  1875,  the  dwelling  belonging  to 
William  Van  Sandt,  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  village,  adjoining  the  blacksmith  shop  of 
Robert  Bryce.  took  fire,  and,  before  the 
flames  could  be  checked,  the  building  was  al- 
most entirely  consumed.  The  most  destruc- 
tive fire  that  ever  visited  Butler  was  the  con- 
flagration of  1877,  which  swept  away  an  en- 
tire block  of  buildings  on  the  east  side  of 
the  main  street,  opposite  the  Butler  House. 
Concerning  this  fire  we  copy  the  following 
account  from  the  revised  village  ordinance  of 
December,  1871.  "  On  the  night  of  the  first 
or  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  October, 
1877,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  building  adjoin- 
ing Seward's  Hall  and  continued  its  destruc- 
tive work  until  the  building  and  the  hall, 
containing  all  the  village  records,  papers 
and  other  property  belonging  to  the  village 
were  consumed  by  the  devouring  elements 
against  all  the  attempts  made  to  save  them." 
Later,  in  the  same  year,  the  creamery  was 
burned,  but  to  this  fire  we  have  already  re- 
ferred. 

The  religious  history  of  this  township  dates 
from  tho  first  settlement,  although  there  were 
no  churches  organized  for  a  number  of  years 


later.  Religious  services  were  held  from 
house  to  house,  and  it  was  o,uito  a  number 
of  years  before  any  of  the  denominations 
gained  sufficient  strength  to  erect  places  of 
public  worship.  The  first  regularly  organ- 
ized church,  of  which  there  is  any  authentic 
record,  is  the  Montgomery  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  about  five  miles  north  of  Hills- 
boro,  and  about  the  same  distance  northeast 
of  Butler.  This  church  was  organized  in  the 
year  1836,  and  consisted  of  the  following 
members:  James  Osborne  and  wife,  Michael 
Webber,  Mrs.  Sarah  Webber,  Henry  Nichols, 
Mrs.  Ellen  Nichols,  Joseph  Webber,  Mrs. 
Eunice  L.  Webber,  James  Wiley,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Wiley,  Nicholas  Webber,  Albert  Dryer  and 
Mrs.  Eunice  Dryer.  The  church  was  organ- 
ized under  the  ministerial  labors  of  the  Rev. 
Hall.  For  a  number  of  years  the  con- 
gregation worshiped  in  a  schoolhouse  near 
where  their  church  building  now  stands. 
The  neat  and  comfortable  house  in  which  the 
congregation  now  worship  was  built  in  the 
year  1872.  The  building  is  frame,  40x60  feet, 
and  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.  It  was 
dedicated  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1872, 
by  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Baldwin.  It  belongs  to 
the  Irving  and  Butler  Circuit,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent ministered  to  by  Rev.  W.  C.  Howard,  of 
the  latter  place.  The  Cherry  Grove  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  situated  about  three 
and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  Butler,  was  es- 
tablished as  early  as  the  year  1838,  at  which 
time  it  had  a  considerable  membership,  the 
names  of  whom  were  not  obtained,  as  the 
early  records  of  the  church  have  been  lost. 
From  some  cause  or  other,  this  church  so 
declined  that  in  a  few  years  after  its  organi- 
zation there  remained  of  it  but  a  few  scat- 
tered families.  It  was  re-organized  in  the 
year  1851,  when  the  church  for  the  first  time 
elected  Trustees,  and  assumed  the  name  of 
Cherry  Grove  Church.     The    following   are 


338 


HISTORY  OF   MONTGOA1ERY    COUNTY. 


the  names  of  those  who  assumed  membership 
at.  its  re-organization:  John  Nail,  Mrs.  Martha 
Nail,  Nathan  Nail.  Mrs.  Sarah  Nail,  Mrs. 
Susan  Williams,  Anderson  Walker  and  wife, 
Manasseh  Camp  and  wife,  William  Williams 
and  wife,  James  Roberts  and  wife  and  Mrs. 
Sarah  Baker.  The  congregation  originally 
worshiped  in  a  private  dwelling  house,  upon 
the  farm  now  belonging  to  D.  C.  Burr  is. 
Their  present  house  of  worship  was  erected 
in  the  year  1856,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,600. 
This  church  is  one  of  the  points  on  the  But- 
ler and  Irving  Circuit,  and  is  at  present  en- 
joying the  pastoral  labors  of  Rev.  W.  C. 
Howard. 

In  the  year  1856,  the  Butler  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  organized  by  Rev. 
Boon.  This  was  the  first  church  estab- 
lished in  Butler,  and  consisted  of  the  follow- 
ing members:  Mrs.  Alexander  Gray,  Moses 
Berry,  Mrs.  Eliza  Berry,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Ghas- 
ton,  Thomas  Wood,  William  Williamson, 
James  Wood  and  wife  and  Mrs.  Benaiah 
Kelly.  The  first  preacher  who  ministered 
to  the  congregation  was  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Lind- 
ley.      Since  its  organization   it  has  had  the 

services  of  the  following  pastors:  Revs. 

Aldridge, Calric,   R.   W.    Travis.    T.  S. 

Johnson.  O.  E.  Orr.  J.  H.  Holloway,  W.  F. 
Lowe,  M.  M.  Cooper,  J.  D.  Bodkin,  R.  M. 
Beech,  J.  W.  Lapham,  E.  D.  Randall  and 
W.  C.  Howard.  Their  house  of  worsihp  is 
a  very  neat,  substantial  frame  building,  lo- 
cated in  the  western  part  of  the  village,  and 
cost  the  sum  of  $2,500.  It  was  built  in  the 
year  1867,  and  dedicated  the  year  following. 
The  present  membership  of  this  church  is 
about  seventy-five  or  eighty,  a  number  con- 
siderably smaller  than  it  was  several  years 
ago,  many  families  who  once  belonged  hav- 
ing removed  from  the  village. 

The   Presbyterian   Church    of   Butler  was 
organized  in  the  year  1858,  in  the  old  school- 


house,  by  a  committee,  consisting  of  -the  fol- 
lowing persons:  Rev.  R.  M.  Roberts,  minis- 
ter; F.  W.  Washbume,  M.  D.,  and  J.  F. 
Ecklfs,  Elders.  The  names  of  the  original 
members  are  as  follows:  Mrs.  W.  H.  Harper, 
Mrs.  Catharine  Coudy,  Israel  Seward,  Will- 
iam Seward,  Mrs.  Mary  Cunningham,  Mrs. 
Martha  Bumap,  Robert  Bryce.  S.  M. 
Hedges,  Mrs.  Deliverance  Hugg,  Mrs.  Mary 
McReynolds,  Mrs.  Steere  and  Mrs.  Sarah 
Ware.  The  first  pastor  who  ministered  to 
the  church  was  Rev.  R.  W.  Roberts.  Since 
then   the  following  ministers  have  preached 

for   the  church:  Rev.   W.   L.  Mitchell, 

Todd,  Mr.  Cornelius  V.  Canfort,  licentiate, 
Rev.  Lougheed,  Mr.  Moses  Paisley,  licen- 
tiate, and  Rev.  J.  E.  Spillman.  The  last- 
named  minister  had  charge  of  the  church 
from  1872  until  the  year  1881,  and  was  a 
man  of  a  high  order  of  intellect  and  a  writer 
of  considerable  note.  The  pastor  who  has 
charge  of  the  church  at  present  is  Rev.  A.  S. 
Hughey,  a  recent  graduate  from  Wabash  Col- 
lege, Ind.  The  membership  numbers  about 
sixty-five.  The  house  of  worship  in  which 
the  congregation  meets  is  a  beautiful  frame 
building  located  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  village.  It  was  built  in  the  year  1864, 
and  was  dedicated  July  3  of  the  same  year, 
Rev.  T.  W.  Hynes  preaching  the  dedication 
sermon,  R.  M.  Robinson  assisting  in  the  serv- 
ices. The  house  cost  about  $2,200.  A 
Sunday  school  is  maintained  the  entire  year, 
with  an  average  attendance  of  100  scholars. 

The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  known 
as  Ware's  Grove  Church,  was  organized  De- 
cember 24,  1S60,  by  Rev.  J.  Livingood,  with 
a  membership  of  five  persons — Jacob  W. 
Scherer,  Henry  Meisenheimer,  Mrs.  Rachel 
Meisenheimer,  Mrs.  Mary  Scherer  and  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Cress.  Their  present  membership 
is  forty-five,  among  whom  are  some  of  the 
first  citizens  of  the  township.     The  congrega- 


BUTLER   GROVE    TOWNSHIP. 


339 


tiun  built  the  house  in  which  they  now  wor- 
ship, in  the  year  1862.  It  was  dedicated  in 
December  of  the  same  year,  the  dedication 
sermon  being  preached  by  Rev.  George  A. 
Bowers. 

A  society  known  as  the  Farmers'  Club  was 
organized  in  the  year  1879,  for  the  purpose 
of  a  mutual  interchange  of  views  relating  to 
agriculture,  stock  raising,  fruit  growing, 
and  all  the  subjects  pertaining  to  the  farmer's 
occupation.  The  exercises  were  frequently 
varied  by  a  literary  programme,  music  and 
original  essays  upon  a  variety  of  topics.  The 
meetings  were  held  weekly,  to  which  the  pub- 
lic were  invited,  and  any  one  who  so  desired 
could  participate  in  the  exercises.  The  offi- 
cers consisted  of  a  President,  Vice  President, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer.  This  society  was 
finally  merged  into  the  Grange,  a  lodge  of 
which  was  organized  at  Butler  in  the  year 
1871.  This  lodge  ceased  to  exist  several 
years  since,  and  facts  concerning  its  organ- 
ization, first  officers  and  length  of  time  it 
lasted  could  not  be  obtained. 

Butler  Township  has  a  war  record  of  which 
her  citizens  feel  justly  proud,  having  sent 
eighty  men  to  the  front  to  do  battle  for  the 
country  during  the  dark  days  of  the  rebell- 
ion. Of  this  number  sixty-six  returned  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  twelve  having  been 
killed  in  battle,  and  two  lost,  of  whom  noth- 
ing has  ever  been  heard. 


There  has  never  been  a  nnvrder  committed 
in  the  township,  and  but  one  suicide,  as  far 
as  known.  The  facts  concerning  this  suicide 
were  related  to  the  writer  by  Jacob  Cress, 
and  are  as  follows:  Mr.  Cress,  when  but  a 
boy,  met  a  man  by  the  name  of  Stewart  in  the 
highway,  near  the  home  of  the  former. 
Cress  had  been  hunting,  and  carried  a  guti, 
which  Stewart  asked  him  for,  as  he  said  he 
wished  to  look  at  it.  Cress  at  once  handed 
him  the  gun;  but  no  sooner  had  Stewart 
gotten  hold  of  it  than  he  placed  the  muzzle 
to  his  forehead  and  tried  to  discharge  it  with 
a  long  stick.  He  failed  in  this  attempt  to 
take  his  life,  being  foiled  by  Cress,  who  tried 
to  take  the  gun  away  from  him.  Finding 
that  he  could  not  succeed  in  taking  his  life 
by  shooting  himself,  he  took  from  his  pocket 
a  large,  dull  knife,  and  deliberately  cut  and 
mangled  his  throat  in  such  a  horrible  manner 
that  he  died  the  next  morning.  It  appeared 
that  Stewart  was  insane,  though  he  regained 
consciousness  before  he  died. 

We  have,  in  the  foregoing  pages,  tried  to 
give  a  brief  and  impartial  history  of  Butler 
Grove  Township  from  its  earliest  settlement 
up  to  the  present  time.  We  are  indebted  for 
many  of  the  facts  and  dates  to  Jacob  Cress, 
Charles  Jenkius  and  Justus  Ware,  to  each  of 
whom  the  thanks  of  the  writer  are  due  for 
the  courteous  and  gentlemanly  manner  in 
which  the  desired  information  was  given. 


340 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP 


CHAPTER    XXI.* 

BOUNDARIES  — EARLY    SETTLEMENT— SCHOOLS— CHURCHES— BUSINESS 
INTERESTS— THE  FIRE— SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


RECURRENCES  to  the  past,  with  the  rec- 
ollections and  associations  which  make 
it  pass,  in  life-like  review,  before  our  mental 
vision,  will  continue  to  be,  as  of  yore,  a  source 
of  satisfaction,  especially  when  they  connect 
themselves  with  incidents  reflected  back  from 
our  own  experiences.      These  reminders  van- 
ish with  the  life  of  the  participants,  when  no 
landmarks   remain    to    save  us  the   pictures 
faintly  delineated  on  the  tablets  of  memory, 
the  impressions  of  which  are  only  retraeings 
from  the  modelings  of  others.      To  preserve 
these  from  forgetfulness  before  they  have  lost 
their  distinguishing  originality  is   the  work 
devolved  upon  the  writer  of  history.     History 
fails  in  its  mission  when  it  fails  to  preserve 
the  life  features  of  the  subjects  committed  to 
its  trust.      Local  history,  more  than  any  other, 
commands  the  most  interested  attention,  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  a  record  of  our  own,  with 
the  experiences  of  others,  who,  in  times  gone 
by,  traveled  the  thorny  pathway  of  life  as  our 
companions,  acquaintances,  friends  and  rela- 
tives.    The  township  of  Raymond,  to  which 
this  chapter  is  devoted,  is  an  excellent  body 
of  land,  composed  of  thirty-six  sections,  sit- 
uated adjoining  the  county  line  and  Harvel 
Township  on  the  north,  Rountree  Township 
on  the  east,  Butler   Grove  on  the  south,  and 
Zanesville  Township    on  the  west.     It  was 
named  in  honor  of  Thomas  Raymond,  at  one 
time  Vice  President  of  the  St.  Louis  Division 
of  the  Wabash  &  Pacific  Railroad. 
The   surface  of  this  township  is  consider - 

*By  G.N.  Berry. 


ably  varied,  being  rolling,  and,  in  certain 
places  in  the  southern  and  western  parts, 
along  the  different  water-courses,  broken  and 
somewhat  hilly;  while  in  the  central  and 
northern  portions  the  land  consists  of  a  broad 
stretch  of  level  prairie,  interspersed  with 
numerous  small  groves,  both  natural  and  arti- 
ficial, at  different  places.  The  West  Fork  of 
Shoal  Creek,  with  its  tributaries,  and  Blue 
Grass  Creek,  are  its  water- courses,  along  the 
banks  of  which,  for  considerable  distances, 
the  land  is  covered  with  a  goodly  growth  of 
timber,  the  most  prominent  varieties  being 
elm,  oak,  walnut,  maple,  sycamore,  etc.  Pre- 
vious to  the  year  1830,  the  country  along  the 
southern  boundary  was  in  the  main  a  dense 
forest,  containing  much  valuable  timber,  the 
greater  part  of  which  has  been  worked  into 
lumber,  rails,  etc.,  and  much  of  it  ruthlessly 
destroyed  by  the  early  settlers.  The  soil,  like 
that  found  in  other  parts  of  the  county,  differs 
in  different  places;  near  the  streams  the  sandy 
element  predominates;  on  the  high  grounds, 
it  is  of  a  clay  mixture;  while  the  lower  por- 
tions and  level  prairie  lands  in  the  central 
and  northern  parts  is  a  deep,  rich  black  loam. 
Generally  speaking,  it  is  a  choice  body  of 
land,  very  fertile,  and  capable  of  producing, 
in  a  high  degree,  all  the  cereals  raised. 
Fruits  of  all  varieties  common  to  this  latitude 
are  grown  in  abundance,  as  are  also  vegeta- 
bles, small  fruits,  grass,  etc.,  etc. 

The  date  of  settlement  by  the  whites  goes 
back  to  the  year  1S30,  when  the  first  pioneers 
came  into  the  township  and  commenced  to 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


341 


improve  farms.  Pioneer  life  in  all  time  has 
been  characterized  by  incidents  peculiar  either 
to  the  locality  or  the  make-up  of  the  pioneers 
themselves.  Western  pioneer  life  has  been 
subjected  to  conditions  common  to  the  expe- 
rience of  all  early  settlers.  The  primary  ele- 
ments in  the  composition  of  those  who  have 
taken  their  lives  in  their  hands  and  battled 
successfully  with  the  privations  and  hardships 
incident  to  settlements  in  the  wilderness, 
without  companions,  save  their  "household 
gods,"  away  from  the  echoes  of  civilization, 
depending  for  subsistence  upon  their  own 
good  right  arms — were  will-power,  physical 
vigor  and  energy.  Thus  endowed,  the  brave 
pioneer  boldly  cuts  loose  from  the  moorings  of 
civilization,  turns  his  face  toward  the  wild, 
unknown  West,  and,  after  days  and  weeks, 
perhaps  months,  of  weary  journeying  over 
trackless  prairies,  tangled  woodland,  rocky 
steeps  and  through  rushing  torrents,  at  last 
determines  the  spot  where  his  future  home 
shall  be,  at  once  makes  a  start  by  erecting  a 
little  cabin,  breaking  a  small  patch  of  ground. 
Soon  he  is  joined  by  others,  and  the  little 
settlement  becomes  the  foundation  of  those 
communities  which  are  to-day  the  pride  and 
boast  of  our  country.  But  we  are  digressing 
from  the  more  specific  part  of  our  subject. 
The  first  permanent  settler  to  brave  the  soli- 
tude of  nature  in  Raymond  was  Butler  Sew- 
ard, who  came  to  Illinois  from  Ohio  in  the 
year  1829,  and  located  near  Seward's  Grove, 
in  Butler  Grove  Township,  from  which  place 
he  moved  into  what  is  now  Raymond  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  place  where  he  settled  in 
this  township  is  known  as  Seward's  Point, 
near  the  southern  part,  and  is  now  in  posses- 
sion of  Elias  Miller.  Several  descendants  of 
this  excellent  man  still  reside  in  the  county, 
among  whom  can  be  Darned  Oscar  Seward 
and  John  Cass,  the  oldest  living  settlers  of 
this  township.      Shortly  after  Seward  had  lo- 


cated and  commenced  to  improve,  he  was 
joined  by  Matthew  Mitchell,  who  entered  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  vicinity  on  Section  30. 
Mitchell  came  from  Ohio  also,  and  was  a 
man  of  prominence  in  the  little  community. 
He  sold  the  land  on  which  he  settled  to  David 
Scherer,  another  pioneer,  shortly  after  the 
first  improvements  were  made,  and  moved  to 
another  locality.  The  farm  is  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  Fred  Mundhenk  Seward 
and  Scherer  having  done  so  well  in  their  new 
home,  others  were  induced  to  follow  them, 
and  the  next  year  saw  several  families  mov- 
ing into  the  little  community,  among  whom 
were  James  Baker  and  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Conyer.  Baker  improved  the  farm  where 
Oscar  Seward  now  lives,  in  Section  30,  while 
Conyer  selected  his  home  near  by,  in  Section 
33,  on  a  place  which  he  afterward  sold 
to  John  J.  Cass.  The  foregoing  were  the 
only  permanent  settlers  in  the  territory 
of  Raymond  up  to  the  year  1833.  In 
that  year,  John  Cass  moved  into  the  town- 
ship and  purchased  the  Conyer  farm,  on 
which  he  resided  until  the  year  1S36.  at 
which  time  he  died.  He  was  an  industrious, 
exemplary  man,  and  true  Christian,  who  car- 
ried his  Christianity  into  the  actions  of  every- 
day life.  Two  daughters  and  one  son  are  liv- 
ing at  the  present  time.  The  latter,  to  whom 
we  have  already  referred,  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ing citizens  of  the  township.  Oscar  Seward, 
son  of  Butler  Seward,  can  be  called  an  early 
settler,  as  he  came  here  as  early  as  the  year 
1835,  and  has  been  a  prominent  resident  ever 
since.  He  purchesed  the  Mitchell  farm  of 
David  Scherer,  which  property  he  still  owns. 
He  is  the  oldest  settler  now  living  in  Ray- 
mond, and  has  seen  many  wonderful  improve- 
ments wrought  by  the  busy  hand  of  time. 
(For  further  particulars  concerning  Seward, 
we  refer  the  reader  to  his  biography,  which 
appears  elsewhere.)     John  Huffman  and  fam- 


342 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ily  were  among  the  settlers  who  came  in  the 
year  1835,  as  were  also  a  number  of  others 
whose  names  were  not  learned  by  the  writer. 
Huffman  settled  in  the  southeast  corner  of 
the  township,  near  the  Irving  boundary  line. 
The  prairies  in  the  central  and  northeastern 
parts  were  not  taken  up  until  several  years 
had  elapsed  from  the  first  settlements  along 
the  southern  border.  Among  the  first  settlers 
on  these  prairie  lands  were  Thomas  Thomp- 
son, David  Huffman  and  Brookston  Lewis, 
all  three  of  whom  settled  on  land  near  the 
present  town  of  Raymond.  Samuel  Quinton 
settled  north  of  Raymond,  on  the  Ishmaol 
McGown  farm.  Simpson  Finley  bought  the 
land  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  from 
where  William  Bowles  now  lives,  a  short  dis- 
tance northwest  of  Raymond.  William  Gray 
was  an  early  settler,  having  purchased  a  tract 
of  land  near  the  Chapman  farm  a  short  time 
after  it  came  into  market.  Among  those  who 
came  in  at  an  early  date  and  shared  in  the 
privations  and  hardships  of  pioneer  life,  but 
whose  dates  cannot  be  correctly  ascertained 
at  present,  were  John  W.  Guthrie,  Lemuel 
Mays,  William  Costley,  Morgan  Costley,  R. 
W.  Grimm,  John  W.  Hitchings  and  Orson 
Young.  One  of  the  prominent  settlers  near 
the  town  of  Raymond  was  William  Chapman 
(see  portrait  and  biography),  who  bought  the 
place  where  he  now  resides  about  the  year 
1851.  He  was  one  of  the  chief  movers  in  the 
organization  of  the  township,  and  can  be 
classed  among  her  well-to-do  and  wealthy 
farmers. 

This  comprises  the  early  settlement  of  Ray- 
mond Township  as  far  as  we  have  been  able 
to  learn  its  history.  The  early  struggle  of 
the  pioneers  with  hardships,  trials  and  other 
objects  calculated  to  deter  them  is  but  a  re- 
petition of  those  experienced  by  all  other  set- 
tlers in  a  new  and  uninhabited  country. 
Many  daring  deeds  by  many  unknown  heroes 


have  passed  into  oblivion,  and  many  of  na- 
ture's great  men,  who  won  signal  victories  in 
the  hard-fought  battles  with  nature  in  the 
wilderreso,  now  lie  in  obscure  and  uuknown 
graves.  The  first  year  was  generally  the  most 
difficult,  as  the  little  stock  of  provisions  fre- 
quently gave  out,  and  many  hardships  were 
endured  in  order  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of 
life;  but  after  the  first  crop  was  harvested, 
there  was  generally  a  sufficiency  for  home 
consumption  stored  away  and  husbanded  with 
scrupulous  care.  The  deficiencies  were  pro- 
cured from  older  settlements.  The  forests 
and  prairie  generally  supplied  the  meat  from 
the  bountiful  store  of  game,  in  quantity  and 
quality  according  to  demands.  As  settlers 
increased  in  numbers,  a  common  cause  was 
made  in  meeting  the  wants  of  each  other, 
helping  for  help  again.  The  idea  of  assist- 
ing another  for  a  pecuniary  consideration 
never  obtruded  itself  into  the  mind  of  the 
pioneer  in  those  early  days.  No  greater  in- 
sult could  have  been  offered  than  a  hint  that 
money  was  to  pay  for  a  neighbor's  help.  If 
a  cabin  was  to  be  raised,  all  the  occasion  de- 
manded of  the  neighbors  far  and  near  was  a 
knowledge  of  the  time  and  place;  distance 
was  nothing,  and  other  less  pressing  engage- 
ments had  to  succumb  in  order  to  render  the 
needed  assistance.  Those  old  days  are  gone, 
buried  in  the  dead  past,  but  with  them  are 
gone  a  world  of  happy  memories.  The  senti- 
ment expressed  in  the  old  ballad,  repeated  in 
the  writer's  hearing  by  an  early  pioneer, 

"For  I  am  one  of  the  olden  times,    and   may  be 

thought  too  slow, 
But  give  to  me  those  good  old  days  of  fifty  years 

ago," 

is  the  sentiment  entertained  by  all  the  frosty- 
headed  veterans  whose  early  lives  were  passed 
amid  the  stirring  scenes  of  those  early  times. 
The  first  impulse  of  the  people,  upon  whom 
devolved   the  responsibility  of  giving  form 


RAYMOND   TOWNSHIP. 


343 


and  character  to  society  in  primitive  Ray- 
mond, was  to  inaugurate  a  system  of  educa- 
tion which  should  in  the  future  insure  a  safe 
foundation  for  permanent  prosperity.  Hence, 
schools  were  established  at  an  early  date,  well 
sustained  and  patronized.  The  first  sessions 
were  held  in  private  dwellings,  but,  as  the 
population  increased,  more  roomy  buildings 
were  required,  and  a  number  of  log  school- 
houses  were  erected  in  different  localities. 

The  first  term  of  school  was  taught  by  Mrs. 
Martha  J.  Cass,  mother  of  John  Cass,  in  a 
room  of  her  residence,  in  the  year  1S35.  This 
school  numbered  perhaps  eight  or  ten  pupils, 
was  supported  by  subscription,  and  lasted 
about  two  and  a  balf  months. 

The  first  building  set  apart  especially  for 
school  purposes  was  a  small  structure,  which 
stood  on  Oscar  Seward's  farm,  and  had  for- 
merly been  used  by  his  family  as  a  residence. 
Seward  fitted  up  the  house,  fiu-nished  and 
donated  it,  and  for  several  years  it  was  the 
only  school  building  in  the  township.  The 
second  schoolhouse,  according  to  the  most  au- 
thentic information,  was  built  a  short  distance 
northeast  of  the  town  of  Raymond.  It  was 
built  by  Ishmael  McGown  and  William  Ault 
but  the  date  of  its  erection  was  not  ascer- 
tained. This  was,  we  believe,  the  first  frame 
schoolhouse  in  the  township.  It  is  still  stand- 
ing. At  present  there  are  a  number  of  good 
frame  schoolhouses  in  the  township,  in  which 
schools  are  taught  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 
The  results  of  the  teaching  done  in  the  schools 
have  been  immense,  and  is  the  pride  of  the 
people.  There  is  one  large  graded  school 
building,  two  stories  high,  in  the  town  of  Ray- 
mond, but  of  this  building  and  schools  taught 
therein  we  will  speak  more  fully  further  on 
in  these  pages.  Among  the  early  industries 
of  the  township  were  several  saw-mills,  locat- 
ed at  different  points  on  Shoal  Creek,  which 
were  in  operation  until  nearly  all  of  the  best 


timber  was  sawn  into  lumber.  These  mills 
have  been  removed  long  since,  and  at  the 
present  time  there  are  no  mills  of  any  kind 
in  the  township  outside  the  town  limits  of 
Raymond.  The  first  settlers  obtained  their 
flour,  meal,  etc.,  from  Hillsboro  and  the  mills 
situated  in  different  parts  of  the  county. 
There  were  no  early  flouring-mills  in  Ray- 
mond. 

Amid  the  toils  and  privations  of  pioneer 
life,  the  first  settlers  found  time  to  look  after 
those  higher  and  holier  duties  which  they 
owed  to  their  Creator.  Pure  religion  and 
fervent  piety  flourished  in  those  times  in  a 
very  marked  degree,  long  before  any  relig- 
ious society  had  an  organization,  but,  as  soon 
as  time  and  means  would  permit,  church  edi- 
fices were  erected  and  societies  of  various  de- 
nominations established,  so  that  all  could 
worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  consciences.  The  original  settlers  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  township  were  nearly 
all  members  of  churches  in  Butler  Grove, 
Litchfield  and  Irving  Townships,  farther 
south,  and  it  was  not  until  many  years  after- 
ward that  a  permanent  religious  organization 
was  effected  in  what  is  now  Raymond.  The 
Methodists  had  a  flourishing  society  about  one 
mile  south  of  the  town  of  Raymond,  which 
was,  according  to  the  best  information  at  hand, 
the  first  church  organization  in  the  township. 
This  was  a  number  of  years  ago,  but,  as  the 
early  records  could  not  be  found,  but  little 
satisfaction  was  obtained  in  looking  up  its 
early  history.  Public  services  were  held  at 
this  place  until  about  eight  or  ten  years  ago, 
when  the  congregation  decided  to  remove  the 
organization  and  building  to  the  town  of  Ray- 
mond, which  was  accordingly  done.  Previous 
to  its  removal,  the  church  was  known  as  Ash- 
ery  Chapel,  and  numbered  about  eighty  mem- 
bers. The  building  was  moved  and  remod- 
eled at  a  cost  of  about  $S00.     It  is  now  a 


344 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


handsome  edifice,  capable  of  seating  350  per- 
sons comfortably,  and  is  valued  at  $1,500. 
The  following  pastors  have,  at  stated  times, 
ministered  to  the  congregation: Bar- 
rett, John  Eoberts,  E.  M.  Pitcher, Alk- 

ier,  A.  D.  Beckhart  and  John  Slater;  present 
pastor  is  Elijah  Haley.  In  connection  with 
the  church  services  is  a  large,  flourishing 
Sunday  school,  at  present  under  the  efficient 
superintendency  of  David  Colvin,  with  an 
average  attendance  of  over  one  hundred  schol- 
ars. The  church  membership  at  present  ex- 
ceeds one  hundred,  among  whom  are  some  of 
the  best  and  most  highly  respected  citizens 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country.  The 
United  Baptist  congregation,  known  as  the 
Blue  Mound  Church,  was  organized  in  a 
schoolhouse  situated  about  three  miles  south- 
east of  Raymond,  in  the  year  1871,  Elder 
John  Barbee  officiating  at  the  first  meeting. 
The  original  membership  was  about  twenty, 
but  quite  a  number  of  others  were  added  to 
the  church  during  the  meetings  which  fol- 
lowed its  organization.  The  present  edifice 
which  the  congregation  occupies  is  situated 
near  the  place  where  the  church  was  organ- 
ized, in  Section  19.  It  is  a  frame  build- 
ing, and  was  erected  in  the  year  1870,  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000.  Among  the  regular  pastors 
and  stated  supplies  of  this  church   may  be 

mentioned  Thomas   Jones, Culp, 

Hanks.  There  are  now  about  forty-five  names 
on  the  chmch  records.  George  Fry  is  Super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday  school,  which  is  in 
good  condition  and  well  attended.  Rhodes 
Chapel  M.  E.  Church  dates  its  history  from 
the  year  1872.  Their  house  of  worship  is  a 
neat  frame  building,  situated  near  the  Blue 
Mound  Church,  in  Section  19,  and  was  built 
in  the  year  1876.  The  church  has  continued, 
with  varied  success,  from  its  organization  un- 
til the  present  time,  the  membership  now  be- 
ing about  forty.     A  Sunday  school  is  main- 


tained during  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
and  is  reported  in  good  condition.  The  pres- 
ent Pastor  of  the  church  is  Rev.  Elijah  Haley. 
The  remaining  churches  of  the  township  are  in 
the  town  of  Raymond,  and  will  be  spoken  of  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  that  village  f  ur- 
ther  on  in  this  chapter.  The  first  ground  conse- 
crated to  the  burial  of  the  dead  was  laid  out  on 
the  farm  belonging  to  John  Cass,  and  is  still 
known  as  the  Cass  Graveyard.  The  first  in- 
terment made  in  this  cemetery  was  in  1S52. 
The  name  of  the  person  buried  was  James 
Crosse.  The  St.  Louis  Division  of  the  Wa- 
bash, St.  Louis  &  Pacific  Railroad  runs 
through  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  town- 
ship, intersecting  the  northern  boundary  about 
two  miles  from  the  Pitman  line  and  the  west- 
ern boundary  at  a  point  near  the  west  central 
part  of  the  township.  This  road  has  been  a 
decided  advantage  to  the  farmers  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  furnishing  them  an  easy 
means  of  transportation  for  their  farni  prod- 
ucts and  live  stock.  The  township's  develop- 
ment has  been  very  marked  since  the  comple- 
tion of  this  road.  The  town  of  Raymond  is 
situated  on  this  road,  about  one  mile  east  of 
the  Zanesville  line,  in  the  western  part  of  the 
township,  and  is  one  of  the  live  business 
places  of  Montgomeiy  County.  Its  popula- 
tion is  estimated  at  about  nine  hundred.  The 
ground  on  which  the  principal  part  of  the 
town  stands  was  formerly  owned  by  Ishmael 
McGown  and  Nimrod  McElroy.  who  had  it 
surveyed  into  lots  in  the  year  1870.  The 
lines  were  run  by  an  experienced  civil  engi- 
neer by  the  name  of  Bass.  The  first  house 
in  the  place  was  a  residence  erected  by  James 
Sanders,  shortly  after  the  survey  was  made. 
A  few  weeks  later,  another  house  was  in  pro- 
cess of  erection,  belonging  to  Thomas  Fahey. 
A  business  house  was  erected  the  same  year, 
by  David  Hoffman,  and  rented  to  Messrs.  Van 
Dorn   &   Van   Evor,   who   stocked  it  with  a 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


345 


general  assortment  of  merchandise,  and  did  a 
large,  flouriskimig  trade  for  three  years. 
This  building  is  at  present  occupied  by  the 
drv  goods  and  grocery  store  of  Brown  &  Co. 
In  connection  with  their  mercantile  business, 
Van  Dorn  &  Van  Evor  built  a  large  warehouse 
near  the  central  part  of  the  village  in  the  fall 
of  1S70,  and  handled  an  immense  amount  of 
grain  during  the  next  two  years.  Encouraged 
by  the  success  which  attended  the  business 
venture  of  the  foregoing,  other  business  men 
came  to  the  village  shortly  afterward,  and, 
finding  it  a  safe  place  for  capital,  several 
stores  and  different  kinds  of  shops  were 
started. 

The  second  store  building  was  erected  in 
the  western  part  of  the  town,  in  the  spring  of 
1871,  by  Charles  Davis,  who  did  a  good  bus- 
iness for  four  years,  when  he  disposed  of  the 
stock  to  W.  P.  Carter.  The  latter  continued 
the  business  at  the  same  stand  for  three  years, 
when,  meeting  with  several  financial  reverses, 
he  concluded  to  retire  from  the  store,  which 
resolution  he  put  into  effect  a  short  time 
afterward. 

In  the  fall  of  1871,  a  third  store  was 
started,  by  Parrot  &  Scott.  Like  other  stores 
in  the  place,  their  stock  consisted  of  a  gen- 
eral assortment  of  merchandise.  The  name  ' 
of  the  firm  was  afterward  changed  to  that  of 
Scott  &  Nevins.  The  entire  stock  was  finally 
pm-chased  by  Nimrod  McElroy,  who  for  some 
time  conducted  a  business  with  a  stock  rep- 
resenting several  thousand  dollars.  One  of 
the  first  merchants  of  the  town  was  A.  W. 
Marshall.  The  first  brick  building  was 
erected  in  the  year  1876,  by  John  O'Bannon. 
This  was  a  large  storeroom.  A.  Henn  erected 
a  brick  store-house  the  same  year,  also.  D. 
J.  Parrot  built  the  large  elevator  near  the 
railroad  crossing  in  1N74,  and  still  operates 
it.  This  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  ex- 
tensive elevators  on  the  line  of  the  St.  Louis 


Division  of  the  Wabash  road,  and  many 
thousand  bushels  of  grain  of  all  kindg  are 
handled  and  shipped  yearly.  Another  eleva- 
tor was  erected  in  the  year  18S0,  by  E.  R. 
Carter,  who  sold  it  soon  after. 

Frank  Hicks  was  the  first  physician  of  the 
town.  He  located  here  shortly  after  the  town 
was  laid  out,  and  is  still  one  of  the  practic- 
ing physicians  of  the  place.  Dr.  Barton 
came  next.  Dr.  Hermon  was  one  of  the  early 
physicians  of  the  township,  where  he  has  a 
large  and  lucrative  practice.  He  moved  into 
the  town  several  years  since,  where  he  still 
resides.  Drs.  Easley,  Wheeler  and  Blevins 
are  located  here,  all  of  whom  are  regularly 
graduated  M.  D.'s  of  the  different  schools  of 
medicine. 

The  Raymond  Post  Office  was  established  in 
the  year  1871,  with  Charles  Davis  as  Post- 
master. The  office  is  now  kept  in  the  hard- 
ware store  of  Thomas  Kissinger.  The  first 
blacksmith  to  locate  in  the  village  was  Will 
iam  Develin,  who  started  a  shop  in  the  year 
1871.  W.  H.  Pepper  built  the  second  black- 
smith shop  the  same  year.  The  citizens, 
realizing  that  "  'tis  education  that  forms  the 
common  mind,"  turned  their  attention,  dur- 
ing the  early  days  of  the  village,  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  erecting  a  schoolhouse  large  enough 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  increasing  2>opu- 
lation.  A  building  was  erected  in  the  year 
1874.  It  is  two  stories  high,  contains  four 
large-sized,  comfortable  rooms,  all  of  which 
are  well  finished  and  furnished,  and  the 
building,  as  a  whole,  does  credit  to  the  town 
and  townshiji.  It  is  situated  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  town,  and  surmounted  by 
a  large  bell-tower,  from  the  top  of  which  an 
extended  view  of  the  surrounding  country  for 
many  miles  can  be  obtained.  The  first  schools 
in  this  building  were  taught  by  Misses  Hattie 
Wood  and  Bettie  Street,  in  1875.  The  next 
Year,  the  schools  had  so  increased  in  size  that 


346 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY 


a  third  teacher  was  required,  when  they  were 
placed  under  the  able  supervision  of  Prof. 
James  Young,  who  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the 
educational  interests  of  Raymond.  Prof.  S. 
A.  Moore  had  charge  of  the  schools  during 
the  years  1877  and  1S78;  George  Bowers,  in 
1880.  The  present  corps  of  teachers  consists 
of  the  following:  Prof.  C.  E.  Cook,  Princi- 
pal; C.  J.  Lapp,  Louisa  Watson  and  Hetty 
C.  Doer,  assistants.  The  schools  have  been 
brought  up  to  a  high  standard  of  usefulness 
under  the  successful  management  of  the  dif- 
ferent Principals,  and  are  now  enjoying  well- 
earned  and  well-merited  prosperity.  The 
Board  of  Education  is  composed  of  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen:  William  Bowles,  Presi- 
dent; D.  J.  Parrott,  Vice  President;  P.  J. 
Hermon,  Clerk.  The  schools  last  eight 
months  of  the  year,  and  have  an  average  at- 
tendance of  about  two  hundred  pupils. 

The  Raymond  Steam  Flouring-Mill  was 
built  in  the  year  1875,  by  Montgomery  Range, 
and  has  been  operated  by  him  ever  since.  It 
has  three  run  of  stone,  and  a  capacity  of  about 
thirty  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  George  H. 
Hooser  built  a  steam  merchant  mill  in  1880, 
at  a  cost  of  $6,000.  This  mill  has  three  buhrs, 
and  does  a  large  and  lucrative  business. 

The  first  hotel  in  the  place  was  erected  by 
John  Brusaw,  in  1872,  and  by  him  sold  to  J  ames 
Sanders  six  months  later.  It  is  known  as  the 
Central  House,  and  is  at  present  kept  by  T.  J. 
Kissinger.  B.  R.  Hubbard  built  a  hotel  in 
1875.  It  was  purchased  by  Mrs.  Pallard,  who 
kept  it  about  three  years,  when  it  was  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  fire  in  the  general  con- 
flagration which  visited  the  town  in  1881. 
The  Raymond  House  was  built  in  1881,  by 
Louisa  Chism,  and  is  at  present  under  the 
management  of  her  brother,  Robert  Chism, 
who  keeps  one'of  the  best  hotels  in  the  county. 

A  small  sheet,  the  Raymond  Reporter,  was 
started  in  the  year  1877,  by  T.  M.  Snedley, 


and  issued  semi-monthly  for  about  six  months. 
The  Raymond  Independent,  a  weekly  news- 
paper, was  established  by  J.  W.  Potts  in  the 
year  1881.  It  is  conducted  with  considerable 
energy  and  success,  and  has  reached  a  circu- 
lation of  over  five  hundred.  The  office  and 
composing  rooms  are  the  best  in  the  county, 
and  the  editor,  Mr.  Potts,  has  won  many  fa- 
vorable opinions  from  his  brethren  of  the 
quill  for  the  fearless  and  able  manner  with 
which  he  treats  the  subjects  of  the  day.  The 
paper  is  in  every  respect  independent,  and 
promises  to  remain  one  of  the  permanent  fix- 
tures of  the  town. 

The  Raymond  Bank  was  established  in 
1881,  by  John  Green.  It  is  an  individual 
concern,  and,  for  the  amount  of  capital  in- 
vested, is  doing  a  flourishing  business. 

The  town  was  incorporated  in  1871.  The 
first  officers  elected  were  the  following:  R. 
M.  Van  Dorn,  President  of  the  Board;  E.  A. 
Hanna,  Clerk;  and  W.  P.  Carter,  Treasurer. 
The  present  officers  are:  William  Fitzger- 
ald, President;  E.  R.  Day,  Clerk;  W.  A. 
Maxey,  Treasurer;  P.  J.  Harmon,  George 
Hooser,  D.  C.  Kelley  and  D.  J.  Parrott, 
Trustees. 

A  most  destructive  fire  visited  the  town  in 
the  month  of  August,  1881,  during  the  prog- 
ress of  which  the  best  part  of  the  improve- 
ments were  completely  burned  to  the  ground. 
The  fire  originated  in  the  livery  stable  of 
Noah  Moore,  on  the  east  side  of  Main  street, 
from  which  it  spread  to  the  west  side,  and 
caught  in  the  butcher-shop  of  Paul  Zink. 
From  this  building  the  flames  leaped  with 
lightning- like  rapidity  from  house  to  house, 
and,  before  the  fire  could  be  checked,  all  the 
buildings  in  Block  13,  with  the  exception  of 
two  small  structures  situated  in  the  north- 
west and  southwest  corners  respectively,  were 
a  smoldering  mass  of  ruins.  Every  effort  that 
could  be  desired  was  resorted  to  in  order  to 


RAYMOND  TOAVNSHIP. 


347 


check  the  devouring  element,  but  all  attempts 
were  futile.  The  buildings  destroyed  by  the 
conflagration  were  the  following  :  Barber 
shop  and  family  residence  of  Paul  Zink;  liv- 
ery stable  belonging  to  Noah  Moore;  hotel  of 
Susan  Chism;  store  and  restaurant  belonging 
to  the  Harvel  heirs;  storeroom  and  stock  of 
goods  of  George  Zimmerman;  Frank  Grain- 
er's  saddler  shop;  Zink's  meat-shop;  Colvin 
&  Son's  store:  Costley's  livery  stable;  agri- 
cultural warehouse  of  E. R.  Day;  store  build- 
ing occupied  by  "William  Fitzgerald;  Maxey 
&  Roberts'  grocery  store;  Anderson's  restau- 
rant; Piggot's  blacksmith  shop;  dwelling  and 
ice-house  belonging  to  George  Zimmerman; 
barn  belonging  to  David  Huggins;  and  the 
store  and  stock  of  Deer,  Morrison  &  Co  The 
loss  caused  by  this  devouring  tire  is  estimated 
at  $35,000,  of  which  amount  $11,000  were  re- 
alized by  insurance.  The  citizens  soon  ral- 
lied from  the  effects  of  this  terrible  visitation, 
and  many  new  buildings  were  pushed  rapidly 
forward.  The  large  and  elegant  brick  build- 
ings situated  on  the  east  side  of  Broad  street, 
and  known  as  the  Union  Block,  were  erected 
the  latter  part  of  the  year  1S81,  as  was  also 
the  fine  storeroom  belonging  to  Paul  Zink, 
situated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street. 
The  present  business  character  of  Raymond 
may  be  estimated  froni  the  following  list: 
There  are  five  dry  goods  and  grocery  stores, 
two  hardware  stores,  one  cabinet  and  furni- 
ture store,  two  drug  stores,  two  stores  that 
make  groceries  a  specialty,  two  boot  and  shoe 
stores,  two  barber  shops,  one  harness  shop, 
two  millinery  establishments,  one  agricultural 
store,  two  lumber  yards,  two  blacksmith  shops, 
one  cooper  shop  and  one  wagon  shop. 

There  are  four  religious  organizations, 
with  as  many  houses  of  worship,  the  oldest  of 
which  is  the  Raymond  M.  E.  Church.  Its 
history  we  have  already  given  in  a  previous 
page. 


The  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in 
the  year  1871,  by  a  committee  appointed  by 
the  Alton  Presbytery,  of  which  Rev.  Thomas 
E.  Spilman  was  Chairman.  This  committee 
met  in  the  office  of  Dr.  Ira  Barton,  and  the 
following  names  were  recorded  as  members: 
John  H.  Barton,  Mary  N.  Barton,  William  P. 
Hamilton,  Mary  B.  Hamilton,  William  Ken- 
nedy and  Dr.  Ira  Barton.  At  this  meeting, 
the  following  Elders  were  selected:  John  H. 
Barton  and  William  P.  Hamilton.  The  first 
public  services  were  held  in  the  Independent 
Schoolhouse.  The  house  now  in  use  is  a 
frame  building;  is  the  first  one  erected  by  the 
congregation,  and  will  seat  about  three  hun- 
dred  persons.  It  is  a  nicely  furnished  edi- 
fice, and  is  valued  at  $1,500.  The  first  min- 
ister was  Rev.  R.  Walker.  The  following 
ministers  have  had  charge  of  the  church  at 
different  times:  Revs.  E.  R.  Rankin,  A.  H 
Parks,  —  -  Reynolds,  Adam  Simpson,  James 
Lafferty,  Solomon  Dickey,  and  M.  C.  Butler, 
the  present  pastor;  present  membership, 
about  thirty;  Sunday  school  is  under  the 
charge  of  S.  A.  Merriwether. 

The  Raymond  Christian  Church  commenced 
its  history  in  the  year  1874,  with  a  member- 
ship of  thirty,  who  assembled  at  times  for 
worship  in  the  vacant  storeroom  belonging  to 
W.  D.  Moore.  The  organization  was  effected 
under  the  energetic  labors  of  Elder  Corwin, 
of  Macoupin  County.  The  first  regular  Pas- 
tor was  Elder  J.  W.  Balinger.  In  the  fall  of 
1874,  the  congregation  bought  a  lot,  and, 
shortly  after,  commenced  the  erection  of  the 
present  church  edifice,  which  was  dedicated 
in  the  spring  of  1875,  the  dedicatory  sermon 
being  delivered  by  Elder  J.  H.  Garrison,  of 
St.  Louis.  The  building  is  frame,  and,  as  it 
stands,  is  valued  at  $2,200.  J..  W.  Balinger 
labored  earnestly  for  the  congregation  one 
year,  and  was  succeeded  by  L.  L.  Norton, 
who  exercised  a  pastorate  of  five  months'  du- 


348 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ration.  H.  R.  Trickett  and  S.  B.  Lindsley 
were  the  next  pastors.  J.  J.  Cathcart 
preached  one  year.  Elders  Standley  and  Van 
Hoosier  conducted  a  series  of  meetings  in  the 
year  1881,  during  the  progress  of  which 
twenty-one  additions  were  made  to  the  con- 
gregation. At  present,  the  church  is  without 
a  regular  pastor,  although  devotional  exer- 
cises are  conducted  each  Lord's  Day.  The 
membership  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifteen. 
Their  Sunday  school  is  large  and  well  at- 
tended, with  an  average  of  120  scholars,  and 
is  under  the  efficient  management  of  D.  J. 
Parrott.  Superintendent. 

St.  Raymond's  Roman  Catholic  Church 
was  organized  about  the  year  1S73.  It  was 
re-organized  in  1880,  by  Rev.  Father  Vircna, 
and  the  present  handsome  building  erected. 
This  edifice  is  the  largest  house  of  worship 
in  the  town,  and  can  be  ranked  among  the 
best  in  the  county.  Its  dimensions  are  34x56 
feet;  will  comfortably  seat  400  persons,  and 
cost  the  sum  of  $5,000.  The  number  of  mem- 
bers is  estimated  at  five  hundred.  Public 
services  are  held  every  third  Sunday,  by  the 
pastor,  Rev.  John  Gezenhauser,  of  Bartholto. 
There  are  two  flourishing  secret  societies  in 
the  town — Masons  and  Odd  Fellows. 

Raymond  Lodge,  No.  692,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  established  under  dispensation  in  1871. 
Their  charter  was  granted  in  1872,  by  De 
Witt  C.  Cregier,  G.  M.  On  this  charter 
appear  the  following  names:  George  A. 
Vannever,  Robert  M.  Van  Dorn,  J.  R.  M. 
Wilder,  Samuel  S.  Peebles,  Edward  Grimes, 
William  Chapman,  S.  S.  Wertz,  James  R. 
Williams,  John  King,  E.  A.  Hanna,  Osman 
White,  D.  J.  Parrott,  P.  J.  Hermon,  Isaac 
Eldridge,  John  G.  Moore,  Alvis  Sharpe,  C. 
P.  Kerns  and  John  Dowdle.  First  officers 
were : 

George  Vannever,  W.  M.;  Robert  Van 
Dorn,  S.  W.;  J.  R.  Wilder,  J.  W. ;  William 


Chapman,  Treasurer  ;S.  S.  Peebles,  Secretary; 
E.  A.  Hanna,  S.  D.;  O.  White,  J.  D.;  Isaac 
Elledge,  Tiler.  Present  officers :  John  Kidd, 
W.  M. ;  John  Green,  S.  W. ;  F.  C.  Hitchings, 
J.  W. ;  Jacob  Guller.  Trensurer;  James  A. 
Bradley,  Secretary;  Edward  Grimes,  S.  D. ; 
Harrison  Sharpe,  J.  D. ;  Sylvester  Keplinger, 
Tiler;  D.  J.  Parrott,  Chaplain.  Member- 
ship, at  present,  thirty-two. 

Raymond  Lodge,  No.  476,  I.  O.  O.  F..  was 
organized  October  8,  1872,  with  the  follow- 
ing charter  members:  Norris  Crane,  Nimrod 
McElroy,  G.  W.  McAtee,  Elias  R.  Day, 
George  A.  Vannever,  James  N.  Guthrie,  Wal-. 
ker  Gunn,  James  Sanders.  The  first  officers 
of  the  lodge  were  the  following:  James  San- 
ders, N.  G. ;  Norris  Crane,  V.  G. ;  G.  A.  Van- 
never,  Secretary;  Nimrod  McElroy,  Treasurer. 
The  different  offices  are  filled  at  present  by 
the  following:  F.  B.  Wood,  N.  G:  J.  F. 
Laller,  V.  G. :  M.  G.  Sisson,  Secretary:  W. 
A.  Maxey,  Permanent  Secretary ;  R.N.  Long, 
Treasurer;  A.  H.  Johnson,  Warden;  B.  F. 
Query,  Conductor;  Corder  Jones,  ChajJain; 
W.  S.  Richie,  I,  G. ;  James  Norris,  O.  G. 

The  hall  in  which  these  lodges  meet  is 
owned  jointly  by  them.  Both  organizations 
are  reported  in  good  working  order. 

The  part  taken  by  Raymond  in  the  great 
war  of  the  rebellion  does  credit  to  a  township 
of  her  population.  Scarcely  had  it  been  an- 
nounced that  Sumter  had  been  fired  upon 
before  the  spirit  of  war  commanded  the 
thoughts  and  actions  of  her  citizens.  The  re- 
sponse was  as  ready  as  the  impulse  was  de- 
termined, and  the  history  of  the  part  taken 
by  our  brave  boys  in  the  various  encounters 
that  mark  the  progress  of  the  war  presents  a 
record  as  creditable,  perhaps,  as  that  of  any 
other  township  in  the  county.  We  would 
gladly  give  a  list  of  the  boys  in  blue  who 
went  from  Raymond,  but  the  limits  of  our 
space  forbids. 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


349 


For  information  concerning  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  town  and  township  of  Eaymond 
the  writer  is  indebted  to  Ishmael  McGowen, 
Dr.    P.    J.   Hermon,  E.   K.  Carter,   William 


Chapman  and  John  Cass.  They  have  his 
most  sincere  thanks  for  the  courteous  and 
gentlemanly  manner  with  which  the  desired 
information  was  given. 


350 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XXII.* 

IRVING  TOWNSHIP— BOURDARIES— SOIL— PIONEER  SETTLERS— SCHOOLS— CHURCHES- 
PHYSICIANS  AND  MERCHANTS. 


It  is  not  claimed  that  the  statements  con- 
tained in  the  following  pages  are  in  strict  har- 
mony with  the  truth  in  every  particular,  as 
much  of  the  information  concerning  the  early 
history  of  this  township  is  a  matter  of  mere 
conjecture.  Traditions  are  numerous,  but  are 
very  unsatisfactory  sources  from  which  to  ob- 
tain correct  and  definite  statements.  And 
"  perfectly  reliable  history  written  from  con- 
flicting accounts  is  an  absolute  impossibility." 
No  two  men  who  are  questioned  will  give  similar 
accounts  of  the  same  transaction  or  event,  thus 
adding  much  to  the  perplexity  of  the  writer  or 
placing  the  question  beyond  a  correct  solution. 
Seventy  years  ago,  this  division  of  Montgomery 
County  was  a  wilderness,  whose  only  inhabi- 
tants were  a  few  scattered  savages  and  their 
wild  companions,  the  wolf,  deer  and  buffalo. 
Occasional  hunting  parties  of  white  men  had 
passed  through  it  long  before  any  permanent 
settlement  had  been  made,  but  its  history  prop- 
erly begins  with  the  year  1826,  at  which  time 
the  first  pioneer  made  his  appearance  and  lo- 
cated his  humble  home  in  the  wilderness. 
Since  then  there  has  been  a  constant  influx  of 
population,  until  now  it  is  one  of  the  most 
thickly  settled  and  enterprising  townships  in 
the  count}'.  Irving  consists  of  thirty-six 
square  miles  of  territory,  lying  near  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  county,  and  is  designated  as 
Township  9,  north  of  Range  3  west.  It  lies 
between  Butler  Grove  and  Witt,  the  former 
being  the  western  boundary  and  the  latter  the 
eastern.  The  township  lying  north  is  Roun- 
tree,    while   East    Fort    Township    forms    the 

►By  G.  N.  Berry. 


southern  boundary.  The  general  character  of 
the  land  is  what  might  be  termed  rolling,  but 
in  the  western  part  it  verges  into  the  broken, 
some  of  the  higher  portions  being  called  hills. 
The  eastern  and  northern  parts  exhibit  a  roll- 
ing and  undulating  surface,  possessing  a  rich, 
fertile  soil,  consisting  of  a  dark  loam  with  a 
clay  subsoil.  This  soil  is  very  rich,  and  pro- 
duces abundant  crops  of  grain,  vegetables  of  all 
kinds,  and  many  fine  varieties  of  fruits.  The 
soil  in  the  western  and  southwestern  parts  is 
not  so  well  adapted  to  agriculture,  being  some- 
what thin,  and  largely  composed  of  clay  and 
gravel.  The  best  cultivated  parts  of  the  town- 
ship are  in  the  northern  and  eastern  portions, 
where  can  be  seen  some  of  the  finest  and  best 
improved  farms  in  the  county.  The  principal 
streams,  by  which  this  region  is  watered  and 
drained,  are  the  Middle  Fork  of  Shoal  Creek, 
a  stream  of  considerable  size  and  importance, 
which  runs  through  the  western  part,  from 
north  to  south,  and  Long  Branch,  a  tributary 
of  the  former,  which  flows  in  a  northwesterly 
direction  through  the  southwest  corner.  The 
land  along  these  creeks  is  composed  of  a  rich, 
black,  mucky  soil,  and  was  originally  covered 
with  a  dense  growth  of  timber.  Much  of  this 
timber  has  been  cut  off,  and  from  the  land  thus 
brought  into  cultivation,  some  of  the  largest 
and  best  paying  crops  are  produced.  About 
one-half  of  the  area  of  the  township  was 
formerly  timbered,  much  of  which  has  been 
cleared  of  late  years,  until  now  the  woodland 
comprises  only  about  one-third  of  the  area. 
The  timber  still  standing  consists  mostly  of 
hickory,  elm,  oak  of  several   varieties,  syca- 


LIBRARY 

Of     IMt 

UNIVERSIir  «t  ILLINOIS 


IRVING   TOWNSHIP. 


353 


more  and  walnut.  But  little  of  the  latter  is 
left,  the  greater  part  haviug  been  bought  up  by 
agents  of  the  Indianapolis  Furniture  Company, 
several  years  ago.  Many  farmers  in  the  north- 
ern and  eastern  parts  of  the  township  are  giv- 
ing considerable  attention  to  the  cultivation  of 
artificial  groves,  and  within  a  few  years  the 
timber  thus  produced  will  afford  a  suffieienc}- 
for  all  practical  purposes.  The  early  settle- 
ment of  Irving  Township  cannot  be  given  with 
perfect  accuracy,  as  many  of  the  statements 
concerning  the  pioneer  settlers  are  vague  and 
unsatisfactory.  It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that 
the  first  white  settler  was  one  Lawrence  Frank- 
lin, who  moved  to  Illinois  from  Kentucky  in 
the  year  1826,  and  settled  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  Irving,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Mr. 
Hughes,  in  Section  29.  It  was  here  that  the 
first  cabin  was  erected,  which  stood  till  a  few 
years  ago.  Some  of  the  old  timbers  of  which 
it  was  composed  can  still  be  seen  near  the  spot 
which  it  formerly  occupied. 

A  brief  description  of  this  primitive  domi- 
cile may,  perhaps,  be  of  interest  to  some 
reader  whose  life  has  been  passed  in  more  com- 
fortable and  commodious  quarters.  The  di- 
mensions of  the  structure  were  about  fifteen  by 
eighteen  feet.  One  room  was  the  sum  total  of 
apartments  it  contained,  which  answered  the 
four-fold  purpose  of  kitchen,  bedroom,  dining- 
room  and  parlor.  The  floor  was  made  of  split 
logs,  called  puncheons.  These  had  been 
smoothed  off  with  a  common  chopping-ax 
until  they  composed  a  surface  which  was  tol- 
erably level.  A  large,  open-mouthed  fireplace, 
capable  of  receiving  a  log  of  almost  any  di- 
mensions, occupied  very  nearly  an  entire  end 
of  the  building.  The  furniture  of  the  room 
was  of  the  most  primitive  kind,  and  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  interior  of  the  apartment, 
as  we  have  described  it. 

Yet  from  this  humble  cabin  home  no  way- 
worn traveler  was  permitted  to  go  hungry  or 
sleepy.       A    place    was    always   allotted   the 


stranger  at  the  frugal  board,  and  a  shelter  for 
the  night  assured  him  if  desired.  Hospitality 
was  a  trait  cultivated  to  a  high  degree  of  per- 
fection by  the  early  pioneer,  and  a  part  of  his 
religion  was  to  welcome  with  open  doors  any 
wayfarer  who  might  happen  to  wander  near 
his  little  mansion.  With  Shell}-  he  could  say 
to  the  stranger, 

"You  must  come  home  with  me  and  be  m_v  guest, 
You  will  give  joy  to  me,  and  I  will  do 
All  that  is  in  my  power  to  honor  you." 

Mr.  Franklin  resided  upon  the  farm  he  settled 
till  the  year  1858,  when  he  sold  the  place  to 
Mr.  Hughes,  and  moved  to  the  city  of  Hillsboro, 
where  he  died  the  following  year.  Several  sons 
of  Mr.  Franklin  still  reside  in  the  county,  all 
of  whom  have  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  growth  and  development  of  the  town- 
ship. Ezra  Bastick,  another  early  settler  of 
Irving,  came  from  Illinois  to  Kentucky  some 
time  prior  to  the  year  1824,  in  company  with 
his  two  sons-in-law,  William  and  Joel  Knight, 
They  stopped  for  a  couple  of  years  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  county,  near  where  the 
little  village  of  Donnellson  now  stands,  in  East 
Fork  Township.  Mr.  Bastick  settled  in  Irving 
in  the  year  1826",  but  at  just  what  place  could 
not  be  learned.  He  was  au  old  revolutionary 
soldier,  and  many  were  the  thrilling  stories  he 
told  of  that  memorable  struggle  while  seated 
with  his  grandchildren  around  the  blazing 
hearth  of  the  little  cabin  home.  He  was  in 
nearly  all  the  battles  of  the  war,  and  received 
a  severe  wound  in  one  engagement,  which  so 
disabled  him  that  he  remained  a  cripple  during 
the  rest  of  his  life. 

Joel  Knight,  who  accompanied  Bastick  to 
Illinois,  located  the  farm  known  as  the  Harmon 
place,  about  two  and  one-half  miles  northeast 
of  Hillsboro,  in  Section  29.  He  was  a  Presby- 
terian preacher  of  considerable  ability  and 
assisted  in  the  organization  of  nearly  all  the 
early  churches  of  his  denomination  through- 
out the  count}-.     He  traveled  extensivelv  from 

T 


354 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


settlement  to  settlement,  preaching  in  groves, 
barns  and  in  private  dwellings,  aud  man}-  are 
the  stories  told  of  the  wonderful  power  of  his 
eloquence  and  logic  over  the  audiences  that 
used  to  assemble  to  greet  him  on  his  regular 
preaching  tours  through  the  country.  In  the 
year  1877,  Mr.  Knight  died  at  a  ripe  old  age, 
and  was  buried  in  the  old  Bear  Creek  Ceme- 
tery, near  the  place  where  he  first  settled. 

"  An  old  age,  serene  and  bright, 
And  lovely  as  a  Lapland  night, 
Led  him  to  an  honored  grave." 

Two  brothers,  Mark  and  James  M.  Rutledge, 
came  into  this  township  some  time  in  the  year 
1826,  and  settled  in  the  western  part,  near  the 
boundary  line.  The  farm  on  which  they  built 
their  first  house  is  now  owned  by  Mrs.  Hogsett, 
whose  husband  purchased  it  the  same  year  in 
which  James  died.  Mark  did  not  remain  a 
great  while  in  Irving,  but  moved  to  Hillsboro 
Township  in  1827,  and  bought  a  farm,  on  which 
he  resided  until  the  year  1858,  at  which  time 
he  disposed  of  his  land  and  moved  to  the  city 
of  Hillsboro,  where  he  died  a  few  years  ago. 

John  Lipe  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
township  as  early  as  the  year  1 828.  He  was  a 
stanch  old  German,  well  fitted  to  encounter 
the  many  hardships  which  beset  the  pioneer 
settler  in  a  new  country.  Lipe  came  to  this 
State  from  North  Carolina  in  company  with 
quite  a  number  of  German  families  that  located 
in  different  places  throughout  the  county.  The 
farm  on  which  he  first  settled  is  in  Section  3, 
and  is  at  present  owned  by  Trimper  HerHey, 
a  relative,  who  purchased  it  shortly  after  Mr. 
Lipe  died.  The  date  of  this  old  pioneer's 
death  was  not  ascertained,  though  it  occurred 
a  number  of  years  ago.  His  wife  survived 
him  many  3-ears.  She  died  in  1881,  and  was 
followed  to  the  grave  by  over  four  hundred 
descendants  and  relatives,  probably  the  largest 
number  of  relations  that  ever  attended  the 
funeral  of  any  one  person  in  the  State.     James 


Kelly  was  one  among  the  earliest  settlers,  and 
located  on  Section  27  in  the  year  1829. 

Just  how  long  Mr.  Kelly  lived  in  the  town- 
ship is  not  known,  though  it  can  be  said  that 
he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  wilderness 
where  he  first  located  his  humble  home  changed 
tO  a  very  garden.  Six  sons  of  Kelly  are  now 
living,  five  of  them  in  this  State  and  one  in 
Utah. 

Andrew  King  was  prominent  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Irving,  but  in  what  year  he  came 
into  the  township  is  not  known,  though  we  may 
be  safe  in  saying  that  it  was  prior  to  the  year 
1 830.  He  came  from  Tennessee,  from  whence 
came  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Southern 
Illinois,  and  located  on  Locust  Fork,  about  one 
and  a  half  miles  northwest  of  the  town  of  Irv- 
ing, in  Section  16.  The  land  on  which  King 
settled  was  prairie,  covered  with  a  thick  growth 
of  sedge  grass.  This  grass  furnished  the  ma- 
terial out  of  which  the  first  brooms  used  by 
the  early  settlers  were  made.  King  died  in  the 
year  1862.  His  descendants  living  are  two 
sons,  S.  F.  and  William  T.,  both  of  whom  re- 
side in  the  village  of  Irving.  The  Berrys  are 
also  an  old  fatniby  of  this  township,  and  were 
among  the  first  settlers  of  Montgomery  Coun- 
ty. James  M.  Beny  moved  here  in  1829,  and 
improved  the  farm  in  Section  16,  now  owned  by 
Thomas  Black.  He  owned  the  greater  part  of 
the  land  where  the  town  of  Irving  now  stands, 
and  was  one  of  the  principal  projectors  of  that 
village,  which  he  helped  to  lay  out  in  the  year 
1856.  He  moved  into  the  town  a  number  of 
years  ago,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He  is 
one  of  the  oldest  citizens  of  the  township.  His 
brother,  William  S.  Berry,  though  not  an  actual 
settler  in  Irving,  was  among  the  first  pioneers 
of  the  county,  having  settled  in  Hillsboro  when 
it  was  but  a  mere  niche  in  the  surrounding  for- 
est. He  moved  to  this  township  a  number  of 
years  ago,  and  purchased  a  fine  tract  of  land. 
His  son  is  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
the  town  of  Irving. 


IRVING    TOWNSHIP. 


355 


John  Christian  was  also  an  old  settler,  who  | 
emigrated  from  Kentucky,  and  settled  in  Irving 
Township  in  the  year  1830.  The  original 
homestead  of  Christian  is  at  present  owned  by 
a  Mr.  Mitz.  Christian  was  one  of  the  first  Bap- 
tist preachers  in  this  part  of  the  State.  He  as- 
sisted in  the  first  religious  services  ever  con- 
ducted in  the  township,  and  was  instrumental 
in  founding  several  churches  of  his  denomina- 
tion in  the  county. 

In  1830,  John  Grantham  also  appeared,  and 
purchased  a  farm  in   the  southwestern  part  of  | 
the  township.     This  farm  now  belongs  to  Seth  j 
Washburne. 

Grantham  was  a  Methodist  preacher,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the 
Hopewell  Church,  of  which  he  was  an  original 
member.  He  died  in  the  year  1842.  Three 
sons  are  still  living  in  the  township,  all  of  whom 
are  prominent  members  of  the  Methodist 
Church  of  Irving. 

Many  other  early  settlers  of  this  township 
might  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  those 
already  named,  but  the  date  of  their  settlement 
and  facts  connected  therewith  have  been  for- 
gotten, and  they  have  long  since  passed  into 
that  silent  palace  of  the  dead  whose  doors  open 
not  outward.  To  the  energy  and  perseverance 
of  these  sturdy,  strong-handed  pioneers  is  the 
township  indebted  for  much  of  its  present 
prosperity. 

The  early  settlers  in  this  township,  like  the 
first  settlers  in  many  other  parts  of  the  county, 
were  obliged  to  go  long  distances  to  obtain 
flour  and  meal.  The  nearest  mill  for  several 
years  was  the  little  rude  affair  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county  known  as  Pogleman's  pepper- 
mill.  This  mill  ground  so  slow  that  many  went 
by  it  to  Edwardsville,  a  distance  of  thirty-five 
or  forty  miles.  A  mill  was  built  in  Butler 
Grove  Township,  in  an  early  day,  by  Jacob 
Cress.  This  mill  was  extensively  patronized 
by  the  first  settlers  of  Irving  till  one  was  erect- 
ed nearer  home.     James  T.  I'adcn  built  a  mill 


in  the  year  1831,  about  three  and  a  half  miles 
southwest  of  the  village  of  Irving,  on  the  Hills- 
boro  road.  The  machinery  of  this  mill  was 
operated  by  horse  power,  ground  both  corn  and 
wheat,  and  was  patronized  by  the  citizens  of 
this  and  the  adjoining  townships  of  Witt  and 
East  Fork.  This  mill  was  purchased  by  Ezc- 
kiel  Grantham,  after  it  had  been  run  about  eight 
years,  remodeled  and  supplied  new  machinery. 
The  machinery  was  removed  a  short  time  after- 
ward to  the  town  of  Irving,  and  used  in  the 
construction  of  a  mill  at  that  place.  The  old 
building  was  torn  down  and  hauled  away  about 
two  years  ago. 

A  saw-mill  was  built  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  the  township,  in  an  early  da}',  by  a  Mr. 
Hickman.  It  was  situated  on  Shoal  Creek, 
from  which  it  received  the  power  that  operated 
it.  This  mill  was  run  but  a  very  short  time, 
and  does  not  appear  to  have  done  a  very  exten- 
sive business.  The  first  steam  mill  was  built 
b\r  Kelly  &  Harris  in  the  year  1864,  at  a  place 
two  miles  southwest  of  the  town  of  Irving. 
They  sold  it  in  the  following  year  to  a  man  by 
name  of  Stevens,  who  in  turn  disposed  of  it  to 
H.  M.  Kelly  two  years  afterward.  Kelly 
moved  the  mill  to  the  town  of  Irving,  and  op- 
erated it  several  years.  The  machinery  was 
finally  taken  out  and  used  in  the  construction 
of  another  mill  at  that  place,  of  which  we  will 
speak  more  fully  further  on.  The  old  building 
was  purchased  by  S.  P.  King,  who  moved  it  on 
his  lot,  where  it  answers  the  purpose  of  a  barn. 

Schools  were  opened  in  Montgomery  County 
in  an  early  day,  and  the  necessity  of  educating 
the  pioneer  children  forced  itself  upon  the 
minds  of  the  first  settlers,  and  many  schools 
were  at  once  established.  The  first  building 
used  for  school  purposes  in  this  township  was 
a  small  cabin  in  the  southern  part,  built  as  early 
as  the  year  1827.  It  was  used  as  a  meeting- 
house also.  The  room  was  furnished  with  a 
few  rough  benches  made  of  small  logs  split 
once,  and   hewed  smooth  with  a  common  chop- 


356 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ping  as.  These  rested  upon  a  dirt  floor  that 
required  no  sweeping.  A  broad  board  ex-  ! 
tended  around  the  apartment  next  to  the  wall, 
and  served  the  purpose  of  a  writing  desk  dur- 
ing certain  hours  of  the  daj'.  A  large  fire- 
place occupied  the  greater  part  of  one  end  of 
the  building,  in  the  construction  of  which 
neither  brick  nor  stone  were  used ;  a  bank  of 
earth  being  merely  thrown  up  against  the  logs  to 
keep  them  from  taking  fire.  A  small  rough 
stand  was  provided  for  the  teacher  near  the 
center  of  the  room,  from  which  he  could  issue 
his  decrees,  give  his  commands  or  mete  out 
condign  punishment  to  any  juvenile  offender 
who  had  the  temerity  to  violate  an}'  of  the  iron- 
clad rules  of  the  school. 

The  first  pedagogue  who  wielded  the  birch 
in  this  primitive  college  was  Joseph  McEntire, 
an  old  man  of  three-score  and  fifteen  years, 
though  possessed  of  a  wonderful  amount  of 
vitality  and  strength,  as  many  unruly  urchins 
learned  to  their  sorrow.  In  those  days,  it  re- 
quired muscle  as  well  as  brain  to  conduct  a 
school  successfully,  and  Mr.  McEntire  seems 
to  have  given  universal  satisfaction,  as  he  could 
strike  as  hard  a  blow  as  many  younger  brethren 
of  the  profession.  This  school  was  supported 
by  voluntary  subscription,  and  lasted  but  three 
months.  The  teacher  "  boarded  around,"  as 
was  the  custom  of  that  clay,  and  received  $1.50 
per  scholar  for  his  compensation.  Among  the 
first  schools  in  the  township  was  one  taught  by 
John  Grantham  in  the  Hopewell  Church  house, 
shortly  after  the  building  had  been  erected. 
No  preparation  had  been  made  for  this  school 
in  the  way  of  fitting  up  the  room,  and  there 
were  neither  desks  nor  seats  for  the  pupils. 
No  floor  had  been  laid,  nor  fireplace  built. 
The  room  was  warmed  by  a  fire  in  the  center  of 
the  dirt  floor,  around  which  the  scholars  seated 
themselves  upon  the  sleepers  of  the  building. 
In  the  spring  the  house  was  abandoned  for  a 
grove,  where  the  school  was  continued  during 
fair   weather.     When   it   rained,  the   exercises 


were    couducted    in   a   large    tent   which    Mr. 
Grantham  had  prepared  for  that  purpose. 

The  first  frame  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1848. 
on  Locust  Fork,  near  the  place  where  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Ault  now  stands.  This  house  is 
still  standing  in  the  town  of  Irving,  where  it 
was  moved  in  1860.  It  is  still  used  for  school 
purposes. 

The  first  public  school  of  the  township  was 
taught  in  this  building  by  William  F.  King,  in 
the  years  1848  and  1849.  As  time  passed,  the 
number  of  schoolhouses  increased.  The  little 
log  cabins  disappeared,  or  were  replaced  by  the 
more  comfortable  and  commodious  brick  and 
frame  buildings.  There  are  at  present  seven 
schools  in  the  township  outside  of  the  town  of 
Irving.  The  schoolhouses  are  all  well  built, 
and  furnished  with  latest  improved  furniture 
and  fixtures.  Four  of  these  houses  are  frame, 
and  three  brick.  The  present  school  board  is 
composed  of  the  following  gentlemen  :  Joseph 
Platte,  W.  W.  Webber  and  J.  E.  Knight,  Trus- 
tees ;  A.  J.  Huestis,  Township  Treasurer  and 
Clerk  of  the  Board.  The  schools  last  about 
seven  mouths  in  the  year. 

One  of  the  first  essentials  of  civilization  is  a 
well-defined  roadway.  The  first  roads  through 
this  section  were  mere  trails  over  the  prairies, 
or  winding  byways  among  the  hills  and  through 
the  woods.  These  zig-zag  roads  were  laid  out 
with  a  view  to  benefit  the  greatest  number  of 
settlers  with  the  smallest  amount  of  inconven- 
ience. The  first  road  of  any  importance  in  this 
township  was  the  Hillsboro  and  Shelbyville 
road,  which  was  established  in  the  year  1830. 
It  passes  through  the  township  from  east  to 
west,  and  is  extensively  traveled.  Another 
road  was  established  about  the  same  time, 
known  as  the  Hillsboro  and  Nokomis  road.  This 
was  one  of  the  first  roads  laid  out  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  count}',  and  is  still  the  principal 
thoroughfare  between  those  two  cities.  It  in- 
tersects the  eastern  boundary  line  at  a  point 
about  one-half  mile  north  of  the  Indianapolis  & 


IRVING   TOWNSHIP. 


357 


St.  Louis  Railroad,  in  Section  1,  runs  west  three 
miles,  where  its  course  is  abruptly  changed 
southward.  Within  half  a  mile  of  Irving,  the 
course  is  again  changed  to  the  west.  It  inter- 
sects the  western  boundary  of  the  township 
near  the  Middle  Fork  bridge.  One  of  the  first 
roads  established  in  Irving  was  the  old  north 
road,  which  ran  through  the  northern  part  of 
the  township  from  east  to  west.  The  east  road 
in  the  eastern  part  is  also  an  old  road,  and  one 
of  the  most  important  highways  in  the  town- 
ship. A  number  of  roads  intersect  each  other 
at  various  places  throughout  the  township,  but 
are  not  designated  by  any  particular  names. 

The  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  passes 
through  Irving  in  a  northeasterly  direction.  It 
makes  one  small  curve  in  the  southern  part ; 
the  remainder  of  its  course  is  very  straight. 
In  all  there  are  about  ten  miles  of  this  road  in 
the  township.  It  has  been  a  great  benefit  to 
the  country  through  which  it  passes,  and  has 
done  more  than  anything  else  toward  the  devel- 
opment of  the  township.  The  town  of  Irving 
dates  its  origin  from  the  year  in  which  this  road 
was  completed. 

The  early  church  history  of  Irving  is  in- 
volved in  considerable  obscurity,  and  many 
dates  and  interesting  facts  relating  thereto 
have  faded  away  from  the  memory  of  the  old- 
est inhabitants.  The  early  settlers  were  mem. 
bers  of  different  denominations,  and  held  their 
public  services  from  house  to  house  for  several 
years.  At  these  early  meetings,  all  met  on  a 
common  level,  and  left  their  denominational 
peculiarities  at  home.  The  Presbyterian,  Meth- 
odist, Baptist  and  Lutheran  all  united  in  these 
meetings  without  regard  to  creed  or  doctrine, 
and  worshiped  together  the  same  God  in  uni- 
son and  harmony.  Many  of  the  early  itinerant 
preachers  were  men  singularly  gifted  with  a 
powerful  eloquence  which  fired  the  hearts  of 
the  pioneers,  and  many  converts  were  gathered 
into  the  different  churches.  It  is  not  positive- 
ly known  who  preached  the  first  sermon  in  the 


township,  but,  as  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  it 
was  a  Baptist  preacher  by  the  name  of  Jordan. 
He  conducted  a  series  of  meetings  in  a  grove 
near  the  southwest  comer  of  the  township  in 
the  year  1829,  but  nothing  definite  could  be 
learned  concerning  him. 

The  first  church  organized  in  the  township 
was  the  Hopewell  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
The  organization  was  effected  in  the  year  1829, 
by  Revs.  Benson  and  Bastian,  two  itinerant 
preachers  who  came  into  the  county  several 
years  before. 

Among  the  original  members  of  this  church 
were  the  following  :  John  Grantham,  Thomas 
Christian,  Elizabeth  Grantham,  James  Gran- 
tham and  wife,  Isaiah  Grantham  and  wife,  Silas 
Kelly  and  wife,  Madison  Berry  and  wife.  Mad- 
ison Bern-  is  the  only  one  of  the  original 
members  now  living.  John  Grantham  was  a 
local  preacher.  Thomas  Christian  was  the  Hist 
class  leader.  The  first  pastor  who  had  charge 
of  the  church  was  Rev.  Lowry,  who  preachd 
for  the  congregation  two  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  John  Dew,  the  exact  leugth  of 
whose  pastorate  was  not  learned,  as  the  early 
records  of  the  church  could  not  be  found.  For 
two  years,  the  congregation  held  their  public 
services  in  groves,  private  dwelling  houses  and 
barns.  These  meetings  were  attended  by  all 
from  miles  around.  In  the  year  1830,  a  house 
of  worship  was  erected  on  Locust  Fork,  in  the 
western  part  of  the  township,  and  was  named 
the  Hopewell  Church.  Here  the  congregation 
worshiped  till  the  year  185G,  at  which  time 
the  organization  was  moved  to  a  place  about 
one  mile  northeast  of  the  village  of  Irving. 
For  twelve  years,  the  exercises  of  the  church 
were  conducted  at  this  place.  In  the  year 
1868,  it  was  decided  by  the  congregation  to 
move  the  church  into  the  town  of  Irving, 
which  was  accordingly  done.  A  reorganization 
was  effected  the  same  year,  and  the  name  of 
the  church  changed.  It  has  since  been  known 
as  the  Irving  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     In 


358 


HISTORY    OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


the  year  1860.  the  propriety  of  erecting  a  new 
house  of  worship  was  discussed  by  the  congre- 
gation, and  it  was  decided  to  begin  the  build- 
ing at  once.  Work  was  commenced  on  the 
new  house  in  the  spring  of  1861,  and  it  was 
completed  the  following  autumn.  This  build- 
ing is  frame,  dimensions  about  36  by  56  feet, 
and  will  comfortably  seat  three  hundred  and 
fifty  persons.  It  represents  a  capital  of  about 
$3,000.  It  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Ald- 
ridge  in  the  year  1861.  Since  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  church,  the  following  pastors  have 
preached  for  the  congregation  :  William  Tay- 
lor,   Hutchinson,    J.    E.    Lindlay,   James 

Calric,  J.  P.  Holloway,  W.  F.  Lowe,  A.  E.  Orr, 

—  Rhodes,  D.  H.  Stubblefield,  J.  W.  Lapham, 

Schwartz,  William   Birks,    Hamill 

and  W.  R.  Howard,  present  pastor.  The  mem- 
bership will  number  at  present  about  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty,  one  hundred  of  whom  were 
added  to  the  church  during  a  great  revival, 
conducted  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Lapham,  while  he 
was  pastor. 

A  good  Sunday  school  is  supported,  and  the 
church  is  reported  in  excellent  working  order. 

The  Presbyterians  were  prominent  among 
the  pioneer  churches,  and  had  a  flourishing 
organization  at  a  very  early  day.  This  church 
was  organized  by  Rev.  Joel  Knight,  who  was 
the  only  preacher  for  a  number  of  years.  The 
old  organization  was  maintained  for  a  consid- 
erable length  of  time,  but  owing  to  deaths, 
removals  and  other  causes,  it  was  finally  aban- 
doned. In  the  year  1866,  the  society  known 
as  the  United  Congregation  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  the  town 
of  Irving  with  about  fifty  members.  The  first 
pastor  was  Rev.  L.  P.  Deatheridge,  a  man  of 
brilliant  attainments  and  wonderful  eloquence. 
He  did  as  much  if  not  more  than  any  other 
man  toward  establishing  the  church  upon  the 
firm  footing  that  it  at  present  maintains.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Joel  Knight,  one  of  the 
pioneer  preachers  of  the  county,  and  founder 


of  the  congregation  of  1830.  He  was  followed 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Barber,  who  labored  with  the  con- 
gregation for  several  years.  Revs.  W.  J. 
McDavid  and  T.  W.  McDavid  have  also 
preached  for  the  church  at  stated  intervals. 
The  congregation  worshiped  for  three  years  in 
the  Lutheran  Church  of  Irving.  The  house 
in  which  the  church  now  worships  was  built  in 
the  year  1869,  at  a  cost  of  $5,000.  It  is  a 
brick  building  and  contains  the  largest  audi- 
ence room  in  the  township. 

A  Sunday  school  is  maintained  in  connection 
with  the  church,  with  an  average  attendance  of 
100  scholars.  The  St.  John's  Lutheran 
Church  was  organized  in  the  year  1842,  and 
has  a  present  membership  of  about  sixty-five. 
Rev.  Daniel  Trimper  was  the  first  preacher, 
and  it  was  under  his  labors  that  the  church 
was  organized.  The  following  names  appear 
on  the  old  church  records  as  original  members: 
Henry  Carriker,  Mary  Carriker,  Tillman  Hefrley, 

Hefrley,  Nancy  Lipe,  John  Lipe,  Rachel 

Lipe.  Rev.  Trimper  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
force  of  character,  and  under  his  administra- 
tion the  church  grew  to  be  a  power  for  good  in 
the  community.  The  first  house  used  b}7  the 
congregation  for  public  worship  was  built  in 
1845.  Twenty-seven  years  afterward,  their 
present  edifice  was  erected.  This  is  a  frame 
building,  28x30  feet,  and  was  built  at  a  cost  of 
$1,200.  It  was  dedicated  in  the  year  1872  by 
Rev.  George  Bowers.  Rev.  J.  Livingood,  Rev. 
— .  Scherer,  Rev.  — .  Schwartz,  Rev.  John 
Cromer  and  Rev.  George  Hammer  have  beeu 
pastors  of  this  church. 

The  Irving  Lutheran  Church  is  an  offshoot 
of  the  East  Fork  Church,  one  of  the  oldest 
organizations  in  the  county.  The  Irving 
Church  was  organized  in  the  year  1858,  by 
Rev.  Isaac  Short,  who  was  its  first  pastor. 
The  records,  now  in  possession  of  David  Greg- 
ory, show  the  following  names  of  original  mem- 
bers :  H.  M.  Neisler,  Isaac  Lewey,  George 
File,  Reuben  Lingle,  Elizabeth  Neisler,  David 


IRVING    TOWNSHIP. 


359 


Gregory,  Susan  File,  Catherine  Lewey,  Re- 
becca  Gregory,  William  Newcomb,  Samuel 
T.  Bartlett,  Mary  Newcomb  and  Patsy 
Bartlett.  Since  its  organization,  the  church 
has  been  administered  to  by  the  follow- 
ing pastors  in  the  order  named  :  J.  B. 
Cromer,  Martin  Miller,  Hiram  Gregory, 
Francis  Springer,  L.  C.  Groseclose,  George 
Hammer,  and  J.  M.  Lingle,  present  pastor.  The 
congregation  continued  to  meet  with  the  East 
Fork  Church  till  1860,  when  their  neat,  com- 
fortable building  was  erected.  The  building  is 
frame,  the  aggregate  cost  of  which  was  about 
$1,500.  Their  Sunday  school  has  an  average 
attendance  of  about  sixty,  and  is  superintended 
by  E.  P.  Cromer.  Public  services  are  held 
every  alternate  Lord's  day,  and  prayer  meet- 
ing every  Wednesday  evening.  Is  one  of  the 
aggressive  churches  of  the  town. 

The  Christian  Church  of  Irving  was  organ- 
ized about  the  year  1856,  by  Elders  J.  G. 
Ward  and  J.  M.  Taulbee.  For  several  years, 
this  church  was  in  flourishing  circumstances, 
but  just  previous  to  the  war  the  members  be- 
came scattered,  and  the  organization  was 
finally  abandoned.  It  was  reorganized  in  the 
year  of  1876,  by  Elders  J.  M.  Taulbee  and  B. 
R.  Gilbert.  The  first  pastor  was  Elder  L.  M. 
Linn.  The  following  pastors  have  had  charge 
of  the  church  at  stated  intervals  :  L.  Wood, 
—  Muman,  —  Price,  A.  C.  Layman  and  J.  M. 
Taulbee.  The  congregation  held  their  public 
services,  during  the  year  1876,  in  the  room 
beneath  Masonic  Hall.  The  handsome  house 
in  which  they  now  meet  was  built  in  1877. 
This  building  is  frame,  and  is  one  of  the 
neatest  and  most  comfortable  houses  of  wor- 
ship in  the  town.     It  cost  about  $1,400. 

The  membership  of  the  church  is  now  about 
sixty. 

The  town  of  Irving  is  situated  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  this  township,  on  the  I.  &  St.  L. 
R.  R.,  and  is  one  of  the  growing  towns  of  the 
county.     The  first  house  erected    here  was  a 


store  building.  It  was  built  by  William  S 
Berry  and  T.  G.  Black  in  the  year  1846.  This 
was  the  first  store  in  the  township,  and  repre- 
sented a  capital  of  several  hundred  dollars. 
One  year  later,  another  store  house  was  erected 
by  Edwards  &  Petrie.  Both  of  these  stores 
did  a  very  flourishing  business  for  several 
years,  and  as  the  population  of  the  village  in- 
creased, their  trade  increased  also,  until  more 
room  was  required,  hence  their  buildings  were 
enlarged.  Quite  a  number  of  families  moved 
into  the  village  and  built  houses,  iu  the  years 
1846  and  1847.  The  first  dwelling  house  was 
built  by  J.  M.  Taulbee.  The  town  dates  its 
growth  from  the  year  1856,  at  which  time  it 
was  laid  off  into  lots  by  Messrs.  Huggins  & 
Rider.  The  survey  was  made  by  J.  M.  Taul- 
bee. Huggins  &  Rider  sold  out  to  R.  W. 
Davis  and  Madison  Berry  the  year  following, 
who  at  once  commenced  to  improve  the  town. 
The  first  brick  store-building  was  built  in  1856, 
by  H.  J.  Huestis.  This  building  stands  just 
north  of  the  depot,  and  is  at  present  occupied 
by  the  store  of  Knight  &  McDavid. 

Among  the  first  buildings  erected  was  the 
blacksmith  shop  of  —  Sanford,  which  was 
built  in  the  year  1856.  This  was  the  first  shop 
of  the  kind  in  the  township.  It  was  sold  to 
Jacob  Bird,  two  years  after  it  was  built,  who 
continued  to  work  at  the  trade  till  within  a 
very  recent  date.  The  first  school  in  the  vil- 
lage was  taught  by  a  Mr.  Frink,  in  the  old 
Hopewell  meeting-house,  which  had  been 
moved  to  the  town  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1856.  The  next  school  was  taught  by  J. 
W.  King.  John  Franklin  and  George  Baker 
were  among  the  first  teachers  in  the  village. 
The  little  frame  building  was  the  only  school- 
house  iu  the  town  for  several  years.  When 
there  were  more  pupils  than  it  could  accommo- 
date, rooms  in  private  dwelling  houses  were 
fitted  up  for  the  surplus  scholars.  In  the  year 
1866,  the  present  school  building  was  erected 
at  a  cost  of  S2,000.     This  house  is  of  brick,  two 


360 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


stories  high,  and  contains  two  large -sized 
school  rooms.  These  rooms  are  not  sufficient- 
ly large  to  accommodate  all  the  pupils  of  the 
schools,  and  the  propriety  of  enlarging  the 
building  is  being  discussed. 

The  schools  are  at  present  under  the  super- 
intendency  of  Prof.  M.  T.  Miller,  assisted  by 
W.  C.  Hobson.  Miss  Means  and  Miss  Hogshett. 
The  first  post  office  was  established  in  the  year 
1856,  with  W.  W.  Wiley  as  Postmaster.  The 
office  was  kept  in  the  building  now  used  by 
Beny  &  Grantham  as  a  restaurant.  A  steam 
flouring-mill  was  erected  in  1856,  by  Kelly  & 
Wiley.  Part  of  the  machinery  used  in  the 
construction  of  this  mill  was  taken  from  the 
old  Kelly  mill,  which  formerly  stood  in  the 
western  part  of  the  township,  near  Shoal  Creek. 
A  mill  was  built  in  1868,  by  Hanners  &  Will- 
iams. This  was  a  steam  mill,  also.  It  burned 
down  in  the  year  1870,  but  has  since  been  re- 
built, and  at  present  is  the  only  mill  in  the 
town.  It  has  two  run  of  buhrs  and  a  capacity 
of  about  twenty-five  barrels  of  flour  per  day. 
Two  large  elevators  were  built  in  the  town  in 
the  years  1870  and  1871,  only  one  of  which  is 
now  operated.  The  large  hotel  which  stands  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  town  was  erected  in  the 
year  1868,  by  W.  J.  McClure,  at  a  cost  of 
$7,000. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Spears  was  the  first  physician  who 
practiced  medicine  in  Irving.  He  came  here  in 
the  year  1858  and  remained  till  1863.  Since 
1S58,  the  following  physicians  have  been  located 
here  :  W.  F.  Linn,  Elias  Petre,  J.  P.  Murphy, 
W.  H.  Hobson,  B.  F.  Burries,  —  Hart,  —  Tuck, 
—  Nicholby,  J.  F.  Whitten,  —  Sweet,  W.  B. 
Sprinkle.  Joseph  Cobb,  Vincent  Parkhill.  J. 
W.  Parkhill,  A.  B.  Ault  and  Isaac  Short. 
The  best  growth  of  the  town  has  been  since  the 
year  1878.  The  large  brick  building  occupied 
by  the  stores  of  Kelly  &  Berry,  Thomas  H. 
Padgett  and  A.  W.  Kelly,  was  built  in  the  year 
1880,  as  was  also  the  brick  building  in  which 
the  stores  of  James  McDavid  and  S.  D.  Bartlett 


are  kept.  Bartol  Leon  built  the  large  house 
which  he  and  his  son  occupy  as  a  place  of 
business  in  the  3'ear  1881.  Several  fine  dwell- 
ing houses  have  been  erected  during  the  past 
two  years,  and  quite  a  number  of  others  are  in 
process  of  erection  at  the  present  time.  The 
town  was  incorporated  in  the  3'ear  1868,  under 
a  special  charter.  In  1873,  it  came  in  under 
the  general  law,  when  the  ordinances  were  all 
revised  by  S.  F.  King  and  published.  The 
present  officers  of  the  town  are  the  following  : 
John  T.  McDavid.  President  of  the  Board  ;  Au- 
gustus McDavid,  Clerk ;  M.  D.  L.  Cannon, 
George  Rarer,  James  M.  Taulbee,  Hiram  J. 
Huestis,  W.  S.  Berry,  Jr.,  Trustees.  An  Odd 
Fellows  Lodge  was  organized  in  the  town  at  an 
earl)'  day,  but  of  late  years  has  not  met.  Noth- 
ing concerning  the  organization  could  be  ascer- 
tained. Irving  Lodge,  No.  455,  A.  F.  &  A.  M., 
was  instituted  in  the  year  1865,  with  the  follow- 
ing charter  members  :  B.  F.  Barnes,  E.  B.  Ran- 
dle,  W.  B.  Van  Horn,  B.  F.  Pitts,  H.  J.  Huestis, 
William  M.  Cox,  George  M.  Davenport,  Bartol 
Leon,  John  E.  Lindley,  Ryland  Tuck  and  John  B. 
Cox.  The  first  officers  of  the  lodge  were  Ben- 
jamin F.  Barnes,  W.  M.;  Edward  B.  Randle.  S. 
W.;  George  M.  Davenport,  J.  W.  The  present 
officers  are  the  following  :  John  T.  Carriker, 
W.  M.;  Thomas  Padgett,  S.  W.;  H.  J.  Bowtell, 
J.  W.;  William  S.  Berry,  Treasurer  ;  A.  A.  Rine- 
hart,  Secretary  ;  D.  H.  Luther,  S.  D.;  Palmer 
Yemens,  J.  D.;  B.  T.  McClure,  Tiler.  The 
membership  is  about  thirty-two.  The  hall  in 
which  the  lodge  holds  its  meetings  was  built  in 
the  year  1868.  It  is  owned  by  the  organiza- 
tion. 

A  temperance  organization  known  as  the 
Royal  Templars  of  Temperance  was  established 
here  in  the  year  1879.  The  meetings  are  held 
semi-monthly.  This  organization  is  secret,  and 
has  the  following  officers :  Select  Councilor 
Vice  Councilor,  Past  Councilor,  Secretary, 
Treasurer,  Herald,  Guard,  Sentinel  and  Deputy 
Herald. 


IKYING   TOWNSHIP. 


3f!l 


The  Irving  Coal  Company  was  recently  in- 
corporated with  a  capital  of  several  thousand 
dollars.  They  have  erected  machinery  in  the 
western  part  of  the  town,  where  they  are  pros- 
pecting for  coal  and  oil.  We  conclude  this 
article  on  Irving  with  the  following  list  of  busi- 
ness men  and  the  particular  business  in  which 
they  are  engaged  : 

Kelly  &  Beny  keep  a  large  dry  goods  store, 
also  au  extensive  line  of  ready-made  clothing, 
boots,  shoes  and  groceries.  They  represent  a 
capital  of  perhaps  $7,000,  and  are  doing  a  flour- 
ishing business. 

S.  F.  King  makes  groceries  a  specialty. 

S.  T.  Bartlett  &  Son,  James  McDavid  and 


Knight  &  McDavid  also  keep  stores  whose 
stocks  consist,  of  a  general  assortment. 

Berry  &  Grantham,  restaurant  and  bakery. 

James  M.  Taulbee,  feed  and  provision  store. 

Mrs.  A.  E.  Newberry,  milliner. 

Williams  Sisters,  milliners. 

There  are  three  drug  stores  kept  by  the  fol- 
lowing persons  :  Thomas  H.  Padgett,  Sprinkle 
&  Brother,  Bartol,  Leon  &  Son.  D.  D.  Boutlett 
&  Co.,  hardware  ;  D.  H.  Luther,  A.  M.  Edwards 
and  J.  Scherer,  blacksmiths  ;  George  Barer, 
wagon-maker  :  M.  D.  L.  Cannon,  cabinet-maker 
and  undertaker;  C.  B.  Wiley,  livery  stable  ;  J. 
T  .Manlbee,  Jr.,  and  I.  G.  Dawson,  barbers. 


362 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XXIII  * 

ZAXESYILLE  TOWNSHIP— POSITION— BOUNDARIES,  ETC.  — SOIL  AND  PRODUCTIONS— CREEKS  AND 

TIMBER— PIONEER  SETTLEMENTS— ROADS  AND  MILLS  — FIRST  ELECTION  AND  FIRST 

BIRTH— EARLY  SCHOOLS— CHURCHES— VILLAGE   OF  ZANESVILLE— ITS 

GROWTH  AND  DECAY— INCIDENTS,  ETC. 


r|  ^HE  original  Zanesville  Precinct  included 
*-  within  its  area  the  townships  of  Pitman 
and  Bois  D'Arc,  and  was  reduced  to  its  jsres- 
ent  dimensions  as  an  independent  division  in 
the  year  1873,  when  the  township  organiza- 
tions throughout  the  county  were  called  into 
effect.  It  lies  in  the  western  part  of  the 
county,  south  of  Pitman,  north  of  North  Litch- 
field and  west  of  Raymond  Township,  with  Ma- 
coupin County  as  its  western  boundary,  and 
contains  a  fraction  over  thirty-four  sections 
of  choice  tillable  land,  which,  in  point  of 
fertility  and  productiveness,  is  second  to 
none  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Topograjih- 
ically,  the  country  may  be  described  as  prin- 
cipally of  an  even  face,  in  the  central  and 
northern  portions,  with  occasional  undulation 
of  a  somewhat  irregular  character  in  the 
southern  part,  while  in  the  southeast  cor- 
ner the  land  is  more  uneven,  though  in 
no  place  is  it  too  rolling  for  farming  pur- 
poses. The  soil  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
surrounding  townships,  being  the  rich  black 
prairie  loam  common  to  this  part  of  the 
country  and  everywhere  noted  for  its  fer- 
tility. This  township  lies  in  the  great  wheat 
belt  of  Illinois,  and  that  cereal  is  the  princi- 
pal staple,  although  corn,  rye,  oats,  Has,  bar- 
ley>  together  with  the  root  crops  usually 
found  growing  in  this  part  of  the  State,  are 
raised  here  in  abundance,  while  nowhere  in 
Montgomery  County  is  there  better  encour- 

*Bj  G.  N.  Berry. 


agement  offered  to  the  fruit-grower.  A  soil 
of  peculiar  adaptability  and  a  climate  equally 
favorable,  insure  a  large  yield  almost  every 
year,  facts  of  which  many  of  the  citizens 
have  taken  advantage,  as  is  evinced  by  the 
numerous  orchards  to  be  seen  in  different 
parts  of  the  township.  The  country  is  suffi- 
ciently well  watered  and  drained  for  farming 
purposes  by  several  streams  that  wind  through- 
out the  township  and  numerous  small  tribu- 
taries flowing  into  them  from  many  points. 
The  largest  of  these  water-courses  is  the  West 
Fork  of  Shoal  Creek,  which  has  its  rise  in 
Section  30,  from  whence  it  takes  a  devious 
course,  flowing  in  a  northeasterly  direction 
about  one  mile,  and  then  a  southeasterly  di- 
rection, passing  through  Sections  28,  27,  26, 
35  and  36  before  leaving  the  township. 
There  is  a  small  creek  in  the  northern  part, 
flowing  through  Sections  7  and  8,  which 
affords  stock  water  and  drainage  to  that  lo- 
cality the  greater  part  of  the  year.  During 
the  early  spring  months,  these  streams  are 
hardly  sufficient  to  carry  off  the  immense 
quantities  of  water  which  spread  over  certain 
parts  of  the  country,  and  from  mere  rivulets 
they  become  raging  torrents,  overflowing  their 
banks  for  considerable  distances  on  either 
side,  and  sometimes  doing  a  great  deal  of  in- 
jury to  the  farms  through  which  they  pass. 
From  the  head  of  Shoal  Creek  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  township  are  several  strips 
of  timber  of  the  varieties  usually  found  in 


ZANESVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


363 


the  woods  of  Central  Illinois — walnut,  hick- 
ory, elm,  sycamore,  maple  and  oak  predomi- 
nating. The  original  timber  has  disappeared 
long  since  before  the  ax  of  the  lumberman,  a 
character  who  made  his  appearance  coeval 
with  the  first  settler,  and  that  which  is  now 
standing  is,  comparatively  speaking,  of  recent 
growth.  Much  attention  is  given  to  the 
growing  of  timber  and  many  farmers  have 
surrounding  their  dwellings  and  outbuildings 
groves  of  considerable  magnitude,  which,  in 
a  few  years,  will  furnish  them  not  only  with 
lumber  for  all  practical  purposes,  but  with 
fuel  as  well.  That  this  part  of  the  county 
was  at  one  time  in  the  dim  and  remote  past 
inhabited  by  a  prehistoric  race  possessed  of 
many  of  the  attributes  of  what  we  term  a 
high  degree  of  enlightenment,  is  probable, 
from  the  existence  of  several  mounds  at  differ- 
ent places  throughout  its  territory  and  nu- 
merous strange  relics  that  have  been  un- 
earthed in  several  localities.  Who  were 
these  strange  people?  Whence  came  they? 
Whither  did  they  go  ?  These  questions  must 
forever  remain  to  form  a  melancholy  interest 
in  the  wondrous  past,  and  a  mystery  which 
neither  time  nor  circumstance,  nor  science, 
nor  the  more  wondrous  future,  may  reveal. 
But  since  their  time,  another  race,  mighty  in 
numbers,  has  come  and  gone  from  their  an- 
cient homes  and  favorite  hunting-grounds, 
though  yet  not  quite  extinct.  When  the 
white  man  made  his  first  appearance  in  what 
is  now  the  territory  of  Zanesville,  it  was  a 
favorite  hunting-ground  and  retreat  of  several 
tribes  of  savages,  notably  among  which  were 
the  Kickapoos  and  Pottawatomies.  Their 
camping-grounds  were  usually  selected  near 
the  source  of  Shoal  Creek  and  in  the  timber 
skirting  Macoupin  Creek,  a  small  stream  just 
across  the  line  in  the  adjoining  county. 
When  the  white  settlers  began  to  increase  in 
numbers,  these   Indians  moved  farther  west, 


though  at  different  intervals  for  several  years 
re-visited  the  scenes  of  their  former  camping- 
places,  but  never  to  do  any  mischief. 

These  visits  were  discontinued  about  the 
year  1830,  and  since  that  period  no  Indians 
have  been  seen  in  the  northern  part  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  We  have  no  data  from 
which  to  give  an  exact  statement,  as  to  either 
the  time  the  first  settlement  of  the  township 
was  made  or  the  individuals  who  made  it.  It 
is  known,  however,  that  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Robert  Palmer  settled  near  the  site  of  the 
present  village  of  Zanesville,  where  he  kept 
a  hotel  as  early  as  the  year  1824.  His  place 
was  a  stopping-point  for  travelers,  on  the  road 
leading  from  Springfield  to  Vandalia,  being 
one  of  the  first  public  houses  in  the  county. 
Palmer  proved  to  be  a  notorious  gambler, 
blackleg  and  a  very  bad  character  generally. 
His  house  was  a  rendezvous  of  a  gang  of 
thieves  and  rowdies  as  bad  as  himself,  and 
the  place  became  noted  throughout  the  country 
as  a  dangerous  locality.  Several  daring  rob- 
beries having  been  committed  in  the  neigh- 
boring towns  and  settlements,  and  the  evi- 
dence being  very  plain  against  Palmer  as  the 
perpetrator,  he  left  the  country  rather  uncere- 
moniously and  tied  for  parts  unknown.  It 
was  afterward  ascertained  that  he  went  to 
Iowa,  where  he  was  arrested  for  complicity 
in  a  brutal  murder,  convicted  and  hanged. 
So  much  for  the  first  pioneer  of  Zanesville. 
Several  transient  settlers  located  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Palmer's  tavern  shortly  after  it  was 
erected,  but  none  of  them  appear  to  have 
taken  up  land  or  in  any  way  improve  the 
country.  The  next  actual  settler  of  whom 
we  could  learn  anything  definite  was  one 
George  Brewer,  who  entered  the  land  where 
Zanesville  Village  now  stands,  which  he  laid 
off  into  town  lots  about  the  year  1828. 
Through  his  efforts,  a  post  office  was  estab- 
lished,   which,  together   with  the  town,  was 


364 


HISTORY    OF  MONTGOMERY    COUNTY, 


called  Leesburg.  after  Robert  E.  Lee,  a 
wholesale  merchant  of  St.  Louis,  in  whose 
name  the  land  was  entered.  Brewer  appears 
to  have  been  a  man  of  considerable  public 
spirit,  and,  seeing  an  opportunity,  as  he  sup- 
posed, of  making  a  fortune  in  the  town  which 
could  not  help  but  grow,  expended  quite  an 
amount  of  money  in  various  improvements, 
among  which  was  a  good-sized  store  building. 
This  building  was  stocked  with  a  miscella- 
neous assortment  of  merchandise,  purchased 
at  the  house  of  Lee  in  St.  Louis,  from  which 
place  it  was  transported  in  wagons,  a  distance 
of  about  seventy-five  miles.  Soon  other  par- 
ties, attracted  by  the  promising  opening  which 
the  village  presented,  or  by  the  fertile  lands 
in  the  vicinity,  came  in,  and,  by  the  year 
1830,  there  was  a  thrifty  and  enterprising 
community  on  the  high  road  to  prosperity. 
The  town  grew  apace;  lots  were  sold  rapidly 
at  good  round  sums;  shops  of  various  kinds 
were  established;  a  school  was  organized, 
other  storerooms  erected,  and  business  of  all 
kinds  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
village  at  one  time  was  considered  the  second 
place  of  importance  in  the  county.  In  the 
year  1829,  a  settlement  was  made  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  township  by  immigrants 
from  the  South,  among  whom  can  be  named 
Isaac  Bailey,  James  Crawford,  Thomas  Will- 
iams and  Zebedee  Williams.  These  were  all 
men  of  consequence  in  the  early  settlement 
of  the  townshij),  and  left  the  impress  of  their 
characters  on  their  descendants,  many  of 
whom  still  reside  in  the  community  which 
their  ancestors  founded. 

A  prominent  settler  in  the  same  locality 
was  Robert  Allen,  who  came  in  a  little  later, 
and  who,  for  a  number  of  years,  appears  to 
have  been  a  leading  and  respected  citizen  of 
the  township.  Between  the  years  1835  and 
1840,  Beatty  Burke,  George  Burroughs, 
Dores  D.  Shumway  and  a  man  by  the  name 


of  Chastine  entered  and  improved  lands  near 
the  village  of  Zanesville.  Those  early  pio- 
neers are  all  dead  or  have  moved  to  other  lo- 
calities, as  the  writer  was  unable  to  learn  any 
facts  concerning  them  in  his  canvass  for  in- 
formation among  the  old  settlers  of  the  town- 
ship. From  1840  to  1848.  a  settlement  was 
made  around  the  head  of  Shoal  Creek  and  a 
number  of  farms  improved.  The  principal 
men  connected  with  this  settlement  were  Wal- 
ker Williams,  Elgin  Smith,  Jeff  Parrott  and 
.Moses  Martin,  allot'  whom  had  formerly  re- 
sided in  the  South.  Among  other  prominent 
settlers  were  Joseph  Vignos,  a  Frenchman, 
who  located  near  the  central  part  of  the  town- 
ship: Dr.  Caldwell,  one  of  the  earliest  phy- 
sicians of  Zanesville,  and  S.  Smitherman,  a 
noted  farmer  and  stock-raiser,  who  purchased 
land  near  the  village,  all  three  of  whom  are 
still  living.  The  northeastern  portion  of  the 
township  has  been  settled  more  recently,  yet 
in  point  of  progress  and  improvements  it  is 
behind  no  other  locality,  and,  in  many  re- 
spects, is  far  superior  to  some.  Since  the 
year  1848,  the  settlements  in  different  parts 
of  the  township  have  been  so  simultaneous 
that  a  mention  of  names  of  early  settlers  en- 
titled to  a  notice  in  these  pages  would  trans- 
cend the  limits  of  our  space.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  however,  that  they  are  justly  entitled  to 
all  the  honors  accorded  them  as  founders  of 
a  community  which  occupies  a  prominent 
place  in  the  galaxy  of  townships  forming 
Montgomery  County.  There  was  a  regularly 
laid  out  road  through  Zanesville  Township  as 
early  as  the  year  1830,  known  as  the  Jack- 
sonville &  Yandalia  road,  as  it  connected 
those  two  places.  It  is  still  traveled,  and  its 
direction,  though  slightly  devious,  is  on  the 
whole  pretty  direct,  the  general  course  being 
northwest  and  southeast,  and  differing  but 
little  from  the  original  route.  Another  early 
road  which  was  pretty  generally  traveled  was 


ZANESVILLE   TOWNSHIP. 


3G5 


the  oue  leading  from  Carlinville  to  Taylor - 
ville.  Its  course  through  this  township  was 
from  northeast  to  southwest,  though  its  di- 
rection has  been  greatly  changed  of  late 
years,  and  it  is  no  longer  the  important  thor- 
oughfare that  it  was  during  the  early  days  of 
the  county.  Among  other  early  established 
highways  were  the  St.  Louis  road,  which 
passed  through  the  township  in  a  northwest- 
erly direction  ;  the  Girard  road,  which  crossed 
through  the  western  part  of  the  township, 
from  north  to  south,  and  the  Zanesville  & 
Litchfield  road,  connecting  these  two  points 
an  !  running  in  a  southeasterly  direction  from 
the  former  place.  There  are  many  other 
roads  traversing  the  township  and  intersect- 
ing each  other  at  different  points,  but,  like 
other  roads  of  the  county,  are  deserving 
of  no  particular  description.  Among  the 
pioneer  industries  of  Zanesville  was  the  little 
horse-mill  erected  by  Edward  Crawford,  in 
the  western  part,  about  the  year  1838.  This 
primitive  mill  was  the  only  one  aside  from 
the  present  mill  at  the  town  of  Zanesville 
ever  erected  in  the  township,  and.  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  was  operated  almost  constantly 
in  order  to  supply  the  demands  of  the  neigh- 
bors for  flour  and  meal.  It  was  torn  down 
several  years  ago.  and  at  present  there  re- 
mains no  vestige  to  mark  the  spot  it  formerly 
occupied.  The  Zanesville  Mill  was  built  in 
the  year  186(J,  by  Messrs.  Sharpe,  Johnson 
&  Berry,  at  a  cost  of  $  L6,0l  10  It  is  operated 
by  steam,  has  three  run  of  buhrs,  and,  when 
kept  running  all  the  time,  can  grind  about 
100  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  From  186(J  to 
1872,  it  did  an  enormous  amount  of  custom 
and  merchant  work,  and  returned  to  the  pro- 
prietors a  large  per  cent  on  the  capital  in- 
vested. JohnsoQ  sold  his  interest  to  Samuel 
Caldwell  in  1872,  who  in  turn,  disposed  of 
the  same  to  Sharpe  &  Berry  the  same  year. 
The  latter  parties   becoming  financially  em- 


barrassed on  account  of  various  speculations, 
sold  the  mill  to  S.  Smitherman  and  Clark  Sin- 
clair, in  the  year  1873,  and  since  that  time 
from  some  cause  unknown  to  the  writer,  the 
machinery  has  stood  idle,  much  to  the  regret 
of  the  farmers  of  the  surrounding  country. 
The  first  election  in  the  township,  of  which 
we  have  any  reliable  record,  was  held  in  the 
year  1835,  when  George  Brewer  and  James 
Crawford  were  chosen  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
offices  which  they  held  uninterruptedly  for 
several  consecutive  years.  Stephen  Craw- 
ford, son  of  James  Crawford,  was  the 
first  white  child  born  in  Zanesville,  the 
date  of  his  birth  being  the  13th  of  No- 
vember, 1831,  the  same  night  of  the  great 
meteoric  display  known  as  the  falling  stars. 
The  early  educational  history  of  the  township 
is  somewhat  vague  and  disjointed,  although 
sufficient  information  has  been  gleaned  "  to 
warrant  the  assumption  that  schools  were  not 
established  until  several  years  had  elajised 
from  the  date  of  the  first  settlements.  We 
of  the  present  day  with  our  pleasantly  lo- 
cated common  schools,  normal  institutes  and 
colleges,  can  scarce  realize  the  vast  difference, 
when  even  scenes  depicted  in  that  popular 
and  much-perused  work,  "The  Hoosier 
Schoolmaster,''  would  have  been  looked  npon 
as  a  wonderful  advancement  toward  what 
might  now  be  termed  the  extravagances  of  a 
higher  education.  For  several  years  after  the 
advance  guard  of  the  early  pioneers  who 
made  Zanesville  what  it  is  to-day,  first  came 
into  this  part  of  the  country,  schools  and  in- 
tellectual training  were  thought  of  only  as 
adjuncts  of  that  civilizati  n  which  they  had 
left  behind — things  to  be  desired  but  hardly 
to  be  hoped  for.  It  was  for  some  time  simply 
a  question  of  keeping  body  and  soul  to- 
gether by  laborious  toil,  aDd  the  hardships 
endured  in  procuring  the  bare  necessities  of 
life,  precluded  the  possibility  of   looking  far 


3«6 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


for  intellectual  improvement.  But  as  the 
farm  lands  broadened,  the  little  settlements 
grew  more  numerous,  and  the  labors  of  the 
inhabitants  had,  by  the  favor  of  a  kind  Provi- 
dence, placed  them  beyond  immediate  want, 
they  bethought  themselves  of  their  duty  to 
their  little  ones,  and  scheols  were  established. 
The  names  of  the  early  teachers  cannot  be 
given  with  that  accuracy  which  we  term  re- 
liable, although  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
the  first  pedagogue  was  Henry  Mayer,  who 
taught  in  the  southern  part  of  the  township 
about  the  year  1833. 

This  school  was  attended  by  about  fifteen 
children,  and,  like  all  early  schools,  was  sup- 
ported by  subscription,  the  teacher  being 
compelled  to  collect  the  tuition  fees.  The 
first  schoolhouse  was  built  by  Edward  Craw- 
ford and  others  in  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  township.  The  land  on  which  the  build- 
ing stood  was  afterward  entered  and  the 
house  lost  before  it  was  occupied  as  desig- 
nated. Another  house  was  built  of  logs  the 
same  year,  on  Section  26,  in  which  the  school 
already  mentioned  was  taught.  The  second 
term  was  taught  near  the  village  of  Zanes- 
ville  by  a  teacher  whose  name  was  not  learned. 
In  educational  matters  at  present,  Zanesville 
is  not  behind  her  sister  townships  of  the 
county,  as  is  proved  by  the  presence  of  six 
neat  frame  schoolhouses,  furnished  with  all 
the  modern  improvements.  Teachers  skilled 
in  their  profession  are  the  only  ones  em- 
ployed by  the  efficient  School  Board.  The 
term  lasts  eight  months  of  the  year,  and  gen- 
erally begins  the  first  Monday  in  October. 

Among  the  early  pioneers  of  Zanesville 
were  many  persons  in  whom  the  fear  of  God 
was  a  predominant  element  and  their  relig- 
ious duties  were  at  no  time  neglected.  The 
first  public  services  were  conducted  by  the 
veteran  pioneer  preacher,  Elder  James  Street, 
at  the  residence  of  Jacob  Baker,  about  the 


year  1830.  The  first  church  was  a  society  of 
the  United  Baptists,  which  was  organized  at 
the  head  of  Shoal  Creek,  where  the  organiza- 
tion is  still  maintained.  They  have  a  sub- 
stantial temple  of  worship,  a  progressive  mem- 
bership and  are  doing  much  good  in  the  com- 
munity where  the  church  is  located.  The 
disciples  or  Christians  organized  a  church  a 
number  of  years  ago,  which  is  still  a  promi- 
nent society,  numbering  among  its  members 
some  of  the  leading  and  substantial  citizens 
of  the  country.  A  very  handsome  and  com- 
modious house,  situated  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  township,  serves  the  congregation 
as  a  place  of  worship.  The  Methodists  main- 
tained a  flourishing  organization  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Zanesville  for  a  number  of  years,  but 
the  society  was  finally  merged  into  churches 
at  other  points,  and  at  present  there  is  no 
class  at  that  place.  The  village  of  Zanes- 
ville, to  which  we  have  already  referred  in 
the  opening  of  this  chapter,  is  situated  in  the 
northwest  corner  of  the  township,  about  two 
and  a  half  miles  .east  of  the  county  line,  and 
is  but  a  mere  shadow  of  its  former  self. 
During  the  early  years  of  the  county,  it  was 
a  prominent  business  point,  a  reputation  it 
sustained  uutil  the  year  1869,  at  which  time 
there  were  four  large  stores,  all  doing  a  good 
business,  one  grocery,  three  blacksmith  shops, 
two  wagon  shops,  two  hotels,  cooper  shop  and 
two  plague  spots  in  the  shape  of  whisky  sa- 
loons. Among  the  merchants  who  did  busi- 
ness here  at  different  times  were  the  follow- 
ing: Harvey  Madison.  Joseph  Vignos,  

Sharpe,  William  Street,  Joseph  Booth,  James 
Little,  John  McNiel,  John  Hamilton  &  Son 
and  Emert  &  Son.  The  earliest  physicians 
in  the  place  were  George  Mayfield,  J.  W. 
Wheeler  and  G  W.  Caldwell,  the  last  named 
being  still  in  the  village.  Strong  efforts 
wore  made  by  the  citizens  of  the  village  and 
surrounding  country  to   induce  the  Wabash 


ZANESVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


367 


Kailway  Company  to  run  their  road  through 
the  town,  but  without  avail.  The  road  was 
built  two  and  a  half  miles  west,  and,  together 
with  the  growing  town  of  Litchfield,  proved 
a  death  blow  to  the  business  interest  of  Zanes- 
ville,  as  it  began  to  wane  from  that  time. 
The  merchants  moved  their  stores  to  more 
eligible  places,  shops  were  closed,  mechanics 
sought  more  remunerative  fields  of  labor  and 
a  general  decay  fastened  itself  upon  the  once 
prosperous  village.  The  post  office  was  taken 
away  in  the  year  1881.  George  Hamilton 
was  the  last  Postmaster. 

The  business  of  the  place  at  present  is 
represented  by  one  small  grocery  store  and  a 
blacksmith  shop.  What  few  buildings  re- 
main are  old,  time-worn  and  present  a  very 
dejected  arjpearance,  and  the  time  is  not  far 
in  the  future  when  the  village  is  destined  to 
disappear  entirely.  Several  incidents  of 
tragic  nature  have  transpired  at  this  town  at 
different  times  during  its  history,  two  of 
which  are  worthy  of  mention.  In  the  year 
1853,  Andrew  Nash  and  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Lockerman  had  an  altercation  brought  on 
by  the  too  free  use  of  whisky,  during  which 
the  former  stabbed  the  latter  in  a  very  brutal 
manner.  Lockerman  died  immediately,  and 
Nash,  becoming  alarmed,  fled  the  country. 
Detectives  were  placed  on  his  track,  and  suc- 
ceeded, after  several  weeks'  diligent  search, 
in  finding  him  in  Arkansas,  where  he  was  ar- 
rested, brought  back  to  Carlinville,  tried  and 
sentenced  to  be  hanged.  A  petition  was  put 
in  circulation  by  his  friends,  praying  the 
Governor  to  commute  the  sentence  to  impris- 
onment for  life,  which  was  accordingly  done, 


but  before  the  prisoner  was  made  aware  of  this 
step  in  his  behalf,  a  mob,  or  rather  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mob,  gathered  about  the  jail  one 
night,  which  so  frightened  the  poor  fellow, 
that,  rather  than  fall  in  to  their  hands,  he 
hanged  himself  with  a  sheet,  which  had  been 
twisted  into  a  rope  and  made  fast  to  a  beam 
overhead. 

Dr.  Mayfield  and  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Hardy  had  been  enemies  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  the  former  took  occasion  to  insult 
the  latter  whenever  they  chanced  to  be  thrown 
together.  They  met  one  day  in  the  highroad, 
and,  as  usual,  Mayfield  threw  out  some  of  his 
taunts,  which  provoked  several  spirited  re- 
plies from  Hardy,  whereupon  the  former 
alighted  from  his  buggy  and  gave  Hardy  a 
sound  horse-whipping.  A  few  days  after- 
ward, while  the  latter  was  passing  the  hotel, 
Mayfield  came  out  of  the  house  and  com- 
manded him  to  halt;  he  was  told  to  mind  his 
own  business,  which  answer  so  exasperated 
the  Doctor  that  he  drew  a  revolver  and  fired, 
some  say  directly  at  Hardy,  while  others  con- 
tend that  the  shot  was  only  for  the  purpose  of 
frightening  him.  Hardy  stepped  around  a 
corner  of  the  building,  drew  out  an  old-fash- 
ioned horse  pistol,  with  which  he  had  armed 
himself,  came  back  and  fired  directly  at  his 
enemy,  the  shot  taking  effect  in  his  side. 
Mayfield  returned  the  fire  with  two  shots, 
neither  of  which  took  effect,  and  then  fell. 
He  was  carried  into  the  hotel,  where  he  ex- 
pired within  a  very  short  time.  Hardy  was 
arrested,  tried  and  acquitted  on  the  ground 
of  self-defense.  This  occurred  in  the  year 
1854 


368 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   XXIV.* 

WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP— TERRITORY    EMBRACED— SOIL    AND    TIMBER— CHOI'S— FIRST    SETTLE- 
MENTS—SCHOOLS— ELECTIONS— FIRST  MARRIAGE— RELIGION,    ETC. 


"The  verdant  fields  are  covered  o'er  with  growing 

grain, 
And  white  men  till  the  soil,  the  soil 
Where  once  the  red  man  used  to  reign." 

WALSHVILLE  is  situated  in  the  richest 
and  best  portion  of  Montgomery  Count}-, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  townships  settled  by 
white  men. 

Its  territory  was  formerly  embraced  by  Bond 
County,  from  which  it  was  separated  when  the 
division  was  made,  in  18 — .  It  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  South  Litchfield  Township,  on 
the  east  by  G-risham  Township  and  a  part  of 
Bond  County,  on  the  south  by  Bond  County 
and  Silver  Creek  Township  of  Madison  Coun- 
t}-,  and  on  the  west  by  Staunton  Township  of 
Macoupin  County.  Its  length  and  breadth  are 
each  about  six  miles,  and  it  contains  thirty-six 
square  miles  of  territory,  or  23,040  acres.  Its 
principal  system  of  drainage  is  through  one 
of  the  forks  of  Shoal  Creek,  which  flows  along 
its  eastern  boundary  and  into  which  many 
streams  of  minor  importance,  having  their 
sources  within  the  township,  empty. 

The  configuration  is  good,  being,  in  the 
greater  part,  a  beautiful  prairie  land,  sufficient- 
ly undulating  to  present  a  very  pleasing  ap- 
pearance. Numerous  groves  are  to  be  seen  at 
intervals,  which  relieve  the  monotony  of  the 
prairie  to  such  an  extent  that  many  persons,  on 
seeing  it  for  the  first  time,  do  not  hesitate  in 
pronouncing  Walshville  the  most  beautiful  part 
of  the  entire  county.  The  soil  is  rich,  deep 
and  fertile,  and  in  places  where  it  has  been 
cultivated  for  at  least  sixty  years,  is  still  very 

*Iiy  G.  N.  Beiry. 


productive.  When  first  seen  by  the  white  man, 
the  surface  was  clothed  with  a  luxurious 
growth  of  tall,  waving  prairie  grass,  which  af- 
forded rich  pasturage  for  numerous  herds  of 
deer,  buffalo  and  antelope.  There  were,  also, 
thick  growths  of  timber  in  certain  localities, 
consisting  principally  of  cotton  wood,  hickory, 
elm.  walnut,  maple,  oak,  and  other  varieties  in- 
digenous to  the  southern  part  of  Illinois. 

Among  the  timber  was  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  underbrush  and  vines  of  various  kinds  that 
rendered  traveling  through  the  wooded  por- 
tions extremely  difficult.  The  majority  of  the 
first  settlers  located  in  the  timber  skirting  the 
various  water-courses,  and  in  time  the  greater 
part  of  the  woodland  disappeared  before  the 
pioneers  ax.  The  dense  undergrowth  has  also 
been  cleared  away,  and  the  wools  that  now  re- 
main present  a  striking  contrast  to  the  forests 
of  long  ago,  as  the  space  among  the  trees  is 
beautifully  sodded  over  in  many  places  with  a 
thick  covering  of  blue  grass.  The  best  wooded 
districts  are  in  the  eastern  and  southern  parts. 
Stretching  away  from  Shoal  Creek  westward,  is 
a  broad  expanse  of  prairie,  dotted  here  and 
there  with  artificial  groves  of  more  recent 
growth. 

These  groves,  owing  to  the  genial  atmosphere 
and  rich  soil,  grow  very  rapidly,  and  within  a 
few  years  after  setting  out,  the  trees  are  suffi- 
ciently large  to  be  sawn  into  timber  or  used  for 
fuel. 

The  leading  occupation  of  this  section  is 
agriculture,  although  considerable  attention  is 
given  by  certain  parties  to  stock  raising,  and 
in  the  near  future  this  industry  promises  to  be 


I 


**»-  s 


ff^m, 


^ 


&2jo^ 


o^^/ 


LIBRARY 

OF   1HE 
UNIVERSITY  yf  ILLINOIS 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


3T1 


quite  extensive,  as  certain  localities  seem 
peculiarly  adapted  to  it,  there  being  plenty  of 
rich  pasturage  and  stock  water  in  abundance. 

At  present,  however,  it  is  to  the  different 
crops  that  the  majority  of  the  people  look  for 
their  chief  support.  The  soil  appears  to  be 
particularly  adapted  to  corn  and  wheat,  al- 
though all  the  other  cereals,  common  to  this 
latitude,  are  here  raised  in  abundance.  Fruit, 
many  varieties  and  excellent  flavor,  are  to  be 
found  growing  in  almost  every  orchard.  The 
pioneer's  attention  was  early  called  to  fruit 
culture,  and  many  old  orchards,  that  have  been 
bearing  for  years,  are  to  be  seen  in  various 
parts  of  the  township. 

The  first  line  of  settlements  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county  extended  from  the  western 
limits  of  Walshville,  eastward  through  Gris- 
ham  to  the  central  part  of  East  Fork,  all  of 
which  were  made  about  the  same  time,  or  with 
a  few  years  intervening. 

Single  families  at  first  came,  then  in  groups  of 
three  or  four,  locating  at  different  places  in  the 
same  locality,  until  soon  the  prairie  was  thickly 
dotted  with  pioneer  dwellings.  Soon  school- 
houses  were  built,  churches  organized,  mills 
erected,  in  fact  the  foundation  of  that  civiliza- 
tion which  makes  this  part  of  the  State  noted 
abroad  was  laid.  This  remarkable  develop- 
ment has  been  brought  about  within  a  com- 
paratively short  time,  for  looking  back  through 
the  vista  of  sixty  years,  these  broad,  fertile 
prairies  and  productive  fields  were  the  grazing- 
places  of  numerous  herds  of  the  wild  denizens 
of  the  plains  and  the  camping-ground  of  the 
hostile  savage.  Now  the  rich  soil  is  every- 
where broken,  woods  have  fallen,  pleasant 
drives,  well-tilled  fields,  beautiful  orchards 
and  delightful  homes  checker  the  view,  speak- 
ing volumes  for  the  enterprise  and  energy 
which  characterizes  the  citizens  of  this  town- 
ship. The  first  white  inhabitants  of  Walsh- 
ville were  Nicholas  Voiles  and  family.  Voiles 
moved   here  from   his  home  in  North  Carolina 


in  the  year  1818,  and  built  his  log  cabin  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  George  Webster,  about  one 
and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  the  village  of 
Walshville.  He  improved  this  place  and  made 
it  his  home  until  the  year  1826,  when  he  sold 
it  and  moved  to  Schuyler  County. 

About  the  same  time,  Melcher  Fogleman,  a 
strong-handed,  warm-hearted  German,  made 
his  appearance  and  entered  the  piece  of  land 
adjoining  that  on  which  Voiles  settled.  His 
house  was  erected  close  to  a  large  spring 
among  the  hills  skirting  Shoal  Creek.  This 
spring  was  the  nucleus  around  which  several 
other  families  clustered,  and  for  a  number  of 
years  was  the  only  water  supply  for  the  little 
community. 

Fogleman  was  a  blacksmith,  and  it  was  here 
that  the  first  shop  in  the  township  was  erected. 
A  son  was  born  while  the  family  resided  in 
this  locality.  This  was  the  first  birth  in  the 
township  and  one  of  the  first  in  the  county. 
This  son  is  still  living,  near  Litchfield,  and  is 
one  of  the  highly  respected  citizens  of  the 
community  in  which  he  resides.  The  next 
family  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  was 
that  of  William  Stevens,  a  son-in-law  of  Voiles. 
He  came  from  North  Carolina,  also,  but  did 
not  purchase  or  enter  land  in  the  township, 
being  but  a  temporary  resident  for  about  two 
years,  when  he  moved  to  Shelby  County. 
Elias  Baker  took  a  claim  in  Section  25  in  the 
fall  of  1819.  His  son,  James,  came  with  him 
and  assisted  in  opening  the  farm  for  cultiva- 
tion. 

In  about  one  year  the  old  gentleman  became 
dissatisfied  with  the  new  country,  and  went 
back  to  the  hills  of  his  native  Georgia,  where 
he  died  two  years  later. 

James  resided  on  the  place  his  father  settled 
for  a  number  of  3'ears,  an  honored  and  re- 
spected citizen.  The  place  is  at  present  owned 
by  John  Kirkland,  who  has  made  it  one  of  the 
best  farms  in  the  township.  Austin  Grisham 
came  to  the  State  when  it  was  a  territory,  and 


372 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


settled  in  what  is  now  Bond  Count}-  in  1816. 
Four  years  later,  he  moved  farther  north  and 
entered  a  piece  of  land  where  his  son,  James 
Grisham,  now  lives,  in  Walshville  Township. 
This  place  is  in  Section  24,  near  the  southern 
part.  Here  his  family  lived  for  a  number  of 
years,  with  no  neighbors  nearer  than  four  miles. 
The  country  surrounding  their  little  home  was 
a  wilderness  infested  by  wolves,  which  proved 
very  destructive  to  their  stock. 

Different  members  of  the  family  took  their 
turns  in  watching  the  pig-pens  at  night,  but 
despite  all  their  precautions,  many  a  fat  porker 
was  killed,  and  several  calves  more  or  less  in- 
jured by  these  gaunt  scourges  of  the  prairie. 
The  Pottawatomie  Indians  had  a  camping-place 
in  what  is  now  known  as  Kirkland's  Grove, 
near  Grisham's  residence,  which  they  visited 
every  year  for  the  purpose  of  hunting.  These 
Indians  were  not  troublesome,  although  they 
would  carry  off  a  pig  occasionally,  when  a 
favorable  opportunity  presented  itself.  They 
discontinued  their  incursions  into  this  part  of 
the  county  a  few  years  after  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made,  and  save  a  few  scattered 
bands,  none  have  been  seen  since  1825.  Gris- 
ham died  in  1852  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
two  years.  His  son,  James,  of  whom  a  biogra- 
phy appears  elsewhere  in  this  work,  is  the 
oldest  settler  living  in  the  township. 

Prominent  among  the  early  settlers  of  Walsh- 
ville who  came  prior  to  the  year  1821  was 
James  Jordan,  a  Baptist  preacher.  He  moved 
here  from  Indiana  in  1820,  and  entered  a  tract 
of  land  in  Section  28,  which  he  at  once  began  to 
improve.  He  was  one  of  the  first  preachers  of 
the  county,  and  a  most  exemplaiy  man.  It 
was  at  his  residence  that  the  first  religious  serv- 
ices in  the  township  were  held,  shortly  after 
he  came  into  the  little  settlement.  He  sold  his 
land  to  Jonathan  Voiles,  in  1825,  and  moved  in- 
to what  is  now  Grisham  Township.  The  place 
is  now  owned  by  Jacob  Lindley.  Several  rep- 
resentatives  of  the   Jordan   family  reside   in 


Grisham  Township,  and  are  justly  considered 
among  the  best  citizens  in  the  community 
where  they  live.  J.  W.  Garrison  was  also  an 
early  settler  of  Walshville,  locating  on  what  is 
known  as  Miller's  Tract,  Section  25,  about  the 
year  1826.  Thomas  Evans  came  the  same 
year  and  settled  on  the  Robb  Mound,  two  miles 
south  of  the  village  of  Walshville.  Joseph 
Pokes  became  a  resident  of  the  township  some 
time  previous  to  the  year  1826,  but  at  what 
place  he  settled  was  not  learned.  Among  the 
early  settlers  can  be  named  John  Evans,  Joseph 
Evans,  both  of  whom  came  in  1826.  Robert 
Kirkland  settled  on  Section  15  a  couple  of 
years  afterward.  No  permanent  residents 
settled  in  the  northern  part  of  the  township 
until  the  year  1840.  At  that  date,  John 
Simpson  and  John  King  bought  and  improved 
farms  near  where  Walshville  now  stands.  Since 
that  time,  the  population  of  the  township  has 
steadily  increased,  and  to  give  a  notice  of  each 
family  that  came,  up  to  the  year  1842.  would 
transcend  the  limits  of  our  space.  Probably  no 
division  of  the  county  was  settled  by  a  more 
worthy  set  of  pioneers  than  Walshville,  as  they 
were  with  but  few  exceptions  men  of  piety  and 
sterling  integrity.  Such  lives  were  not  harvests 
of  regrets,  but  grand  realities,  and  by  imitating 
their  many  virtues  we  ma}-  become  better  men 
and  more  worth}'  citizens. 

Like  the  early  settlers  in  all  new  countries, 
the  pioneers  of  this  township  were  compelled 
to  brave  many  difficulties  and  hardships.  While 
it  is  true  that  there  were  no  hostile  Indians  to 
encounter,  nor  any  very  ferocious  wild  animals 
to  guard  against,  yet  the  new  condition  of  the 
country  made  it  very  difficult  to  obtain  wear- 
ing apparel,  groceries,  breadstuffs  and  other 
articles  necessary  to  convenience  and  comfort. 
The  greater  amount  of  trading  during  the  early 
days  was  done  at  Edwardsville  and  St.  Louis, 
as  they  were  the  nearest  market  places.  Flour 
and  meal  were  obtained  at  those  places  in  the 
summer  time,  but   during  the  winter  seasons 


WALSHVILLE    TOWN  SHIP. 


373 


man}-  families  manufactured  their  own  meal 
by  hand,  crushing  the  grain  with  pestle  and 
mortar,  a  slow  process,  but  withal  a  very  sure 
one. 

Corn  was  the  most  practical  staple.  The 
early  families,  in  fact,  had  to  subsist,  in  the 
main,  upon  this  product,  variously  prepared, 
and  yet  aside  from  this  chief  edible  they  feasted 
often  upon  prairie  chicken,  turkey,  deer  and 
other  wild  game  that  thronged  the  woods  and 
prairie,  fish  that  filled  the  streams  and  honey 
that  could  be  obtained  in  great  quantities  from 
large  trees  in  the  forests. 

Several  small  mills  were  erected  in  the  ad- 
joining townships  at  an  early  day,  which  served 
as  a  source  of  supplies  to  the  citizens  of  the 
locality,  and  until  within  a  comparatively  re- 
cent period  there  were  no  mills  of  any  kind  at 
Walshville. 

Very  fair  roads  intersect  all  parts  of  the 
township,  as  is  the  case  with  almost  all  other 
parts  of  the  county.  The  first  roads  have  all 
been  changed  somewhat  and  improved.  Some 
of  them  were  crooked  and  irregular  having  been 
abandoned  altogether.  During  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  especially  in  the  early  spring,  these 
roads  became  almost  impassable  in  some  places 
owing  to  the  depth  of  the  mud. 

The  first  road  that  was  regularly  established 
was  the  one  leading  from  Hillsboro  to  St.  Louis. 
It  passed  through  the  township  in  a  southwester- 
ly direction.  The  Alton  &  St.  Louis  road  was 
laid  out  in  an  early  day  also,  and  at  one  time 
was  one  of  the  most  extensively  traveled  high- 
ways in  the  southern  part  of  the  county.  In- 
tersecting this  road  near  the  southern  bound- 
ary is  the  East  Fork  road,  extending  through 
the  township  from  east  to  west.  Traces  of 
other  early  roads  are  still  to  be  seen  in  vari- 
ous places,  but  none  of  them  appear  to  have 
been  roads  of  much  importance.  Many  of  the 
first  pioneers  of  Walshville  were  men  of  culture, 
and  education  received  considerable  attention 
at  a  very  early  date.     Emil  Clowsen  was  one 


of  the  first  teachers  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county,  but  of  him  nothing  is  known  save  that 
he  taught  a  little  school  in  1842.  The  house 
in  which  the  school  was  taught  was  a  little  log 
structure  that  had  forruerl}-  been  occupied  by 
the  family  of  some  "  squatter."  It  was  situated 
in   the  southwest  corner  of  Section  23. 

The  second  house  used  for  school  purposes 
built  on  the  place  where  George  Hoisington  now 
lives,  near  the  central  part  of  the  township. 
Among  the  early  teachers  at  this  place  were 
Winfield  Hicks  and  Henry  Havens,but  when  and 
how  long  they  taught  are  facts  which  the  writer 
was  unable  to  obtain.  The  first  frame  school- 
house  was  built  in  the  village  of  Walshville  in 
1850.  There  are  now  seven  good  frame  school- 
houses  in  the  township  well  provided  with  ap- 
paratus, in  which  school  is  taught  from  six 
to  eight  months  in  the  year.  The  schools  are 
in  progress  at  the  present  time  and  all  doing 
well. 

One  of  the  first  elections  in  the  township 
was  for  Justice  of  the  Peace,  held  about  the 
year  1850.  At  this  election,  Irwin  Cory  received 
very  nearly  the  unanimous  vote.  He  held  the 
office  several  consecutive  terms.  The  first  Con- 
stable was  elected  at  the  same  time.  The  honors 
of  the  office  settled  upon  the  head  of  William 
Towell,  who  wore  them  with  becoming  dignity. 
In  the  year  1825,  James  Jordan,  son  of  John 
Jordan,  was  married  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Austin  Grisham,  at  the  latter' s  residence.  This 
was  the  first  marriage  that  took  place  in  Walsh- 
ville as  well  as  one  of  the  earliest  in  the  count}-. 
A  burial  ground  was  laid  out  on  the  farm  of 
John  Kirkland,  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
township,  in  a  very  early  day,  and  is  now 
known  as  the  Kirkland  Graveyard.  Among  the 
first  interments  here  were  Peggy  Garrison  and 
a  child  of  John  Woods.  It  is  not  known  with 
any  degree  of  certainty  which  of  the  above 
deaths  occurred  first,  some  contending  for  the 
one  and  some  for  the  other.  There  were  sev- 
eral graves  here  previous  to  this  time,  as  differ- 


374 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


ent  parties  had  been  brought  here  for  burial 
from  the  little  settlement  farther  south  in  Bond 
County. 

But  limited  satisfaction  has  been  derived  in 
tracing  up  the  earl}'  church  history  of  Walsk- 
ville  Township.  The  first  sermon  was  preached 
by  Elder  James  Jordan  at  his  residence,  but 
to  this  we  have  already  referred.  The  first 
religious  organization  of  which  we  have  an}7 
knowledge  was  a  society  of  Methodists  organ- 
ized by  the  noted  pioneer  preacher,  Peter  Cart- 
wright,  at  the  residence  of  Elias  Baker,  in  the 
year  1824. 

This  society  increased  in  numbers  as  the 
years  went  by,  until  it  became  one  of  the  Meth- 
odist strongholds  in  this  part  of  the  county. 
The  residence  of  Baker  was  used  as  a  place  of 
worship  until  he  moved  from  the  neighborhood, 
when  the  dwelling  of  Jacob  Holbrook  was  ten- 
dered the  congregation. 

The  congregation  was  finally  separated;  part 
of  the  members  organized  the  congregation 
known  as  the  Dry  Fork  Church,  in  Bond  Coun- 
ty, and  a  portion  united  with  the  congregation 
that  worshiped  at  Mount  Carmel  Church  in 
Grisham  Towuship.  The  Walshville  Baptist 
Church  was  organized  at  the  residence  of  Will- 
iam Kline,  about  two  miles  southeast  of  the 
place  now  occupied  by  the  village  of  Walsh- 
ville, in  the  year  1836,  by  Rev.  William  Burge. 
Among  the  first  members  of  this  congregation 
were  the  following  :  William  Kline  and  wife, 
Reuben  Kline  and  wife,  George  Varner,  Henry 
Bryant  and  wife,  James  Bryant  and  James 
Simpson,  the  greater  number  of  whom  have 
long  since  left  the  scenes  of  their  earthly  labors 
to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  well-spent  lives  in  the 
"  church  triumphant  above." 

The  public  services  of  the  church  during  the 
first  eight  years  of  its  history  were  held  in  pri- 
vate dwellings  of  the  different  members.  A 
little  log  building  was  erected  in  IS46,  which 
served  the  congregation  until  the  year  1S62, 
when  it  was  decided  to  remove  the  organization 


to  the  village  of  Walshville,  and  there  build  a 
more  suitable  temple  of  worship.  A  neat 
frame  house  was  built  and  dedicated  the  follow- 
ing year.  This  building  stood  but  four  years, 
when  from  some  unknown  cause  it  took  fire  and 
burned  to  the  ground. 

In  1869,  their  present  house  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000.  There  are  upon  the  records 
the  names  of  forty -five  members  in  good  stand- 
ing. At  present,  the  church  is  without  a  pas- 
tor, but  efforts  are  being  made  to  secure  one. 
We  will  speak  of  the  other  churches  of  Walsh- 
ville in  connection  with  the  history  of  that  vil- 
lage a  little  farther  on.  Near  the  central  part 
of  the  township  is  a  German  Missionary  Bap- 
tist Church,  which  dates  its  organization  from 
the  year  1879.  The  church  is  small  in  num- 
bers, but  has  a  very  neat  and  comfortable 
building,  which  was  erected  and  dedicated  in 
the  year  1880.  We  were  unable  to  learn  any 
particulars  concerning  the  congregation,  and 
will  be  obliged  to  pass  it  by  with  above  very 
brief  notice. 

The  beautiful  little  town  of  Walshville  is  sit- 
uated in  the  northern  part  of  the  township, 
about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  northern 
boundary.  It  is  surrounded  by  an  excellent 
farming  country,  and  its  inhabitants  are  ener- 
getic and  intelligent. 

The  first  building  was  erected  here  in  1850. 
It  was  a  storeroom  built  by  L.  D.  Smith,  who 
did  a  good  business  for  three  years,  when  he 
sold  his  stock  to  a  Mr.  Bowers.  Bowers  sold 
to  Chapman  &  Kennedy,  who  in  turn  sold  to 
Michael  Walsh  in  the  year  1855.  Walsh  laid 
out  the  village  in  1855,  and  gave  it  the  name 
by  which  it  is  at  present  known.  It  was  from 
him,  also,  that  the  towuship  derives  the  name 
Walshville.  One  of  the  first  houses  was  the 
residence  of  John  King,  which  was  put  up 
about  the  same  year  in  which  the  store  build- 
ing of  L.  D.  Smith  was  erected.  I.  Irwin  had 
charge  of  a  store  about  three  years.  Seymour 
&  Kline  built  a  brick  storeroom  and  stocked  it 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


375 


with  goods  in  the  year  1855.  They  conducted 
the  business  as  partners  but  six  months,  when 
Kline  sold  his  interest  to  Eli  De  Shane,  who 
shortly  afterward  purchased  the  entire  stock, 
and  for  several  years  did  a  flourishing  business. 
Michael  Walsh  was  one  among  the  first  busi- 
ness men  of  the  place,  having  sold  goods  in  the 
residence  of  John  King  when  there  were  but 
two  or  three  houses  in  the  place.  Hodges  & 
Sanders,  Blevins  &  Denny,  Hodges  &  Boyd, 
are  the  names  of  firms  that  have  sold  goods  in 
Walshville  at  different  times  during  its  histor}-. 

The  first  physician  was  a  Dr.  Green,  who 
located  in  the  vicinity  in  the  year  1848,  and 
practiced  his  profession  for  about  two  years. 
Dr.  William  Williams  located  here  a  short  time 
afterward,  and  for  several  years  was  the  only 
physician  in  the  county  south  of  Hillsboro. 
Samuel  Denney,  John  Wadkins,  L.  C.  Stoddard, 
Nathan  Jayne,  Dr.  String,  E.  P.  Newberry,  have 
at  different  intervals  practiced  medicine  in  the 
village.  The  present  physicians  are  Ambrose 
Barcroft,  John  T.  Koen,  M.  S.  Davenport  and 
V.  B.  Barcroft. 

A  post  office  was  established  here  in  1846, 
with  John  King  as  Postmaster.  It  was  kept 
at  King's  residence  for  several  years.  Allison 
Corlew  was  the  second  Postmaster.  The  office 
is  at  present  kept  by  Samuel  H.  Henderson,  at 
his  place  of  business. 

A.  J.  Sitten  erected  a  neat  little  hotel  in  the 
year  1867,  which  was  extensively  patronized  by 
the  traveling  public.  It  is  now  run  by  William 
Shurtleff.  John  G.  Hawkins  keeps  a  hotel  in 
the  town,  also.  The  Walshville  mill  was  built 
in  the  year  1853,  by  Messrs.  Grisham  &  Simp- 
son. This  was  a  steam  mill  with  three  run  of 
stone,  and  for  nine  years  was  kept  running  al- 
most constantly,  doing  an  immense  business 
for  a.  mill  of  its  capacit}-.  It  was  completely 
destroyed  by  fire  in  the  year  1862,  entailing  a 
loss  of  at  least  813,000  on  the  proprietors. 

A  steam  saw-mill  was  erected  in  the  village 
in  1855,  by   Nicholas  Price,  who  operated  it 


about  five  years,  and  then  sold  it  to  Isaac  Par- 
ish. It  was  by  him  moved  from  the  town  to 
Shoal  Creek,  shortly  after  he  made  the  pur- 
chase. 

John  Rud  built  a  steam  flouring-mill  in 
1863,  which  he  operated  for  two  years.  It  was 
sold  to  F.  C.  Kirkland  for  the  sum  of  $7,000, 
and  afterward  purchased  by  McCracken  & 
Lilly,  who  ran  it  at  intervals  until  the  present 
time.  It  is  not  now  in  operation.  There  are 
four  neat  church  buildings  and  five  religious 
organizations  in  the  town,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  a  brief  history.  The  Walshville  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  1850, 
with  a  membership  of  twelve.  Their  names,  as 
recorded  on  the  church  book,  are  as  follows : 
Joseph  Price  and  wife,  Anna  Price,  Edwin 
Brown  and  wife,  James  Whitesides  and  wife, 
Martha  J.  Whitesides,  Caroline  Whitesides, 
Maria  Clark,  Wrilliam  M.  Towell  and  wife.  The 
most  of  these  had  been  members  of  previous 
organizations  elsewhere.  The  church  owes 
much  of  its  success  to  the  labors  of  Rev. 
Rogers,  the  first  pastor  and  principal  mover  in 
the  organization.  The  first  preaching  place 
was  the  village  schoolhouse,  which  was  used 
until  the  Baptist  meeting-house  was  completed, 
when  they  were  allowed  the  use  of  it  every 
alternate  Sabbath.  Up  to  this  time  the  church 
had  so  increased  in  numbers  that  it  was  decided 
to  erect  a  house  of  worship  in  harmony  with 
its  growing  strength.  The  building  was  erected 
and  dedicated  in  the  year  1866.  It  is  a  sub- 
stantial edifice  40x56  feet,  and,  with  improve- 
ments recently  added,  is  valued  at  $3,300. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  pastors  who  have 
had  charge  of  the  church  since  its  organiza- 
tion :     Moore,  Asa  Suell,  George  Comp- 

ton,  C.  J.  P.  Tolle,   David  Stubblefield,   


Walker,  S.  P.  Groves,  L.  C.  English  and  Will- 
iam Van  Cleve.  Sixty  members  comprise  the 
strength  of  the  church  at  present.  Their  first 
Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1867,  William 
M.  Towell  was  the  first  Superintendent.     The 


37G 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


school  is  now  one  of  the  best  in  the  village,  and  is 
superintended  by  T.  T.  Smith.     The  Cumber- 
laud  Presbyterian  Church  of  Walshville  is  one 
of  the  live  religious  organizations  of  the  town- 
ship.    The  original  congregation   from   which 
this  society  sprung  was  known  as  the  Mount 
Pleasant    Church,  and    met    for    worship    in 
Grisham   Township.     From  this  congregation 
two  churches  were  organized,  the  one  at  Pleas- 
ant Branch  in  Bond  County   and  the  other  at 
Walshville.     The  dates   of  these  different  or- 
ganizations were   not  ascertained,  though   we 
may  be  safe  in  saying  that  the  latter  was  or- 
ganized   about    the    year    1868.     Thirty-five 
names  were  enrolled  at  the  first  meeting,  the 
most  of  whom  had  previously  belonged  to  the 
old  Mount  Pleasant  congregation.     The  school  - 
house  supplied  the  wants  of  the  society  as  a 
place  of  meeting  about  one  year,  after  which 
their  public  services  were  held  in  the  Method- 
ist Church  until  their  present  house  of  worship 
was  built.     This  edifice  is  situated  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  the  town,  and  was  erected  in  the 
year  1871.     It  cost  the  sum  of  $2,000.     C.  G. 
Keon  preached  for  the  church  two  years  ;  D. 
R.    Bell    two   years.     For   several    years    the 
church  was  without  a  regular  pastor,  the  pulpit 
being  supplied  occasionally  by  ministers  from 
neighboring  churches. 

Rev.  R.  H.  McHenry,  the  present  pastor, 
commenced  his  labors  in  the  year  1879,  and 
wasshortly  afterward  regularly  called  as  pastor. 
A  Sabbath  school  has  been  conducted  in  con- 
nection with  the  church  ever  since  its  organ- 
ization. 

The  Christian  Church  was  organized  in  the 
year  1874,  by  Elder  A.  P.  Northcut.  The  orig- 
inal membership  numbered  ten.  With  little  in- 
fluence in  society,  few  in  numbers,  without  a 
house  of  worship,  and  all  these  disadvantages 
under  the  shadow  of  the  three  other  strong  or- 
ganizations, this  little  band  of  disciples,  pro- 
tected and  blessed  by  Him  "who  doeth  all 
things  well,"  began  to  increase  in  numbers  rap- 


idly until  within  a  short  time  it  was  the  strong- 
est church  in  the  place.  L.  M.  Linn,  the  first 
pastor,  preached  two  years,  and  did  much  to- 
ward making  the  church  what  it  is  to-day  He 
was  succeeded  in  the  pastorate  by  Elder  J.  H. 
Garrison,  of  St.  Louis,  one  of  the  most  gifted 
pulpit  orators  of  his  church  in  the  West,  and 
editor  of  one  of  its  leading  periodicals. 

He  remained  about  three  years,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Elder  J.  H.  Smart,  who  preached 
nearly  or  quite  two  years.  H.  P.  Tandy 
preached  one  year  ;  L.  F.  Wood  sis  mouths. 
Elder  Vance,  the  present  pastor,  has  been  with 
the  church  since  1881. 

For  several  years  the  Baptist  Church  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  congregation,  who 
used  the  same  until  1878. 

A  new  house  of  worship  was  then  erected, 
which,  in  point  of  neatness  and  finish,  is  one  of 
the  best  church  edifices  in  the  county.  It  was 
dedicated  the  same  year  in  which  it  was  built, 
by  J.  H.  Garrison.  The  membership  is  at  pres- 
ent about  eighty -five.  J.  T.  Koen  is  Superin- 
tendent of  the  large,  flourishing  Sunday  school. 
A  society  known  as  Free  Methodists  was  organ- 
ized in  1880,  by  Rev.  F.  H.  Ashcroft.  At  the 
time  of  organization  the  society  consisted  of 
fifteen  members,  which  has  since  increased  to 
thirty.  Their  meetings  are  held  in  the  vacant 
storeroom  belonging  to  Mr.  Blevins.  The 
present  officers  of  this  organization  are  J.  D. 
Tiffin  and  N.  Neal,  Stewards  ;  H.  S.  Henderson, 
Class  Leader  ;  Miss  Norah  Neal,  Superintend- 
ent of  Sunday  school.  Public  services  every 
Sunday. 

In  18G5,  the  Walshville  Lodge,  No.  475,  A., 
F.  &  A.  M.,  was  established.  The' first  meet- 
ings were  held  in  an  unfinished  room  in  the 
school  building,  which  was  afterward  fitted  up 
for  a  hall.  The  following  names  were  copied 
from  the  charter  :  Isaac  Sturges,  W.  A.  King- 
ston, L.  Baily,  F.  D.  Whitesides,  William  M. 
Towell,  Peter  L.  Davenport,  John  J.  Miller  and 
M.  S.  Davenport. 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


377 


The  different  offices  are  filled  by  the  follow- 
ing persons,  viz.:  A.  T.  Strange,  W.  M.;  John 
T.  Koen,  S.  W.;  E.  M.  Root,  J.  W.;  Thomas 
Greenwood,  Treasurer ;  A.  B.  Copeland,  Secre- 
tary :  J.  J.  Davenport,  Tiler. 

The  township  of  Walshville  bore  a  commend- 
able share  in  the  gallant  and  patriotic  work  of 
putting  down  the  great  rebellion.  She  gave  of 
her  sons  and  citizens  with  their  blood  and  treas- 
ure without  stint  until  the  flag  of  beauty  and 
glory  waved  in  triumph  over  a  united  country. 
It  would  be  invidious  to  make  comparisons  be- 
tween this  and  other  townships,  as  they  all  did 
their  duty  willingly,  fearlessly,  well,  and  their 
whole  duty. 

Soldiers  from  Walshville  did  service  and  par- 
took of  the  dangers  and  glory  of  every  battle  of 


any  considerable  note.  We  would  give  a  list  of 
all  the  soldiers  the  township  sent  to  the  front 
were  it  practicable,  but  it  would  far  transcend 
the  limits  of  our  space.  May  the  country  never 
need  their  services  more  in  the  dread  business 
which  carries  fire  and  sword  among  mankind) 
and  leaves  widespread  desolation  and  black- 
ened ruins  where  all  was  smiling  plenty.  Those 
who  went  but  never  returned — who  laid  down 
their  lives  to  avenge  the  honor  of  an  insulted 
flag— will  never  be  forgotten.  It  is  the  verdict 
of  the  loyal  heart  of  Walshville,  expressed  not 
without  a  tinge  of  regret,  that  she  can  well 
afford  to  spare  her  noble  dead.  May  they  rest 
in  peace.  Let  not  the  flowers  that  spring  from 
the  mold  above  them  be  trodden  down  by  sol- 
dier nor  war-horse. 


378 


HISTORY    OF   MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER    XXV.* 


WITT    TOWNSHIP— SOIL,    TIMBER    AND    CONFIGURATION— SCHOOLS,    PAST    AND    PRESENT— THE 
CIRCUIT  RIDER— CHURCHES  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOLS— MILLS   AND  OTHER  INDUSTRIES. 

springs  of  pure  clear  water,  where  the  Indians 
had  their  camping  grounds  many  years  ago  and 
around  which  many  interesting  and  curious 
relics  have  been  found.     A  small  stream  in  the 


THE  greater  share  of  Witt  Township  consists 
of  a  beautiful,  undulating  surface  of  prairie 
land.     Its  western  and  southern  parts,  though 
not  exactly  level,  are  not  so  broken  as  much  of 
the  land  of  East  Fork  and  Fillmore  Townships 
lying   farther  south.     The  principal  and  only 
stream   of  note   is   the   East  Fork  of   Shoal 
Creek,  which  flows  through  the  township  from 
north  to  the  southwest.     In  its  course  it  passes 
through  the  following  sections  of  land,  viz.  : 
5,  8,  17,  19,  30  and  31.     Its  bed  and  banks  are 
very   muddy,  and  the  stream,  through  an  un- 
known period  of  years,  has  cut  several  channels 
in  the  soil  at  different  places.     The  flow  of  the 
current  is  characterized  by  a  sluggishness  in 
some  places  and  by  great  rapidity  in  others. 
The  territory  through  which  it  passes  in  this 
township  is  nearer  level  than  the  land  lying 
adjacent  to  it  in  the  township  of  East  Fork. 
During  the  warmer  months  of  dry  seasons,  the 
waters  of  this  creek  are  very  low,  and  some- 
times becomes  almost  or  quite  dry,  but  in  ordi- 
nary years  the  stream  remains  quite  full,  and 
sometimes  during   heavy  rains,  the  current  be- 
comes a  rushing  torrent,  which  overflows   the 
banks  on  either  side  for  several  hundred  yards. 
The  higher  portions  of  land  which  skirt  this 
creek  in  the  southern  part  form  a  very  pleasing 
contrast  to  the  broad  stretch  of  monotonous 
prairie,  and  are  covered  with  thick  growths  of 
walnut,  oak  and  hickory  trees.     The  largest  and 
best  of  these  trees  have  been  cut  down  and 
sawn  into  lumber  years  ago,  although  there  are 
still  standing  many  good  sized  trees  of  more 
recent  growth.     Among  these  higher  portions 
of  the  township  are  to  be  seen  a  number  of 

*  By  G.  N.  Berry. 


southeast  part  drains  that  portion  of  the  town- 
ship, and  flows  into  Fillmore  from  Section  10. 
Another  small  creek  rises  near  the  south  cen- 
tral part  and  takes  a  northwesterly  course,  flow- 
ing into  East  Fork  Creek,  near  the  line  which 
separates  Witt  from  East  Fork  Township.  The 
surface  soil  of  this  section  of  the  county  is 
largely  a  black  loam,  very  fertile,  rendering  till- 
age easy,  and,  in  an  agricultural  point  of  view, 
this  township  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  county. 
In  the  low  flat  lands  along  the  creeks,  the  soil 
contains  much  decayed  vegetable  matter,  and 
when  properly  drained  and  cultivated  produces 
immense  crops  of  corn  and  grass.  Among  the 
broken  and  hilly  portions  in  the  southern  part, 
the  soil  is  largely  sand,  mingled  in  some  places 
with  clay  in  sufficient  quantities  to  make  the 
land  very  productive  and  valuable.  There  is, 
perhaps,  as  little  waste  land  in  this  region  as 
there  is  in  any  other  township  in  the  county, 
but  very  little,  if  any,  being  too  broken  or  wet 
for  tillage. 

Witt  lies  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county 
with  the  following  boundaries :  Nokomis 
Township  on  the  north,  Irving  on  the  west.  Fill- 
more on  the  south.  The  eastern  boundaries  are 
Audubon  Township  and  Hurricane  Township, 
of  Fayette  County.  It  is  exactly  six  miles 
square,  and  contains  thirty-six  sections  of  land. 
Forty-six  years  ago,  the  area  embraced  in  Witt 
was  comparatively  an  unbroken  wild.  The  set- 
tlers were  few  and  far  between,  and  it  was  only 


AVITT   TOAVXSIIIP. 


379 


after  a  ride  of  several  miles  across  the  track- 
less prairies,  and  through  the  scraggy  forests, 
that  the  traveler  might  find  evidence  of 
advancing  civilization  in  the  presence  of  a  log 
cabin  planted  near  a  spring,  or  some  small 
stream,  or  an  insignificant  board  shanty  near 
the  edge  of  a  small  plowed  field  on  the  prairie. 
Broad  expanses  of  prairie  lay  around  him 
without  the  sight  of  a  human  habitation,  while 
the  woods-  along  the  creeks  as  yet  furnished  but 
few  signs  that  they  had  been  penetrated  by  the 
white  man,  and  these  signs  were  principally 
the  blazed  paths,  made  by  cutting  through  bark 
of  the  trees,  a  sign  scarcely  distinguishable 
after  twilight  set  in.  Here  and  there  corners 
had  been  staked  out  by  county  surveyors,  and 
they  were  always  a  welcome  sight  to  the  luck- 
less one  who  found  himself  lost  on  the  wide, 
trackless  plains.  But  the  scene  has  changed 
rnarvelously  since  then,  and  the  wilds  of  Witt 
now  blossom  and  bloom  like  the  rose.  Her 
broad,  fertile  prairies  are  now  divided  off  into 
well-tilled  farms,  on  which  are  many  fine  and 
elegant  residences,  evidences  of  the  prosper- 
ity with  which  the  farmer  is  surrounded  and 
blessed.  The  iron  horse  dashes  through  the 
verdant  fields,  and  its  white  plume  curls  over 
the  smiling  land,  where  peace,  plenty  and  intel- 
ligence combine  to  render  the  well-to-do  and 
hospitable  citizens  contented  and  happy.  AVitt 
was  not  settled  as  early  as  some  of  the  neigh- 
boring townships  of  the  county — that  is,  by' 
permanent  settlers.  A  number  of  squatters 
entered  the  township  several  3-ears  prior  to  the 
first  permanent  settlement,  but  just  when  they 
made  their  appearance  cannot  be  known  with 
any  degree  of  certainty.  It  is  well  known, 
however,  that  when  the  first  permanent  settlers 
who  were  owners  of  the  land  appeared,  there 
were  living  in  the  township,  along  the  creeks, 
several  of  these  transient  settlers,  none  of  whom 
appear  to  have  made  much  improvement  in  the 
way  of  tilling  the  soil  or  clearing  the  woodland. 
The  remains  of   several   small  cabins  are  the 


only  vestiges  left  of  these  squatters,  who 
packed  up  their  effects  and  moved  on  farther 
west  as  the  country  became  more  thickly  pop- 
ulated. The  first  permanent  settlers  of  the 
township  were  two  brothers,  James  and  David 
Brown,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  the  year  1831, 
and  located  on  East  Fork  Creek,  in  Section  17. 
Their  two  places  lay  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
stream.  David  settled  on  the  west  side,  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  a  Mr.  Thumb,  of  Irving, 
and  James  located  the  farm  on  which  a  Air. 
Blipsen  now  resides.  For  two  or  three  years, 
these  two  families  were  the  only  settlers  in  the 
township  ;  north  and  east  of  them  was  an  un- 
settled prairie  of  many  miles  in  extent,  while 
south  and  southwest  were  no  houses  for  the  dis- 
tance of  four  or  five  miles.  About  the  year  1833, 
Martin  Harkey  came  into  the  township,  and  lo- 
cated a  farm  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  Sec- 
tion 17.  He  came  here  from  Iredell  County, 
N.  C,  and  settled  in  Hillsboro  when  it  was  but 
a  mere  hamlet.  From  Hillsboro  he  moved  to 
the  place  in  AVitt  already  named,  where  he  re- 
sided until  the  year  1837.  Another  early  set- 
tler on  Section  17  was  Christopher  Armantrout. 
He  appeared  a  short  time  after  the  Browns,  and 
settled  close  to  their  places,  on  an  eighty  acres 
of  school  land,  which  he  purchased.  He  after- 
ward purchased  other  tracts  of  land,  which  are 
now  the  property  of  his  descendants.  AVhen 
Armantrout  first  arrived,  his  family  lived  for 
some  time  in  a  little  hut  built  on  the  piece  of 
land  we  have  already  described.  In  1837,  he 
bought  the  farm  on  which  Martin  Harkey  set- 
tled, and  erected  thereon  a  more  comfortable 
and  permanent  residence,  which  is  still  standing. 
Armantrout  died  in  the  year  1856,  after  a  long 
and  useful  life.  By  his  industry  and  frugality 
he  became  the  possessor  of  a  great  deal  of  very 
fine  land,  which  is  still  in  possession  of  his 
widow  and  family.  Two  sons  are  now  living 
in  the  township — George  AV.  and  John  L.,  both 
of  whom  are  in  affluent  circumstances,  and 
i  prominent  members  of  the  Prairie  View  Meth- 


380 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


odist  Church.  In  the  spring  of  1839,  Joshua 
Seckler  came  to  the  township,  and  settled  in 
Section  9,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Christian 
Balsley.  He  was  a  young  man  of  energy,  and 
soon  had  his  new  place  fitted  up  with  a  neat 
cabin,  into  which  he  introduced  a  helpmate  one 
year  later.  His  brother,  M.  W.  Seckler,  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  new  country  about  the  year 
1840,  and  settled  on  the  same  section,  where  he 
resided  for  a  number  of  years.  A  daughter  of 
the  latter,  Mrs.  Carriker,  still  lives  on  the  old 
place.  They  were  both  Carolinians,  and  men 
of  influence  in  the  community  where  they  re- 
sided. In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1841, 
Williams  Lights,  from  Virginia,  arrived  in  Witt, 
built  a  rude  dwelling,  and  began  making  im- 
provements. Lights  located  on  Section  8, 
where  he  resided  about  one  year,  after  which 
he  sold  the  place  to  Alfred  Borer,  and  moved 
to  Iowa.  By  this  time,  the  township  was  quite 
well  populated,  especially  along  the  creek,  and 
improvements  were  pushed  rapidty  forward. 
The  rich,  fertile  soil  allured  many  from  the 
more  thickly  settled  portions  of  the  southern 
part  of  the  county,  and  the  prairies  were  soon 
dotted  with  dwellings.  Lands  at  that  time 
were  remarkably  cheap,  and  many  men  in  mod- 
erate circumstances  availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity,  and  purchased  good  tracts  of  land 
which  in  after  years  became  very  valuable.  It 
is  a  noted  fact  in  this,  as  in  many  other  town- 
ships of  the  county,  that  the  first  settlers  inva- 
riably selected  the  lands  among  the  hills,  or 
lying  adjacent  to  the  streams,  for  their  homes, 
thus  leaving  the  richer  and  more  valuable  prai- 
rie to  be  taken  up  by  the  more  fortunate  set- 
tler, who  came  in  later  years.  These  prairies 
were  looked  upon  with  much  misgiving  by  the 
pioneers  from  the  mountains  of  Carolina  and 
Virginia,  and  were  avoided  for  the  more  broken 
and  less  valuable  land  which  more  nearly  re- 
sembled their  old  homes.  The  early  settlers  of 
Witt  found  it  somewhat  difficult  to  travel  from 
one  place  to  another  for  the  lack  of  good  roads. 


Everybody  had  his  own  thoroughfare,  and  for 
some  years  the  township  was  considerably  cut 
up  by  these  random  roadways,  but,  in  the  course 
of  several  years,  they  were  straightened  some- 
what and  properly  established.  The  first  thor- 
oughfare laid  out  through  what  is  now  Witt 
was  the  old  Shelbyville  and  Hillsboro  road, 
which  connected  those  two  places.  This  was 
in  the  early  clays  a  route  extensively  traveled, 
and  was  the  only  highway  of  any  importance 
between  the  two  cities.  The  original  course 
has  been  changed  considerably,  and  it  now 
passes  through  the  township  in  a  southwesterly 
direction,  and  is  nearer  straight  than  formerly. 
The  second  road  through  the  township  was  laid 
out  about  the  year  1838,  and  was  known  as  the 
Nokomis  road.  This  road  enters  the  township 
between  Sections  3  and  4,  and  crosses  it  in  a 
southerly  direction,  and  intersects  the  Shelby- 
ville road  in  Section  16.  Other  roads  were 
planned  and  laid  out  to  suit  various  neighbor- 
hoods, and  after  being  traveled  several  years, 
were  finally  established  and  improved.  The 
roads  of  Witt  will  compare  ver}'  favorably  with 
the  highways  of  any  other  township  in  the 
county. 

The  first  school  in  Witt  was  taught  in  the 
southwest  part,  near  East  Fork  Creek,  in  a  little 
log  house  that  had  been  built  by  a  squatter, 
and  was  probably  the  first  building  erected  in 
the  township.  The  house  was  about  seventeen 
feet  square,  and  the  first  teacher  was  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Gay.  The  first  term  was  taught  in 
1836,  and,  after  that  date,  there  were  several 
schools  taught  in  the  same  place. 

There  were  several  schools  started  shortly 
afterward  at  various  places  in  the  township, 
some  of  which  were  taught  in  private  dwellings 
that  could  accommodate  the  greatest  number 
of  pupils.  John  Wheat  was  among  the  early 
teachers.  He  taught  the  second  school  in  the 
township  in  a  little  cabin  about  the  size  of  the 
one  already  mentioned,  which  stood  on  the  west 
bank  of  East  Fork  Creek,  in  the  southwest  cor- 


WITT   TOWNSHIP. 


381 


tier.  The  second  school  in  this  place  was  taught 
by  Benjamin  Norman  about  the  year  1839.  All 
of  these  early  schools  were  supported  b}*  sub- 
scription, and,  at  stated  times,  the  teachers  were 
accustomed  to  make  their  regular  tours  through 
the  neighborhoods  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
their  bills  for  tuition.  The  first  frame  school- 
house  was  probably  the  one  known  as  the  Prai- 
rie Valley  Sehoolhouse,  which  was  built  in  the 
year  1849,  and  is  still  standing. 

Here  the  first  public  school  in  the  township 
was  taught  the  same  jear  in  which  the  building 
was  completed.  The  next  frame  building  was 
erected  the  following  year,  and  goes  by  the 
name  of  Maxey's  Sehoolhouse.  Since  1850, 
there  have  been  several  good  houses  built,  all 
of  which  are  well  furnished  and  in  good  repair. 

There  are  now  seven  school  buildings  in  the 
township,  and  the  schools  are  maintained  dur- 
ing seven  months  of  the  year. 

The  first  ministers  to  preach  the  Gospel  in 
Witt  were  circuit-riders  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
who  preached  in  the  township  adjoining  on  the 
west.  Several  meetings  were  held  at  different 
places  before  any  permanent  organization  was 
effected.  The  first  society  was  organized  at  or 
near  the  place  where  James  Brown  settled  on 
East  Fork  Creek,  by  Rev.  Aldridge,  who 
preached  for  the  little  congregation  for  several 
years. 

Their  meetings  were  held  in  a  neighboring 
sehoolhouse  until  the  year  1855,  when  a  house 
of  worship  was  erected.  This  house  became 
famous  throughout  the  country  for  its  great  re- 
vivals. 

The  organization  was  moved  farther  south 
several  years  afterward,  and  the  place  of  meet- 
ing again  changed  to  a  sehoolhouse  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  old  building  was  torn 
away  some  time  since,  and  a  reorganization  of 
the  society  effected.  Among  those  who  as- 
sumed the  responsibility  of  membership  at  the 
reorganization  were  the  following  :  Christian 
Balsley  and  wife,  George  Hightower  and  wife, 


Alfred  Borer  and  wife,  Mrs.  Ellegood,  James 
Hall,  J.  W.  Smith,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Armantrout, 
Sarah  Armantrout  aud  J.  P.  Armantrout.  The 
sehoolhouse  was  used  as  a  place  of  worship  un- 
til the  3_ear  1870,  when  the  present  church  edi- 
fice was  erected.  This  is  a  neat  frame  structure, 
and  cost  the  sum  of  $900.  It  was  dedicated  in 
1871,  by  Rev.  W.  S.  Hooper,  of  Hillsboro.  Rev. 
George  Miller  was  the  first  pastor,  and  to  his 
efforts  is  the  church  largely  due  for  its  reorgani- 
zation. Rev.  S.  H.  Whitlock  succeeded  Miller, 
and  preached  from  1871  to  1873.  J.  E.  Lindlav 
had  charge  of  the  church  from  1873  until  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1875.  The  unexpired  year 
was  completed  by  Rev.  E.  E.  Cowperthwaite. 
J.  W.  West  ministered  to  the  congregation  from 
1875  to  1876  ;  P.  M.  Dillman  from  1876  to 
1879  ;  L.  T.  Janes,  son  of  Bishop  Janes,  from 
1 879  to  1880.  The  present  pastor,  J.  W.  Crane, 
has  been  with  the  church  since  1880.  The 
membership  will  number  about  forty.  A  good 
Sunday  school  is  in  progress  under  the  super- 
inteudency  of  George  W.  Hightower.  A  society 
known  as  the  Protestant  Methodist  was  organ- 
ized in  the  eastern  part  of  the  township  in  the 
year  1872.  They  have  a  good  frame  building, 
but  the  church  is  not  in  a  very  flourishing  con- 
dition. At  present  they  have  no  regular  serv- 
ices and  no  pastor.  The  Sandy  Bend  Union 
Church  building  was  built  in  the  year  1880,  by 
the  Christian  Union  and  Methodist  organiza- 
tions, which  hold  services  in  the  house  alter- 
nately. This  Methodist  church  is  one  of  the 
points  on  the  Irving  Circuit,  and  was  organized 
a  number  of  years  ago,  though  at  what  date  we 
were  unable  to  learn.  Nothing  definite  con- 
cerning these  two  organizations  was  ascertained, 
though  it  can  be  said  that  they  are  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition,  and  are  doing  good  work  for  the 
Master. 

The  next  church  which  claims  our  attention 
is  the  Witt  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The 
circumstances  which  led  to  the  organization  of 
this    society  are  worthy  of  mention   in   these 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


pages.  William  L.  Updike  and  wife  moved 
into  the  village  of  Witt  in  the  .year  1860.  At 
that  time,  there  was  no  organization  in  the  place, 
nor  nearer  than  five  miles.  The  first  Sunday 
after  moving  to  the  place,  Mrs.  Updike  took  a 
ride  through  the  country,  and  seeing  quite  a 
number  of  people  at  work  in  the  fields  as  usual, 
conceived  the  idea  of  organizing  a  Sunday 
school.  Word  was  circulated  throughout  the 
neighborhood  to  that  effect,  and  the  following 
Sunday  saw  eight  children  and  a  few  grown 
persons  at  her  house.  These  she  organized 
into  a  school,  and  an  hour  was  spent  in  relig- 
ious exercises.  The  next  Sunday,  the  school 
had  increased  to  eighteen.  It  continued  to 
grow  in  numbers  each  week,  until  her  house 
would  not  contain  the  crowds. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  of  her  Sunday 
school  venture,  she  determined  to  have  a  church 
organized,  and  accordingly  went  to  work  to  that 
end.  Rev.  John  R.  Chapman  was  invited  to 
preach  in  her  house,  a  room  of  which  was  fitted 
up  for  that  purpose.  He  accepted  the  invita- 
tion, and  a  two  weeks'  meeting  was  held,  which 
resulted  in  several  conversions.  After  this 
meeting,  Updike  and  family  moved  into  another 
house  and  fitted  up  their  old  residence  for  a 
place  of  worship.  Another  protracted  meeting 
was  held  the  same  winter  for  about  six  weeks, 
during  which  about  thirty  persons  professed 
conversion,  and  the  church  was  accordingly  or- 
ganized. Prominent  among  the  first  members 
were  the  following  :  A.  Duncan  and  wife,  Will- 
iam Updike  and  wife,  Samuel  Williams  and 
wife,  J.  R.  Chapman  and  wife,  John  Deer  and 
wife,  A.  F.  Duncan  and  wife,  Samuel  H.  Wiley 
and  wife,  George  McClure,  Theresa  Chapman, 
Andrew  Chapman,  Mrs.  George  McClure,  John 
Lohr  and  wife,  William  Lohr  and  many  others. 
The  congregation  continued  to  meet  in  the 
residence  of  Updike  until  the  spring,  when  the 
place  of  worship  was  changed  to  the  warehouse 
of  William  Woods.  Their  church  building  was 
erected  in  the  year  1876.     Its  dimensions  are 


32x40  feet,  seating  capacity  about  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five.  The  first  regular  pastor  of  the 
church  was  Rev.  J.  B.  Rhodes,  who  preached 
one  year.  Hazen  preached  one  year  ;  Stubble- 
field,  two  years.  George  Campton  preached  a 
short  time  ;  E.  Randall,  one  year.  The  follow- 
ing pastors  have  had  charge  of  the  church  at 
different  periods  :  J.  W.  Lapham,  —  Brooks, 
—  Cunningham,  —  Hamill,  —  Muhler,  and  C. 
R.  Howard,  present  pastor.  The  church  has 
declined  considerably  in  numbers  during  the 
last  four  years.  The  exact  membership  was 
not  ascertained. 

The  Witt  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
was  organized  in  1873,  by  William  McDavid, 
with  a  membership  of  about  thirty  The  follow- 
ing were  some  of  the  original  members  :  J.  Lohr 
and  wife,  Mary  Lohr,W.  Updike,  Eugene  Updike, 
William  Lohr  and  wife,  Christian  Marks  and  wife, 
Maggie  Marks,  James  B.  Marks  and  wife,  Alice 
Marks.  The  public  services  were  conducted  in 
a  vacant  dwelling  house,  which  stands  in  the 
rear  of  Wubker's  store.  This  building  served 
the  congregation  until  the  year  1875,  at  which 
time  the  beautiful  edifice  in  which  the  congre- 
gation now  worships  was  erected.  This  is  a 
frame  building,  dimensions  30x38  feet,  and  cost 
about  $1,300.  Rev.  T.  W.  McDavid  preached 
for  the  church  two  years.  He  was  succeeded 
by  W.  C.  McDavid,  who  ministered  to  the  con- 
gregation for  four  years,  and  was  in  turn  fol- 
lowed by  Rev.  William  Turner,  who  preached 
but  a  short  time.  -  McHenry  preached  for 
one  year,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  —  Baker, 
present  pastor.  Officers  of  the  church — Will- 
iam P.  Strain,  Adam  Bolt,  C.  Marks— Elders ; 
James  Barton,  N.  Bentz— Deacons  ;  John 
Schooping,  Superintendent  of  Sunday  school. 

The  first  mill  in  the  township  was  a  small 
affair  in  the  southwest  corner,  on  the  farm  of 
David  Gregory.  The  machinery  was  run  by 
horse-power  and  ground  nothing  but  corn  dur- 
ing certain  days  of  the  week.  Gregory  after- 
ward built  a  carding   machine   on    his  place, 


WITT   TOWNSHIP. 


383 


which  was  also  run  by  horse-power.  A  saw 
was  attached,  and  in  addition  to  carding  wool, 
he  managed  to  saw  some  lumber.  This  ma- 
chinery was  in  operation  but  a  short  time. 
This  was  the  only  mill,  with  the  exception  of 
the  one  at  Witt,  ever  erected  in  the  township. 
The  village  of  Witt  is  situated  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  township,  on  the  Indianapolis 
&  St.  Louis  Railroad,  and  dates  its  growth 
from  the  year  1869,  at  which  time  the  first 
building  was  erected  by  William  Woods.  This 
was  a  storehouse  and  was  stocked  with  a  gen- 
eral assortment  of  goods  bj-  Keys  &  Bartlett. 
They  conducted  a  business  here  for  one  year,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  they  became  financially 
embarrassed  and  were  compelled  to  dispose  of 
their  stock.  Another  store  was  started  the 
following  year  by  Lee  Hall,  who  had  charge  of 
the  railroad  office  also,  which  was  established 
the  same  year. 

Hall  had  charge  of  this  store  two  years. 
The  next  store  in  the  place  was  started  by 
Antonio  Leon,  who  run  it  for  a  short  time  and 
then  traded  it  to  Christian  Marks  for  a  farm. 
Marks  sold  out  to  Lewy  &  Leon  in  the  year 
1870,  who  did  a  good  business  for  ten  months. 
Henry  Wubker  purchased  their  stock  of  goods 


in  the  year  1878,  and  has  been  in  business  here 
ever  since.  In  addition  to  his  stock  of  general 
merchandise,  he  has  also  a  good  drug  store  and 
deals  extensively  in  agricultural  implements. 
His  combined  stock  will  probably  represent  a 
value  of  $7,000,  and  his  business  is  one  of  the 
best  in  the  county. 

The  Witt  post  office  was  established  in  the 
year  1869,  with  a  man  by  name  of  Keys  as 
Postmaster.  The  office  at  present  is  kept  by 
James  S.  Vermillion.  The  first  physician  to 
locate  in  Witt  was  Doctor  Melrath,  who  came 
to  the  place  in  1870.  D.  Luther  started  the 
first  blacksmith  shop  in  the  town,  which  he 
worked  two  years. 

N.  Bentz  erected  a  large  steam  elevator  and 
mill  in  the  year  1876.  This  elevator  is  said  to 
be  one  of  the  best  on  the  Indianapolis  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad  between  Indianapolis  and  St. 
Louis.  The  mill  has  two  runs  of  stone  and  a 
capacity  of  about  fifteen  barrels  of  flour  per 
day.  The  population  of  the  village  will  not 
exceed  seventy-five,  but  the  citizens  are  all 
wide  awake  and  energetic,  and  the  town  prom- 
ises to  become  a  place  of  considerable  impor- 
tance in  the  near  future. 


;:s| 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER   XXVI* 
HARVEL  TOWNSHIP— POSITION   AND   BOUNDARIES— TOPOGRAPHY 


PHYSICAL    FEATURES— PRO- 
DUCTIONS—EARLY  .SETTLEMENTS-SCHOOLS— VILLAGE  OF  HARVEL— ITS  EARLY    HISTORY 
—INDUSTRIES,  ETC.— VILLAGE  CHURCHES— SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


•'  We  cross  the  prairies,  as  of  old 
The  pilgrims  crossed  the  sea, 
To  make  the  West,  as  they  the  East, 
The  homestead  of  the  free." 

HARVEL  TOWNSHIP  is  situated  in  the 
northeastern  part  of  Montgomery  County, 
and  has  the  following  boundaries  :  Bois  D'Arc 
Township  on  the  north,  Raymond  on  the  south, 
Christian  County  on  the  east,  and  Pitman 
Township  on  the  west.  It  originally  included 
the  territory  of  Pitman,  from  which  it  was  sep- 
arated in  the  year  1878,  upon  petition  of  the 
citizens  living  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  town- 
ship. The  surface,  is  generally  speaking,  level 
in  appearance,  especially  in  the  northern  half, 
where,  in  certain  localities,  the  ground  is  low, 
flat  and  marshy,  rendering  agriculture  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  Many  of  these  low,  wet  places 
have  been  drained  by  a  successful  system  of 
tiling,  and  much  fertile  soil  has  been  reclaimed, 
from  which  abundant  and  well-paying  crops 
are  produced.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the 
township,  the  land  is  more  rolling,  although  there 
are  no  undulations  sufficiently  high  to  be  termed 
hills.  Prior  to  its  settlement  by  the  whites,  and 
before  there  were  any  roads,  travelers  had  no 
difficulty  in  crossing  the  territory  of  this  town- 
ship in  any  direction  as  there  were  no  streams, 
ravines,  hills,  woods,  or  any  natural  obstacles 
to  impede  their  progress. 

The  soil  in  all  parts  of  Harvel  is  the  fine, 
black,  rich  loam,  so  common  in  the  Western 
prairie  States,  and  which  has  given  to  this  part 
of  the  country   its  peculiar  advantages  as  an 

*  By  G.  N.  Berry. 


agricultural  district.  In  many  places,  it  is 
mixed  with  sand,  drift  and  rests  upon  a  stratum 
of  clay,  thus  making  artificial  drainage  compara- 
tively easy  where  sufficient  outlets  can  be  ob- 
tained. There  is  but  one  stream  of  any  con- 
siderable importance  within  the  limits  of  Har- 
vel, the  West  Pork  of  Shoal  Creek,  into  which  a 
number  of  small  streams  and  rivulets  empty. 
This  creek  has  its  source  in  the  western  part  of 
Pitman  Township,  and  flows  in  a  southeasterly 
direction  through  the  southern  part  of  Harvel, 
crossing  the  township  line  at  a  point  in  Section 
31,  about  one  mile  and  a  half  from  the  western 
boundary. 

This  division  of  the  county  is  almost  entirely 
bare  of  native  timber,  there  being  but  few  scat- 
tering trees  skirting  the  banks  of  the  creek  al- 
ready named,  while  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
township  at  the  time  of  its  settlement  there 
was  but  one  large  tree  standing  alone  on  the 
wide  prairie. 

This  tree  still  stands,  and  is  known  as  the 
lone  elm.  It  can  be  seen  for  several  miles,  and 
in  former  years  was  an  object  of  almost  ven- 
eration to  the  red  men,  who  held  their  councils, 
concocted  their  hunting  schemes,  planned  their 
forays  against  their  enemies,  and  made  their 
treaties  while  seated  under  its  wide-spreading 
branches. 

Artificial  timber-growing  is  everywhere  en- 
couraged, and  several  groves  of  considerable 
magnitude  are  to  be  seen  at  various  places  in 
the  township.  The  principal  occupation  of  the 
people  is  agriculture,  and  as  a  farming  coun- 
try this  section  ranks   among  the  best  in  the 


HARVEL    TOWNSHIP. 


385 


county.     The  prairies,  clothed  only  by  natural 
processes,  presents  its  own  testimony  to  the  rich- 
ness of  the  soil,  which,  when   properly    culti- 
vated, returns  a  rich  yield  of  grain  of  all  kinds. 
Corn  has  been  one  of  the  principal  crops  in 
this  township  ever  since  its   first  settlement, 
and  it  matures  well  and  yields   abundantly  al- 
most every  season.  The  average  yield  of  wheat 
for  the  last  five  years  exclusive  of  1881,  which 
was  an  unusually  dry  season,  was  about  fifteen 
bushels  per  acre.  The  oats  grown  here  are  gen- 
erally heavy,  and  contain  an  unusual  propro- 
tion  of  nutritious   constituents.     Rye  yields  a 
good  average  ;    barley,    timothy,   clover,   flax, 
grow  here  abundantly,  while  the  wild  prairie 
grasses  are  famous  for  the  nourishment  they 
contain.     Garden  vegetables,  root  crops  of  all 
kinds,  and  the  different  fruits  are  produced  in 
great  variety.     The  richness   and   abundance 
of  the  native  grasses  naturally   attracted   the 
attention  of  cattle-growers  at  an  early  day,  and 
stock-raising  is  now  an  important  industry  of 
this  part  of  the  county.    It  was  found  that  pas- 
turage frequently  continued  fair  until    nearly 
winter  time,  and  in  the  spring  grass  made  its 
appearance  very  early,  and  grew  so  rapidly  that 
the  feeding  season  was  comparatively  of  short 
duration.     This   fact  has  led  several  parties  to 
engage  in  stock-raising,  and  the  business  has 
already   assumed  considerable  magnitude,   in- 
volving in  the  aggregate   a  good  proportion  of 
capital.  Harvel  was  one  of  the  most  recently  set- 
tled townships  of  Montgomery  County,  although 
its  lands  were  surveyed  and  sold  many  years 
before  any  permanent  improvements  were  made. 
The   early    settlers    were  nearly  all    Germans 
and  French,  fresh  from  their  native  lands,  who 
came    to  this  country  with  a  goodly  stock  of 
that  energy  and  perseverance,  so  necessary  to 
the  success  of  the  pioneer  in  a  new  and  uninhab- 
ited country.     According  to  the  most  reliable 
information  within  the  writer's  reach  Herman 
Poggenpahl  led  the  van  of  civilization  in  the 
township  of  Harvel.     He  came  to  Illinois  from 


Germany  in  the  ytor  1854,  and  located  on  the 
northeast  quarter  of  Section  30,  near  the   cen- 
tral part  of  the  township,  where  he  still  resides. 
Interested   in  all  movements  calculated   to  de- 
velop   the   township's  resources,   he  is  justly 
looked  upon  as  one  of  its  leading  and  influential 
citizens.    C.  Courcier,  an  early  settler,  made  his 
appearance  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1854, 
and  purchased  land  near  where  Poggenpahl  set- 
tled, in  Section  20.    Courcier  came  from  France, 
and  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intel- 
lectual culture  and   refinement.      After  resid- 
ing on  his  place  until  the  year  1866,  he  sold 
the  land  to  Joseph  Vincent,  and  with  his  fami- 
ly went  to  Texas,  where  he  has  since  accumu- 
lated  a   vast    property,    and    is  now    a    very 
wealthy  man.      The  farm  is  at  present  owned 
and   occupied    by    Adolphus  Aull.      Nicholas 
Hankinson  was  among  the  first  settlers  in  the 
township,  having  made  his  appearance  a  short 
time  after  the  arrivial  of  Poggenpahl  and  Cour- 
cier, in  the  year  1854.     The  land  on  which  he 
made  his  first  improvements  lies  near  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  township,  directly  north  of  the 
Poggenpahl  place  in  Section  29.    It  was  sold  to 
William  Bail  several  years  ago,  who  at  present 
occupies  it.     Several  decendants  of  Hankinson 
still  live  in  this  part  of  the  county,  all  of  whom 
have    been    identified    with   the   history    and 
growth  of  Harvel.      The  Jordan  family  were 
among  the  prominent  settlers  in  Western  Har- 
vel and   Pitman  Townships,  wherethey  came 
early  in  1855.     William   F.  Jordan  purchased 
the  southwest  quarter  of  Section   7,  and  the 
southwest  quarter  of  Section  8,  on  the  latter  of 
which  he  at  present  lives.      A.  C.    Jordan  lo- 
cated in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  township, 
on   Section   6,  while   C.   H.  Jordan    purchased 
land  lying  adjacent  to  the  western  boundary 
line  in  Section  19. 

A  Frenchman,  by  name  of  Jean  Baptiste 
Millett,  came  to  the  township  in  an  early  day, 
purchased  land  and  made  improvements  in  the 
southwestern  part,  about  two.  miles   north  of 


3SI1 


HISTORY   OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


the  village  of  Harvel,  in  Section  28.  The  date 
of  Millett's  arrival  was  the  spring  of  1855. 
The  place  on  which  he  settled  is  at  present  oc- 
cupied by  the  farm  of  William  Bockenwitz. 
In  connection  with  the  township's  early  history 
can  be  mentioned  the  name  of  John  Munster- 
man,  a  stanch  old  German,  who  located  near 
the  northern  boundary,  on  farm  now  owned  by 
Conrad  Weller,  in  the  summer  of  1855.  He 
was  a  person  in  whom  were  combined  many  of 
these  elements  necessary  to  the  successful  ca- 
reer and  all  movements  calculated  to  develop 
the  township's  material  interest  received  his 
hearty  and  willing  support. 

Several  representatives  of  this  family  are 
living  in  the  township  and  various  places 
throughout  the  county.  A  list  of  Harvel's 
early  pioneers  would  be  incomplete  without  the 
name  of  B.  Tulpin,  a  Frenchman,  who  passed 
over  nearly  every  acre  of  its  territory  about  the 
time  the  first  settlements  were  made.  He  is 
now  a  leading  business  man  in  the  village  of 
Harvel,  where  he  is  operating  a  store  with  a 
stock  representing  a  capital  of  several  thou- 
sand dollars.  Since  the  year  1860,  the  popu- 
lation has  steadily  increased  until  now  the 
township  is  thickly  settled  with  a  class  of  in- 
dustrious, thrifty-  and  intelligent  people,  and  it 
can  be  said  without  the  slightest  tinge  of  prej- 
udice in  favor  of  Harvel,  that  it  is  destined  at 
no  very  distant  day  to  become  one  of  the  lead- 
ing townships  in  Montgomery  County. 

The  first  roads  across  the  prairies  of  Harvel 
were  mere  paths  or  Indian  trails,  which  after 
being  changed  and  improved  somewhat,  in  time 
became  regularly  established  thoroughfares. 
There  are  no  really  good  roads  in  the  township, 
especially  during  the  early  spring  months, 
when  they  become  so  muddy  that  they  are  only 
accessible  to  horsemen.  Considerable  attention 
is  given  to  grading  and  otherwise  improving  the 
highways,  but  the  absence  of  gravel  and  stone 
for  piking  purposes  will  always  cause  them  to 
remain  in  poor  condition  during  certain  seasons 


of  the  year.  The  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pacific 
R.  R.  runs  through  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
township.  This'  road  is  a  great  advantage  to 
the  citizens  of  the  township,  especially  to  those 
living  in  the  town  of  Harvel  and  vicinity,  as  it 
affords  ample  means  of  shipping  the  large 
amount  of  corn,  wheat  and  other  crops  pro- 
duced in  this  region.  The  educational  history 
of  Harvel  cannot  be  given  with  accuracy,  al- 
though it  is  evident  that  schools  were  estab- 
lished as  soon  as  there  were  children  enough 
to  start  them.  It  is  not  known  who  taught  the 
first  school,  nor  could  it  be  ascertained  where 
the  first  school  building  was  located.  Among 
the  first  teachers,  if  not  the  first,  was  one  John 
Hitchings,  who  taught  in  a  small  frame  build- 
ing known  as  the  Munsterman  Schoolhouse, 
situated  near  the  central  part  of  the  township. 
This  school  was  taught  at  some  period  prior  to 
the  year  1860.  The  second  school  building 
was  erected  about  the  year  1S62,  and  is  known 
as  the  Lone  Elm  Schoolhouse.  The  first  term 
in  this  house  was  taught  by  William  Moore, 
one  of  the  foremost  instructors  in  the  county. 
There  are  at  present  three  good  frame  school 
buildings  in  the  township,  outside  of  the  town 
of  Harvel,  which  supports  a  graded  school,  of 
which  we  will  speak  more  fully  further  on. 
The  schools  last  seven  months  in  the  year,  and 
are  at  present  taught  by  William  Moore,  Logan 
Slater  and  Mr.  Ash.  The  educational  inter- 
ests are  looked  after  by  W.  D.  Matney,  Harmon 
Hendricks  and  James  Braden,  Township  Board 
of  Trustees. 

The  live  little  town  of  Harvel  is  situated  in 
the  southeast  corner  of  the  township,  on  both 
sides  of  the  line  which  separates  Montgomery 
and  Christian  Counties,  a  small  part  of  the 
village  being  in  the  latter.  It  was  laid  off  by 
John  Harvel.  after  whom  it  was  named,  in  the 
year  1869,  at  which  time  there  was  not  a  single 
house  standing  in  the  locality.  The  survey 
was  made  by  Col.  Monroe,  a  civil  engineer,  who 
had   been   an  officer  in  the  rebel  army,  from 


HARVEL  TOWNSHIP. 


389 


which  he  deserted  and  came  to  this  part  of  the 
State,  during  the  last  year  of  the  rebellion. 
The  first  sale  of  real  estate  in  the  new  town 
was  made  to  William  Van  Sandt,  who  pur- 
chased a  lot  on  which  he  erected  a  residence 
and  storeroom  in  the  year  1870.  He  stocked 
this  room  with  a  general  assortment  of  mer- 
chandise, and  soon  had  a  large,  flourishing 
trade,  which  was  well  sustained  for  a  year  and 
a  half,  when  the  store  was  sold  to  other  parties. 
A  second  store  building  was  erected  in  1870, 
by  B.  Tulpin,  whose  stock  of  goods  consisted 
of  dry  goods,  groceries,  boots  and  shoes,  cloth- 
ing and  drugs.  This  store  has  become  a  per- 
manent fixture  in  the  town,  and  the  proprietor 
is  deserving  of  the  success  which  has  attended 
his  efforts  in  building  up  his  large  and  increas- 
ing business.  The  Harvel  Post  Office  was  es- 
tablished in  the  year  1870,  with  George  Van 
Sandt  as  Postmaster.  It  is  at  present  kept  by 
George  Ramsey.  Nestor  De  Moline  built  the 
first  blacksmith  shop  in  the  fall  of  1870,  which 
he  operated  several  years.  A  large  elevator 
was  erected  by  Ira  Nelson  and  D.  0.  Settle- 
mire  in  the  year  1 873.  It  is  now  controlled  by 
Settlemire  alone,  who  handles  many  thousand 
bushels  of  wheat  and  corn  annually.  Finding 
that  one  elevator  was  not  sufficient  to  receive 
all  the  grain  handled  here  for  market,  Henry 
Niehaus  built  a  second  and  larger  one  about 
the  year  1876.  This  is  one  of  the  most  capa- 
cious warerooms  on  the  line  of  the  railroad, 
and  is  second  to  none  in  the  amount  of  busi- 
ness transacted  yearly.  Niehaus  sold  the  ele- 
vator to  H.  C.  Millot  in  the  year  1879,  who  at 
present  operates  it.  doing  a  flourishing  business. 
A  flouring-mill  was  moved  from  Litchfield  to 
Harvel  in  the  year  1871,  by  George  Slater. 
The  venture  proved  a  success  in  every  partic- 
ular, as  the  mill  has  been  extensively  patron- 
ized by  the  citizens  of  this  and  adjoining  town- 
ships for  many  miles  around.  The  mill  is  built 
of  brick,  operated  by  steam,  and  has  a  grinding 
capacity  of  perhaps  forty-five  barrels  of  flour 
per  day. 


Henry  Bennett  was  the  first  physician  to 
practice  the  healing  art  in  Harvel,  having  lo- 
cated here  and  built  a  small  office  the  same 
year  in  which  the  town  was  laid  out.  There 
are  now  in  the  village  three  disciples  of  Escu- 
lapius— John  W.  Petrie.  F.  M.  Cox  and  W.  D. 
Matney  all  of  whom  are  graduates  of  flrst-class 
medical  colleges.  The  legal  profession  is  rep- 
resented by  G.  W.  Slater  and  L.  L.  Slater,  at- 
torneys at  law  and  Notaries  Public.  The  vil- 
lage schoolhouse  is  situated  just  over  the  line 
in  Christian  County,  but  as  almost  the  entire 
town  lies  in  Harvel  Township,  we  think  it 
proper  to  give  the  school  history  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  the  village. 

The  first  school  in  the  town  was  taught  in 
Leonard  May's  hotel,  by  Miss  Effle  Kinser, 
about  the  year  1871.  The  present  building 
was  erected  one  3-ear  later,  and  cost  the  sum  of 
$1,200.  It  is  a  brick  house  containing  two 
commodious  and  well-furnished  schoolrooms, 
in  which  schools  are  sustained  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year.  The  first  pedagogue 
to  wield  to  birch  in  the  building  was  Samuel 
Nelson,  who  taught  in  the  years  1873-74.  The 
present   teachers   are   Misses    Ida    Clark    and 

Clauson.     The  first  hotel  in  the  place 

was  built  by  Leonard  May,  about  the  year 
1870,  and  kept  by  him  for  several  years.  The 
large  brick  hotel,  situated  opposite  the  depot, 
and  kept  by  Henry  Hauptman,  was  built  in  the 
year  1878,  and  cost  about  $3,000. 

The  growth  of  the  village  during  the  last  five 
years  has  been  stead}',  many  neat  residences 
having  been  erected  and  several  new  stores  es- 
tablished. The  business  interests  of  the  town 
presents  the  following  exhibit :  William  Vasel, 
dealer  in  groceries  and  general  merchandise; 
B.  Tulpin,  keeps  a  good  line  of  ready-made 
clothing,  drugs,  groceries,  etc.;  Henry  Haupt- 
man, makes  groceries  a  specialty;  George  Van 
Sandt,  Hendricks  Bros.,  John  Rogers  and  H. 
Tomlinson,  keep  general  assortments  of  goods, 
and  all  report  their  business  good. 


390 


HISTORY    Of    MONTGOMERY   COUNTY. 


In  addition  to  the  stores  already  enumerated 
there  is  a  hardware  and  drug  store  kept  by 
George  Ramsey  &  Bro.;  Philip  Mangers,  boot 
and  shoe  maker;  Henry  Beesman,  harness  maker; 
William  Putney  and  Jefferson  Davis,  black- 
smiths; Oscar  Young,  wagon-maker;  John 
Rogers,  barber;  Adams  &  Nelson,  dealers  in  lum- 
ber. In  a  religious  point  of  view,  the  village  is 
up  with  the  times,  as  there  are  two  good  churches, 
both  well  sustained.  The  Harvel  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  organized  iu  the  winter 
of  1874,  under  the  labors  of  Rev.  John  Cum- 
ings.  The  first  public  services  were  held  in 
the  district  schoolhouse,  and  it  .was  not  until 
the  year  1879  that  a  house  of  worship  was 
erected.  The  original  members  of  this  society 
were  eight  in  number.  Their  names  appear  on 
the  church  records  as  follows :  George  Van 
Sandt,  Isabella  Van  Sandt,  Moses  Wright,  Mrs. 
Wright,  B.  B.  Young,  Orson  Young,  Mrs.  Orson 
Yroung  and  Mrs.  John  Hawkins.  From  this 
small  beginning  the  church  steadily  increased, 
until  now  the  congregation  numbers  more  than 
forty  members,  and  is  in  excellent  condition. 
Rev.  Cumings  preached  for  the  church  one 
year,  on  a  salaiy  of  $35,  but  being  a  man  full 
of  zeal  in  the  cause  of  his  Master,  did  not  hesi- 
tate on  account  of  small  pay,  but  put  forth  all 
the  energies  at  his  command  toward  building 
up  the  congregation,  and  was  soon  gratified  to 
note  a  large  increase,  both  in  members  and  in- 
fluence. He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  W.  Roberts, 
who  filled  the  pulpit  for  one  year  and  was  in 
turn  followed  by  Rev.  John  Beckhart.  The 
latter  had  charge  of  the  congregation  one  year, 

also.     Rev.  Slater  preached  acceptably 

for  the  church  one  year.  The  present  pastor, 
Elijah  Haley,  is  on  his  second  year's  pastorate, 
and  is  working  in  harmony  with  his  congrega- 
tion, which  is  considered  one  of  the  strong  or- 
ganizations in  Raymond  Circuit.     The  present 


church  edifice  was  built  in  1879.     It  is  a  neat 
frame  structure  and  cost  the  sum  of  $2,000. 

The  St.  Jacob's  Evangelical  German  Lu- 
theran dates  its  history  from  the  year  1879,  at 
which  time  a  small  organization  was  effected 
by  Rev.  Lewey  Sahn  of  Nokomis,  iu  the  Liberty 
Schoolhouse.  At  the  first  meeting  ten  persons 
enrolled  their  names  as  members.  The  school- 
house  was  used  as  a  place  of  worship  until  the 
spring  of  1880,  when  a  very  commodious  frame 
building  was  erected,  which  is  one  of  the  chief 
ornaments  of  the  village.  This  house  cost  the 
congregation  about  S3, 000,  and  will  comfortably 
seat  350  persons.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev. 
L.  Miller,  who  taught  school  in  the  village  ; 
served  the  congregation  until  the  year  1881. 
The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  Fred  Berger,  A 
denominational  school  was  established  in  con- 
nection with  this  church  in  1880,  with  an  at- 
tendance of  fifty  pupils.  It  is,  at  present,  under 
the  management  of  the  pastor,  and  is  held  iu 
the  neat  little  school  building  which  was  erected 
for  the  purpose  in  the  fall  of  1881.  The  school 
is  well  attended  at  present,  and  much  good 
promises  to  grow  out  of  it. 

Harvel  Lodge,  No.  706,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  in- 
stituted on  the  23d  day  of  March,  1882,  by  J. 
F.  Harvel,  P.  G.  of  Lodge  413,  as  Deputy  Grand 
Master  for  the  occasion.  The  dispensation  was 
granted  by  Alonzo  Elwood,  Grand  Master  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.  The  charter  members 
were  John  W.  Petrie,  P.  G.  ;  Andrew  J.  Nash, 
Taylor  Boyce,  Reuben  Rambo,  J.  M.  Williams, 
Leonard  Nash,  Newton  Corn,  C.  C.  Young  and 
J.  J.  Carey.  First  officers  elected  :  Reuben 
Rambo,  N.  G.  ;  A.  J.  Nash,  V.  G.  ;  Taylor 
Boyce,  Secy  ;  Newton  Corn,  Permanent  Secy  ; 
L.  Nash,  Treasurer.  The  membership  at  pres- 
ent is  thirteen,  and  the  organization  is  reported 
in  good  working  order. 


ROUNTEEE    TOWNSHIP. 


891 


CHAPTER   XXVIL* 

ROUNTREE    TOWNSHIP— SOIL,    DRAINAGE    AND    TIMBER— THE    FIRST    WHITE  MAN- 
SCHOOLS— ROADS— THE  VARIOUS  RELIGIOUS  DENOMINATIONS. 


PIONEERS— 


FIFTY  years  ago,  the  territory  now  known  as 
Rountree  Township  was  a  wide,  unsettled 
expanse,  wild  in  every  sense  of  the  word — in- 
habited by  wild  men  and  infested  by  wild 
beasts.  In  this  year,  it  is  in  every  part  an  ex- 
hibitor of  the  highest  civilization.  Where  the 
cereals  and  fine  fruits  of  all  varieties  now  grow 
in  abundance,  tall  prairie  grass  and  rank  weeds 
covered  a  soil  of  wealth  unknown.  Blooded 
herd  and  flock  now  loll  and  graze  where,  less 
than  three  score  years  ago,  the  timid  deer  fled 
from  its  crouching  foe,  the  panther,  only  to  be 
pursued  by  the  gaunt,  hungry  wolf. 

Fields,  now  jocund  with  the  merry  song  of 
the  contented  farmer,  were  once  lurid  unto  the 
glare  of  the  Indian  camp-fires,  or  made  hideous 
by  the  discordant  yells  of  the  savage  war 
dance. 

But  the  deep  prairie  soil  held  abundant  food 
for  civilization,  and  it  needed  but  stout  hearts, 
strong  wills  and  sinewy  hands  to  set  it  free. 
They,  in  time,  came,  and  stout  hearts  they 
were,  both  from  necessity  and  from  nature. 
Rountree  is  one  of  the  northern  townships  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  possesses  a  pleasant 
diversity  of  surface  and  soil.  Large  tracts  of 
rolling  and  undulating  prairie  occupy  the 
southern  portion,  which  form  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  level  surface  of  the  country  farther 
north.  The  only  water-course  of  any  note  in 
the  township  is  the  Middle  Fork  of  Shoal 
Creek,  which  flows  in  a  southerly  direction 
through  the  western  part,  receiving  in  its 
course  several  smaller  streams  not  designated 
by  any  particular  names.     These  streams  afford 

*l!.v  G.  N.  Berry. 


an  excellent  system  of  drainage,  and  to  the 
stock  raiser  are  a  necessity  that  could  not  be 
dispensed  with.  A  good  growth  of  timber 
once  covered  that  part  of  the  territory  through 
which  these  creeks  and  rivulets  run,  consisting 
mostly  of  walnut,  sycamore,  maple,  elm,  and 
the  different  varieties  of  oak  common  to  this 
part  of  the  State.  Forty  years  have  served  to 
change  the  appearance  of  this  wooded  district, 
the  greater  part  of  the  timber  having  been  cut 
and  sawn  into  lumber  by  the  early  settlers 
along  the  creeks.  The  attention  of  the  pioneer 
was  early  called  to  the  necessity  of  supplying 
himself  with  a  means  of  procuring  timber  for 
his  necessities,  and  a  number  of  large  artificial 
groves  were  set  out,  from  which  the  owners 
now  obtain  both  lumber  and  fuel. 

The  soil  of  the  township  is  a  strong,  deep, 
rich  loam,  with  a  slight  mixture  of  sand  along 
the  streams,  and  clay  on  the  more  elevated 
portions.  Rountree  is  noted  chiefly  for  its 
farming  interests,  and  for  that  purpose  it  was 
sought  b}'  the  early  settlers  ;  and,  taken  as  a 
whole,  its  territory  presents  as  fine  a  tract  of 
farm  land  as  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  county. 
The  boundary  lines  of  Rountree  are  Christian 
County  on  the  north,  Nokomis  Township  on 
the  east,  Irving  on  the  south,  and  Raymond  on 
the  west.  The  township  was  named  in  honor 
of  Judge  Rountree,  one  of  the  earliest  and "~ 
most  prominent  citizens  of  Montgomery  Coun- 
ty. The  name  is  a  fitting  tribute  to  the  mem- 
ory of  that  most  excellent  man,  who  did  as 
much,  if  not  more  than  any  other  person 
toward  the  development  of  the  county. 

From  the  most  authentic  sources  within  the 


392 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


writer's  reach,  John  Nusman  was  the  first  white 
man  who  fixed  his  residence  within  the  limits 
of  Rountree.  He  had  been  a  resident  of  the 
county  several  years  prior  to  moving  into  the 
township,  having  settled  in  the  town  of  Hills- 
boro  when  it  consisted  of  but  two  or  three 
insignificant  cabins.  From  Hillsboro  he  moved 
his  family  to  Rountree  in  the  year  1830.  and 
cleared  a  small  patch  of  ground  lying  near 
Shoal  Creek,  where  he  lived  for  a  number  of 
years,  the  only  white  man  in  the  county  north 
of  Irving  Township.  At  that  time,  the  country 
was  wild,  game  of  all  kinds  plenty,  and  the 
family  fared  sumptuously  on  venison,  turkey, 
partridge  and  honey,  which  was  also  found  in 
large  quantities  in  the  woods. 

Elizabeth  Nusman  says  that  when  they  first 
came  to  the  country  the  deer  were  so  plenty 
that  her  father  would  stand  in  the  door  of  his 
cabin  and  shoot  two  or  three  of  them  as  they 
sported  about  near  the  house ;  and  as  for  tur- 
keys, they  were  almost  as  numerous  then  as 
chickens  are  now.  Near  Nusman's  residence 
was  a  camping  place  of  the  Kickapoo  Indians, 
who  came  into  the  country  once  a  year  for  the 
purpose  of  hunting.  They  were  not  at  all 
troublesome,  but  on  the  contrary  seemed  to 
take  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  family,  making  them  presents  of  many 
small  trinkets  and  trading  them  deer  skins  and 
venison  for  amunition  and  bacon.  .Many  were 
the  visits  they  paid  to  the  family,  during  which 
the  most  profound  decorum  was  observed. 
Their  arms  were  always  left  outside  the  gate,  a 
mark  of  the  greatest  respect,  and  when  leaving 
they  would  evince  their  satisfaction  by  a  series 
of  bows,  grunts  and  grimaces  that  would  often 
cause  the  younger  members  of  the  family  to 
laugh  outright.  Mrs.  Nusman  manufactured 
all  the  wearing  apparel  for  the  family  with  her 
own  hands.  Tins  consisted  of  thick,  heavy 
jeans,  liusey,  and  a  coarse  cloth  made  from 
cotton  grown  on  the  place. 

Nusman  lived  on  the  place  he  entered  until 


the  year  1852,  at  which  time  he  died.  The 
place  is  now  owned  by  his  son,  Henry  Nusman, 
one  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  the  township.  One 
daughter,  Elizabeth  Nusman,  lives  here  also, 
and  it  is  to  her  the  writer  is  indebted  for  many 
of  the  facts  concerning  the  earl}'  history  of 
Rountree. 

In  1833,  John  Dryer  came  into  this  part  of 
the  county  from  Tennessee  and  settled  on  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Augustus  Carriker,  in  Sec- 
tion 30.  When  he  first  came,  he  brought  his 
family  with  him  ;  and  as  the}-  had  no  house  to 
move  into,  the}'  hastily  constructed  a  rude  tem- 
porary lodge  of  poles  to  live  in  while  building 
their  cabin. 

The  latter  edifice  was  erected  in  due  time, 
and  like  all  the  early  houses  of  that  day  con- 
sisted of  parlor,  bed-room,  dining-room,  etc., 
all  combined  in  one  apartment.  The  floor  was 
of  puncheon,  as  there  were  no  saw-mills,  and 
had  there  been  the  pioneers  were  seldom  able, 
either  from  want  of  money  or  time,  or  owing  to 
distance  and  absence  of  good  roads,  to  procure 
lumber. 

No  other  settlement  was  made  in  what  is 
now  Rountree  until  the  year  1840,  when  Will- 
iam Hehiey  made  his  appearance  and  entered 
a  piece  of  land  iu  the  southern  part,  which  he 
sold  to  Wiley  Lipe  four  years  later.  In  1842, 
came  Wilson  Carriker.  He  settled  the  farm 
where  Jacob  Miller  now  lives.  Two  years 
later,  William  Tanner  and  John  Ridenour  locat- 
ed in  the  little  settlement  and  figured  promi- 
nently as  early  settlers.  Tanner  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town- 
ship, where  he  lived  until  the  year  1872.  Rid- 
enour pitched  his  tent  a  little  farther  east,  on 
the  place  where  Martin  Lingle  now  lives.  The 
following  year,  Nicholas  Ridenour,  a  brother  of 
the  preceding,  came  into  the  township  and  set- 
tled the  place  where  his  widow  still  resides. 

These  were  all  men  of  sterling  integrity,  and 
are  spoken  of  by  those  who  knew  them  as  men 
well  calculated  to  successfully  overcome  the 


ROUNTREE  TOWNSHIP. 


393 


many  privations  and  trials  through  which  the 
pioneer  is  called  to  pass.  Again  we  glean  the 
following  who  came  prior  to  the  year  1846  : 
George  Carriker,  Alfred  Carriker  and  Allen 
Lipe.  These  have  been  still  followed  by  along 
catalogue  of  others,  the  names  of  whom  we 
were  unable  to  learn.  Will  only  name  a  few 
of  the  more  active  and  prominent  ones  who 
still  remain  to  speak  for  themselves  :  Wiley 
Lipe,  Henry  Nusman  and  Noah  Lipe.  Space 
forbids  a  further  enumeration.  The  first  frame 
house  in  the  township  was  built  by  Allen  Lipe, 
in  the  year  1842,  which  is  still  standing,  though 
not  in  use  as  a  dwelling-house. 

In  an  attempt  to  learn  the  early  school  his- 
tory of  this  township  but  limited  satisfaction 
has  been  derived.  Evidently  the  first  session 
of  school  was  held  in  a  log  building  near  the 
southwest  corner,  sustained  by  subscriptions 
and  taught  by  Wesley  King.  This  house  was 
erected  in  the  year  1847,  and  was  used  jointly 
for  school  and  church  purposes.  It  was  at  this 
place  that  the  first  religious  services  of  the 
township  were  held  by  itinerant  ministers  of 
the  Methodist  Church.  King  was  a  man  of 
good  acquirements  and  splendid  tact  as  a 
teacher.  He  taught  in  various  localities,  and 
eveiywhere  left  his  impress.  While  teaching 
in  Rountree,  he  made  his  home  in  Irving  Town- 
ship, a  distance  of  at  least  six  miles  from  the 
scene  of  his  labors.  This  distance  was  trav- 
ersed every  day,  and  during  the  period  of  his 
first  school  not  an  hour  was  missed  from  his 
work  nor  was  he  tardy  a  single  minute.  Ac- 
cording to  the  best  evidence  we  have  at  hand, 
the  first  structure  erected  especially  for  school 
purposes  was  situated  in  the  southwest  corner 
of  the  township,  on  the  farm  of  Noah  Lipe. 
Lipe  took  the  contract  to  build  and  furnish  the 
house  for  the  sum  of  S75.  It  was  built  of 
hewed  logs  nicely  fitted  together,  well  furnished, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  was  the  best  school- 
house  in  the  township.  We  have  not  been 
able  to  learn  the  exact  year  in  which  this  build- 


ing was  erected,  though  it  is  thought  to  have 
been  in  1846  or  1847.  Wesley  King  taughl 
in  this  house  for  about  six  consecutive  years. 

One  of  the  earliest  schools  in  the  township 
was  taught  in  a  little  log  cabin  on  Hie  farm  of 
Tillman  Heffley,  by  a  Mr.  Miller,  sometime 
between  the  years  1847  and  1850.  The  first 
frame  schoolhouse  was  built  in  the  yeai  1861. 
It  is  still  standing  and  is  known  as  the  Hazel 
Hill  Schoolhouse.  There  are  at  present  five 
good  frame  school  buildings  in  the  township, 
all  of  which  are  good  substantial  structures, 
well  furnished. 

The  earliest  birth  in  Rountree  of  which  we 
have  any  definite  knowledge  was  Laura  Dryer, 
a  daughter  of  John  Dryer,  born  in  the  year 
1836,  just  two  years  after  the  family  settled  in 
the  township.  The  earliest  marriage  traceable 
was  that  of  Peter  Cress  to  Catherine  Nusman, 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1836.  William 
Marks,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  from  the  city  of 
Hillsboro,  officiated  at  the  ceremony.  The  first 
resident  of  the  township  to  he  summoned  away 
by  the  death  angel  was  Catherine  Nusman, 
wife  of  John  Nusman.  Her  death  occurred 
in  the  year  1846,  after  having  lived  in  the  town- 
ship fourteen  years.  The  early  roads  of  Roun- 
tree, like  the  first  roads  in  most  parts  of  the 
county,  traversed  the  country  in  almost  every 
direction,  and  every  man  had  his  own  highway. 
The  first  road  of  any  importance  was  the  one 
which  runs  from  Rountree  to  the  village  of 
Irving,  although  it  has  not  been  very  exten- 
sively traveled  of  late  years. 

The  Taylorville  road  was  laid  out  through 
the  township  in  an  early  day,  and  was  for 
many  years  the  most  important  highway  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  county.  Its  course 
through  the  township  was  from  northwest  to 
southeast.  The  most  important  roads  at  the 
present  time  are  the  roads  running  east  and 
west  on  the  boundary  between  Rountree  and 
Irving  Townships  and  one  passing  through  the 
central    part    of   the  township  from  north  to 


394 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


south.     The  last  named  intersects   the  former 
in  the  southern  part  of  Section  33. 

Almost  all  the  roads  traversing  the  township 
are  regularly  established  on  the  proper  section 
lines,  and  are  in  good  condition.  The  first  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  was  Henry  Freedmeyer,  who 
was  appointed  in  the  year  1845  and  continued 
in  the  office  about  twelve  years.  Dr.  Elias 
Petril  was  the  first  soother  of  the  sick  to  locate 
in  the  township.  He  came  here  in  1850,  and 
for  several  years  made  his  home  with  the  family 
of  Henry  Nusman.  Seventeen  years  later,  Dr. 
Marion  Osborne  became  a  resident  of  Roun- 
tree  and  practiced  his  profession  until  the  year 
1880,  when  he  sold  out  and  went  to  Nebraska. 
There  were  no  very  early  mills  in  this  part  of 
the  county.  The  first  settlers  obtained  thair 
flour  and  breadstuffs  from  the  Cress  Mill  in 
Butler  Grove  Township,  and  the  Fogleman  Mill 
situated  south  of  HiLlsboro.  A  small  horse 
mill  was  erected  by  George  Carriker  on  his 
farm  near  Shoal  Creek  in  the  year  1842,  oper- 
ated about  eight  years.  During  that  time,  he 
did  a  very  flourishing  business,  and  was  ex- 
tensively patronized  by  the  neighbors  for  sev- 
eral miles  around.  Carriker  sold  this  mill  to 
Nelson  Lipe  in  1850,  who  removed  it  to  his  farm 
farther  east,  where  it  is  still  standing.  The 
bolting  apparatus  has  been  taken  out  and  no 
flour  has  been  made  for  a  number  of  years. 
Meal  of  a  superior  quality  is  still  ground  by 
the  old  machinery,  and  the  mill  is  at  the  liberty 
of  any  one  who  wishes  to  use  it.  Noah  and 
Allen  Lipe  bought  and  operated  a  couple  of 
portable  steam  saw-mills  as  early  as  the  year 
1848.  They  were  located  in  the  southwestern 
part  on  the  creek,  and  for  several  years  sawed 
an  immense  amount  of  lumber.  Messrs.  Rob- 
ertson &  Southworth  purchased  these  mills  sev- 
eral years  since  and  moved  them  to  Fillmore 
Township,  where   they   are   still  in  operation. 

Religion  has  flourished  in  the  township  ever 
since  its  first  settlement,  as  is  proven  by  the 
many  church-going  people  now  residing  within 


its  borders.  Probably  the  first  minister  was 
the  celebrated  Peter  Cartwright  of  the  Method- 
ist denomination.  At  the  time  he  came,  in 
1842,  there  were  no  church  buildings  in  the 
country,  so  he  was  obliged  to  hold  public 
services  in  private  dwelling-houses  and  groves. 
A  society  was  organized  in  the  year  1843, 
mainly  through  the  efforts  of  Peter  Cartwright, 
and  met  for  worship  in  a  little  log  cabin  situ- 
ated in  Section  30.  Revs.  Wiley,  Wildmau, 
Frost  and  Trotter  were  among  the  early  pastors 
of  this  church.  Unwritten  history  tells  us  that 
this  church  maintained  its  organization  until 
the  year  1874,  when  it  was  abandoned  by 
mutual  consent  of  the  members,  a  portion  of 
them  uniting  with  Montgomery  Church  in  But- 
ler Township,  while  those  who  lived  farther 
north  cast  their  lots  with  the  congregation  that 
met  for  worship  at  Burk's  Chapel.  The  old 
church  building  where  the  congregation  held 
their  meetings  for  a  long  number  of  years  has 
disappeared,  and  nothing  remains  to  mark  the 
spot  where  the  first  church  edifice  in  the  town- 
ship stood.  The  next  religious  organization  of 
which  we  have  any  definite  knowledge,  is  the 
Mount  Zion  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 
This  church  dates  its  history  from  the  year 
1868,  although  there  had  been  religious  services 
held  in  the  neighborhood  two  or  three  years 
previous,  in  private  dwellings  and  schoolhouses. 
In  the  year  1868,  a  meeting  of  the  few  scat- 
tered Christians  in  the  vicinity  was  convened  at 
the  Shoal  Creek  Schoolhouse  for  the  purpose  of 
discussing  the  propriety  of  organizing  a  church. 
The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Rev.  J.  B. 
Cromer,  and  a  constitution  adopted  to  which 
were  appended  the  following  names :  Martin 
L.  Walcher,  Julia  M.  Walcher,  George  C.  Car- 
riker, Arvina  Carriker,  James  W.  Huffman, 
Esther  Huffman,  Mary  J.  Carriker,  Daniel  Car- 
riker, Jr.,  and  Leah  Walcher.  To  this  list  were 
added  at  the  next  meeting  the  names  of  M.  F. 
Pollard,  Thomas  Sorrels  and  Amanda  J.  Sinds. 
A  meeting  of  several  days  followed  the  first 


ROUNTREE    TOWNSHIP. 


305 


services  conducted  mainly  by  the  Pastor,  J.  B. 
Cromer,  during  which  many  members  were  re- 
ceived into  fellowship  with  the  church.  The 
congregation  used  the  schoolhouse  as  a  place  of 
worship  until  the  year  1872,  at  which  time  the 
beautiful  building  in  which  they  now  worship 
was  erected.  This  building  is  frame,  and  will 
seat  about  three  hundred  persons.  It  was  dedi- 
cated the  latter  part  of  the  year  1872.  Since 
its  organization,  the  church  has  been  ministered 
to  by  the  following  pastors,  viz. :     J.  B.  Liv- 

ingood   Shaver,  L.  C.  Grosclose,  G-.  W. 

Hammer,  M.  L.  Walcher  and  Ephraim  Kitch. 
The  first  member  to  leave  the  church  militant 
for  the  church  triumphant  was  sister  Leah  Wal- 
cher, who  passed  over  the  river  May  1,  1869. 
In  point  of  numbers,  the  congregation  is  not  as 
strong  as  formerly,  quite  a  number  having 
withdrawn  and  joined  the  Free  Methodists,  a 
society  recently  organized  in  the  community. 
Others  have  died  or  moved  to  distant  places, 
yet  the  remnant  left  is  in  a  healthy  condition, 
and  are  doing  a  good  work  in  the  service  of  the 
Master.  fne  present  membership  numbers 
about  thirty-five.  The  Sunday  school  is  a 
flourishing  one,  and  is  under  the  efficient  man- 
agement of  Winfield  Walcher,  Superintendent. 
Burk's  Chapel  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  organized  by  Rev.  John  Chapman  in  the 
year  186S  at  the  Shoal  Creek  Schoolhouse  with 
a  membership  of  ten.  The  society  worshiped 
in  the  schoolhouse  until  the  year  1872,  when 


they  were  allowed  the  use  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  building.  They  met  in  this  house  at 
intervals  for  five  years,  when  the}*  commenced 
the  erection  of  a  new  frame  house  of  worship 
south  of  the  Lutheran  Church  about  two  miles. 
This  building  was  completed  in  the  year  1880, 
and  cost  $600.  The  following  list  comprises 
the  ministers  that  have  been  pastors  of  the 
church  since  its  organization  :  R.  B.  Rhodes 
preached  two  years ;   James   Stubblefield  one 

year  ;  J.  W.  Lapham,  one  year  ;  Schwartz, 

one  year;  E.  H.  Hammill,  one  year.  C.  R. 
Howard,  present  pastor,  has  been  with  the 
church  since  1880.  Like  the  Lutheran  Church, 
many  members  of  this  congregation  have  been 
absorbed  by  the  Free  Methodists,  and  the 
church  cannot  be  spokeu  of  as  in  good  con- 
dition. 

Of  the  society  of  Free  Methodists,  recently 
organized,  we  were  unable  to  learn  any  particu- 
lars, yet  we  may  be  safe  in  saying  that  it  is  in 
a  flourishing  condition.  The  growth  in  num- 
bers has  been  steady,  and  among  its  members 
are  to  be  found  many  of  the  substantial  citizens 
of  the  community.  What  its  future  may  be  is, 
of  course,  hidden  from  us,  but  there  certainly 
seems  to  be  a  great  work  for  it  to  do,  and  we 
only  hope  that  he  who  writes  a  more  elaborate 
history  of  it  hereafter,  may  tell  of  many  scores 
of  souls  which  it  has  prepared  for  the  better 
life  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 


396 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII.* 

BOIS  D'ARC  TOWNSHIP— BOUNDARIES  AND  TOPOGRARHY— ITS  EARLY  SETTLEMENTS— FIRST 
DEATHS— EARLY  ROADS,  CHURCHES,  SCHOOLS,  ETC.,  ETC. 


IN  folk  lore  there  is  the  story  told  of  a  man 
who  became  tired  of  the  patient  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  and   who   desired  to   become  rich 
without  the   drudgery  of  labor.     The   lack  of 
wealth  had  made  life  become   stale,  flat  and 
unprofitable.     He  dreamed  three  nights  in  suc- 
cession  that   there   was   a  rich    treasure    hid 
somewhere  under  the  earth  in  his  old  orchard. 
Three  is  the  regular  number  that  makes  a  dream 
true,  and  so  in  an  ecstasy  of  excitement  he 
imparted  the  good  news  to  his  wife,  and  to- 
gether they  at  once  began  to  dig  for  the  hidden 
gold.     Round  one  tree  they  dug  a  mound  of 
earth,  and  around  another  until  there  was  not 
gnarled  trunk  about  whose  roots  he  had  not 
let  in  the  vitalizing  air,  but  the  treasure  was 
not  found.     Of  course  he  became  angry  over 
his  wasted  labors,  and  a  sorry  time  he  had  of 
it  when  his  neighbors  passed  by  and  laughed  at 
him  for  his  folly.     Springtime,  however,  came, 
and  the  trees  were  full  of  blossom.     Autumn 
followed,  and  the}'  were  loaded  down  with  lus- 
cious fruit.     Years  rolled   by  and  the  orchard 
was  the  source  of  a  rich  revenue  to  the  old 
man,   who  realized   that   there  was    indeed  a 
golden  treasure  hidden  in  the  soil  which  only 
needed  proper  exertion  to  bring  it  to  the  light. 
In  the  fertile  region  of  Central  and  Southern 
Illinois,  we  can  see  the  moral  of  the  foregoing 
story  practically  demonstrated  in  the  presence 
of  richl}'  cultivated  farms,  handsome  and  costly 
private  residences,  commodious  barns,  numer- 
ous flocks  of  live  stock  and  other  evidences  of 
that  wealth  which  has  been  wrung  from  the 
generous  bosom  of  mother  earth  by  the  strong 

*By  G.  N.  Berry. 


arms  of  the  successful  husbandmen.  Especially 
is  this  true  of  that  division  of  country  to  which 
the  present  chapter  is  devoted,  where  broad 
fertile  prairies  were  looked  upon  with  much 
suspicion,  and  carefully  shunned  by  the  early 
pioneers  of  Montgomery  County.  Bois  D'Arc 
is  one  of  the  largest  townships  in  the  county, 
lying  in  the  extreme  northwestern  part,  and 
embracing  in  its  area  34,5G0  acres  of  land,  all 
of  which  is  well  adapted  to  agricultural  pur- 
poses. Its  boundaries  on  the  northeast  and 
west  respectively  are  the  counties  of  Sangamon, 
Christian  and  Macoupin.  Its  southern  bound- 
ary is  the  township  of  Pitman,  with  which  it 
was  formerly  united  as  a  part  of  the  Zanesville 
Precinct.  Bois  D'Arc  was  reduced  to  its  pres- 
ent limits  and  formed  into  an  independent 
body  principally  through  the  efforts  of  one 
of  its  prominent  citizens,  Lewis  H.  Thomas, 
who  gave  it  the  name  by  which  it  is  at  present 
designated.  In  physical  features  and  general 
topograph}'  it  resembles  Pitman  Township, 
which  has  already  been  described,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  entire  absence  of  native  timber, 
the  surface  being  exclusively  prairie.  At  the 
time  of  its  settlement  by  the  whites,  years  ago, 
there  were  but  a  few  dozen  small,  scrubby  trees 
to  be  seen  in  the  entire  township,  the  prairie 
being  then  clothed  by  a  rank  covering  of  na- 
tive grass,  which  attested  the  fertile  quality  of 
the  soil  beneath — a  soil  which  to-day  is  re- 
garded as  the  richest  and  most  productive  to 
be  found  anywhere  in  the  entire  county.  Sev- 
eral small  stieams  flow  through  different  parts 
of  the  township,  the  largest  of  which  is  Ma- 
coupin Creek,  which  rises  near  the  southwest 


BOIS    D'ARC   TOWNSHIP. 


397 


comer  from  whence  it  takes  a  southerly  course, 
and  receives  several  smaller  streams  as  tribu- 
taries before  intersecting  the  boundary  line. 
Bois  D'Arc  is  pre-eminently  an  agricultural, 
and  is  considered  in  this  respect  the  banner, 
township  of  the  count}',  an  honor  to  which  it  is 
justly  entitled.  Compared  in  population  with 
other  divisions  of  the  county,  there  are,  among 
its  inhabitants,  a  greater  number  of  comforta- 
bly-situated owners  of  the  soil  they  till,  than  in 
any  other  section  we  have  visited  ;  while  among 
its  large  farms  are  some  which,  in  point  of  im- 
provements, such  as  hedging,  elegant  residences, 
barns,  outbuildings,  etc.,  will  compare  favora- 
bly with  the  best  improved  farms  in  any  other 
part  of  the  State.  Indeed,  we  will  be  doing 
nothing  more  than  justice  to  Bois  D'Arc  when 
we  say,  as  hundreds  have  already  said,  and  as  a 
gold  medal  awarded  by  the  State  Agricultural 
Society  fully  proves,  that  it  has  the  best  tilled 
farm  and  most  complete  and  costly  farm  resi- 
dence to  be  found  in  Illinois. 

The  first  settlement  in  the  territory  of  this 
township  was  made  about  the  year  1825,  at  the 
head  of  Macoupin  Creek,  near  the  southern 
part,  by  a  certain  John  Henderson.  He  was 
followed  shortly  afterward  by  a  Mr.  Hender- 
shot.  who  built  the  first  house  in  the  township. 
For  a  number  of  years,  these  two  families  were 
the  only  inhabitants  of  the  broad  stretch  of 
prairie  lying  between  what  is  now  Zauesville 
Township  and  Sangamon  County.  They  moved 
away  some  time  prior  to  the  year  1835,  and 
nothing  has  been  heard  of  them  since.  In 
1335,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Woods  made  his 
way  into  the  northern  part  of  the  county  and 
entered  a  piece  of  land  at  a  place  known  as 
Macoupin's  Point,  on  the  old  Springfield  & 
Hillsboro  road,  where  he  built  a  hotel  which 
was  a  favorite  stopping  place  for  travelers  pas- 
sing through  this  part  of  the  country.  A  post 
office  was  established  here  also,  which  for  a 
number  of  years  was  kept  by  Mr.  Wood  in  his 
hotel.      It   was   discontinued  about   the  year 


1855,  since  which  time  there  has  been  no  post- 
office  in  the  township. 

The  place  where  Wood  formerly  lived  is  at 
present  owned  and  occupied  by  Lewis  Seed- 
entop.  In  the  year  1850,  two  brothers,  Lewis 
H.  and  Samuel  R.  Thomas,  passed  through 
this  part  of  the  country,  and  being  favorably 
impressed  with  the  fertile  appearance  of  the 
prairie,  determined  to  select  sites  for  their 
future  homes,  a  resolution  which  they'  put  into 
effect  the  latter  part  of  the  same  year,  although 
they-  did  not  move  unto  their  respective  claims 
until  the  spring  of  1852.  The  farms  they  lo- 
cated lie  in  the  northern  part  of  the  township, 
bordering  on  the  Sangamon  County  line  in 
Sections  2  and  3.  Here  their  first  house  was 
built  from  lumber  which  had  been  hauled  from 
Greene  County  for  the  purpose,  and  was  occu- 
pied temporarily-  during  the  summer  season 
while  their  first  crops  were  being  tended.  To 
the  energy  and  public  spirit  of  these  two  men 
is  this  section  of  the  county  largely  indebted 
for  its  present  prosperity  and  prominence  as  an 
agriculturel  district. 

Their  farms  are  models  in  every  respect  and 
among  the  wealthy  real  estate  owners  of  the 
county  take  no  second  rank.  Concerning  the 
improvements  made  by  Lewis  H.  Thomas 
(whose  portrait  appears  elsewhere),  we  copy 
the  following  from  the  "  Historical  Atlas  Map" 
of  Montgomery  County,  published  several 
years  ago.  "  Mr.  Thomas  entered  970  acres 
of  land  lying  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town- 
ship which  was  the  fourth  and  by  far  the  most 
important  entry.  Here  the  second  land-break- 
ing was  done  for  a  hedge  row  in  the  spring  of 
1851.  On  entering  the  land  Mr.  Thomas  went 
to  work  and  hedged  the  entire  tract.  This  ex- 
tensive hedging  was  considered  a  rash  experi- 
ment, as  the  Osage  or  Bois  D'Arc  was  looked 
upon  with  considerable  suspicion  by  the  cau- 
tious farmer.  The  result  surpassed  the  ex- 
pectation of  all  and  others  soon  followed  his 
example,  and  soon  several  farms  were  inclosed 


398 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


by  hedges.  Thus  the  first  successful  hedging 
in  the  county  was  accomplished  in  this  town- 
ship. From  this  fact  the  name  Bois  D'Arc, 
upon  the  petition  of  Mr.  Thomas,  was  given 
this  township.  On  this  hedging  Mr.  Thomas 
has  taken  two  diplomas,  accompanied  by  two 
medals.  These  were  the  first  gold  medals  ever 
awarded  by  the  State  Agricultural  Society. 
Mr.  Thomas  has  given  considerable  attention 
to  the  growing  of  artificial  groves.  The  first 
grove  was  a  ten-acre  lot  planted  in  locust  tim- 
ber in  the  year  1852.  Another  lot  of  fifteen 
acres  was  put  out  in  the  spring  of  1854.  In 
eleven  years  from  the  first  planting  the  cuttings 
from  fifteen  acres  furnished  enough  wood  to 
burn  300,000  bricks.  An  ornameutal  grove 
was  put  out  in  1855  near  where  the  family  resi- 
dence was  afterward  erected.  This  grove  com- 
prises fifteen  acres  and  includes  about  every 
variety  of  timber  indigenous  to  the  United 
States. 

'•This  beautiful  grove  drew,  in  1858,  a  gold 
medal  from  the  society  from  which  the  other 
medals  were  obtained,  given  for  the  best  grove  of 
cultivated  timber.  This  medal  was  one  of  the 
first  granted  in  the  State  for  that  particular  in- 
dustry." The  foregoing  extract  may  be  taken 
as  illustrative  of  the  energy  of  this  prominent 
citizen  in  all  his  undertakings.  It  is  to  his 
farm  the  writer  referred  in  a  preceding  page  as 
the  prize  medal  farm  of  the  State.  (See  biog- 
raphy.) A  prominent  settler  who  came  into 
the  township  the  same  year  with  the  Thomas 
brothers,  was  Absalom  Clark.  He  entered  the 
north  half  of  Section  7  and  the  south  half  of 
Section  8  in  the  northern  part  of  the  township, 
which  he  improved  extensively  and  still  owns. 

From  1852  to  1856,  aside  from  those  already 
mentioned,  there  settled  in  the  northern,  cen- 
tral and  western  parts  of  Bois  D'Arc,  Pryor 
Witt,  John  Jones,  William  Smith,  Joseph 
Smith,  Anthony  Almond,  John  Ward,  Frank 
Dunkley,  Mark  Risley,  Hiram  Young,  William 
Evarts   ami  father,   all  of  whom  entered   and 


improved  lands  in  their  respective  localities. 
Joseph  Evarts  settted  in  the  southeastern  part 
in  the  year  1855.  George  Rice  entered  land 
in  the  western  part  of  the  township,  which  he 
afterward  improved  about  the  same  time. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  made  in  East 
Bois  D'Arc  was  by  an  Irishman  by  name  of 
McConnell,  about  the  year  1850.  The  place  he 
entered  and  improved  lies  in  Section  7.  and  had 
been  occupied  temporarily  by  a  German  by 
name  of  Sedgwick,  a  few  years  previous.  San- 
ford  Clow,  Peter  Christopher  and  his  brother 
Joseph  were  among  the  first  actual  settlers  of 
east  Bois  D'Arc.  having  settled  in  Section  4  in 
the  spring  of  1854.  During  the  next  five 
years,  Albert  Clayton,  John  Price  and  James 
Woodward  made  their  appearance,  and  settled 
in  different  places  throughout  the  township.  A 
little  later  came  William  Garrison,  Henry  Wes- 
ton, Henry  Hathaway,  William  King  and  Mi- 
chael Samison,  all  of  whom  located  farms  in 
east  Bois  D'Arc.  Two  brothers,  George  and 
Cornelius  Lyman,  settled  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  township  about  the  same  time  that 
the  Christopher  family  located  in  the  northern 
part. 

The  names  enumerated  comprised  the  earli- 
est settlers  of  Bois  D'Arc,  as  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  learn.  Other  names  there  no 
doubt  were  that  properly  belong  to  the  fore- 
going list,  but  the  writer,  in  his  canvas  for  in- 
formation, did  not  learn  them.  The  first  per- 
son of  this  township  to  be  summoned  away  by 
death  was  Mrs.  Hendershot,  wife  of  the  second 
settler,  whose  death  occurred  about  the  year 
1828.  The  second  event  of  the  kind  transpired 
in  east  Bois  D'Arc  September  25,  1856,  when 
John  Christopher,  son  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth 
Christopher,  died.  The  first  road  leading 
through  Bois  D'Arc  was  the  old  Springfield  & 
Hillsboro  highway,  which  passed  through  the 
township  from  northeast  to  southwest,  and  was, 
during  the  early  history  of  the  county,  an  im- 
portant thoroughfare. 


BOIS  IT  ARC   TOWNSHIP 


309 


The  State  road,  which  passes  through  the 
township  in  a  southerly  direction,  was  surveyed 
by  L.  H.  Thomas,  and  through  the  intercession 
of  Mr.  Woodson,  a  member  of  the  State  Legis- 
lature, was  properly  established  in  the  year 
1854.  The  old  road  had  been  traveled  consid- 
erably by  parties  living  north  of  Bois  D'Arc, 
directly  through  the  farm  of  Mr.  Thomas,  caus- 
ing him  no  little  annoyance,  who,  in  order  to 
induce  them  to  take  the  new  route,  plowed  a 
furrow  for  a  considerable  distance  on  the  line, 
along  which  he  traveled  back  and  forth  for 
several  miles  with  a  loaded  wagon,  thus  making 
the  road  visible. 

Another  early  road  was  laid  out  parallel  to 
the  Springfield  road  by  way  of  Pawnee,  in  San- 
gamon Count}'.  The  roads  of  Bois  Dare  at 
present  are  all  properly  established,  intersect 
each  other  at  right  angles,  and  are  in  very  fair 
condition.  The  first  marriage  in  the  township 
was  that  of  Andrew  Armstrong  to  Miss  Martha 
J.  Evarts,  the  date  of  which  was  not  ascer- 
tained. The  second  marriage  was  solemnized 
in  the  year  1862,  at  the  residence  of  Joseph 
Christopher  in  east  Bois  D'Arc,  the  contracting 
parties  being  John  Murray  and  Mary  William- 
son ;  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  Rev. 
John  Nicodemus. 

Hiram  J.  Young  was  the  first  Justice  of  the 
Peace  appointed  in  the  year  1862.  Jasper 
Witt  was  appointed  Constable  at  the  same 
time,  an  office  which  he  filled  acceptably  for 
several  consecutive  terms. 

Jackson  Boyles  built  the  first  blacksmith 
shop,  near  the  central  part  of  the  township, 
which  is  still  in  use. 

Religious  services  were  held  in  Bois  D'Arc 
during  the  early  days  of  its  history  bj-  itinerant 
ministers  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  an  or- 
ganization effected  in  the  year  1862,  which  does 
not  appear  to  be  in  existence  at  the  present 
time.  A  church  was  organized  in  east  Bois 
D'Arc  by  Rev.  Samuel  Lily,  about  the  year 
1863,   at    the    Prairie    Dell   Schoolhouse.     A 


church  edifice  was  afterward  erected,  and  a 
flourishing  society  is  still  maintained.  A  Bap- 
tist Church  was  organized  at  the  Thomas  School- 
house  in  the  year  1865,  by  Rev.  T.  B.  Jones. 
The  original  membership  of  this  church  was 
nine,  which  has  since  increased  until  now  there 
are  sixty  names  on  the  records.  Their  house 
of  worship  is  situated  in  Section  3,  west  Bois 
D'Arc,  and  is  in  many  respects  the  finest  and 
most  completely  finished  country  church  build- 
ing in  the  county.  It  is  tastefully  furnished 
throughout,  and  represents  a  capital  of  about 
£3.500.  The  present  pastor  is  Rev.  John  Bar- 
bee. 

The  Catholics  have  a  strong  church  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  township,  with  a  member- 
ship of  perhaps  150.  Their  building  is  a  com- 
modious frame  structure,  capable  of  seating 
400  persons  comfortably,  and  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  $4,000.  In  matters  of  education,  the 
citizens  of  Bois  D'Arc  early  took  an  interest, 
and  her  schools  to-day  are  among  the  foremost 
in  the  count}'.  The  first  school  building  in 
west  Bois  D'Arc  was  built  in  Section  3  ;  is 
still  standing,  and  known  as  the  Thomas  School- 
house  ;  the  name  of  the  first  teacher  at  this 
place  was  not  learned.  The  second  school- 
house  was  a  small  log  structure,  situated  in 
Section  4,  east  Bois  D'Arc,  and  went  by  the' 
name  of  Prairie  Dell.  The  first  school  in  this 
building  was  taught  by  Miss  Sallie  Goodrich. 
It  was  afterward  occupied  by  the  following 
teachers :  Samuel  Laird,  Sarah  Gale,  Mary 
Harlan  and  Charles  Walters.  The  old  house, 
after  being  used  for  school  purposes  a  number 
of  years,  was  finally  sold  to  private  parties, 
and  replaced  by  a  more  commodious  frame 
building,  erected  near  by  at  a  place  called 
White  Oak.  The  first  teacher  to  occupy  the 
new  building  was  Miss  Mary  Harlan,  a  lady 
who  appears  to  have  been  prominently  con- 
nected with  the  early  schools  of  Bois  D'Arc. 
The  present  school  buildings  of  the  township 
are  all  frame,  well  furnished,  and  in  point  of 


400 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


architectural  finish,  among  the  best  in  the 
county,  as  the  majority  of  them  have  been 
erected  quite  recently.  In  several  of  these  dis- 
trict schools  are  taught,  additional  to  the  com- 
mon course  of  study  prescribed,  some  of  the 
higher  branches  of  education  usually  belonging 
to  the  high  school  or  academy,  and  nobody  but 
first-class  instructors  are  employed.  Next  to 
the  agricultural  interest  of  Bois  D'Arc,  the 
rearing  of  stock  is  the  most  important  industry 
in  this  section  of  the  country,  a  business  in 
which  a  number  of  parties  have  engaged  quite 
extensively.  The  richness  of  her  pastures,  the 
presence  of  plenty  of  stock  water,  and  the  pe- 
culiar suitability  of  her  native  grasses  for  beef- 


making,  won  for  this  township  an  enviable  rep- 
utation, and  her  stock-farms  are  the  largest  in 
the  county.  The  first  introduction  of  improved 
cattle  into  this  part  of  the  count}-  is  due  to 
the  enterprise  of  L.  H.  and  S.  R.  Thomas,  who 
have  upon  their  extensive  farms  a  number  of 
Short-Horns  and  other  superior  breeds,  brought 
here  at  great  expense.  Among  others  who 
made  stock-raising  a  specialty  is  a  man  by 
name  of  Willis,  living  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  township,  who,  in  addition  to  his  large 
herds  of  cattle,  pays  considerable  attention  to 
other  live  stock,  especially  sheep,  of  which  he 
is  one  of  the  most  extensive  breeders  in  the 
county. 


GRISHAM   TOWNSHIP. 


401 


CHAPTER    XXIX.* 

GRISHAM  TOWNSHIP— LOCATION— SOIL  AND  DRAINAGE— EARLY    SETTLERS— RELIGIOUS- 
SECRET  SOCIETIES,  ETC. 


GRISHAM  TOWNSHIP,  to  which  this 
chapter  is  devoted,  is  situated  in  the 
extreme  southern  part  of  Montgomery  County, 
with  the  following  boundaries:  On  the  north 
by  Hillsboro  Township,  on  the  east  by  the 
southern  part  of  East  Fork,  on  the  south  by 
Bond  County  and  on  the  west  by  the  northern 
part  of  Walshville  Township.  The  greater 
part  of  the  area  of  this  division  is  rough  and 
somewhat  broken,  though  in  the  north  and 
east  there  is  considerable  tine  rolling  prairie 
land.  The  western  part,  though  far  from 
being  level,  is  not  so  broken  and  irregular  as 
that  portion  lying  in  the  central  part  of  the 
township.  The  southern  part  and  all  the 
land  lying  adjacent  to  the  numerous  creeks  by 
which  the  township  is  traversed,  is  cut,  divided 
and  subdivided  into  innumerable  bluffs  and 
hills  of  all  shapes,  sizes  an  1  altitudes.  Many 
deep  ravines  wind  around  these  hills  and  knolls 
toward  the  several  streams  which  flow  amonc 
them.  On  account  of  the  broken  surface  of 
the  central  and  southern  parts  of  the  town- 
ship, the  land  was  not  considered  of  very 
great  value  by  the  early  settlers,  who  passed 
it  for  the  more  desirable  prairie  lands  of  the 
northern  and  eastern  parts.  A  number  of 
people  have  located  among  these  hills  during 
the  last  five  years,  and  much  of  the  broken 
land  has  been  cleared  and  put  in  cultivation. 
Fully  one-half  of  the  surface  was  originally 
timber  land,  much  of  which  has  been  cut  off 
and  improved.  There  are  large  tracts  of  ter- 
ritory still  covered  with  forests  in  the  south- 

*By  G.  N.  Berry. 


em  part,  which  have  never  been  improved. 
Lying  adjacent  to  Shoal  Creek,  in  the  west- 
ern part,  are  several  extensive  scopes  of  wood- 
land, as  there  are,  also,  skirting  Bear  Creek 
in  the  eastern  half  of  the  township.  The 
timber  is  composed  principally  of  the  follow- 
ing varieties:  Black  oak,  post  oak,  hickory, 
ash,  walnut  and  elm.  The  oak  is  by  far  the 
most  numerous  and  valuable.  The  greater 
part  of  the  walnut  has  been  cut  away  many 
years  ago.  Some  of  the  recent  settlers  in  the 
central  j>art  of  the  township  derive  the  greater 
a  lount  of  their  incomes  from  the  sale  of  cord 
wood,  which  they  cut  and  haul  to  Hillsboro, 
where  they  always  find  a  ready  market  and 
good  prices.  The  soil  of  the  township  is 
considerably  diversified.  The  eastern  and 
northern  portions  are  iuclined  toward  a  rich 
black  loam,  in  some  parts  more  fertile  than 
in  others.  This  land  is  very  easily  tilled  and 
produces  abundant  crops  of  wheat,  corn  and 
oats.  It  is  also  well  adapted  to  fruit-grow- 
ing, and  many  fine  varieties  of  apples  and 
peaches  are  raised  by  the  farmers  in  this  sec- 
tion. 

The  soil  along  the  creeks,  though  flat  and 
wet,  is  very  rich  with  decaying  vegetable 
matter  and  gives  promise  of  great  fertility 
when  the  sun's  rays  can  be  unchecked  by  the 
removal  of  the  dense  foliage  by  which  it  is 
shaded.  The  high  portions  of  the  central 
part  are  not  so  well  adapted  to  agriculture, 
as  the  soil  is  composed  too  largely  of  clay  and 
gravel  to  be  very  fertile. 

The  most  important  water-course  is  Shoal 


402 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


Creek,  -which  enters  the  township  from]  the 
north  about  two  miles  east  of  the  western 
boundary  line,  and  passes  in  a  zigzag  course  to 
within  half  a  mile  of  the  Bond  County  line, 
thence  flows  east,  leaving  the  township  about 
three  miles  east  of  the  southwest  corner. 
The  valley  through  which  tbis  stream  flows 
varies  in  width  from  a  few  rods  to  a  mile  or 
more,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  in  cultiva- 
tion. It  was  formerly  covered  with  a  thick 
growth  of  elms  and  underbrush.  This  land, 
wben  the  season  is  not  too  wet,  is  very  valu- 
able and  produces  abundantly,  but  when  the 
season  is  rainy,  the  crops  are  almost  always 
ruined  by  the  overflowing  of  the  creek. 

The  hills  skirting  the  lowlands  are  in  some 
places  very  high  and  rugged,  and  can  only 
be  used  for  grazing.  Numerous  small  streams 
enter  Shoal  Creek,  among  which  are  Parish 
Branch,  Lick  Branch  and  Lake  Fork.  The 
last  is  the  largest  tributary.  It  flows  in  a 
northeasterly  direction  and  empties  into  Shoal 
Creek  at  a  point  about  one  mile  north  of  the 
county  line.  Bear  Creek  is  another  stream 
of  considerable  size,  which  runs  through  the 
township  in  an  irregular  channel  from  north- 
east to  southwest.  It  receives  a  number  of 
small  tributaries,  also,  the  principal  of  which 
is  Town  Fork.  This  creek  empties  into -the 
former  about  two  miles  northwest  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Donnellson.  The  lands  lying  adjacent 
to  these  creeks  is  in  many  respects  similar  to 
that  through  which  Shoal  Creek  runs,  being 
high  and  broken,  and,  in  many  places,  too 
rough  for  cultivation.  In  an  early  day,  there 
were  several  mills  built  along  these  streams 
from  which  they  received  the  power  that 
operated  them  Among  the  very  first  settle- 
ments in  Grisham  Township  made  by  white 
men  was  that  by  Spartan  Grisham,  in  the 
year  1819.  He  settled  on  a  tract  of  land  in 
the  southern  part  and  improved  a  farm  which 
is  now  owned  by  a  Mr.  Atterbury.      He  came 


to  Illinois  from  Tennessee  and  was  a  man  of 
character  and  influence.  Just  how  long  he 
remained  in  ihe  township  is  not  known,  nor 
could  the  date  of  his  death  be  ascertained. 
Several  descendants  of  Mr.  Grisham  still  live 
in  the  county,  all  of  whom  are  upright  and 
intelligent  citizens.  When  a  name  was 
wanted  for  the  township,  it  was  suggested 
that  Grisham  was  the  most  appropriate,  not 
because  he  was  the  first  settler,  but  from  the 
fact  that  he  did  as  much,  if  not  more,  than 
any  other  man  toward  its  development. 
James  Fogleman  came  to  the  township  some 
time  during  the  latter  part  of  the  same  year 
in  which  Grisham  came,  and  settled  near  the 
central  part  on  Shoal  Creek,  where  he  built 
the  first  mill  that  was  ever  erected  in  the 
county.  Of  this  mill  we  will  speak  more 
fully  further  on  in  these  pages.  He  was 
also  a  Tennessean  by  birth,  and  brought  with 
him  to  this  county  a  stock  of  vitality  and  in- 
dependence which  he  had  accpiired  amid  the 
o-enial  airs  of  his  mountain  home.  Two  sons 
of  this  sturdy  old  pioneer  are  still  living  in 
the  county — one  in  Walshville  Township  and 
one  in  Litchfield.  They  are  both  prominent 
citizens  and  are  in  affluent  circumstances. 
The  next  settler  of  whom  we  have  any  definite 
record  was  Jesse  Johnson,  who  located  the 
farm  now  owned  by  Thomas  Atterbury,  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  township,  in  the 
year  1820.  He  came  to  Illinois  from  Tennes- 
see, in  company  with  William  McDavid,  who 
went  farther  east  and  settled  in  East  Fork 
Township  at  a  place  which  has  since  been 
known  as  McDavid's  Point.  Uncle  Jesse,  as 
he  was  called,  was  a  true  type  of  the  pioneer, 
and  loved  nothing  better  than  the  excitement 
incident  to  the  life  of  an  early  settler  in  a 
new  country.  He  lived  on  the  place  where 
he  settled  until  the  year  1840,  when,  finding 
the  houses  were  becoming  too  numerous  to 
suit  his  pioneer  tastes,  he  sold  his  farm  to  a 


GRISHAM    TOWNSHIP. 


403 


Mr.  Trabul,  turned  his  face  toward  the  West 
and  took  his  departure  for  the  then  almost 
unknown  State  of  Iowa.  He  lived  in  Iowa 
for  a  number  of  years,  till,  becoming  restive 
under  the  increasing  civilization  of  that  State, 
he  again  started  West,  determined  not  to  stop 
this  time  till  he  had  reached  the  Pacific 
coast,  which  he  did  in  1850.  He  died  in 
Oregon,  and  was  buried  among  the  mountains 
near  the  spot  which  he  called  his  home.  He 
is  remembered  by  the  early  settlers  of  Gris- 
ham as  a  very  eccentric  and  adventurous 
character,  whose  greatest  pleasure  was  in 
hunting  or  in  riding  in  tierce  gallops  over  the 
prairie.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Nathan 
Irving  came  into  the  wilderness  of  Grishain 
and  built,  his  little  cabin  upon  a  piece  of  land 
near  the  southern  boundary,  now  known  as 
the  Lewey  farm.  The  residence  of  Lewey 
stands  near  the  site  of  the  orignial  cabin,  and 
thus  keeps  in  memory  the  location  of  one  of 
the  first  houses  built  by  the  hands  of  the  I 
white  mau  in  Grisham.  Irving  came  from 
North  Carolina,  but  had  lived  in  a  number  of 
States  before  he  settled  in  Illinois.  He  left 
this  State  and  went  to  Missouri  a  number  of 
years  ago,  since  which  nothing  has  been 
heard  of  him.  In  the  year  1820,  James 
Street,  a  Baptist  preacher,  settled  on  Shoal 
Creek,  near  the  Fogleman  Mill,  where  he 
built  a  cabin  and  lived  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  had  lived  in  the  county  a  year  before  he 
came  to  this  township,  but  this  was  his  first 
permanent  residence.  He  preached  the  first 
sermon  that  was  ever  preached  in  the  county 
in  a  little  log  house,  situated  just  south  of  the 
city  of  Hilisboro,  in  the  year  1819.  He  was 
a  most  excellent  man,  of  unblemished  char- 
acter, and  was  considered  quite  a  noted 
preacher  in  his  day.  'Tis  true  that  his  ora- 
tory was  not  what  would  now  be  termed 
classical,  nor  were  his  scholastic  acquirements 
of  that  profound  type  which  is  considered  so 


essential  to  the  success  of  the  modern  divine; 
yet  he  was  endowed  with  a  strong  practical 
mind,  which  was  well  stored  with  plain,  un- 
varnished facts.  He  preached  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  with  but  few  of  the  adornments  of 
rhetoric,  and  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  and 
zeal  to  establish  the  cause  of  his  Master  in 
the  sparsely  settled  localities  of  the  new- 
country. 

Several  churches  were  established  through 
his  instrumentality,  both  in  Grishtun  and 
East  Fork  Townships,  for  which  he  preached 
a  number  of  years.  Goldsmith's  beautiful 
lines  descriptive  of  the  village  preacher  can 
be  appropriatety  applied  to  this  pioneer  evan- 
gelist of  the  West: 

"At  church,  with  muck  and  unaffected  <rracc, 
His  looks  adorn  the  venerable  place; 
Truth  from  his  lips  prevailed  with  double  sway, 
And  fools  who  came  to  scoff,  remained  to  pray." 

The  date  of  this  good  man's  death  could 
not  be  learned,  but  it  is  supposed  that  he 
died  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago. 

The  same  year  that  saw  Street  settle  in 
Grisham  witnessed  the  coming  of  William 
Griffith,  who  located  on  a  piece  of  land  near 
the  old  Baptist  burying-ground,  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  township.  He  was  from  the 
South  as  were  many  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  was  one  who  prob- 
abty  did  as  much  in  a  humble  and  unpreten- 
tious way  to  advance  the  township's  material 
interests  as  any  man  within  its  borders. 
Two  sons  are  living  in  the  county — one  in 
Hilisboro  Township  and  one  in  the  city  of 
Hilisboro.  Another  early  settler  in  Grisham 
was  Thomas  Edwards,  who  came  to  Illinois 
from  Kentucky  in  the  year  1826,  and  im- 
proved a  farm  on  Bear  Creek  Prairie,  in  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  township.  The  farm 
is  now  owned  by  his  son,  C.  H.  Edwards,  and 
has  been  in  the  family  ever  since  it  was  set- 
tled. 


404 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


In  company  with  Edwards  came  John  El- 
der, who  bought  the  piece  of  land  now  owned 
by  John  Price,  lying  about  one-half  mile 
west  of  Edwards'  Chapel  M.  E.  Church. 
Robert  McCullough  settled  on  the  piece  of 
land  adjoining  the  farm  of  Elder  the  follow- 
ing year.  These  three  men  died  long  since, 
but  the  influence  of  their  examples  will  al- 
ways live,  as  they  were  men  noted  for  piety 
and  high  Christian  character.  They  were 
untiring  in  their  efforts  to  advance  every  in- 
terest essential  to  the  stability  and  improve- 
ment of  the  society  of  their  section  of  the 
community. 

Another  name  deserving  of  mention  in  con- 
nection with  the  early  history  of  this  town- 
ship is  that  of  Rev.  C.  C.  Aydelott,  a  Metho- 
dist preacher,  who  came  here  from  East  Fork, 
where  he  settled  inthe  year  1S27.  He  located 
in  Grisharn  in  1828.  on  the  farm  now  owned 
by  his  son.  G.  R.  Aydelott.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Black  Hawk  war  and  met  with  many 
stirring  adventures  during  that  struggle  with 
the  Indians.  Mr.  Aydelott  was  a,  devoted 
Christian,  and  assisted  in  the  organization 
of  the  first  Methodist  Church  in  the  township. 
He  died  in  the  year  1865,  at  the  age  of  sixty 
years.  His  wife  is  still  living,  having 
reached  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-five 
years.  To  her  the  writer  is  indebted  for 
many  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  early 
settlement  of  the  township. 

William  Young,  a  brother-in-law  of  the 
preceding,  was  also  an  early  settler  of  Gris- 
ham. He  came  to  the  township  in  the  year 
1828,  and  located  on  the  farm  now  owned  by 
Henry  Hickman,  on  Section  2.  This  place 
was  his  home  for  two  years,  when  he  sold  the 
farm  to  a  brother.  James  Young,  moved  to 
the  southern  part  of  the  township  and  bought 
the  tract  of  land  on  which  Mr.  Rhodes  now 
resides.  Here  he  lived  till  the  year  1880,  at 
which  time  he  disposed  of    the    place   and 


moved  to  Hillsboro,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  is  the  only  one  of  the  original  set- 
tlers of  Grisham  now  living. 

He  relates  the  following  incident:  "James 
Wilson,  a  great  practical  joker,  and  William 
Crisp,  a  neighbor  from  Bond  County,  were  at 
one  time  out  hunting  among  the  hills  lying 
along  Shoal  Creek,  when  night  overtook  them 
ill  the  woods  and  they  decided  to  camp  till 
morning.  Wilson  told  Crisp  that  he  would 
go  farther  up  the  creek  to  see  if  he  could  find 
a  more  suitable  place  where  to  pass  the 
night.  When  he  got  out  of  Crisp's  sight,  he 
rode  his  horse  across  the  stream  and  up  and 
down  the  muddy  banks  several  times  till  the 
water  was  considerably  stirred  up.  Then 
riding  hastily  back  to  where  he  left  Crisp, 
he  told  him  in  a  very  excited  manner  that  a 
band  of  hostile  savages  had  just  crossed  the 
creek  and  were  bent  on  mischief.  Crisja,  who 
was  at  heart  a  great  coward,  would  not  credit 
the  story  until  he  saw  the  tracks  and  muddy 
water,  when  he  betook  himself  to  the  woods 
and  passed  the  long  dreary  night  in  an  agony 
of  fear.  Wilson  found  him  the  next  morning 
and  undeceived  him,  but  was  never  forgiven 
for  the  cruel  and  heartless  joke."  Many  other 
prominent  settlers  of  this  township  are  en- 
titled to  a  mention  in  these  pages,  among 
whom  are  William  Paisley,  Robert  Paisley, 
Spartan  Jordan.  Jacob  Holbrook,  William 
Rogers,  but  the  limits  of  this  chapter  forbid 
a  more  extended  notice. 

To  travel  over  a  country  with  any  degree 
of  comfort  or  satisfaction,  roads  are  necessary. 
The  first  roads  were  laid  out  without  any  re- 
gard to  section  lines,  each  person  taking  the 
shortest  route  to  reach  the  place  where  he 
was  going.  As  a  result  of  this  indiscriminate 
way  of  traveling,  the  township  is  traversed  by 
many  zigzag  and  crooked  roadways.  One  of 
the  first  roads  established  was  the  old  Sanga- 
mon road,  which  ran  through  the  township  in 


(MilSIIAM   TOWNSHIP. 


407 


a  northwesterly  direction  and  intersected  the 
southern  boundary  at  a  point  about  one-half 
mile  west  of  the  village  of  Donnellson.  Its 
course  has  since  been  changed  and  it  is  no 
longer  a  thoroughfare  of  any  importance. 
The  Greenville  &  Hillsboro  road  was  another 
of  the  early  roads,  not  only  of  this  township, 
but  one  of  the  first  in  the  county.  It  con- 
nects the  cities  of  Greenville  and  Hillsboro, 
and  passes  through  the  richest  and  best  set- 
tled part  of  Grisham.  Part  of  the  way  it 
forms  the  boundary  between  Grisham  and 
East  Fork  Townships.  This  is  still  an  im- 
portant roadway,  and  is  very  extensively  trav- 
eled. A  road  was  laid  out  in  an  early  day 
through  Bear  Creek  Prairie,  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  township,  and  is  still  traveled, 
although  the  original  course  has  been  consid- 
erably changed.  It  runs  in  a  zigzag  course 
toward  the  southwestern  part  of  the  township, 
where  it  branches  off  into  several  small  and 
unimportant  byways. 

In  addition  to  those  already  named,  Gris- 
h;im.  like  all  other  townships  of  Montgomery 
County,  is  traversed  by  many  very  fair  roads. 
which  pass  through  it  in  all  directions. 

The  Toledo.  Cincinnati  &  St.  Louis  Narrow 
Gauge  Railroad  will,  when  completed,  pass 
through  the  southern  part  of  the  township 
from  east  to  west,  about  one-half  mile  north 
of  the  line  which  separates  Bond  and  Mont- 
gomery Counties. 

At  present  writing,  the  work  is  being  rap- 
idly pushed  toward  completion,  the  greater 
part  of  the  grading  being  done  and  many  of 
the  bridges  built.  This  road  will  prove  a 
great  benefit  to  the  country  through  which  it 
runs  and  will  afford  ample  shipping  facilities 
for  the  farmers  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county.  One  of  the  great  sources  of  anxiety 
to  the  pioneer  in  a  new  country  is  the  procur- 
ing of  bread.  When  the  first  white  settlers 
came  into  this  country,  they  found  none  of  the 


conveniences  of  life  by  which  the  citizens  of 
to-day  are  surrounded.  No  improvements, 
such  as  mills,  bridges  or  roads,  greeted  his 
eye,  but  instead  he  saw  nothing  but  unbroken 
solitudes  of  thick  woods  and  monotonous 
prairies.  In  faceof  nature's  wild  deformities 
and  all  the  annoyances  which  beset  them,  the 
pioneers  went  to  work  manfully  and  bravely. 
erected  their  humble  cabin  homes,  broke  the 
stubborn  soil  with  their  primitive  plows  and 
began  that  hard  struggle  for  life  which  only 
the  early  settler  has  experienced.  Mills  were 
few  and  far  between,  and  many  miles  of 
rough  and  almost  impassable  roads  had  to  be 
traversed  by  the  early  settlers  in  order  to 
obtain  Hour  and  meal — articles  of  food  essen- 
tial to  their  existence.  These  journeys  con- 
sumed much  precious  time,  as  every  moment 
was  as  gold  to  the  pioneer.  A  small  mill  was 
built  in  a  very  early  day  by  a  Mr.  Fogleman, 
on  Shoal  Creek,  near  the  central  part  of  the 
township.  It  received  the  power  by  which 
the  machinery  was  run  from  a  couple  of 
small  springs,  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  hill 
near  by.  A  small  race  conducted  the  water 
to  the  little  overshot  wheel.  This  mill  was 
a  very  rude  affair  and  was  called  the  old  Pep- 
per mill.  It  had  but  one  buhr  and  ground 
very  slow.  It  was  in  operation  but  a  few 
years.  The  old  race-way  can  still  be  seen, 
and  some  of  the  old  timbers  still  remain  to 
mark  the  place  where  the  first  mill  in  the 
township  was  bui  It- 
One  of  the  first  mills  in  the  county  was 
built  by  a  man  named  Nicholson,  ou  Shoal 
Creek,  a  little  south  of  the  place  where  the 
old  pepper-mill  stood.  This  was  a  water 
mill,  also,  and  was  oj>erated  by  the  water  of 
the  creek.  It  was  extensively  patronized  by 
the  neighborhood,  and  for  several  years  did 
a  very  good  business.  It  was  torn  down 
many  years  ago  and  replaced  by  a  steam  mill. 
built  by  McPherson   &  Lewis.      This  was  a 


408 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  COUNTY. 


combination  mill,  sawed  lumber  and  ground 
both  wheat  and  corn.  It  was  torn  away  sev- 
eral years  since,  and  has  never  been  rebuilt. 
Prior  to  the  ereetion  of  the  above,  there  had 
been  a  saw-mill  built  on  Shoal  Creek  by 
William  Ross,  in  the  year  1845,  which  was 
the  first  mill  of  its  kind  ever  built  in  the 
township.  No  vestige  of  this  mill  remains, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  tell  exactly  where  it 
stood,  though  it  is  supposed  to  have  occupied 
a  spot  near  where  the  long  bridge  crosses  the 
creek  in  the  southern  part  of  the  township. 
Among  the  first  industries  of  the  township 
was  the  woolen  factory  built  by  James  Street 
in  the  year  1828.  It  was  operated  by  a  small 
stream  which  was  fed  by  a  number  of  springs. 
The  water,  after  leaving  the  mill,  was  dis- 
charged into  Shoal  Creek.  It  was  operated 
by  Mr.  Street  for  a  number  of  years,  and,  at 
his  death,  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  sous, 
who  continued  to  run  it  until  the  machinery 
was  worn  out.  It  did  a  very  paying  business 
and  supplied  much  of  the  wearing  apparel 
used  by  the  early  settlers.  At  the  present 
time,  there  are  no  mills  or  factories  of  any 
kind  in  the  township. 

Some  attention  has  been  given  to  stock- 
raising  by  the  farmers  of  this  township  and 
a  number  of  good  farms  are  to  be  found 
within  its  limits.  C.  C.  Root  and  C.  H.  Ed- 
wards were  among  the  first  to  make  stock- 
raising  a  specialty,  and  many  fine  cattle  and 
sheep  are  to  be  seen  upon  their  farms. 
While  stock  has  received  considerable  atten- 
tion, agriculture  is  the  principal  occupation 
of  the  people,  and  promises  to  be  for  years  to 
come. 

The  subject  of  education  has  always  held  a 
high  place  in  the  estimation  of  citizens  of 
Grisham,  as  is  manifest  by  the  interest  taken 
in  their  public  schools,  which  are  as  ably 
conducted  as  those  of  any  other  township  in 
the    county.       The   first    schoolhouses   were 


small  cabins  built  of  post-oak  poles,  without 
either  floor  or  windows.  Light  was  allowed 
to  enter  the  room  through  a  long  opening  in 
the  wall  into  which  greased  paper  was  fitted 
in  lieu  of  glass. 

The  seats  and  desks  were  of  the  simplest 
kind,  but  answered  the  purpose  for  which 
they  were  intended  in  the  absence  of  better 
furniture.  Books  were  scarce  and  limited  to 
the  few  who  were  able  to  purchase  them. 
These  schools  were  conducted  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  silence  was  not  at  all  necessary  and 
all  studying  was  done  orally.  One  of  the 
first  schools  of  the  township  was  taught  by 
Clement  C.  Aydelott  in  a  diminutive  little 
hut  which  stood  a  short  distance  east  of  the 
place  where  Edwards'  Chapel  now  stands. 
Like  all  of  the  early  schools,  it  was  support- 
ed by  subscription  and  lasted  but  three 
months.  As  time  passed,  these  small  and 
inconvenient  buildings  gradually  gave  place 
to  more  comfortable  and  commodious  struc- 
tures, until  no  the  township  has  five  good 
substantial  schoolhouses.  The  schools  last 
about  seven  months  in  the  year.  The  term 
generally  begins  the  first  Monday  in  October. 
It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  accuracy 
where  the  first  religious  services  were  held  in 
Grisham,  or  under  what  circumstances.  Many 
of  the  early  settlers  were  devoted  members  of 
churches  before  they  came  to  the  new  country, 
and  did  not  abandon  Christian  worship  after 
they  arrived.  Public  services  were  often 
held  in  private  dwellings  during  the  early 
days,  and  were  principally  conducted  by 
some  person  whose  gift  of  speech  was  more 
fluent  than  that  of  his  neighbors,  or  by  any 
traveling  preacher  that  might  happen  aloug. 
The  first  church  organization  of  which  we 
have  any  definite  knowledge  is  the  Presby- 
terian Churcb  of  Donnellson,  or,  as  it  was  for- 
merly called.  Bear  Creek,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  brief  history: 


GRISHAM   TOWNSHIP. 


409 


The  Donnellson  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  organized  by  a  few  families  from 
the  church  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  This 
was  in  response  to  a  proposition  made  by  Mr. 
Rice,  and  the  organization  took  place  at  the 
house  of  William  Robertson,  a  Presbyterian, 
who  lived  about  two  miles  north  of  Greenville, 
Bond  County.  The  names  of  the  original 
members  of  this  organization  are  given  as 
follows:  Robert  Paisley,  Elizabeth  Paisley, 
Jonathan  Berry,  Polly  Berry,  William  Young 
and  Phenly  Young.  The  date  of  the  perma- 
nent organization  is  not  given  in  the  old  rec- 
ords, but  the  name  Bear  Creek  was  given  the 
church  at  the  organization  of  the  first  Presby- 
tery of  the  State,  which  took  place  at  the 
residence  of  John  Kirkpatrick,  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  May,  1823.  Tim  first  Elders  of 
the  church  were  Robert  Paisley,  Jonathan 
Berry  and  John  Kirkpatrick.  Mr.  Paisley 
and  Mr.  Berry  were  from  churches  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  Mr.  Kirkpatrick  was  from  Sugg's 
congregation,  Tennessee.  Joseph  McDavid 
was  ordained  Ruling  Elder  in  the  congrega- 
tion in  May,  1S22,  while  the  church  was  still 
in  Bond  County,  and  was  the  first  Elder  or- 
dained by  the  church.  The  present  Board 
of  Elders  consists  of  four.  In  all,  the  church 
has  had  thirty  Ruling  Elders  up  to  the  year 
1881.  The  church  has  had  many  Acting 
Deacons,  but  it  never  had  but  five  ordained 
Deacons.  The  present  membership  is  about 
130.  The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev. 
Green  B.  Price,  who  preached  for  the  con- 
gregation four  years.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Joel  Knight,  who  had  control  of  the 
church  for  an  unknown  but  long  time.  A. 
M  Wilson  was  the  pastor  one  year;  Joseph 
Gordon,  for  one  year;  J.  M.  Bone,  fourteen 
years;  B.  H.  Blackwell,  nearly  one  year;  J. 
W.  Blosser,  six  months;  Dr.  Bell,  one  year; 
E.  R.  Rogers,  for  a  short  time;  J.  H.  Hen- 
dricks, two  years;  E.  M.  Johnson,  two  years, 


and  William  Frieze,  the  present  pastor,  who 
has  been  with  the  church  three  years.  Some 
of  the  most  influential  churches  of  the  county 
are  offshoots  of  this  congregation,  among 
which  are  McDavid's  Point,  Pleasant  Prairie, 
Goshen  and  many  others.  Many  of  the  con- 
gregations in  the  far  West  have  found  that 
their  best  workers  were  from  the  membership 
of  this  church. 

For  a  number  of  years,  the  congregation 
held  their  public  services  in  private  dwelling- 
houses.  The  first  church  edifice  was  built  in 
Grisham  Township  about  two  miles  north- 
west of  the  village  of  Donnellson,  where  the 
first  cemetery  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county  was  laid  out.  This  was  a  frame  build- 
ing and  served  the  congregation  as  a  place  of 
worship  till  the  year  1856,  at  which  time 
their  present  edifice  was  ereeted.  This  house 
is  the  largest  church  building  in  the  town- 
ship, and  cost  about  $3,000.  A  flourishing 
Sunday  school  is  kept  up  during  the  year, 
which  is  at  present  under  the  superintendence- 
of  D.  F.  Davis.  The  present  Board  of  Elders 
consists  of  the  following  members:  Henry 
Hawkins,  Milton  Ross,  James  Johnson  and 
Michael  Hampton. 

Edwards'  Chapel,  the  oldest  Methodist 
Church  in  the  county  south  of  Hillsboro,  was 
organized  in  the  year  1829,  with  membership 
of  twelve  persons,  whose  names  are  as  fol- 
lows: Thomas  Edwards  and  wife,  C.  C.  Ay- 
delott  and  wife,  Thomas  Grady  and  wife, 
John  Hammond  and  wife.  The  organization 
was  effected  in  a  little  log  cabin,  which  stood 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  near  the 
East  Fork  boundary  line. 

For  many  years,  the  little  congregation 
had  no  house  of  worship  and  held  their  pub- 
lic services,  protracted  and  quarterly  meetings 
in  groves,  private  dwelling-houses  and  barns. 

"  No  silver  saints,  by  dying  misers  given, 
Here  bribed  the  rage  of  ill-requited  heaven  ; 
But  such  plain  roofs  as  piety  could  raise, 

And  only  vocal  with  the  Maker's  praise." 


410 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


These  meetings  were  attended  by  all  from 
miles  around  and  did  much  toward  bringing 
the  remote  settlements  into  social  contact. 
Among  the  first  pastors  of  the  chucrh  were 
Revs.  Holiday,  Ames,  Walker  and  Dew. 
These  were  all  able  men  and  to  their  efforts 
are  many  of  the  Methodist  Churches  of  the 
county  indebted  for  their  success.  In  the 
year  L850,  a  house  of  worship  was  erected 
near  the  residence  of  Thomas  Edwards,  an 
old  settlor  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  town- 
ship, on  Section  11. 

The  house  was  dedicated  the  following 
year  by  the  celebrated  Peter  Cartwright. 
The  occasion  was  one  of  unusual  interest, 
and  the  vast  crowd  assembled  to  hear  the  fa- 
mous man,  who  preached  a  sermon,  which, 
for  force  of  logic,  eloquence  and  wit,  could 
hardly  bo  surpassed.  The  building  was  of 
frame  and  served  the  congregation  till  the 
year  1872,  when  the  present  neat  structure 
was  erected.  This  building  is  frame,  also, 
and  cost  the  sura  of  11,800.  It  is  one  of  the 
best  audience  rooms  in  the  county  and  will 
comfortably  seat  at  least  300  persons.  It 
stands  directly  west  of  the  spot  where  the  old 
building  stood. 

The  present  membership  of  the  church  is 
about  eighty-five,  among  whom  are  some  of 
the  best  and  most  substantial  citizens  of  the 
community.  A  large  and  flourishing  Sunday 
school  is  maintained  throughout  the  year, 
and  is  at  present  under  the  superintendency 
of  W.  H.  Edwards. 

A  Baptist  Church  was  organized  by  Elder 
James  Street  many  years  ago,  and  a  house  of 
worship  erected,  but  of  this  society  we  could 
learn  nothing,  as  it  was  abandoned  a  long 
time  since  and  no  efforts  have  been  made  to 
revive  it.  The  burying-ground  near  which 
the  old  meoting-housc  stood  was  one  of  the 
first  graveyards  laid  out  iu  the  county. 

Another  Methodist    Church,  Mt.    Carmel, 


was  organized  at  an  early  day  in  the  western 
part  of  the  township,  but  at  just  what  date 
the  organization  was  effected  could  not  be 
learned,  as  the  original  recoi'ds  were  taken 
away  a  number  of  years  ago  and  never  re- 
turned. It  was,  however,  one  of  the  first 
Methodist  Churches  organized  in  the  county, 
and  has  been  in  progress  for  at  least  fifty 
years.  At  one  time,  this  church  was  very 
strong  in  numbers,  but  of  late  years  the  mem- 
bership has  fallen  off  considerably,  through 
death  and  removals.  There  are  at  present 
about  forty  members  belonging  to  the  church, 
and  it  is  in  good  working  condition.  The 
first  building  in  which  the  congregation  wor- 
shiped was  a  little  log  cabin,  situated  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  township,  near  the 
Bond  County  line.  It  served  the  congrega- 
tion for  about  twenty  years.  The  building 
in  which  the  church  now  meets  was  erected 
about  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago.  It  has 
been  remodeled  several  times  and  is  still  a 
very  comfortable  and  neat  house  of  worship. 
The  membership  will  number  probably  thirty. 
The  pastor  who  has  charge  of  the  church  now 
is  the  Rev.  William  Van  Cleve. 

The  Waveland  Presbyterian  Church,  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Alton,  is  situated  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  township,  about  five  miles 
south  and  one-half  mile  west  of  Hillsboro. 
The  Rev.  A.  Cameron  Allen  met  a  part  of  the 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  Hills- 
boro, at  the  house  of  W.  P.  Brown,  in  the 
year  184H,  and  organized  them  into  a  society 
called  the  Waveland  Presbyterian  Church. 
A  sermon  was  preached  upon  the  occasion  by 
Rev.  Allen  and  the  following  names  recorded 
as  original  members:  John  Brown,  Sarah 
Brown,  Levi  Brown,  Newton  O.  Brown, 
William  P.  Brown,  Elizabeth  Brown,  Nancy 
Brown,  Eliza  Brown,  Rufus  Brown,  Jr., 
Margaret  Craig,  Jesse  D.  Wood,  Minerva 
J.     Wood,    Sarah    D.    Blackwood,    Emeline 


GKISHAM    TOWNSHIP. 


ill 


Blackwood,  Levi  H.  Thorn,  Margaret  Thorn, 
George  Nicholson,  George  S.  Clodfelter, 
Elizabeth  Barry,  Joseph  McLean,  Abi- 
gail McLean,  Enos  Clodfelter  and  Eliza- 
beth Brown.  The  first  Ruling  Elders  were 
John  Brown,  Levi  H.  Thorn  and  Dr. 
Jesse  D.  Wood.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Brown  was 
the  first  of  the  members  to  be  summoned 
away  by  death.  She  died  August  4,  184:3, 
just  one  month  after  the  church  was  organ- 
ized. After  its  organization,  the  church  was 
for  a  number  of  years  a  sort  of  outpost  of  the 
Hillsboro  church,  of  which  it  is  an  offshoot, 
and  was  supplied  by  the  ministers  of  that 
church  till  the  year  1846.  The  first  pastors 
who  ministered  to  the  congregation  were  Rev. 
Cameron  Allen  and  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Hynes, 
who  preached  at  stated  intervals  till  the  year 
1859.  Since  then  the  following  pastors  have 
preached  for  the  church:  Robert  M.  Roberts, 
from  1851  to  1859;  William  Hamilton,  1859 
to  1801;  John  S.  Howell,  1861  to  1866; 
James  H.  Spillman,  1S69  to  1871;  H.  Hyues 
in  the  year  1876;  W.  P.  Baker,  Willis 
Patchen  and  W.  S.  Rodgers  have  also  had 
charge  of  the  church  since  the  year  1876. 
For  many  years,  the  congregation  had  no 
house  of  worship,  and,  during  that  time,  hold 
their  public  services  in  a  grove  in  pleasant 
weather  and  in  the  private  dwellings  of  Will- 
iam Brown,  Levi  Brown,  Joseph  McLean  and 
Dr.  Brown  when  the  weather  would  not  admit 
of  outdoor  meetings.  On  the  5th  of  October, 
1847,  the  church  obtained  by  gift  from  John 
Brown  and  his  brother,  Maj.  William  Brown, 
a  deed  for  six  acres  of  land,  on  which  they 
erected  a  plain,  though  comfortable,  house 
of  worship.  The  times  were  hard,  and,  the 
majority  of  the  people  being  very  poor,  the 
building  was  erected  mainly  by  days'  work, 
contributed  by  the  members.  Very  little 
money  was  donated  or  needed.  This  house 
was  used  by  the  congregation  for  about  twen- 


ty years,  when  the  church  concluded  to  re- 
place it  by  a  more  commodious  structure.  In 
the  summer  of  1872,  the  present  handsome 
building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $1,600,  the 
whole  amount  of  which,  it  may  be  said  with 
credit,  was  raised  at  home,  without  drawing 
upon  the  general  funds  of  the  church  for  aid. 
When  the  second  house  was  built,  the  congre 
gation  was  still  without  large  numbers  or 
much  wealth,  but  they  took  hold  of  the  work 
earnestly,  and  their  efforts  were  crowned  with 
success.  While  some  contributed  liberally, 
none  were  impoverished  or  seriously  embar- 
rassed by  their  liberality.  The  pastor,  Rev. 
J.  H.  Spillman,  was  most  active  and  zealous 
in  pushing  the  work  forward,  and  to  his  en- 
ergy is  the  church  largely  indebted  for  its 
success.  In  the  summer  of  1848,  the  church 
established  a  parochial  school  and  sustained 
it  for  three  years.  It  was  taught  in  the  old 
meeting-house,  first,  by  Mary  P.  Wait,  of 
Vermont,  and  afterward  by  Miss  Elvira  M. 
Powers.  It  was  successful  and  useful  beyond 
expectation  of  the  congregation  and  all  its 
friends.  It  was  distinctly  Christian,  rather 
than  sectarian,  and  accomplished  much  good 
among  the  youth  of  the  church  and  neighbor- 
hood, giving  at  the  same  time  1  >oth  literary  work 
and  religions  instruction.  A  neat  parsonage 
was  built  in  the  spring  of  1881,  just  south  of 
the  church  edifice,  which  cost  the  congrega 
tion  the  sum  of  $600.  The  present  officers 
of  the  church  are  the  following:  G.  W.  Mans- 
field, D.  H.  Clodfelter  and  \V.  F.  Hickman, 
Elders;  I.  N.  Moss,  James  Brown,  George 
Mc.Ghee,  Deacons;  G.  N.  McFail,  Jesse  Sei 
bert,  Monroe  Holmes  and  I.  N.  Moss,  Trustees. 
A  flourishing  Sunday  school  is  maintained, 
which  is  now  superintended  by  G.  W.  Mans- 
field. Fifty-one  Christians  from  other  places 
have  here  been  associated  for  the  worship 
of  God,  and  102  have  come  out  from  the  world 
and  cast  their  lot  with  the  church.     Twenty- 


412 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


live  have  died  and  quite  a  number  have  been 
dismissed  to  other  congregations.  The  pres- 
ent membership  numbers  about  sixty  five. 

Connected  with  each  of  these  churches  is  a 
cemetery,  where  one  may  read  much  of  the 
history  of  the  early  settlers.  The  oldest 
cemetery  is  Bear  Creek,  and  among  the  first 
ones  buried  there  was  Robert  Paisley,  of 
whom  we  spoke  in  a  previous  page.  "The 
moss-covered  slabs  tell  of  the  sweep  of 
Time's  scythe  more  truly  than  could  be  written 
by  our  feeble  pen,  and  the  little  mounds,  with 
the  short  records  and  dates  tell  to  the  wan- 
derer through  these  silent  resting-places  of 
the  recklessness  with  which  death  marked  as 
his  own  the  old  and  the  young  indiscrimi- 
nately." 

The  village  of  Donnellson  is  situated  in  the 
southeast  corner  of  Grisham,  and  was  laid  off 
into  lots  in  the  year  1860  by  James  Hutchin- 
son, who  built  the  first  house.  Mr.  Hutchin- 
son kept  the  first  store  in  the  township;  his 
first  stock  of  goods  was  kept  in  the  kitchen 
of  his  old  residence.  ^Hejwas  also  the  first 


Postmaster  of  the  village,  having  been  ap- 
pointed when  the  office  was  established  in  the 
year  1860.  Several  dwelling-houses  were 
erected  in  the  years  1S61  and  1862,  though 
since  that  time  the  growth  of  the  village  has 
been  somewhat  slow.  A  good  hotel  was  built 
in  the  year  1881,  by"  Michael  Hampton,  at  a 
cost  of  $1,500.  There  are  two  blacksmith 
shops,  a  wagon  shop,  one  good  store,  an  ax- 
handle  factory  and  a  paint  shop  in  the  town,  all 
of  which  are  dome  a  good  business.  The  first 
physician  who  located  in  the  place  was  Baxter 
Haines;  he  practiced  his  profession  here  for  a 
number  of  years.  The  present  physician  is 
Dr.  J.  B.  Carey.  The  future  of  this  village 
is  promising,  as  it  is  one  of  the  points  on 
the  Toledo,  Cincinnati  &  St.  Louis  Narrow 
Gauge  Railroad.  There  is  no  town  nearer 
than  Hillsboro,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles. 
Many  lots  are  being  brought  up  and  improved, 
and  the  place  promises  to  become  at  no  very 
distant  day  one  of  the  best  shipping  points 
in  the  county. 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


413 


CHAPTER   XXX.* 

PITMAN  TOWNSHIP— POSITION  AND  BOUNDARIES— PHYSICAL  FEATURES— PRODUCTIONS— SETTLE- 
MENT   OF    THE    WHITES— EARLY    MILLS— SCHOOLS  AND   CHURCHES- 
SECRET  SOCIETIES— ROBBERY,   ETC. 


PITMAN  was  originally  included  in  the 
territory  of  Harvel  Township,  from  which 
it  was  separated  and  formed  into  a  distinct 
division  in  the  year  18  .  Lying  in  the  north- 
western part  of  Montgomery,  it  is  surrounded 
on  the  east,  north  and  south  hy  the  townships 
of  Harvel.  Bois  I)' Arc  and  Zanesville  respect- 
ively, while  Macoupin  County  forms  its  west- 
ern boundary.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  J. 
H.  Pitman,  a  prominent  citizen  aud  one  of  the 
chief  movers  in  its  organization.  Viewed  from 
a  topographical,  geological  or  agricultural 
standpoint,  it  is  so  very  similar  to  other  town- 
ships already  described  as  to  render  it  unneces- 
sary to  enter  into  minute  details.  The  surface 
in  the  main  consists  of  fine  prairie  laud,  suf- 
ficiently undulating  to  present  a  very  pleasing 
prospect  to  the  observer,  while  the  soil  is  of  the 
black  loamy  nature,  common  to  this  part  of  the 
State,  aud  noted  for  its  richness,  depth  and  fer- 
tility. 

The  tributaries  of  Macoupin  Creek,  a  stream 
which  flows  along  the  western  boundary  in  the 
adjoining  county,  are  the  only  water-courses  in 
the  township.  But  little  native  timber  is  left 
standing,  although  at  one  time  there  were 
several  strips  of  woodland  in  the  southern  and 
southwestern  parts. 

Realizing  the  necessity  of  timber,  the  set- 
tlers, as  soon  as  their  farms  were  broken,  turned 
their  attention  to  its  cultivation,  and  in  many 
places  throughout  the  township  are  now  to  be 
seen  artificial  groves  of  considerable  extent 
and  beauty.    The  varieties  of  timber  most  com- 

*  By  G.  N.  Beny. 


monly  found  growing  in  these  groves,  are  the 
different  species  of  maple,  ash,  walnut,  hickory 
and  cottonwood,  all  of  which  grow  rapidly,  and 
attain  to  considerable  size  in  a  few  years 
after  planting.  The  agricultural  productions 
of  Pitman,  like  those  in  all  parts  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  comprise  the  cereals  usually- 
grown  in  this  latitude — corn,  flax,  vegetables  of 
all  kinds  and  varieties,  while  the  cultivation  of 
fruits  receives  great  attention  and  has  acquired 
considerable  importance  as  an  industry.  The 
early  history  of  Pitman  is  similar  to  that  of 
many  other  townships  of  the  county,  and  its 
experience  has  been  the  experience  of  all  early 
settlements,  with  all  the  exciting  scenes  and 
deprivations  of  pioneer  life,  aud  the  gradual 
unfolding  and  development  of  a  community 
complete  in  its  organization,  and  rich  in  the 
high  elements  of  domestic,  social  and  religious 
life. 

The  pioneer  moves  into  the  new  country 
with  his  few  household  goods  around  him, 
and  rises  a  king  and  conqueror.  Here  he  erects 
his  altar,  builds  his  house,  breaks  the  prairie 
or  levels  the  forest ;  calls  down  the  sunlight 
to  thrill  with  life  the  sleeping  soil  and  adorn 
its  surface  with  the  bloom  of  vegetable  life, 
while  Nature  in  her  loveliness  matures  and 
yields  to  him  her  ripening  fruit,  the  richest 
treasures  of  her  bosom.  Here  is  laid  the  key- 
stone iu  the  arch  of  a  new  social  structure, 
above  which  are  to  cluster  and  unfold  all  the 
elements  of  a  high  civilization.  Hence  we 
see  the  importance  of  collecting  in  successive 
order  all  the  scenes  and  events  of  a  communis 


•m 


HISTORY    OF    MONTCOMICKY    COUNTY. 


ty's  growth,  from  its  earliest  settlement — its 
first  germ — to  its  full  organization,  and  its 
most  recent  form,  together  with  the  influences, 
local  characteristics,  and  other  combinations 
that  may  have  modified  or  directed  its  de- 
velopment. Thus  we  are  enabled  to  grasp  the 
science  that  underlies  and  governs  its  life — a 
science  that  should  be  perpetuated  in  imperish- 
able records  to  our  children  and  our  children's 
children. 

The  earliest  settler  in  Pitman  of  whom  we 
have  any  record  was  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Denton,  who  made  the  first  entry  of  laud  in 
the  year  1822,  on  the  farm  now  owned  and 
occupied  by  John  Husband.  He  lived  in  this 
place  until  the  year  1830,  at  which  time  he 
died,  his  death  being  the  first  that  occurred  in 
the  township.  John  Haines  came  here  about 
the  same  time  that  Denton  made  his  appear- 
ance, and  entered  land  in  the  western  part  of 
the  township,  near  the  Macoupin  County  line. 
The  above  are  the  only  settlers  of  Pitman  of 
whom  any  account  could  be  obtained  prior  to 
the  year  182!),  although  there  are  vestiges  of 
several  old  buildings  to  be  seen  which  afforded 
shelter  and  temporary  homes  for  a  number  of 
squatters  who  moved  farther  west  as  the  coun- 
try became  more  thickly  populated.  John  L. 
Rogers  was  one  of  the  first  permanent  settlers 
of  Pittman,  having  come  to  this  part  of  the 
Stale  about  the  year  182'.).  and  entered  a  tract 
of  land  in  the  western  part  of  the  township, 
in  Section  .'111.  His  enterprise  was  here  aus- 
picious, not  only  in  fitting  Land  for  cultiva- 
tion, but  also  in  erecting  a  small  grist-mill  on 
his  place  near  the  county  line,  thus  becoming 
a  pioneer  in  mill  building  as  well  as  in  farm- 
ing. Rogers  died  in  the  year  1S52,  having 
reached  the  good  old  age  of  seventy-two  years. 
He  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of 
whom  are  living  in  the  State.  The  old  Rogers 
farm  is  at  present  owned  by  Theodore  Rogers, 
a  son  of  the  preceding,  and  a  prominent  Meth- 
odist preacher  of  Central  Illinois. 


Davis  Bagby  was  a  resident  of  Pitman  as 
early  as  the  year  1832,  having  come  here 
in  company  with  his  father-in-law,  Miller 
Woods,  both  of  whom  located  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  the  township.  The  place  where 
Woods  first  settled  is  now  owned  by  William 
Hackney.  Bagby  subsequently  purchased  a 
piece  of  land  in  Section  10,  where  he  lived  until 
the  year  1865,  when  he  died,  lamented  by  all 
who  knew  him.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war 
of  1812,  having  served  his  country  faithfully 
throughout  that  memorable  struggle.  Another 
prominent  pioneer  was  D.  G.  Whitehorn.  at 
present  the  oldest  living  settler  in  Pitman 
Township.  The  date  of  his  arrival  in  this 
part  of  the  State  was  the  year  1831.  He  lo- 
cated a  farm  in  Section  18,  where  for  fifty -one 
years  he  has  lived  a  prominent  and  upright 
citizen.  In  the  year  1834,  he  was  married  to 
Catharine  Bagby,  daughter  of  Davis  Bagby, 
being  the  first  marriage  that  took  place  in  the 
township. 

George  Wagoner  was  prominently  connected 
with  the  early  history  of  the  Township,  and 
can  be  named  among  its  pioneer  settlers.  He 
moved  here  from  Kentucky  about  the  year 
18 — ,  and  secured  a  piece  of  land  in  Section 
20.  which  is  still  in  the  possession  of  his  fami- 
ly. His  death  occurred  in  the  year  1864. 
Frederick  Hamilton  was  an  early  settler  also, 
having  entered  laud  in  the  western  part  of  the 
township  about  the  year  1833.  His  death, 
which  occurred  two  years  later,  is  the  second 
event  of  that  kind  that  transpired  in    Pitman. 

Subsequently  there  appear  the  names  of  Za- 
dok  Leach,  William  King,  Tazewell  Brown, 
Flower  Husband,  William  Hamilton  and  L.  C. 
Richardson,  all  of  whom  came  from  States 
farther  south  and  settled  in  the  territory  of 
Pitman  between  the  3'ears  1837  and  1840. 
Tin1  place  where  Leach  settled  is  at  present  in 
possession  of  the  Wagoner  heirs.  King  sold 
his  farm  to  a  man  b}-  the  name  of  Young,  and 
moved   to  Christian    County,  where    he   died 


PITMAN    TOWNSHIP. 


415 


several  years  ago.  Brown  entered  land  lying- 
in  the  west-central  part  of  the  township, 
where  his  widow  still  lives.  L.  C.  Richardson, 
who,  next  to  Whitehorn,  is  the  oldest  resident 
of  Pitman,  selected  as  his  home  a  piece  of 
land  lying  ill  Section  30,  on  which  he  still  re- 
sides, surrounded  by  the  comforts  and  con- 
veniences which  he  has  accumulated  by  a  life 
of  industry  and  economy. 

There  are  other  names  connected  with  the 
early  history  of  the  township  aside  from  those 
already  enumerated,  which  we  were  unable  to 
learn.  In  the  old  burying  ground  at  Sulphur 
Springs,  where  the  hardy  and  energetic  pio- 
neers are  sleeping  in  their  last  resting-place, 
can  be  seen  many  of  the  names  mentioned  in 
these  pages,  while  others,  who  were  as  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  township's  history, 
lie  in  graves  unmarked  by  the  simplest  epi- 
taph. Those  early  pioneers  were  men  of 
sterling  integrity,  high  moral  worth,  and  emi- 
nent in  all  those  virtues  which  make  men 
great.  Though  their  bodies  have  moldered 
back  to  Mother  Earth,  they  are  not  dead.  The 
body  may  die  :  a  good  example  will  live  for- 
ever.    They  have  gone  to 

"  Join  the  choir  invisible,  of  those  immortal  dead 

who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence;  live 
In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity; 
In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude;  in  scorn 
of  miserable  aims  that  end  witli  self; 
In  thoughts  that  pierce  the  aight  like  stars, 
And  with  their  mild  persistence  urge  men's  minds 
To  better  issue.-." 

The  inconveniences  of  the  first  settlers, 
though  probably  not  comparable  with  those 
experienced  by  pioneers  in  older  sections  of 
the  country,  were  still  of  such  magnitude  that 
we  of  the  present  can  form  but  an  approxi- 
mate idea  of  their  realities.  A  very  great 
inconvenience  felt  among  them  was  the  want 
of  a  mill  to  grind  their  corn  and  grain,  the 
nearest  being  in  Butler  Grove  and  Hillsboro 
Townships.     During  the  winter  season,  when 


the  deep   snows   precluded  the    possibility  of 
traveling  over  the  trackless    prairies,  the  set- 
tlers manufactured  their  own  meal  by  grinding 
or  rather  cracking  corn  in  common  cotfee  mills. 
Other    contrivances    were    improvised  :     One 
method   very    much   in   vogue    was   to  make  a 
rude   mortar  by  hollowing  out   the    top  of  a 
stump.     Sometimes   this  was  done  by    boring 
or  chiseling,  but  it  was  frequently   burned  out 
and  the  cavity  scraped  with  a   knife  or  other 
instrument  until  all  the  charred  spots  were  re- 
moved.    In  this  cavity  the  corn    was    placed 
and   pounded   with  a   heavy,  rude   pestle   at- 
tached to  a  swing-pole  overhead.     The  bruised 
corn   was  known  by  the  name  of  "  samp,"  and 
when  pounded   was  made   into  "johnny  cake," 
the  coarser   part  being   boiled    into   ';  mush." 
The  first  mill  in  the  township  was    erected   by 
J.  L.  Rogers  for  his  individual   use.     It  was  a 
very  primitive  affair,  operated  by  horse-power, 
and    ground     very    slowly,    but    made   a    fail- 
article  of  meal.     It  was  much  used  in    after 
years  by  the  settlers  in  grinding  corn  for  horse 
feed.      A   second   mill  was    built   by    Flower 
Husband  on  his   farm   about  one-half  a  mile 
south  of  the  Rogers   place,  in  the  year   1840. 
This  mill  was  operated  by  horse-power  also, 
and  it  seems  to  have   done  a  very  good   busi- 
ness, as  it  was  kept  running  quite  extensively 
for  ten  years.     David  Plane  built  and  operated 
a  little  mill  just  across  the   line  in  Macoupin 
County  about  the  year  1850,  and  for  several 
years  supplied  breadstuff's  to  the  people  of  the 
adjoining  townships. 

A  number  of  the  first  settlers  had  been  men 
of  influence  and  education  in  their  old  homes, 
and  did  not  neglect  the  intellectual  culture  of 
their  children  after  locating  in  the  new  country, 
and  schools  were  at  once  established.  The 
first  schools  were  kept  across  the  line  in  the 
little  settlement  in  Macoupin  County,  and  were 
attended  by  the  youth  of  this  township  for  sev- 
eral years.  The  first  school  in  Pitman  was 
taught   by   William    Mclver   in  a  little  frame 


416 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


building  erected  for  the  purpose  and  known  as 
the  Friendship  Schoolhouse.  The  date  of  this 
school  was  about  the  year  1854.  The  second 
school  was  taught  by  Bluford  Pillsbury  the  fol- 
lowing year.  William  King,  Edwin  Rogers 
and  a  Miss  Harris  were  among  the  early  teach- 
ers of  the  township.  The  first  house  in  which 
a  public  school  was  taught  is  situated  in  the 
west-central  part  of  the  township,  and  is  still 
used  for  educational  purposes.  The  first  pub- 
lic school  was  taught  by  a  Mr.  Ware  about  the 
year  1858,  as  near  as  could  be  ascertained. 
Generally  speaking,  the  progress  of  the  public 
schools  here  as  elsewhere  throughout  the  coun- 
try has  been  of  a  most  remarkable  and  satis- 
factory character.  The  primitive,  ill-ventilated 
and  unhealthy  log  shanties  have  given  place  to 
neat  and  commodious  frame  structures,  while 
the  former  teachers,  of  whom  many  were  pos- 
sessed of  but  indifferent  scholastic  attainments, 
and  would  now  be  considered  far  from  compe- 
tent, have  been  supplanted  through  the  means 
of  the  normal  institutes  and  model  schools, 
which  the  liberal-mindedness  of  our  law-makers 
has  given  us  with  those  who  are  a  credit  to  the 
present  system  and  the  State  which  supports  it. 
John  L.  Rogers  was  the  first  Justice  of  the 
Peace  elected  in  Pitman,  an  office  he  filled  with 
ability  for  two  years.  He  was  elected  in  the 
year  1840  ;  John  Snow  was  chosen  Constable 
at  the   same   election.     The   Justices    of  the 

Peace,  at  present,  are  William  Woods  and 

Richards.  The  first  birth  mentioned  as  havinc 
occurred  in  the  township  was  that  of  Mary 
Rogers,  daughter  of  John  L.  Rogers,  who  was 
born  in  the  year  1832.  The  first  cemetery  was 
laid  out  near  the  Providence  M.  E.  Church  in 
the  year  1862,  and  the  first  person  interred 
therein  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Newell,  who 
died  the  same  year.  The  early  pioneers  of 
Pitman  found  ample  time  amid  their  other 
duties  to  discharge  those  higher  and  holier  ob- 
ligations which  they  owed  their  Creator,  the 
majority  of  them  being  devoted  church  mem- 


bers and  sincere  Christians.  The  Methodists 
had  a  flourishing  church  at  a  place  called  Sul- 
phur Springs  in  Macoupin  County,  as  early  as 
the  year  1840,  which  was  attended  by  the  resi- 
dents of  western  Pitman  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  organization  was  moved  into  this 
township  in  the  year  1851,  and  the  name 
changed  to  the  Providence  M.  E.  Church.  The 
Friendship  Schoolhouse  was  used  as  a  place  of 
worship  b^'  the  congregation  until  the  year 
1864,  when  the  present  church  edifice  was  built. 
This  building  cost  the  sum  of  $1,500,  is  of 
frame,  and  will  comfortably  seat  275  persons.  \ 
At  the  time  the  organization  was  moved  from 
Macoupin  County,  it  was  presided  over  by 
Rev.  James  Hutchinson,  and  numbered  fifty 
members.  Since  then,  the  number  has  de- 
creased somewhat,  there  being  at  present  but 
forty  names  on  the  church  records.  Among 
the  pastors  of  this  society  can  be  named  the 

following : Sample,  David  Bardrick,  George 

Craig,   Henry  Wilson,  Adam  Wagoner,  L.    L. 

Harlan, Prettyman,  0.  H.  P.  Ash,  James 

West,  A.  T.  Orr  and Sloan.     The  present 

incumbent  is  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Beckhart.  Their 
Sunday  school,  which  is  in  good  condition  and 
well  attended,  is  uuder  the  superiutendency  of 
S.  R.  Rice.  This  church  is  one  of  the  points  in 
the  Millwood  Circuit. 

The  Missionary  Baptists  have  a  strong  organi- 
zation near  the  central  part  of  the  township  on 
Section  28,  known  as  the  Prairie  Grove  Church, 
though  at  what  time  it  was  organized  was  not 
learned.  Their  building  which  is  the  finest 
church  edifice  in  the  township  was  erected  in 
the  year  1880  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,500.  The 
present  membership  of  this  church  is  about  fifty. 

The  Prairie  Chapel  M.  E.  Church  is  situated 
near  the  northeast  corner  of  the  township  in 
Section  12,  and  was  organized  in  the  year  1879. 
Their  house  of  worship,  a  neat  frame  building, 
was  erected  the  same  year,  and  cost  in  the 
neighborhood  of  $2,200.  There  are  now  on  the 
church  books  the  names  of  about  fifty  members, 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


417 


aud  the  congregation  is  reported  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition.  It  is  a  point  in  the  Raymond 
Circuit,  and  is  at  present  ministered  to  by  Rev. 
A.  D.  Beckhart. 

At  one  time  there  were  several  granges  of  the 
Patrons  of  Husbandry  in  successful  operation 
in  this  township,  only  one  of  which  is  in  exist- 
ence at  present.  Washington  Grange,  No.  970, 
was  instituted  in  the  spring  of  1874,  with  a 
membership  of  twenty-seven.  The  present 
membership  is  about  seventy,  among  whom  are 
many  of  the  foremost  fanners  of  the  township. 
Their  meetings  are  held  in  the  Bast  Union 
Schoolhouse,  situated  in  Section  10.  The  offi- 
cers of  this  lodge  at  present  are  R.  N.  Long, 
W.  M.  ;  S.  R.  Rice,  W.  0. ;  William  Howland 
Steward  ;  Edwin  Grimes,  Gate-Keeper ;  H.  G. 
Wagoner,  Treasurer  ;  Jasper  Street,  Secretary; 
Mollic  Howland,  Ceres  ;  Mollie  Bowman,  As- 
sistant Steward  ;  Miss  Street,  Flora.  We  will 
conclude  this  brief  sketch  of  Pitman  with  the 
following  account  of  a  very  daring  robbery, 
which  took  place  in  the  year  1881,  at  the  resi- 


dence of  Enoch  Perrine,  who  lives  in  the  north- 
western part  of  the  township.  Perrine  is  a 
prominent  stock-dealer,  and  is  known  to  have 
carried  large  sums  of  money  on  his  person. 
Shortly  after  making  a  heavy  sale  of  stock,  his 
house  was  visited  one  night  by  a  party  of  three 
masked  men,  who  forced  an  entrance  into  the 
same,  and,  after  tying  and  gagging  the  differ- 
ent members  of  the  family,  searched  the  prem- 
ises, and  carried  away  about  $7,000,  which 
Perrine  had  that  day  received.  The  members 
of  the  family  were  left  tied,  and  in  this  help- 
less condition  they  remained  till  nearly  morn- 
ing, when  one  of  them  succeeded  in  freeing 
himself.  The  rest  were  soon  liberated,  an 
alarm  given  and  soon  detectives  were  on  the 
tracks  of  the  robbers,  one  of  whom  was  over- 
hauled in  St.  Louis,  and  the  other  two  were 
captured  shortly  afterward  in  Chicago.  They 
were  brought  to  Hillsboro,  tried,  convicted 
and  sentenced  to  a  long  term  of  imprisonment 
in  the  penitentiary. 


418 


HISTORY    OF    MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


CHAPTER  XXXI.* 

AUDUBON  TOWNSHIP— TOPOGRAPHY  AND  DESCRIPTION— PHYSICAL   FEATURES— WATER-COURSES 
—EARLY  SETTLEMENT— FIRST  BIRTH,  DEATH    AND    MARRIAGE— THE    LIT  TLBS— EARLY 

CHURCHES  AND  SCHOOLS  — THE  OLD  TOWN  OF  AUDUBON,  ETC. 

through  the  western  part  of  South  Audubon. 
The  soil  is  of  average  futility,  producing  good 
crops  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  rye,  etc.  Consider- 
able fruit  is  also  raised  in  this  section. 


THE  township  of  Audubon  lies  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  Montgomery  Count}',  and 
consists  of  two  parts  commonly  known  as  North 
and  South  Audubon.  North  Audubon  is  made- 
up  of  thirty-six  sections,  while  the  portion 
known  as  South  Audubon  is  a  fractional  town- 
ship, containing  only  eighteen  sections.  It  is 
bounded  by  Christian  Count}  on  the  north,  by 
Shelby  County  on  the  east,  by  Fayette  County 
on  the  south,  and  on  the  west  by  the  townships 
of  Witt  and  Nokornis.  Most  of  the  surface  is 
level  prairie  land,  though  along  the  streams  it 
is  somewhat  rough  and  broken.  Originally. 
about  one-fifth  of  the  towuship  was  covered 
with  timber,  consisting  of  oak.  ash,  walnut, 
elm,  hickory,  etc.  Much  of  this  original  tim- 
ber has,  however,  been  cleared  away.  Through- 
out the  township  are  numerous  small  water- 
courses, among  the  most  important  of  which  is 
Ramsey  Creek,  rising  in  the  northeast  corner 
of  county,  and,  flowing  in  a  southerly  direction, 
unites  with  Elliott  Creek,  in  the  northwest 
corner  of  Section  14,  in  South  Audubon.  Car- 
ter's Branch  has  its  source  in  a  small  lake  in 
the  southern  part  of  Section  1,  in  South  Audu- 
bon, and,  flowing  almost  due  south,  unite  with 
Otter  Branch,  and  together,  empty  into  Elliott 
Creek.  Hooker's  Branch  rises  in  the  north- 
west corner  of  Section  5,  in  South  Audubon, 
and  winds  its  tortuous  course,  first  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  and  then  almost  directly  east, 
until  after  it  has  become  a  stream  of  consider- 
able size.  It  is  given  the  name  of  Elliott  Creek, 
and  leaves  the  township  at  the  southwest 
corner   of  Section    14.      C.esar    Creek    flows 

*By  T.  J.  Kiley. 


Among  the  first  white  people  who  ventured 
to  settle  in  this  portion  of  Montgomery  County 
was  Thomas  Hill.     He  came  in  about  the  year 

1832  and  located  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
township.  About  the  same  time,  Basil  Hill 
and  Joseph  Davis  came  in  and  located  a  little 
west  of  Thomas  Hill,  near  the  central  part  of 
the   township.      James    Card    came   in   about 

1833  and  settled  in  the  central  part.  In  1834. 
the  most  important  settlement  was  made  by  a 
colony  of  emigrants  who  came  from  the  State 
of  Massachusetts.  They  laid  off  the  town  of 
Audubon  a  short  time  after  their  arrival. 
Prominent  among  these  were  Isaac  Hinkley, 
Robert  Little,  Otis  Little  and  William  Pike, 
who  entered  large  tracts  of  laud,  and  for  some 
time  farmed  very  extensively.  They  all  have 
descendants  living  here  at  present,  and  Robert 
Little  is  now  the  largest  land-owner  in  Audu- 
bon Towuship.  The  first  settler  in  what  is 
known  as  North  Audubon,  was  Thomas  Price, 
who  came  in  in  1831  and  located  on  Section 
3G.  The  first  white  child  born  in  North  Audu- 
bon was  John  Henry  Price,  son  of  Thomas 
Price,  who  was  born  in  1832,  and  Amanda 
Price,  daughter  of  Thomas  Price,  who  died 
about  this  time  (1832).  was  the  first  death. 
The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  North  Audu- 
bon was  M.  S.  Cushman,  who  was  elected  in 
1836,  and  about  the  same  time  William  II. 
Russell  was  elected  Constable.  Radford  A'ir- 
den   came  in   1832,  and  settled  in   the  south- 


AUDUBON    TOWNSHIP. 


419 


eastern  corner  of  the  township.  George  Cot- 
tingham,  another  early  settler,  came  about 
1835,  and  located  in  the  southwestern  corner. 
He  was  soon  after,  in  1836,  followed  by  Bailey 
Oshorn,  William  Craig-  and  William  Cotting- 
ham,  who  located  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
Shipton  Estes  settled  in  the  northeastern 
corner  of  South  Audubon  in  1843,  and  during 
the  same  year,  William  Orear,  James  Smith 
and  William  T.  Slater  located  near  him.  At 
quite  an  early  date,  a  number  of  wealthy  set- 
tlers came  in  from  Massachusetts,  and  entered 
large  tracts  of  land.  They  built  magnificent 
residences  and  farmed  extensively,  but  after 
remaining  a  short  time  grew  discouraged  and 
sold  out,  disposing  of  their  land  at  a  price 
ranging  from  30  to  60  cents  an  acre.  The 
fine  houses  built  by  them,  partially  re- 
main, and  though  they  have  gone  very  much 
to  decay,  they  still  bear  signs  of  their  former 
grandeur.  A  part  of  one  of  these  farms  is 
that  known  at  present  as  the  "  Old  Blue  Farm." 

In  1846,  William  T.  Slater  was  elected  the 
first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  South  Audubon, 
and  Elias  Pearce  the  first  Constable.  The  first 
two  marriages  occurred  in  1845;  John  Slater 
to  .Miss  Julia  Coy,  and  Miss  Isabel  Slater  prom- 
ised to  "  love,  honor  and  obey  "  Dr.  A.  S.  Van- 
deveer.  The  first  birth  was  that  of  Sarah  J., 
daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth  Orear,  in 
1843,  and  the  first  death  was  a  daughter  of 
Shipton  and  Margaret  Estes. 

Of  the  early  schools  of  this  township,  but 
little  can  be  said.  They  were  of  the  usual 
primitive  character,  and  the  buildings  were  the 
ordinary  log  structures  so  common  at  an  earl}- 
day.  The  first  house  for  school  purposes  was 
erected  on  Section  12  in  South  Audubon,  in 
1849,  and  was  a  log  building,  with  a  large  fire- 
place and  a  stick  chimney.  The  first  teacher 
was  Charles  Turner,  and  his  school  was  taught 
on  the  subscription  plan. 


The  first  church  erected  in  this  township  was 
by  the  Unitarian  denomination.  The  church 
was  organized  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Huntington, 
and  a  house  of  worship  was  built  in  the  spring 
of  1839.  The  second  church  in  South  Audu- 
bon was  of  the  Baptist  denomination.  It  was 
organized  by  Elder  Samuel  Rogers,  a  Baptist 
preacher,  and  the  first  church  edifice  was  built 
in  1850. 

The  only  village  in  this  township  is  that  of 
Audubon.  As  stated,  it  was  laid  out  by  a  col- 
ony of  emigrants  from  Massachusetts,  in  1834. 
For  some  years  after  its  settlement,  it  gave 
promise  of  becoming  a  town  of  considerable 
importance,  and,  at  one  time,  competed  with 
Hillsboro  for  the  county  seat.  Hiram  Holmes 
built  and  kept  the  first  hotel.  He  also  built 
the  first  mill,  which  at  that  time  was  considered 
a  very  extensive  affair.  M.  S.  Cushmau  and 
Samuel  Patch  were  the  first  merchants.  Isaac 
Hinkley  was  the  first  land  agent  and  also  the 
first  Postmaster.  Not  long  after  the  settle- 
ment of  Audubon,  a  party  of  Eastern  capital- 
ists came  in  and  built  a  magnificent  hotel. 
They  were  compelled  to  haul  all  of  the  mate- 
rial from  St.  Louis,  and  their  poor  facilities 
made  it  a  very  expensive  undertaking.  It  was 
operated  without  success  for  several  }-ears,  and 
was  finally  torn  down  and  a  farm  house  made 
of  it.  A  court  house  was  also  erected  here  in 
an  early  day,  but  Hillsboro  being  chosen  as  the 
count}'  seat,  it  was  very  little  used  and  was 
finally  sold  to  the  Methodist  denomination  for 
a  church,  and  is  at  present  used  as  such.  After 
a  few  short  years  of  prosperity,  the  town  grad- 
ually began  to  die.  Merchants  moved  their 
business  to  other  places,  and  the  extensive 
town  plat  was  slowly  changed  into  farming 
land,  until  at  present  only  three  or  four  houses, 
a  few  ruins  and  numerous  old  wells  remain  to 
mark  the  place  where  the  town  once  stood. 


PART   II. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   DEPARTMENT 


<4S-" — ^ 


PART  II. 


BIOGBAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 


GREENVILLE  CITY  AND  PRECINCT. 


DR.  WILLIAM  A.  ALLEN,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  physicians  of  Greenville,  was 
born  in  Jacksonville,  Morgan  Co.,  111.,  son  of 
William  and  Mary  (Killingsworth)  Allen ; 
he  a  farmer,  born  at  Knoxville,  Tenn. ,  in 
1799,  and  dying  in  Hillsboro,  111.,  in  1862; 
she  also  a  native  of  Knoxville,  born  in  1824, 
and  still  living  ;  they  were  the  parents  of 
eleven  children.  Onr  subject,  Dr.  Allen,  after 
his  primary  education  was  completed  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine,  finishing  the 
same  at  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated,  when  he  be- 
gan the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Green- 
ville, in  1855,  where  he  has  continued  in  active 
and  successful  practice.  He  has  filled  the 
positions  of  member  of  City  Council  of  Green- 
ville and  member  of  the  Board  of  Health,  and 
served  two  years  during  the  late  war  for  the 
Union,  as  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Ninth  Illi- 
nois Infantry.  In  I860,  he  married  Miss 
Millicent  N.  Blanchard,  born  in  Greenville, 
daughter  of  Mr.  L.  Blanchard,  of  Stoughton, 
Mass. .  who  came  West  about  1822  ;  three 
children  have  been  born  to  them — Victoria, 
Jessie  and  Ethel.  He  is  a  Congregationalist, 
a  Mason,  an  A.  O.  U.  W.  and  a  Democrat. 

LEMUEL    ADAMS,    Postmaster,    Green- 


ville, was  born  in  Dayton,  Montgomery  Co., 
Ohio,  in  1831,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Bacon) 
Adams,  he  born  in  Kentucky  in  1802,  by  oc- 
cupation a  cooper,  and  dying  in  1877  ;  she, 
a  native  of  Allegany  County,  N  Y. ,  born  in 
1804,  and  died  in  Greenville,  111.,  in  1877  ; 
they  bad  six  children.  Our  subject,  after  ob- 
taining an  education  afforded  by  the  common 
schools  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  learned  the 
blacksmith's  and  wagon-maker's  trades,  and 
has  chiefly  followed  those  trades  and  mer- 
chandising until  his  appointment  as  Postmas- 
ter of  Greenville,  in  the  winter  of  1881-82. 
In  April,  1861,  he  entered  the  military  serv- 
ice, and  was  elected  Lieutenant  of  Company 
D,  Twenty-Second  Illinois  Volunteer  Infan- 
try, and  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Bel- 
mont, Mo.,  in  November,  1861,  coming  home 
in  1862  on  account  of  disability  from  wounds. 
In  1862,  in  Greenville,  he  married  Miss  Julia 
Ellen  Birge,  a  native  of  Bond  County,  born 
in  1839,  daughter  of  Ansel  and  Millicent 
(Twiss)  Birge,  both  natives  of  Vermont,  he 
born  in  178S  and  she  in  1808.  Three  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  Mr.  Adams — Emma, 
Edgar  and  Cora  Alice.  Mrs.  Adams  died  in 
L874  May  4,  1882,  he  married  Miss  Anna 
Morris,   of    Milton,   Ind.      Mr.   Adams  came 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


to  Bond  County  in  1852.  Is  independent  in 
bis  religious  views  ;  is  a  Mason,  an  Odd  Fel- 
low, and  a  Republican. 

GEORGE  F.   BERRY,   merchant,  Green- 
ville, of  tbe  well-known  general  merchandis- 
ing firm  of  Berry  &  Davis,  is  a  native  of  Bond 
County,  and  was  born   in   1844.     His  father, 
from  whom  our  subject  takes  his  name,  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  was  born  in  Rock- 
ingham County,  Va.,   A.  D.,  1819,  moved  to 
Christian  Co.,  Ky.,  thence  to  Bond  County 
in   1827.     He  took  as  his  wife  Miss  Louise 
Enloe,  the  fruits  of  this  alliance  being  three 
sons  and  four  daughters.     He  departed  this 
life    in    1867.       George    F.,    Jr.,    received 
his  early  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Bond  County,  and  closed  his  studies  with  a 
special   academic   course.      He    received    his 
first  business  experience  as  a  salesman  in  a 
store   and  in  1869    established  the  business 
with  which  he  is  now  connected.     October  10, 
1871,  he  married  Miss  Eliza  J.  Henry,  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  A.  G.  Henry,  a  prominent  and 
successful  politician  and  a  pioneer  of  Bond 
County.    Mrs.  Berry  was  born  in  Bond  County 
in  1852.     They  have  four  children — Mary  N. , 
Nouisie,    Ellen  and    Henry.      Mr.    Berry  is 
counted   among  the  successful  business  men 
of  Bond  County,  and  has  represented  his  [the 
Forty-second]   district  in  the  Thirtieth  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  Illinois.      He  has  also  served 
one  term  as  Clerk  of  the.  city  of  Greenville, 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  of 
the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.    His 
grandfather,  David  Berry,  was    a  native  of 
Delaware,   born   in    1767,    removed   when    a 
young    man    to   Rockingham    County,    Va., 
where    he    married.       Here  all    but   two   of 
their    eight   children   were   born.      In  1811, 
he  removed  to  Christian  County,  Ky.,  where 
they  resided  until  1827,  when  he  came  with  his 
family  to  Greenville,  Bond  County.     Here  he 
resided  until  his    deatb,   which  occurred    in 


September,  A.  D.  1842.     But  two  of  his  chil- 
dren are  now  living. 

HENRY  BASS.  Greenville.     In  a   list  of 
some  of    the  most  prominent   agriculturists 
and  self-made  men  of  Bond  County,  tbe  name 
of  Henry  Bass,  of   Greenville  City,  occupies 
a  prominent  place.      He  was  born  in  Fayette 
County,   III.,   April   22,   1833,   and    was   the 
sixth  child  of  the  family  of  twelve  children 
of  Guilford  and  Mary   A.nn  (Proctor)  Bass. 
Guilford  Bass  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
and  removed  from  there  to  Kentucky  for  a 
time,  thence  to  Tennessee,  thence  to  Fayette 
County  in  1832,  locating  northeast  of  Van- 
dalia  about  twelve  miles.      There  he  remained 
until  his  death,  in  1845.      His  wife  survived 
until  1872,  when  she  also  departed  this  life, 
leaving  ten  sons  and  two  daughters  to  moiun 
her  departure.     But  two  of  these,   William 
and  our  subject,  are  now  residents  of  Bond 
County.      Henry    left    home    at   the    age   of 
fourteen.     He  came  to  Bond  County,  sought 
and  found  employment  on  a  farm,  receiving 
only  $7  for  a  hard  month's  work,  and  saved 
sufficient  means  to  make  part  payment  on  his 
first  purchase  of   100  acres  of  Bond   County 
land,  in  Beaver  Creek  Precinct.     In  August, 
1856,  he  made  a  second  purchase  of  100  acres, 
which  he   still   owns,    and  to  which  he  has 
since  added,  owning  at  one  time  1,500  acres. 
Mr.  Bass  married  Nancy  Goodson,  daughter 
of  Spencer  Goodson,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  a 
farmer  and  blacksmith,  and  came  to  Illinois 
when  a  young  man.     With  the  exception  of 
a  four  years'  stay  in  Missouri,  he  has  been  a 
resident  of  Illinois,    and  now   of    Christian 
County.      Mr.  Bass  is  the  sixth  child.      They 
have  six  sons  and  two  daughters — William 
H.,  Abbie,   George,  Edward,   Walter,  Louis, 
Leoni  and  Leonard.      Abbie  is  now  Mrs.  C. 
C.  Squires,  of  Beaver  Creek  Township.     Mr. 
and  Mrs.    Bass  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church  of  Smith  Grove.      Their  home  is  in 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


Beaver  Creek  Precinct,  Town  4,  Section  20. 
Guilford  and  Charles  S.  are  deceased.  Guil- 
ford died  November  14,  1856,  and  Charles  S. 
August  31,  1866,  at  one  year  and  eighteen 
days  old. 

C.  R.  BENNETT,  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent, and  successful  drug  merchants  of  South- 
ern Illinois.  Commenced  business  in  Green- 
ville, in  the  fall  of  1861,  at  the  corner  of 
Second  and  Main  streets,  where  he  continued 
until  the  following  February.  He  then  re- 
moved to  west  side  of  public  square,  where  he 
conducted  a  most  successful  business,  and  in 
1869  purchased  his  present  location,  where- 
upon he  erected  a  substantial  brick  block, 
fronting  twenty-six  feet  on  Third  street  and 
and  seventy-five  feet  on  College  avenue.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  substantial  and  attractive 
blocks  in  the  city  of  Greenville,  is  two  sto- 
ries  in  height  and  has  a  roomy  basement. 
The  upper  floor  is  occupied  with  business  offi- 
ces. The  first  floor  and  basement  are  stocked 
with  a  complete  line  of  drugs,  medicines, 
paints,  oils  and  varnish,  toilet  goods,  trusses, 
pocket  books  and  porte-monnaies  and  pocket 
cutlery,  tobacco,  cigars  and  confectionery,  etc. 
Mr.  Bennett  also  carries  a  full  line  of  sugars, 
teas,  coffees,  spices  and  fancy  groceries.  Mr. 
Bennett  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was  born  at 
Xenia,  Greene  County.  His  father,  Mr.  E.  Ben- 
nett is  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  pioneer 
druggist  of  the  Buckeye  State,  and  C.  R.'s 
marked  success  as  a  druggist  is  largely  due 
to  his  early  and  life  long  experience,  as  well 
as  the  fact  that  his  goods  are  always  bought 
and  sold  at  prices  made  upon  the  cash  basis. 
The  stock  of  his  establishment  is  always  well 
selected  and  complete,  Mr.  Bennett  gives  his 
personal  and  undivided  attention  to  his  busi- 
ness, and  makes  a  point  to  supply  all  the  de- 
mands of  the  trade,  and  the  sales  of  the  es- 
tablishment are  annually  increasing. 

WILLIAMSON  BARKER,  a  farmer  and 


a  native  of  Bond  County,  is  very  properly 
classed  among  the  pioneers,  having  been  born 
near  Old  Ripley  March  5,  1835,  although 
he  has  not  continously  lived  in  the  county 
since  that  time.  He  is  distinguished  in  his 
vicinity  as  having  driven  an  ox  team  more 
miles  than  any  other  man  in  the  county.  The 
feat  of  driving  a  yoke  of  horned  animals  from 
Illinois  to  San  Francisco,  Cal.,isone  worthy 
of  record,  especially  when  accomplished  by  a 
backwoods  country  lad,  such  as  was  Mr.  Bar- 
ker in  1854.  Williamson's  father,  Jordan 
Barker,  was  a  native  of  Randolph  County. 
N.  C,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  emigrated 
to  Illinois  iu  the  year  1817,  and  located 
near  Old  Ripley,  on  a  tract  of  240  acres  of 
land,  a  portion  of  which  he  entered.  He 
was  a  fearless  and  aggressive  pioneer,  came 
to  stay  and  did  stay,  developing  a  farm,  tak- 
ing part  in  all  public  enterprises  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  civilization;  was  an  under  offi- 
cer in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  took  part  in 
other  minor  Indian  engagements.  He  raised 
a  family  of  ten  children,  Williamson  being 
the  third  and  the  only  one  now  living.  Will- 
iamson's mother  was  one  Nancy  Plant,  and 
a  member  of  one  of  the  early  pioneer  fami- 
lies of  Bond  County.  Our  subject  received 
the  educational  advantage  of  county  schools 
of  Old  Ripley,  and  at  nineteen  years  of 
age  took  an  overland  journey  to  California, 
where  he  spent  in  all  about  twenty- four  years 
of  his  life,  making  the  trip  three  times.  He 
there  spent  his  time  in  gold  mining  with 
moderate  results;  returned  to  permanently^ 
remain  in  Greenvillo  iu  1878,  and  is  now  in- 
dependently retired  on  a  fertile  farm  of  'J74 
acres  near  the  city. 

LEVI    BORROR,    farmer,    P.    O.    Smith- 

boro.       The  Borror  family   came  originally 

from  Germany,  and  settled  in  Hardin  County, 

Va.      The  father  of  our  subject  was  Solomon 

I  who  emigrated    from    Virginia    to    Franklin 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


County,  Ohio,  about  the  close  of  the  war  of 
1812;  the  family  consisted  of  the  grandpa- 
rents of  Levi.  The  names  of  the  children 
were  Absalom,  Solomon,  Jacob,  Isaac,  Chris- 
tina and  Martin,  all  of  whom  settled  near 
Columbus.  Levi  was  born  January  14,  1834, 
in  Franklin  County;  is  of  the  third  genera- 
tion of  those  who  came  to  Ohio;  his  brothers 
and  sisters  were  Elizabeth,  Ichabod,  William 
C.  and  Gilbert  L.  Elizabeth  married  Wes- 
ley Titus,  and  resides  in  Litchlield,  Mont- 
gomery County;  Gilbert  L.,  in  Marshall 
County,  Ind. ;  William  C,  died  in  the  army; 
Levi,  came  to  Bond  County  February  28, 1868, 
and  located  in  Town  5,  Range  2,  in  Greenville 
Precinct,  where  he  has  since  lived.  His  farm 
consists  of  270  acres.  He  has  been  twice 
married,  and  had  children  by  both  wives, 
both  now  deceased.      His   first  marriage  was 

March  1,  1859,  to  Catharine  C, who 

bore  him  two  children — William  alone  now 
living.  His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Roach, 
born  in  Pickaway  County,  Ohio,  daughter  of 
Charles  Roach.  Mr.  Borror  had  by  last  wife 
five  children — Benjamin  F.,  Walter  W..  Al- 
bert J.,  Mary  P.  and  Marion  R.  Mi-.  Bor- 
ror is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church;  his 
father  of  the  Christian  Church. 

THOMAS  M.  BROWN,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Pocahontas,  was  born  in  Belmont  County, 
Ohio,  April  12,  1828:  son  of  Simon  Brown, 
born  in  Virginia  in  1783,  a  millwright  and 
farmer  by  occupation,  who  died  in  December. 
1864;  his  wife,  Martha  (Williams)  Brown, 
dying  in  1860.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  six  boys  and  five  girls.  Our 
subject  has  been  engaged  in  farming  all  his 
life;  has  served  as  School  Director  eight 
years,  also  Road  Supervisor.  During  the 
war,  he  served  in  Company  F,  One  Hundred 
and  Thirty-fifth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
Capt.  Macadams.  He  owns  120  acres  of 
excellent  land,  and  is  a  Democrat  and  an  Odd 


Fellow.  In  this  county,  November  5,  1849, 
he  married  Mary  E.  File,  born  September  13, 
1S28,  daughter  of  George  and  Mary  A.  File, 
by  which  union  there  were  born  seven  chil- 
dren— Lafayette,  Emma  M.,  Marcella,  Sam 
uel   M.,  Mary  M.,    Sylvester  and  Benjamin. 

SAMUEL  M.  BROWN,  son  of  the  above, 
Thomas  M.  Brown,  was  born  in  Ripley  Town- 
ship January  24,  1857.  He  received  his  ed- 
ucation in  the  schools  of  the  county,  and  has 
followed  farming  his  entire  life.  January 
6,  1881,  he  married  Frances  R.  Dixon,  born 
in  Greenville  Township  October  8,  1861, 
daughter  of  J.  M.  Dixon,  a  farmer,  and  one 
son  has  been  born  to  them — Jesse  M. ;  is  a 
Democrat. 

L.  S.  BROOKS,  P.  O.  Greenville,  farmer 
and  stock-raiser,  is  the  owner  and  proprietor  of 
"  Prospect  View  "  farm.  He  was  born  April 
13,  1853,  in  Penfield,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  son 
of  Garry  Brooks,  who  was  born  July  5,  1806, 
near  Middletown  in  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
|  and  was  married  to  Emma  Chauncey,  the 
mother  of  L.  S.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John 
and  Amelia (Goodridge)  Chauncey.  The  pa- 
ternal grandsire  of  L.  S.  was  Samuel  Brooks, 
a  native  of  Scotland,  who  emigrated  to  the 
Eastern  States  prior  to  the  year  1S00.  Garry 
Brooks  is  a  resident  of  Fairport,  in  Monroe 
County.  In  his  early  life,  he  was  engaged  in 
farming  pursuits  and  became  wealthy,  and 
has  since  retired  from  active  business  life. 
He  had  but  three  children — Fannie  L..  L.  S. 
and  Emma  J.  Our  subject  had  good  school 
advantages,  and  was  brought  up  to  farming 
pursuits.  Having  heard  glowing  accounts  of 
the  West,  ami  the  beauties  of  the  prairies  of 
Illinois  State,  he  resolved  to  cast  his  lot  there. 
and  in  the  spring  of  1S77  he  came  west  to 
this  county,  and  the  year  following  purchased 
the  farm  he  now  owns,  on  which  he  has  since 
built  a  large  and  handsome  residence  and  two 
larffe  barns,  the  residence  being  located  on  a 


GREENVILLE  CITY   AND  PRECINCT. 


beautiful  eminence  which  overlooks  the  en- 
tire township.  He  has  the  best  improved 
farm  in  Bond  County,  and  is  one  of  the 
young  and  progressive  fanners  of  the  town- 
ship. His  wife  was  Mary  McMillan,  daugh- 
ter of  James  McMillan  and  Susan  Harmon. 
This  union  has  been  crowned  with  four  chil- 
dren— ChaunceyG. ,  Fannie  F. ,  Jesse  L.  and 
Emma  S.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church. 

OTIS  B.  COLCORD,  blooded  stock  raiser 
Greenville.  Mr.  Colcord  is  a  native  of  Yar- 
mouth, Me. ,  and  was  born  March  10,  ISIS.  His 
father,  Daniel  Colcord,  was  a  native  of  Exe- 
ter, N.  H. ,  and  by  trade  a  potter.  He  had  a 
family  of  live  children,  of  whom  our  subject 
was  the  third.  All  of  these  are  now  living, 
and  residents  of  Illinois.  Otis  B.  received 
his  schooling  in  the  public  schools  of  his  na- 
tive place,  and  came  West  in  the  year  1837  on 
a  prospecting  tour  into  Indiana.  Returning 
East  the  following  year,  he  repeated  his  jour- 
ney as  far  as  Bond  County  in  the  year  1839. 
The  following  eighteen  years  of  his  life  he 
spent  in  the  employ  of  the  reaper  and  mow- 
er manufacturing  company  of  D.  M.  Osborne  & 
Co.,  of  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  as  their  Western  agent, 
with  headquarters  at  St.  Louis,  and  at  the 
same  time  conducting  a  farm  of  his  own,  mak- 
ing a  specialty  of  Mambrino  stock.  Among 
some  of  his  finest  specimens  of  horse  flesh  are 
Mambrino  Athlete,  Leno  Mambrino,  Lady 
Harris,  Rockey,  Lady  Plant,  Lady  Cooper, 
Mombrino  Queen,  Grape  Shot,  Maid  of  the 
Mist,  Marshal,  et  al. 

J.  J.  CLARKSON,  merchant,  Greenville, 
is  a  native  of  England,  born  in  1S45;  son  of 
James  and  Elizabeth  B.  (Douglas)  Clarkson, 
both  natives  of  England,  but  she  of  Scotch 
descent,  and  at  present  residing  at  Alton,  111. 
Our  subject,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  com- 
mon school  education,  took  a  course  at  Jones' 
Commercial  College,    St.  Louis,   and  began 


life  as  a  farmer,  but  has  been  in  the  express 
business,  and  at  present  is  merchandising.  In 
Carlisle,  111.,  in  1870,  he  married  Elizabeth 
McDowell,  of  Scotch  nativity.  Mr.  Clarkson 
served  his  adopted  country  during  the  late 
war,  as  a  member  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Thirty-third  and  One  Hundred  and  Forty- 
fourth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  He  is  a 
Presbyterian,  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  G  T., 
the  A.  O.  TJ.  W.,  the  I.  O.  M.  A.  and  is  a 
Republican.  Mr.  Clarkson  is  at  the  head 
of  the  well-known  firni  of  J.  J.  Clarkson  & 
Co.,  who  do  an  extensive  business  in  their 
line.  They  cany  a  full  line  of  hardware,  and 
are  agents  for  various  agricultural  imple- 
ments, being  one  of  the  most  reliable  con- 
cerns in  Southern  Illinois. 

GEORGE  DONNELL  (deceased).  Among 
those  men  whose  personal  history  is  insep- 
arably interwoven  with  the  pioneer  history  of 
Bond  County,  was  the  lamented  George  Don- 
nell.  He  was  a  man  possessed  of  all  the  es- 
sential qualifications  for  a  most  successful 
pioneer,  and  came  to  Bond  County  at  a  time 
when  men  of  his  type  were  most  needed.  Of 
his  forefathers,  this  much  only  can  be  said: 
Ihey  were  of  Scotch  nativity,  and  at  the  time 
when  religious  persecution  prevailed  in  Scot- 
land, they  fled  to  the  North  of  Ireland. 
George  Donnell's  grandfather,  Thomas  Don- 
nell,  was  constrained  to  leave  Ireland  because 
of  the  unsettled  state  of  religious  affairs  there, 
and  in  1731  came  to  America  with  seven 
brothers  and  two  sisters,  and  settled  near 
Philadelphia,  Penn.  Of  his  immediate  family 
or  personal  life  little  is  known,  except  that 
he  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  that  a  son  of 
his,  Maj.  John  Donnell,  emigrated  to  Guil- 
ford County,  N.  C. ,  engaged  in  agriculture, 
and  there  raised  a  family  of  fifteen  children. 
Maj.  John  Donnell  was  an  earnest  and  zeal- 
ous advocate  for  the  principles  of  free  gov- 
ernment, and  fought  nobly  for  the  iudepend- 


10 


r.lnC.KAPHICAL: 


ence  of  America  in  the  Revolutionary  strug- 
gle, where  he  gained  his  military  title.     He 
was  twice  married.      First,  to  Hannah  Meeks, 
and  by  her  had  three  daughters  and  two  sons. 
For  his  second  wife  he  took  one  Betsey  Denny, 
and  by  her  had  five  daughters  and  five  sons, 
George,  our  subject,  being  his  father's  eleventh 
child,  or  his  mother's  sixth.      He  was  born  in 
Guilford  County,  N.  C,  July  1, 1793.    His  par- 
ents were  both  Christian  people,  and  early  in 
life  he  imbibed  the  truths  and   teachings  of 
the  Holy  Bible,  and  connected  himself  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Buffalo,  N.    C. , 
where  they  for  man}  years  resided.     May  31 ', 
1815,  he  married  Miss  Anna  McLean,  also  a 
native  of  Guilford  County,   and  born  June 
18,  179-J.     Her  father  was  Joseph  McLean,  a 
North    Carolina   pioneer   who    married   one 
Peggy  Mabin,  and  Anna  was  their  sixth  child, 
and  the  second  youngest  of  the  family.     She 
grew  to  be   a    woman  of  great   strength    of 
character,  possessing  unfaltering  energy,  and 
has   been   to  her  chosen  companion  a  must 
faithful   wife,  to  her  offspring   a   loving   and 
devoted    mother.       This   union    was    blessed 
with   a  family   of  thirteen  children,  namely, 
Joseph  M.,  John   D.,  Polly  E.,  William  N., 
James  M.,  Betsey  A.,  Thomas  S.,  George  W., 
Mary  J.,  Robert  L.,  Levi   S.,  Henry  C.  and 
Emily  R.,  all  born  in  Bond   County   except 
the  two  first  named.      Three,  Betsey  A.,  Polly 
and  James  M.,  died  in  infancy.     George  W., 
Henry  C.  and  James  are  in  the  West.     Joseph 
M.,    William    N.,     John  D.    (deceased),    and 
Thomas  S.  (deceased),  all  settled  on  farms  in 
Bond  County.      Robert,  Mary   and  Levi  are 
deceased,  and   Emily,  the  youngest,  married 
Col.  George  C.  McCord,  of  Greenville.    George 
Donnell  emigrated  to  Bond  County  in  the  year 
1819,  and  first  settled  near  the  forks  of  Shoal 
Creek,  where  he  lived  for  several  years.     He 
sold  his  property  there  and  bought  one  quar- 
ter section  of  land  about  three  miles  north- 


west of  Greenville.     This  land  he  improved, 
erected  upon  it  good  buildings,  making  for 
his  family  a  comfortable  home,  and  not  uu- 
frecpiently  the  weary  traveler  a  welcome  stop - 
jfing  place.     To  his  landed  estate  he  from 
time  to  time  added,  so  that  as  his  children  came 
of  age  he  gave  each  a  farm  of  160  acres.     To 
the   education   of  his  family  he   devoted  no 
little  time  and  means,  and  for  a  time  took  up 
his   residence  at  Hillsboro  that   they  might 
have  the  best  of  school  advantages.    As  a  relig- 
ious man,  Mr.  Donnell  was  always  prominent. 
At  once,  when  coming  to  Bond  County,  he  iden- 
tified himself  with  the  people  of  God.    and 
united  with   the    Shoal    Creek    Presbyterian 
Church,  the  second  of  the  order  in  Southern 
Illinois.     He,  with  others,  organized  the  first 
Sabbath  school   in  Southern  Illinois,  and  ber 
lieved  by  many  to  be  the  first   in  the  State. 
This  school  held  sessions  on  Saturdays  and 
Sundays,  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  be- 
ing in  the   Saturday  programmes.     The  ad- 
vantages of  this  school    were    improved    by 
whole  pioneer  families,  who  came  from  long 
distances  to  attend.      Mr.  Donnell  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Greenville,  and  aided  with  much  time  and 
money  in  erecting  their  first  church  edifice  in 
the  city,  in  1827.     In  March,    1828,  he  was 
elected  and  ordained  a  Ruling  Elder,  which 
office  he  filled  with  great  fidelity  until  1875. 
As   he    advanced   in  years    he  sold  most  of 
his  farming  lands,  and  afterward  secured   a 
comfortable   home  in  Greenville,   and    from 
that  time  until  his  death    lived  a  compara- 
tively  retired    life,    devoting    much    of    his 
leisure  time  to  social  and  religious  duties. 
Mr.  Donnell  was  a  man  of  positive  traits  of 
character,  but  realizing  man's  liability  to  err. 
he  was   always  open  to  conviction,  and  anx- 
ious to  repair  an  injury.     Old  age  crept  upon 
him,  disease  was  found  lurking  in  his  system. 
I  and    a  stroke  of  paralysis    in   1S64  ensued. 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AXD   PRECINCT. 


11 


From  this  he  gradually  recovered.  A  second 
and  more  severe  stroke,  however,  seized  upon 
him,  which  resulted  in  his  death  Monday, 
April  l(i.  1877.  at  the  residence  of  Col.  George 
C  McCord.  surrounded  by  his  children  and 
friends,  who  lovingly  administered  to  his 
every  need.  Mrs.  Anna  Donneli,  for  more 
than  sixty  years  his  devoted  wife,  still  sur- 
vives him,  and  lives  with  her  son-in-law,  and 
youngest  child,  Ellen,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCord. 
She  is  now  over  eighty-seven  years  of  age, 
but  still  enjoys  the  use  of  her  mental  facul- 
ties, and  more  than  average  good  health.  A 
full  page  portrait  of  the  late  stalwart  pioneer 
appears  in  this  volume. 

W.  S.  DANN  &  CO.  The  mercantile  house 
of  W.  S.  Dann  &  Co.  justly  deserves  notice 
in  a  history  of  Bond  County,  as  standing  at 
the  head  of  the  mercantile  trade  of  Southern 
Illinois.  The  business  was  first  established 
in  1870  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Dann  and  a  brother, 
Mr.  E.  L.  Dann,  who  opened  a  general  stock 
in  the  corner  number  of  the  present  establish- 
ment. Mr.  E.  L.  Dann  continued  until  1875, 
when  he  retired,  and  W.  S.  Dann  remained 
alone  until  Mr.  F.  P.  Joy,  the  present  junior 
partner  and  manager,  became  associated  with 
him.  The  business  increased  so  rapidly  that 
more  room  was  demanded.  An  adjoining 
lot  was  utilized,  and  the  store  enlarged  and 
refitted,  making  it  roomy  and  well  lighted. 
It  now  has  a  frontage  of  fifty-one  feet  on 
College  avenue,  and  extends  fifty-seven  feet 
on  Second  street,  and  comprises  two  floors 
and  a  basement.  The  basement  is  used  for 
the  storage  of  surplus  stock,  and  second  floor 
for  display  of  carpets,  mattings,  etc.,  and 
winter  stocks  of  ladies'  cloaks  and  shawls. 
The  first  floor  is  the  general  salesroom.  It 
has  twi '  double  front  entrances  on  College 
avenue,  is  conveniently  arranged  on  the  depart- 
ment 'dan.  the  stocks  or  different  lines  of 
gi m ids  1  )eing  assorted  and  displayed  in  their 


respective  departments.  The  stocks  of  these 
departments  embrace  complete  lines  of  dry 
goods,  including  dress  goods,  silks  and  trim- 
ming's, embroideries,  white  goods,  ladies'  and 
gents'  furnishing  goods  and  notions,  exten- 
sive line  of  boots  and  shoes  of  standard 
makes,  hats  and  caps,  and  a  fine  assortment 
of  staple  and  fancy  groceries.  The  depart 
ments  and  stocks  are  presided  over  by  Mr. 
Joy  and  his  corps  of  seven  efficient  sales- 
men and  one  saleslady.  Each  clerk  is  an 
experienced  stock-keeper,  and  is  responsible 
for  its  condition.  It  must  be  in  good  order, 
every  article  or  piece  marked  with  price  in 
plain  figures.  They  also  keep  stock  memo- 
randa of  goods  to  be  purchased,  and  from  time 
to  time  buy  or  order  what  the  market  demands, 
with  the  sanction  or  suggestions  of  the  man- 
ager. Goods  are  all  bought,  marked  and  sold 
upon  a  cash  basis,  doing  a  general  produce 
exchange  business.  The  general  clearing-out 
sales  of  unseasonable  and  remnant  stock  are 
a  taking  feature  of  the  institution,  and  the 
entire  establishment  is  conducted  upon  mod- 
ern business  ^principles.  Business  discipline, 
not  so  rigid  as  to  become  impracticable,  is 
also  a  noticeable  feature  of  the  establishment. 
This  house  carries  a  stock  of  about  $28,000, 
and  does  an  annual  business  of  nearly  $100,- 
000.  Mr.  W.  S.  Dann  not  being  able  to  de- 
vote his  personal  time  and  attention  to  the 
business,  spends  much  of  his  time  abroad,  and 
Mr.  Joy  assumes  entire  charge,  and  is  always 
during  business  hours  found  at  his  store. 

WILLIAM  H.  DAWDY,  lawyer,  was  born 
in  Shelby  County,  111.,  January  1,  1845;  son 
of  John  H.  and  Nancy  (Frazier)  Dawdy,  he  a 
resident  of  Pana,  111.,  a  lawyer  by  profession, 
of  twenty  years'  practice,  and  was  formerly  a 
merchant;  has  been  Associate  Judge  of  Chris- 
tian County,  and  held  other  minor  offices;  is 
Police  Magistrate  of  Pana;  his  wife  is  a  na- 
tive of  Kentucky.     They  had  two  children, 


12 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


William  H.  being  the  oldest.  Our  subject 
attended  the  seminary  atShelbyville  about  five 
years,  afterward  at  Walton  Academy,  Pana, 
and  later  at  Eureka  College,  Illinois,  one  year. 
After  leaving  school  he  began  the  study  of 
law  with  Henry  and  Ross,  and  was  admitted 
to  practice  July  1,  1865.  Located  at  Pana, 
two  years,  Vandalia,  one  year,  and  came  to 
Greenville  August  14,  1868,  where  he  has 
remained  since,  having  obtained  a  lucra- 
tive practice,  and  being  regarded  as  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  successful  lawyers  of 
Bond  County.  He  has  held  the  position  of 
City  Attorney  of  Pana,  City  Attorney  of 
Greenville,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  State's 
Attorney  of  Bond  County  from  1872  to  1880. 
July  7,  1872,  in  La  Crosse  County,  Wis.,  he 
married  Miss  Amelia  A.  Tripp,  born  in  Trum- 
bull County,  Ohio;  daughter  of  Aimer  Tripp, 
a  native  of  Vermont.  One  child  has  been 
born  to  Mr.  Dawdy — Clarence  A. :  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows, Workingmen,  Good  Templars  and  the 
Democratic  party. 

MICHAEL  V.  DENNY,  cashier  in  bank. 
Greenville,  born  August  31,  1833,  in  Bond 
County,  the  only  child  now  living  of  Samuel 
W.  and  Catharine  (Finley)  Denny,  he  born  in 
North  Carolina  in  1805,  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  in  1841.  His  wife  was  born  in 
Tennessee  in  1808,  and  is  still  living.  Our 
subject  received  bis  education  in  the  acad- 
emy at  Sullivan,  Moultrie  Co.,  111.,  where,  in 
I860,  September  6,  he  married  Margaret  S. 
Perrvman,  who  was  born  in  Shelbyville,  111., 
April  26,  1838.  Her  parents  were  John  and 
Ann  S.  Perryman,  he  of  North  Carolina 
and  she  of  Leland.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Den- 
ny was  born  a  family,  of  whom  three  daugh- 
ters are  now  living — Annie  L.,  Katie  M.  and 
Lizzie  S.  Mi-.  Denny  was  in  the  mercantile 
business  ten  years,  bank  cashier  thirteen 
years.  County  Superintendent  of  Schools  live 


years,  Township  Treasurer  about  ten  years, 
and  Treasurer  of  Greenville  City  for  several 
terms.  His  politics.  Democratic;  his  religion, 
Christian;  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 
and  A.  O.  U.  W.  His  grandfather.  James 
Denny,  came  West  with  his  family  from 
North  Carolina  and  located  at  McCord,  now 
Cottonwood,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. 

NATHANIEL  DRESSOR,  banker  and 
farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville,  was  born  June  24, 
1825,  in  the  State  of  Maine;  son  of  Rufus 
and  Tamer  Dressor,  both  natives  of  New 
England.  His  father  emigrated  to  Bond 
County  in  October,  1837,  and  was  there  en- 
gaged in  fanning  and  milling.  The  subject 
was  the  fourth  child  of  a  family  of  five  sons 
and  two  daughters;  his  education  was  re- 
ceived in  the  common  schools;  he  was  a  very 
successful  farmer  and  a  shrewd  financier, 
being  President  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Greenville.  He  married  Elizabeth  S.  Mc- 
Farlan,  daughter  of  Robert  McFarlan,  a 
farmer.  They  had  five  children — Alenia,  now 
Mrs.  John  W.  McCord,  of  Milan.  111. ;  Char- 
lotte, deceased  at  the  age  of  twenty-five, 
was  an  accomplished,  thoroughly  educated 
lady,  being  a  graduate  of  McKendree  College; 
Edwin,  a  farmer,  near  Greenville;  Roxanna, 
deceased  1878;  Julia,  deceased  18S0,  was 
the  wife  of  William  A.  Northcott,  present 
State's  Attorney  of  Bond  County;  and  Win- 
nie, now  in  school.  Is  a  member  of  the  old 
Republican  party,  and  always  a  strong  Union 
man. 

EDWIN  W.  DRESSOR,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Greenville,  is  the  only  son  of  Nathaniel 
Dressor.  He  was  born  in  Cottonwood  Grove, 
on  the  homestead  farm,  December  12, 1854;  he 
was  raised  to  farming  and  trading  pursuits,  and 
remained  under  the  parental  roof  until  his 
marriage,  March  7,  1877,  when  he  cast  his 
lot  in  a  matrimonial  way  with  Mary  M.  Kirk- 


GREENVILLE  CITY  AND  PRECINCT. 


13 


land,  a  native  of  Walshville  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County,  this  State;  she  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  T.  C.  Kirkland,  one  of  the  prominent 
farmers  and  business  men  of  Montomery 
County.  Immediately  after  his  marriage  he  i 
located  on  the  farm  he  now  occupies,  in  this 
township,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged 
in  farming:  <ind  stock-trading,  being  one  of 
the  largest  dealers  of  his  age  in  the  county. 
He  has  had  two  children  born  him;  but  one 
living — Edith  Mabel,  born  Aug.  11.  1880. 

WILLIAM  M.  EVANS  was  born  in  Bath 
County,  Ky.,  March  12, 1819;  son  of  Thomas 
and  Anna  (Martin)  Evans,  he  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  born  in  Bath  County  May  27,  1799, 
and  died  August  19,  1870;  she,  a  native 
of  Virginia,  was  born  March  6,  1798,  and 
died  September  15, 1817;  they  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  lived  to  maturity,  William 
M.  being  the  eldest.  Our  subject  came  to 
Illinois  in  1845,  from  Indiana,  settling  in 
Bureau  County,  and,  in  1S55,  came  to  Green- 
ville and  commenced  the  cabinet  business,  in 
which  he  continued  until  the  war  broke  out, 
when  he  sold  his  business,  and,  in  1861,  en- 
tered the  100-day  service  in  the  Union  army, 
remaining  four  months.  In  1856,  Mr.  Evans 
was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Republican  party  in  Bond 
County;  was  a  delegate  to  the  Convention  in 
1858.  that  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
Congress:  in  1S60.  member  of  State  Conven- 
tion at  Decatur,  111.,  and  went  from  there 
to  Chicago  to  labor  in  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Lincoln;  was  member  of  State  Convention  in 
1862;  in  1880,  was  a  delegate  to  State  Con- 
vention at  Springfield;  in  1876,  he  was  elect- 
ed to  represent  his  (Forty-second)  district 
in  the  Lower  Branch  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State.  After  leaving  the  army,  he  com- 
menced merchandising,  in  which  he  contin- 
ued until  1877.  On  August  11,  1840,  Mr.  Ev- 
ans married  Miss  Levica  Young;,  born  in  Vir- 


ginia October  12,  1819;  daughter  of  Charles 
Young,  who  died  in  1851,  leaving  two  chil- 
dren. December  28,  1852,  he  married  Mary 
C.  Hubbard,  born  in  Bond  County,  111. ,  Jan- 
uary 12,  1822;  daughter  of  Peter  Hubbard,  of 
Hennepin.  Putnam  Co.,  111.  His  oldest  son, 
Daniel  B. ,  is  clerk  in  First  National  Bank, 
and  his  other  son,  Woodford  P.,  is  a  farmer 
in  Iowa.  The  father  of  Mr.  Evans  moved  to 
Iowa  in  1854,  where  he  died. 

MOSES  W.  ELAM,  farmer,  P.  O.  Smith- 
boro,  is  the  third  child  born  and  eldest  son 
of  Moses  Elam,  of  Town  6,  Range  2.  Moses 
W.  was  born  March  3,  1853,  on  the  home- 
stead near  Mulberry  Grove.  He  was  brought 
up  on  the  farm,  and  made  his  father's  house 
his  home  until  maturity.  He  was  married 
when  twenty  years  of  age.  His  nuptials 
were  celebrated  December,  1873;  his  wife 
was  Cypha  Morey,  born  in  Knox  County,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  Lucius  Morey  and  Ruth  Ann 
Cnmston.  Lucius  was  born  1828,  in  Knox 
County;  son  of  David  Morey,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, who  emigrated  to  Knox  County,  and 
there  settled  as  a  pioneer.  Ruth  Ann  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Cumston.  Mrs.  Elam  came  to  Fayette  County 
with  her  parents  in  1865.  Her  mother  died  in 
1868,  leaving  two  children — Mrs.  Elam.  and 
Inez,  who  married  Thomas,  the  brother  of  her 
husband.  After  Mr.  Elam's  marriage,  he  re- 
moved to  Fayette  County,  living  there  five 
years,  then  returned  to  this  county,  where  they 
have  since  lived,  locating  on  their  farm  in  the 
fall  of  1880.  Said  farm  consists  of  160  acres, 
on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  5.  He  has 
three  children — Wilbur,  Rose  and  Daisey; 
he  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

JOEL  ELAM,  manufacturer,  Greenville, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina,  December  9, 
1817;  son  of  Edward  and  Letitia  (Cliaffen) 
Elam,   he  a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  black- 


14 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


smith  by  trade;  they  bad  a  family  of  fifteen 
children,  Joel  being  the  youngest.  Our  sub- 
ject, after  receiving  an  ordinary  education, 
learned  the  blacksmith's  trade,  in  Greenville, 
and  at  present  is  engaged  in  that  business  and 
saw-milling  with  his  sons,  Thomas  and  John, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Elam  &  Sons.  Mr. 
Elam  has  been  married  four  times;  first  in 
1843,  to  Nancy  Clay,  in  Menard  County,  111. ; 
she  died  the  first  year  of  her  marriage;  sec- 
ond, Sarah  E.  Smith,  in  1845,  who  died  the 
same  year,  leaving  one  child — Charles  Ed- 
ward, now  deceased;  third,  Sarah McCormick. 
of  Greenville,  she  had  two  sons — William  and 
Thomas;  fourth,  Sarah  White,  of  Greenville, 
who  has  three  daughters  and  one  son — Ellen, 
Sarah,  Miriam  and  John.  Mi'.  Elam  is  a 
Presbyterian  and  Republican. 

GEORGE  B.  ENLOE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville; born  Aug.  7,  1848,  on  the  homestead 
situated  in  Town  6,  Range  2,  where  his  fa- 
ther. Ezekiel  Enloe,  settled  and  remained  un- 
til his  death.  The  mother  of  George  B.  was 
Charlotte  White,  who  was  born  in  North  Car- 
olina, daughter  of  Richard  White.  Eight 
children  were  born  to  Ezekiel  Enloe  and  wife. 
The  eldest  was  Marshall,  then  in  order  of 
birth  came  Claybourne,  Thomas,  William 
Edward,  Mary  E.,  Benjamin  and  George  B., 
who  was  the  youngest  one  of  the  family.  He 
married  Susan  E.  Foster,  a  native  of  this 
State,  daughter  of  William  Foster.  Four 
children,  Johnnie,  William,  Delia  and  Eze- 
kiel, are  the  issue  of  this  marriage.  In  1873, 
he  located  on  his  farm,  where  he  now  resides, 
having  about  120  acres,  selected  on  the  south 
half  of  Section  31.  He  has  one  brother,  Ed- 
ward, in  this  township,  and  William  in  Town 
6,  Range  3.  Mary  E.  married  D.  H.  Kings- 
bury, and  resides  in  Greenville.  Mr.  E.  had 
three  brothers  in  the  late  war. 

CHARLES  W.  FLOYD,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Greenville,   is  a  native    of   Kentucky,    Todd 


County.  He  was  born  in  1822,  and  was  a  resi- 
dent of  his  native  State  until  1833.  when  he 
came  with  his  parents  to  Bond  County.  His 
father's  name  was  John  W.,  a  Kentuckianby 
birth,  and  was  a  son  of  Charles  Floyd,  of  Old 
Virginia.  John  W.  Floyd  married  Betsy 
Johnson,  a  native  of  Indiana.  To  Mr.  Floyd 
was  born  a  family  of  ten  children,  viz.,  Ella 
married  P.  G.  Vowter;  Nancy  became  the 
wife  of  William  Harlin;  Polly,  Mrs.  W. 
Blackwell,  George;  Jane,  Mrs.  D.  P.  Hagee; 
Charles  W. ;  William  J. ;  Sarah,  Mrs.  W.  D. 
Henry;  John  S.,  and  Thomas  W  ,  who  was  a 
physician.  In  February.  1844,  he  married 
Eliza  Henry,  daughter  of  John  Henry,  a  Ken- 
tuckian.  After  his  marriage,  he  located  in  the 
edge  of  Clinton  County.  In  1849,  he  entered 
land  in  this  county,  one  mile  east  of  Wise- 
town.  Moving  on  the  same,  he  began  improv- 
ing it.  In  1852,  he  moved  south  to  Texas,  and 
purchased  land  in  Grayson  County,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising,  remaining 
here  until  1866,  when  he  located  on  the  farm  he 
now  owns,  on  Section  33,  Town  6,  Range  3,  in 
Greenville  Precinct.  He  has  a  fine  location, 
one  of  the  best  in  the  precinct;  he  is  a  good 
farmer  and  has  been  successful  in  his  busi- 
ness; his  wife  died  June  22,  1877;  he  has  four 
children — Jane,  the  eldest,  and  is  the  wife  of 
E.  D.  Wallace;  George  A.,  Mary  and  Charles 
H.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church;  and  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
died  in  1846;  and  during  his  his  life  was  affil- 
iated with  the  old  Whig  party. 

JAMES  F.  FILE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville, born  in  Bond  County,  III,  March 
5,  1S50.  He  was  the  son  of  George  and 
Mary  (Lyttaker)  File,  he  a  farmer  and 
distiller,  died  in  1858,  and  she  in  Bond 
County,  111.  Our  subject  received  part  of  his 
education  in  New  Douglas,  Madison  County, 
and  part  in  Bond  County,  111.,  where,  in  1870, 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


15 


January  6,  he  married  Ella  E.  Bolton,  daughter 
of  John  and  Sarah  Bolton,  natives  of  Ohio. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  File  were  born  five  children 
-Charles H.,  LouellaB.,  Edwin  N.  (deceased). 
George  J.  P.  and  Alberta  J.  Mr.  File  has 
always  been  a  farmer.  He  was  School  Director 
for  three  years;  his  political  views  are  with 
the  Democrats;  he  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order.  He  is  a  young  man,  thirty- 
two  years  of  age;  he  has  an  excellent  farm, 
which,  by  his  energy  and  industry,  he  has 
rendered  very  valuable. 

DR.    JAMES  GORDON,    Greenville,    for 
eighteen  years  a  practicing  physician  of  Bond 
County,  is  a  native  of  Huntsville,  xlla.,  and 
was  born  on  the  17th  of  January,  1818.    Is  a 
son  of  Hugh  Gordon  and  Mortha  Jane,  nee 
Jagers,    his   wife.     His   father,   a  native   of 
South  Carolina,  born  in  178S,  settled  in  Ala- 
bama in  1816,  and  though  a  slaveholder,  was 
a  Whig  in  politics,  and  advocated  emancipa- 
tion: he  died  December  3,  1851;  his  mother, 
also  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  was  born  in 
Chester  District  in  1798,  died  January  3, 1849. 
James   received  his  early  education  in    the 
common   schools  of  his  native  place,  and  in 
boyhood   imbibed   those    habits  of  industry 
that  have   characterzed  his  busy   life.       He 
united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
at  an  early  age,  and  spent  three  years  study- 
ing, with  a  view  to  entering  the  ministry,  but 
his  mind  gradually  inclined  to  the  study  of 
the  science  of  medicine  and  he  abandoned  his 
purpose  and  entered  the  Memphis   Medical 
College.       After  completing  his  studies,   he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Mississippi,  and  continued  it  there  and  in 
Arkansas  until  1864,  when  he  became  a  resi- 
dent of  Jamestown,  Clinton  Co..  111.     Prac- 
ticing there  till  February,  1870,  he  removed  to 
Greenville,  where  he  has  built  up  an  exten- 
sive  practice.     In    the   spring  of  1875,   the 
Missouri  Medical  College  conferred  upon  him 


the  ad  eundem  degree.     In  early  life,  he  be- 
came  a  member  of  the  Masonic   fraternity, 
and  has  advanced  to  the  Royal  Arch  degree. 
Dr.  Gordon  has  been  twice  married,  first  at 
Huntsville,  Ala.,  December  22,  1835,  to  Miss 
Mary  Ann  Sanderson,  of  Madison  County,  Ala., 
born  September  '22,  1819,  daughter  of  James 
and  Elizabeth  (Bell)   Sanderson,   the  former 
born  in  1789,  died  February  5,  1853,  the  latter 
born  in  Chester  District,   South  Carolina,   in 
1793,  died  in  1S62.     She  died  in  1860,  leaving 
twelve  children— Mary  E.,  Hugh  D.,  James 
B..  John  H.    William  P.,  Jerry  T.,  Sarah  F.. 
Martha  J.,    Robert  W.,    Rufus  B.   and   two 
others  who  died  without  names.     He  again 
married  in  the  month  of  June,  1860,  to  Mary 
Jane  Marshall,  born  in  Johnson  County.  Ark.. 
August  26,  1837,  daughter  of  Joseph  N.  and 
Annis  R.  (Neeley)  Marshall,  the  former  still 
living,  born  in  Tennessee    in  1S00,  the  latter 
also  born  the  same  year,  died  January  6, 1858. 
By  the  second  marriage  he  has  had  ten  chil- 
dren.       Of    the    twenty-two,    ten    are    now 
living — Madison  D.,  Margaret  A.,  Ferdinand 
R.,  Katie  L.,  Emma  H,  Hattie  M.,  Thomas 
F.,  James  M.  and  two  others  who  died  with- 
out names.     Five  of  this  number  are  married 
and  are  parents  of   his  thirty   grandchildren; 
two  of  his  children   have  died   after  having 
married.      Dr.    Madison   D.    is  the  only  one 
now  of  age  not  married.      Of  his  family,  seven 
sons  have  become    practicing  physicians,  and 
foiu-  of    those  now  living,  including  Madison 
D.,  his  present  partner,  are  in  active  practice. 
Dr.  Gordon  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  butdoes 
not  take  active  part  in  political  contests.      He 
is  independent  in  thought,  social  and  genial 
in  his  manner  and  inflexible  in  purpose.      He 
i  has  attained  success  in  his  profession  and  life 
by  close  application  and  a  strict  adherence  to 
principles  of  Justice. 

A.  J.  GULLICK,  Sheriff  of  Bond  County 
and  insurance,  Greenville,  was  born  in  Mad- 


1G 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ison  County,  111.,  October  27,  1827,  son  of 
Beniah  and  Elizabeth  (Ginglis)  Gullick,  he  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  a  wagon-maker  by 
trade,  now  deceased;  she  of  same  State  also  de 
ceased.  They  had  five  children,  only  two  of 
whom  are  now  living,  our  subject  being  the 
eldest.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  for  some 
years  followed  peddling,  being  so  successful 
as  to  accumulate  enough  to  purchase  a  farm. 
He  came  to  Bond  County  in  1852,  locating  at 
Mulberry  Grove.  Mr.  Gullick  was  elected 
Sheriff  of  Bond  County  in  1872,  and  served 
three  terms  of  two  years  each.  In  1880, 
he  was  agaiu  elected  to  the  shrievalty,  and 
is  now  serving  in  that  office,  which  he  fills 
admirably,  acceptably,  and  with  a  faithful- 
ness to  duty  and  the  rights  of  his  fellow-cit- 
izens that  will  make  his  retirement  from  the 
position  a  matter  of  regret  among  all  classes. 
September  20,  1857,  he  married  Miss  Eliza  A. 
Dudley,  daughter  of  Mr.  Alfred  Dudley,  a 
pioneer  and  farmer  of  Bond  County,  and  the 
following  children  have  been  born  to  them: 
Seward  A.,  Mason  E.,  Harris  A.,  Buda  E., 
Nellie  E..  "Walter  A.,  Pearl  D.,  and  an  infant 
son  unnamed.  Mr.  Gullick  is  a  Freema- 
son, an  Odd  Fellow,  member  of  the  A.  O.  LT 
W.,  and  a  Bepublican. 

ULEICH  GAFFNEK,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville. Of  the  representatives  of  this  town- 
ship, none  are  more  deserving  than  the  above 
gentleman,  who  has  made  himself  what  he  is 
to-day  all  by  honest  industry  and  rigid  econ 
omy.  He  was  born  in  Switzerland,  August  22, 
L835;  son  of  TJlrich,  who  was  born  in  Canton 
Berne  in  1804;  his  wife  was  Mary  Sinocher, 
daughter  of  John  Smocher.  a  native  of  Swit- 
zerland. The  father  of  our  subject  was  a 
f aimer,  which  vocation  our  subject  was  early 
taught  in  life,  in  company  with  his  brothers, 
who  are  yet  at  home  in  Switzerland,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  on  their  own  possessions, 


except  one  of  the  brothers,  Godfrey,  who  emi- 
grated to  this  State  in  1857,  and  is  now  a 
prominent  farmer  in  Christian  County,  this 
State.  Ulrich,  having  heard  very  favorable 
accounts  of  America,  and  the  advantages  af- 
forded the  laboring  man  here,  which  so  far 
surpassed  those  at  home,  that  he  determined 
to  emigrate  to  this  country,  which  he  did,  ar- 
riving here  in  May,  1860.  He  began  work- 
ing out  by  the  month  and  saving  his  earn- 
ings, until  he  acquired  sufficient  means  to 
enable  him  to  make  a  purchase  of  land  on 
his  own  account.  His  farm  consists  of  133| 
acres;  the  greater  portion  he  bought  of  J.  H. 
Koonce,  situated  on  Section  31.  He  was 
married  in  1864,  to  Sarah  Sahnert.  born  in 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  daughter  of  Peter  and 
Elizabeth  (Wyandt)  Sahnert.  To  Mr.  Gaff- 
ner  have  been  born  five  children — Lizzie  A., 
William,  Mollie  A.,  Lois  and  Edward,  who 
have  crowned  this  union.  Mr.  Gaflher  is  a 
man  that  has  a  high  regard  for  right  and  jus- 
tice, and  has  no  desire  to  do  injury  to  any 
one,  but  to  live  an  honest  and  upright  life, 
and  he  is  a  good  citizen  in  the  community. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  as 
well  as  a  stanch,  worthy  citizen  of  the  com- 
munity. 

ANDREW  G.  HENRY,  Greenville,  County 
Judge  of  Bond  County,  and  son  of  John  and 
Betsey  Henry,  was  born  February  28,  1S24, 
near  Paris,  Bourbon  Co.,  Ky.  His  parents 
removed  to  Illinois  in  1827,  and  settled  in 
the  north  part  of  Clinton  County,  where  they 
resided  a  few  years,  and  then  removed  to  near 
Beaver  Creek  Post  Office  in  Bond  County, 
where  they  resided  until  Mr.  Henry  reached 
his  majority.  He  secured  as  good  an  educa- 
tion as  the  limited  school  facilities  of  the 
county  at  that  time  afforded,  the  studies  con- 
sisting only  of  the  common  English  branch-s. 
Securing  such  books  as  he  could  for  study  and 
general   reading,   he  pursued  his  studies  at 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


17 


home,  working  on  the  farm  and  at  the  car- 
penter's trade.  In  1851,  he  was  married  to 
his  present  wife,  Mary  A.  Hull,  daughter  of 
the  late  Benjamin  Hull,  of  Bond  County.  In 
1853,  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1854 
he  removed  to  Greenville,  the  county  seat  of 
Bond  County,  and  was  admitted  to  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law  at  the  bar,  and  has  practiced 
in  Bond  and  adjoining  counties  ever  since, 
confining  himself  largely  to  that  department 
of  law  belonging  to  real  estate.  Upon  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party  he 
warmly  espoused  its  cause,  and  attended  its 
first  State  convention,  which  met  at  Decatur, 
111.,  in  1860  He  was  a  warm  supporter  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  for  President,  and  after 
his  inauguration  as  President,  was  an  earnest 
supporter  of  all  the  war  measures  of  the  ad- 
ministration, and  from  that  time  has  indorsed 
all  the  leading  measures  and  the  general 
policy  of  his  party,  taking  an  active  part  in 
all  of  its  campaigns.  In  1872,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Lower  House  of  the  Legislature,  and  re- 
turned again  in  1874,  serving  with  marked 
ability  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his 
constituents.  In  1877,  he  was  elected  County 
Judge  of  Bond  County,  which  office  he  now 
holds,  Mr.  Henry  was  one  of  the  origina- 
tors of  what  is  now  the  Vandalia  Line  Bail- 
road,  being  a  large  subscriber  to  the  stock  of 
the  first  company,  and  through  the  efforts  of 
himself  and  a  few  other  prominent  citizens 
of  Greenville,  Bond  County  is  indebted  for 
her  first  railroad.  Mr.  Henry  has  held  a 
place  as  Director  in  the  company  ever  since 
its  organization.  Mr.  Henry's  family  con- 
sists of  himself,  wife  and  two  daughters,  one 
of  whom  is  the  wife  of  George  F.  Berry,  of 
Greenville;  the  other  is  still  at  home.  Mr. 
Henry  is  always  benevolent,  aiding  every 
worthy  cause,  and  is  kind  and  courteous  to 
all.  Being  a  man  of  strong  convictions  of 
right,  and  earnest  in  maintaining  them,  he  is  a 


man  with  strong  personal  friends  and  follow- 
ers, and  as  would  necessarily  follow.  Occa- 
sionally he  makes  an  enemy;  but  at  home 
among  his  neighbors,  and  wherever  he  is 
known,  no  man  stands  higher  than  dues  the 
Hon.  A.  G.  Henry,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
CHARLES  DOUGLAS  HOILES,  banker. 
Greenville,  was  born  in  Greenville,  De- 
cember 1,  1844,  son  of  Charles  and  Eliza 
beth  S.  (Morse)  Hoiles,  he  a  native  of  New  Jer- 
sey, born  in  1819,  and  for  many  years  a  prom- 
inent and  successful  business  man  of  Bond 
County;  she  a  native  of  Lowell,  Mass.;  they 
had  two  children — Charles  D.,  our  subject,  and 
Stephen  M.  Mr.  Hoiles  received  his  early 
education  in  Greenville,  later  at  Mount  Union, 
and  still  later  at  Shurtleff  College.  Upper 
Alton,  111.,  but  mostly  at  select  school  in 
Greenville,  under  Prof.  S.  W.  Marston.  He 
commenced  his  business  life  in  the  mercantile 
business  with  his  father,  which  lasted  five 
years,  when  they  entered  the  banking  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Hoiles  &  Son.  S.  M. 
Hoiles,  the  brother  of  our  subject,  was  admit- 
ted to  the  firm  in  1872,  which  changed  to 
Hoiles  &  Sons.  The  father  retired  from  the 
business  in  1881.  Mr.  C.  D.  Hoiles  was  a 
member  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Official  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  1872  : 
delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion at  Baltimore,  which  nominated  Horace 
Greeley  ;  twice  a  member  of  the  Democratic 
Central  Committee  ;  once  a  member  for  *he 
State  at  large  ;  candidate  for  nomination  be- 
fore the  Democratic  Congressional  Conven- 
tion, to  represent  the  Sixteenth  Congressional 
District  in  the  National  Legislature.  The 
convention  held  sessions  for  three  days  and 
adjourned  without  making  a  choice.  He  is 
now  serving  his  second  term  as  Mayor  of  the 
city  of  Greenville.  He  was  first  married  to 
Miss  Sarah  F.  Weir,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  F. 
Weir,  of  Edwardsville.  111.;  she  died  June  30, 


IS 


BIOGEAPHICAL: 


1874,  leaving  one  son.  Charles  W. ,  and  one 
daughter,  lone.  He  again  married  in  June, 
1876,  Miss  Juliette  P.  White,  daughter  of 
Prof.  John  B.  White,  long  connected  with  the 
educational  interests  of  Bond  County.  From 
this  last  marriage,  have  been  born  a  son,  Guy 
B. ,  and  a  daughter,  Anna  L. 

STEPHEN  M.  HOILES,  banker,  is  a 
brother  of  the  gentleman  whose  sketch  appears 
above,  and  was  also  born  in  Greenville,  on  the 
8th  of  April,  1853.  He  is  a  member  (as  stated 
above)  of  the  banking  house  of  Hoiles  &  Sons, 
and,  like  his  brother,  is  one  of  the  best  business 
men  of  the  county.  December  20,  1871,  he 
married  Miss  Welma  C.  Stoughtenberry, 
daughter  of  Jacob  S.  Stoughtenberry,  de- 
ceased, who  was  a  resident  and  capitalist  of 
Madison  County,  111.  Tbey  have  three  chil- 
dren— Stephen  D.,  Clarence  E.  and  Sarah 
Bell.  Stephen  M.,  like  his  brother,  is  a 
Democrat. 

T.  S.  HUBBARD,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville, 
was  born  March  9,  1815,  in  Madison  County, 
this  State,  eldest  son  of  Peter  Hubbard,  a  na- 
tive of  South  Carolina,  born  February  23,  1 782, 
and  emigrated  to  Randolph  County,  this  State, 
in  1809,  remaining  but  a  short  time,  when  he 
removed  to  Madison  County  prior  to  the  war 
of  1812,  in  which  he  participated.  In  March, 
1817,  he  located  in  what  is  now  Bond  County, 
on  Section  1,  Town  5,  Bange  3,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  death,  which  occurred  Novem- 
ber 25,  1808,  his  wife  preceded  him  to  the 
grave  in  185-4.  They  raised  a  family  of  eight 
children — T.  S.,  being  the  eldest  that  grew  up, 
George  W.,  Lewellyn  B.,  Mary  A.,  William 
C. ,  Isom  G.,  John  T.  and  Margaret  J.  were 
the  others  in  order  of  birth.  The  Hubbard 
family  are  of  Welsh  ancestry,  both  the  father, 
grand  and  great-grandfather  of  our  subject 
bore  the  old  Biblical  name  of  Peter.  The 
mother  of  T.  S.  was  Martha,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Gillham.      Thomas  S.  was  reared  to 


farm  labor,  and  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  his  neighborhood.  He  was  but 
two  years  of  age  when  he  came  to  this  county. 
In  early  manhood,  he  was  appointed  to  teach 
his  district  school  of  this  township,  now  No.  2, 
in  the  year  1848,  by  subscription,  being  the 
first  teacher  -who  taught  there.  He  liked 
mathematics,  and  learned  surveying,  which 
he  put  into  practice  for  some  time  as  Deputy 
Surveyor  of  the  county.  In  this  county.  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1843,  he  married  Anna  E.,  daughter 
of  Asa  L.  and  Ann  E.  (Wright)  Saunders.  In 
1S41,  he  purchased  land  where  he  now  re- 
sides, then  raw  and  unimproved.  After  his 
marriage,  located  on  the  same,  has  since 
continued  a  constant  resident,  and  is  one  of 
the  stanch  and  substantial  citizens  of  the 
county.  Since  1843,  he  has  been  a  consistent 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church,  serv- 
ing as  Deacon  and  Trustee  of  the  same  much 
of  the  time.  In  business,  he  has  been  success- 
ful, having  (before  he  divided  out  among  his 
children)  about  700  acres  of  land.  In  educa- 
tional matters,  he  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  his  neighborhood.  His  children  are  Lewis 
S.,  Julian  S.,  Harriet  L.,  Henry  A.,  George 
C,  Alfred  C.  and  Mary  J.  Julian  S.,  in 
Kansas;  George  C,  in  Iowa;  others  are  set- 
tled in  this  county. 

HENRY  HILL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville, 
born  May  29, 1S14,  in  Seneca  County,  N.  Y.,  the 
eldest  son  and  third  child  born  to  Henry  Hill, 
his  father,  who  was  born  November  26,  1790.  in 
one  of  the  Eastern  States.  November  10. 1SI 19, 
he  married  Abigail  Shutz,  who  was  born  April 
5.  1791.  To  them  were  born  the  following 
children,  the  old  family  Bible  tells  the  fol- 
lowing tale:  Nancy  M.,  born  October  30, 1810; 
Sally.  May  30.  1812  ;  Henry,  May  29,  1814; 
Theodosia,  March  15,  1816  ;  Rosana,  April 
29,  1818;  Polly,  August  1,  1820;  Ruama, 
August  7,  1822;  William.  April  19,  1825; 
Melinda,  November  2,  1827  ;   Jonathan,  July 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


19 


10,   1830;    Clarissa,    November,  1832.     The 
father  died  January  1(3,  1852,  his  wife  April 
17,  1844.      When  five  years  of  age,  our  sub- 
ject removed  with   his  parents  to  Montgom- 
ery County,  Ohio,  remaining  there  until  1842, 
when  they  came    to  this   State,   locating  in 
Madison   County.       In    1868,    he    came    to 
Bond    County,    locating    on    the    northwest 
quarter  of  Section  31;    here   he   has   since 
lived.     He  has  272  acres  of  land.     He  began 
poor,  had  nothing  but  his  lands  and  a  willing 
mind  to  battle  with   the  times   in  which  he 
was  surrounded,  yet  by  diligence  and  rigid 
economy,    he  has  acquired  a  home  and  com- 
petence  by  hard  labor  and  patient  industry. 
March    11,    1849,    he   married    Mrs.    Nancy 
Glenn,    born    in  this    county,    daughter    of 
Daniel  Moore,  who  was  born  February  0,  171)2, 
in  Rutherford  County,  N.  C,  son  of  Philip 
Moore,  from  Virginia  ;  he    (Philip)  married 
Phebe    Elam,    of    North   Carolina.       Daniel 
Moore  married  Jane  Stewart,  who  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  April  13, 1804,  daughter  of 
Robert  Stewart  and  Jane  Turntine.     Robert 
was  a  son  of  Alexander  Stewart,  an  Irishman 
by  birth.     Daniel  Moore  and  family  came  to 
Bond  County  in  1818,  making  first  settlement 
on    Section    19,    Town    5.    Range   2.       Mr. 
Hill  has  had  eleven  children  born  to  him,  five 
living — Daniel,  George,  James,  Lemuel  and 
Samuel — Belle  died  September  18,  1881,  aged 
twenty-two  years.     She  married  Smith  Long; 
by  him  had  twTo  children — Charlie  and  Marion. 
(1.   W.    HILL,   retired,  P.    O.    Greenville, 
was   born    in     New  Milford,    Litchfield    Co., 
Conn.,  on  June  6,  1821.     His  father,  Roswell 
Hill,  born  July  12, 1788,  died  October  16, 1844, 
also  a  native  of   New  England,  was  a  school 
teacher  and  emigrated  West  about  1827.  His 
mother,    Frances   (Buckingham),    born  April 
16, 1791.  died  January  27,  1864, was  also  a  New 
Englander.     They  were   the  parents   of    six 
sons  and  two  daughters,  the  subject  being 


the  third  son.  He  got  his  education  in  a 
common  school  in  Ross  County,  Ohio,  and 
commenced  life  as  an  apprentice  to  William 
Gilmore,  tailor,  Ohio,  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
He  moved  to  this  county  in  1840,  and  with 
the  exception  of  eight  months  in  1844.  when 
he  lived  in  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County 
he  has  been  a  resident  and  business  man  in 
Greenville,  and  up  to  1867  was  a  prominent 
and  prosperous  merchant.  In  Edwardsville, 
Madkon  Co.,  111.,  on  August  25, 1847,  he  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Barnes  Plant,  born,  October  28, 
1828,  in  Pocahontas,  Bond  Co.,  111.,  daughter 
of  Williamson  and  Martha  (Sugg)  Plant,  he 
born  in  Anson  County,  N.  C,  May  6,  1799, 
died  May  12,  1833;  she,  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, died  November  21,  1S34.  Subject  has 
gained  his  position  as  one  of  the  most  frugal, 
thrifty  and  just-minded  citizens  of  Bond 
County,  by  pursuing  a  straightforward  course, 
doing  business  on  business  principles  and 
making  most  of  his  time  and  opportunities. 

W.  McLIN  HUNTER,  Greenville,  was  born 
in  Bond  County  March  17,  1827;  son  of  Joseph 
and  Elizabeth  (Mabin)  Hunter,  he  born  in  1795 
she  in  1793,  and  both  dying  within  one  week  of 
each  other,  in  1851.  They  were  the  parents 
of  seven  children,  four  boys  and  three  girls. 
Our  subject  received  a  very  limited  education 
in  the  schools  of  his  native  county,  and  has 
always  been  a  farmer.  He  has  served  as 
School  Director  and  Road  Supervisor,  but  has 
generally  avoided  politics  and  the  search 
after  office.  November  28,  1850,  in  Zion 
Precinct,  he  married  Nancy  R.  Glenn,  born  in 
Zion  November  11,  1832,  daughter  of  Alex- 
ander and  Frances  Glenn,  and  eleven  chil- 
dren have  gladdened  his  household.  Joseph 
E.,  Alexander  K.,  Robert  M.,  John  R..  Fran- 
cis E.,  Betsey  A..  Mary  J.,  Sophia  E.,  Susan 
E.,  Laura  B.  and  Finis  E.  Mr.  Hunter  and 
family  are  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  and  he 
is  a  Democrat.      The  Hunters  were  among  the 


20 


MM  (GRAPHICAL: 


earliest  settlers  of  this  section,  and  McLin 
Hunter  now  lives  upon  and  owns  the  old 
homestead  property,  consisting  of  280  acres, 
in  Section  '24. 

MARSHALL  HUNTER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Po- 
cahontas, was  born  in  Bond  County  March  1, 
1820,  son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Mabin) 
Hunter,  he  born  in  Tennessee  in  1795,  a  farmer, 
dying  in  1851;  she,  a  native  of  N.  Carolina, 
and  dying  one  week  succeeding  her  husband, 
leaving  seven  children,  four  boys  and  three 
girls.  Our  subject  received  his  education  in  the 
subscription  schools  of  his  native  county,  and 
began  life  as  a  farmer,  in  which  occupation 
he  has  continued  throughout  his  entire  life. 
He  has  served  as  Road  Supervisor  several 
years,  and  is  very  highly  esteemed  as  a  man 
and  a  farmer.  His  farm  cemprises  244i  acres 
of  excellent  land, which  is  under  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  In  Zion  Precinct,  October  1, 
1846,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Glenn, 
born  July  25,  1826,  a  daughter  of  Alexander 
and  Frances  Glenn,  and  which  union  has  re- 
sulted in  seven  children — Frances  E. ,  Armina, 
Emily  J.,  Mary  E.,  Sarah  E.,  Joseph  W.  and 
Ida  A.  Mr.  Hunter  is  a  member  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Chiu-ch  and  a  Democrat. 

SOLOMON  HARKEY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Greenville,  was  born  July  28,  1S-V_,  in  the 
northern  part  of  Bond  County,  111. ;  son  of  Wil- 
liam Harkey,  a  farmer,  who  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  April  29, 1811,  and  came  tolllinois  at 
an  early  date.  His  mother,  Nancy  (Thacker) 
Harkey,  was  born  in  Kentucky  January  1, 
1814  The  subject  is  the  youngest  of  a  fam- 
ily of  nine,  eight  of  whom  are  still  living. 
He  received  a  common  school  education  at 
La  Grange  Precinct.  He  followed  farming 
about  tifteen  years;  iater,  he  went  into  the 
restaurant  business  at  Hillsboro,  Mont- 
gomery Co.,  111.,  and  still  later  was  in  the 
grocery  business.  He  was  married  February 
19,  1871,  in  Bond  County,  to  Caroline  Prater, 


daughter  of  John  and  Sallie  (Hunt)  Prater. 
His  wife  dying,  he  again,  December  9,  1874, 
married  Laura  Wright,  daughter  of  George 
W.  and  Emily  (Able)  Wright.  He  had  three 
children — William  L.,  Hattie  V.  and  Minnie 
A.  The  latter  is  by  his  second  wife.  He  was 
a  Republican  in  politics. 

JOHN  W.  JETT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville, 
was  born  December  11,  1820,  in  Culpepper 
Comity,  Va.,  and  emigrated  to  this  State  in 
1836,  and  located  in  Bond  County  with  his 
parents,  where  he  has  since  resided.  The 
family  first  located  on  Jett  Prairie  in  Town 
6,  Range  2.  In  September,  1842,  he  married 
Miss  Sophia  B.  Blanchard  who  was  born  -June 
30,  1825,  in  East  Stoughton,  Mass.;  daughter 
of  Lemuel  Blanchard  and  Sibyl  Packard,  both 
natives  of  the  Bay  State.  The  same  year  of 
his  marriage,  he  located  in  the  northwest  cor- 
ner of  this  township  and  engaged  in  farming, 
where  he  remained  until  18(36,  when  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
same  township,  on  Section  31,  where  he  lo- 
cated and  has  since  resided,  having  240  acres; 
has  but  one  son  living,  Warren,  who  was  born 
January  22,  185:!,  and  October  31,  1S77,  he 
married  Mollie  Smith,  born  in  this  county, 
daughter  of  Theodore  and  Margaret  (Allen) 
Smith.  Mr.  Jett  is  a  member  of  the  Regular 
Baptist  Church,  and  a  Republican.  Our  sub- 
ject was  a  son  of  Francis  Jett,  who  was  born 
1792,  in  Culpepper  County,  Va  He  served 
as  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Wood,  a  native  of  Fauquier  Co.,  Va., 
daughter  of  Dickinson  Wood,  who  married  a 
Miss  Weather.  Francis  Jett  died  in  this 
county  in  1859;  his  wife  survived  him  until 
1877.  Daniel,  Gabriel,  John  H.,  James  and 
William  were  the  children  born  to  them;  all 
are  now  deceased  except  John  H.,  the  subject 
of  these  remarks.  The  children  of  our  sub- 
ject are  Helen  C,  Eunice  A.,  Mary  F., 
Warren,  Edward,  Harry  Lee  and  Frances  W. 


GREENVILLE  CITY  AND   PRECINCT. 


21 


E.    P.    JUSTICE,    merchant,    Greenville, 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  business  men  of 
the  thriving  little  city  of  Greenville,  was  born 
January   5,    1840,    in    Clinton    County,  111. 
His  father,  J.    J.  Justice,  a  retired  farmer  of 
Carlisle,  same  county,  is  a  native  of  Georgia; 
came    to  Illinois   when  about   nine  years  of 
age.      Of  his  four  children,  our  subject  is  the 
only  one  now  living.      He  lived  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Clinton  County  most  of  his  life  pre- 
vious to   coming  to  Greenville.     In  Novem- 
ber,   1876,  he   opened  his  present  business, 
with  an  entire  new  stock  of  groceries,  provis- 
ions, hardware,  willow-ware,    etc.      The  first 
year's  business  was  one  beset  with  the  diffi- 
culties that  must  attend  the  efforts  of  a  young 
man  with   a  small   capital   in   establishing  a 
trade:  but  since  that  time,  by  close  applica- 
tion, and  strict  adherence  to  business  princi- 
ples, his  business  has  steadily  increased,  and 
he  now  controls  a  fine  trade.      Mr.  Justice  first 
marri  ed  Miss  Mary  Crocker,  of  Clinton  County, 
111 .  in  1862.     She  died  in  1874,  leaving  two 
children.     One,    Alice  E..  is  now  living.     He 
again  married,  July  6,  1879,  to  Miss  Mary  E. 
Curlee,  of  Greenville,  and  a  native  of  Bond 
County. 

DR.  N.  H.  JACKSON,  surgeon  dentist, 
Greenville,  111.,  was  born  in  Warren  County, 
Ky..  May  20,  1853.  He  is  a  son  of  C.  C. 
Jackson,  born  in  1821),  who  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  by  occupation  a  farmer.  C.  C. 
Jackson  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky, 
in  which  State  he  spent  most  of  his  life,  and 
there  died  in  1861,  at  forty-one  years  of  age. 
His  wife,  Sarah  Jackson,  nee  Hendrick,  was 
born  in  1830,  and  now  of  Bowling  Green, 
Ky.,  is  a  native  of  Warren  County,  that  State, 
and  daughter  of  John  R.  Hendrick  (deceased), 
who  was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man. Dr.  Jackson  is  the  second  of  a  family 
of  tive  children,  four  of  whom  are  living. 
He  received  his  rudimental  eduaction  at  Bris- 


tow,  Ky,  his  native  home.  He  after  studied 
the  higher  branches  at  Bowling  Green,  and 
when  but  a  youth  apprenticed  himself  to  an 
uncle,  Dr.  J.  F.  Hendrick,  an  eminently  suc- 
cessful dentist  of  Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  and 
under  his  tuition  gained  a  thorough  and  prac- 
tical mastery  of  the  dental  profession.  Sep- 
tember 29,  1878,  Dr.  Jackson  married  Miss 
Ida  A.  Gracey,  born  September  27,  1861,  in 
Macoupin  County,  111.,  daughter  of  W.  C.  and 
Sarah  J.  (McGahey )  Gracey.  Her  fs.iher  is  a 
well-known  farmer  of  Pleasant  Prairie,  Bond 
County.  In  November,  1880,  the  Doctor 
permanently  located  in  Greenville,  where  he 
has  built  up  a  lucrative  and  steadily  increas- 
ing practice.  Mr.  Jackson's  success  is  en- 
tirely due  to  his  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
profession  and  ability  to  do  first-class  work. 
He  has  commodious  rooms  in  the  Coverdale 
Block. 

JOHN  C.  JACKSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green 
ville,  was  born  in  Tennessee  December  28, 
1826;  son  of  Larkin  and  Anna  (Parker)  Jack- 
son, he  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  dying  in  1869,  his  consort 
having  preceded  him  to  their  last  resting- 
place  in  1864  They  were  the  parents  of  sis- 
teen  children,  ten  boys  and  six  girls.  Our 
subject  attended  the  schools  of  Lawrenceburg, 
Tenn. ,  and  began  life  as  a  farmer,  in  which 
occupation  he  has  continued  since,  being  one 
of  the  most  successful  farmers  of  Bond  County. 
He  is  highly  respected,  is  energetic  and  fore- 
most in  all  that  may  redound  to  the  good  of 
his  community  and  the  welfare  of,  the  public 
o-enerally.  He  has  served  as  School  Director 
and  Road  Supervisor  several  terms.  He  is  a 
Republican.  In  Greenville  Precinct.  October 
4.  1 848,  he  married  Miss  Eleanor  Jane  Nel- 
son, daughter  of  Calvin  and  Mary  F.  Nelson, 
natives  of  Virginia,  and  three  children  have 
been  tbe  fruit  of  the  union — Mary  M.,  Will- 
iam Calvin  (deceased),  and  John. 


22 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


C.  H.  KOONCE,  farmer,  P  O.  Greenville. 
The  Koonce  family  emigrated  to  the  Sucker 
State  in  the  year  1840.  They  were  natives 
of  the  Old  Dominion,  Jefferson  County,  near 
Harper's  Ferry,  where  our  subject  was  bom 
January  31,  1825;  son  of  Nicholas  Koonce, 
whose  birthplace  was  Loudoun  County;  son  of 
Henry  Koonce,  who  was  likewise  of  Virginia 
birth.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Eliza- 
beth, a  native  of  Loudoun,  daughter  of  Chris- 
topher Schriver,  who  was  a  native  of  Ger- 
many. Ten  children  were  born  to  Nicholas 
Koonce,  seven  sons  and  three  daughters. 
Nicholas  Koonce  was  a  farmer  and  mechanic ; 
he  worked  several  years  in  the  arsenal  at  Har- 
per's Ferry;  also  in  a  mill,  and  turned  his  at- 
tention readily  to  anything  of  a  mechanical 
nature.  Our  subject  emigrated  West  with 
his  parents  when  he  was  about  fourteen  years 
of  age.  His  father  rented  land  some  time 
east  of  Greenville,  finally  located  on  Section 
31,  in  this  township,  and  remained  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  several  years  prior  to 
the  late  civil  war.  His  wife  still  survives 
him,  being  nearly  ninety  years  of  age.  The 
family  born  them  are  as  follows:  David, 
Sarah,  George,  John,  Jacob,  Christopher  H., 
Elizabeth,  Nicholas,  Joseph  and  Mary.  But 
two  are  living  in  this  township,  C.  H.  and 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  J.  C.  Lovett.  Joseph  re- 
sides in  township  adjoining.  In  October, 
1850,  our  subject  married  Jane  Wait,  of  Alex- 
andria, Va.,  daughter  of  William  Wait.  Mr. 
Koonce  resides  on  the  farm  he  entered  and 
improved,  consisting  of  225  acres;  has  six 
children,  viz. :  Charles,  Josiah,  Lucy,  Angie, 
George  and  Hattie.  His  brother,  Nicholas, 
resides  in  the  south  part  of  the  State,  a  short 
distance  above  Cairo.  The  remaining  brothers 
living  are  now  residents  of  Virginia,  having 
returned  there  to  spend  their  remaining  life 
in  the  land  that  gave  birth  to  their  progeni- 
tors. 


JOHN  KINGSBURY,  attorney  at  law, 
Greenville,  was  born  February  7,  1837,  in 
Hamilton  County,  Ind.  He  was  the  son  of 
Ira  and  Hannah  (Fierce)  Kingsbury;  he  was 
a  surveyor  and  farmer,  born  in  Vermont,  and 
died  on  his  homestead  in  1872,  October  26. 
His  wife  Hannah  was  born  in  Hamilton 
County,  Ind.  Our  subject  was  their  fifth 
child.  He  received  his  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  county,  and  also  attended 
the  Greenville  Academy,  in  1859-60.  In 
1873,  September  25,  at  Hagarstown,  111.,  he 
married  Sarah  J.  Jay,  who  was  born  in  Bond 
County,  111.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph 
A.  and  Nancy  A.  (Rhea)  Jay.  Joseph  A.  was 
born  December  19,  1826.  in  North  Carolina, 
and  Nancy  A.,  his  wife,  Julyl,  1831,  in  Ten 
nessee.  Subject  had  a  family  of  four — 
John  M. ,  Mary  G,  Anna  G.  C.  and  Lucy 
N.  Mr.  Kingsbury  remained  at  home  and 
worked  the  farm,  supporting  his  aged  father, 
and  when  thirty-six  years  of  age  began  study- 
ing law  with  D.  H.  Kingsbury,  at  Greenville, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts 
of  this  State  in  1870,  which  he  continued 
until  he  was  elected  County7  Surveyor,  at 
which  he  is  now  serving  his  third  term.  His 
religion  was  that  of  a  Baptist,  his  politics- 
Democratic,  and  was  a  member  of  the  A.  O. 
U.  W.  and  I.  0.  M.  A.  orders.  His  father, 
Ira  Kingsbury,  came  to  Bond  County,  111., 
in  June,  1844,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
he  owned  320  acres  of  land.  His  mother 
died  at  Mt.  Carmel,  111.,  November  28,  1843. 

WILLIAM  KOCH,  Treasurer-elect  of  the 
city  of  Greenville,  is  a  native  of  Germany, 
and  came  to  America  in  the  year  1849:  landed 
at  New  Orleans,  sailed  up  the  Mississippi 
River  to  St.  Louis,  thence  into  Illinois  over- 
land to  Vandalia,  Fayette  County,  and  entered 
farming  about  ten  miles  north  of  that  place. 
His  success  as  a  farmer  soon  enabled  him  to 
purchase  a  second  farm  about  two  and  one- 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


23 


half  miles  northwest  of  Vandalia.  He  moved 
on  to  the  latter  purchase,  and  there  remained 
until  1869,  when  he  sold  and  removed  to 
Greenville,  and  entered  the  lumber  trade  with 
Mr.  J.  C.  Gerrichs  as  his  partner.  He  closed 
out  his  interest  in  1882.  and  retired  from 
business.  He  has  the  esteem  and  confidence 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  Treasurer  of  the  city  of  Greenville 
in  the  spring  of  that  same  year. 

JOHN  C.  LOYETT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville, first  saw  the  light  of  day  August  29, 
1825,  in  Tolland  County,  Conn. ;  son  of  John 
G.  Lovett,  born  in  same  county  and  State 
October  30,  1780,  son  of  James,  of  English 
descent,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Roxana  Chapman.  Her  father  was  Hosea, 
of  English  descent.  The  family  trace  their 
ancestry  back  several  hundred  years.  The 
Lovett  family  emigrated  to  this  State  in  1837, 
arriving  here  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year, 
and  for  four  years  lived  in  Town  5.  Range  3; 
afterward  moved  southwest  on  a  farm  now 
owned  by  Smiley  Donney.  While  here  he 
entered  the  land  upon  which  he  afterward 
settled  in  1846,  and  remained  on  the  same 
nntil  his  death  July.  1851.  His  wife  survived 
him  until  April,  1863.  He  was  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church. 
He  was  a  strong  Whig,  and  advocated  its 
principles.  He  had  born  him  the  following 
children:  Christiana,  Juliana,  Orestes  H, 
Delia,  John  O,  Francis  M.  Of  this  number 
but  two  are  living — Orestes,  who  has  resided 
in  Washington  Territory  since  1849,  and 
John  C,  who  was  brought  up  under  the  care 
of  his  parents,  receiving  good  school  advan- 
tages,  and  before  coming  of  age  began  teach- 
ing, which  he  continued  for  several  years. 
January,  1853,  he  married  Elizabeth  Koonce, 
a  native  of  Jefferson  County,  Va.,  daughter 
of  Nicholas  Koonce.     After  marriage,  he  lo- 


cated on  the  homestead  and  since  lived  there. 
He  has  four  children — Julia  Adelaide,  Chris- 
tiana Louise,  Charlotte  Alberta,  Francis  Ja- 
cob. Since  1839,  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  Church.  He  has  40(1  acres 
of  excellent  land. 

JAMES  M.  McADAMS,  County  Treasurer, 
Greenville,  was  born  June  13,  1838.  in  Green- 
ville Precinct,  son  of  Samuel  G.  and  Priscilla 
(Smith)  Mc Adams,  he  born  near  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  December  8,  1813,  and  was  killed 
December  13.  1S64,  while  arresting  deserters 
in  Bond  County;  she,  born  in  Indiana, 
and  died  in  1844;  they  had  five  children. 
Our  subject  was  raised  to  farming,  and  fol- 
lowed stock-raising  for  a  number  of  years; 
was  elected  County  Treasurer  and  Assessor  in 
1879.  In  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Twenty- 
second  Illinois  Infantry,  as  a  private,  and 
the  same  year  was  elected  Second  Lieutenant; 
next  year  promoted  to  First  Lieutenant,  and 
was  honorably  discharged  in  1864.  February 
16,  1865,  he  married  Miss  Fannie  Smith, 
born  in  Clark  County.  Ohio,  March  3,  1845, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Smith,  a  native  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  and  two  children 
have  blessed  the  union — Samuel  S.  and  Nel- 
lie M.  Mr.  McAdams  is  a  Republican,  and 
an  enterprising,  go-ahead  man  for  the  times, 
and  makes  a  popular  and  efficient  officer. 
The  father  of  Mr.  McAdams  was  in  the  Mex- 
ican war,  a  Captain  the  Twenty-second  Illi- 
nois  Volunteer  Infantry  for  three  years,  and 
afterward  Captain  in  the  One  Hundred  anil 
Thirty-fifth  Regiment.  His  only  brother  was 
a  member  of  the  Third  Illinois  Volunteer 
Cavalry  during  the  rebellion. 

T.  P.  MOREY,  Circuit  Clerk  and  Re- 
corder of  Bond  County,  was  born  September 
27.  1847,  at  Mulberry  Grove,  Bond  County; 
son  of  Hiram  and  Eliza  J.  (Brown  i  Morey; 
he  born  in  Knox  County,  Ohio.  July  3,  1819, 
a  mechanic  and  farmer,  now   retired  and  liv- 


24 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


ing  on  his  homestead  at  Mulberry  Grove;  she, 
a  native  of  Tennessee,  born  May  4,  1S27,  and 
died  August  25,  1875.  They  had  ten  chil- 
dren. In  addition  to  the  ordinary  common 
school  education,  our  subject  attended  Me- 
Kendree  College.  In  1867,  he  commenced 
teaching  school,  which  he  continued  for  six 
years.  In  1876,  he  was  elected  to  the  posi- 
tions he  now  so  ably  tills — Circuit  Clerk  and 
Recorder  of  Bond  County.  September  27, 
1873,  at  Mulberry  Grove,  he  married  Miss  Ollie 
Borror,  born  iu  Franklin  County,  Ohio,  Decem- 
ber 26,  1848,  daughter  of  Mr.  Isaac  Borror. 
The  people  of  Bond  County  have  shown  their 
appreciation  of  a  capable  and  faithful  official 
in  retaining  Mr.  Morey  so  many  years  in  the 
responsible  positions  he  occupies,  and  when 
he  retires  from  them,  it  will  be  with  the  re- 
gret of  his  many  friends,  both  inside  and  out- 
side of  his  party. 

GEORGE  C.  McCORD,  Greenville,  Deputy 
United  States  Marshal.  Mr.  McCord  was 
born  November  15,  1835,  at  Nashville,  Wash- 
ington Co.,  111.  His  father,  Charles  A.  Mc- 
Cord, was  a  Methodist  preacher  of  Southern 
Illinois,  and  was  a  native  of  Christian  County 
Ky.  His  mother  was  one  Mary  Patterson, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Patterson,  a  farmer  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  which  was  the  State  of 
her  birth,  and  she  died  in  1844,  at  thirty-six 
pears  of  age.  Charles  A.  McCord  had  eight 
children;  six  lived  to  maturity.  He  entered 
the  ministry  at  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and 
continued  his  ministerial  labors  until  his 
death,  June  24,  1861.  He  was  a  second  time 
married  to  Mrs.  Jane  Lemon,  of  Washington 
County,  111.,  and  two  of  his  eight  children 
were  by  his  last  wife.  George  C.  received 
hisrudimental  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  Washington  County,  111.,  and  closed  his 
school  days  with  a  brief  course  at  the  Nash- 
ville Academy.  He  entered  farming  and 
stock-raising  in  Bond  County,  and  made  that 


his  business  until  1875.  October  11,  1862, 
Mr.  McCord  was  commissioned  Second  Lieu- 
tenant of  Company  B.  One  Hundred  and 
Eleventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  by  Gov. 
Yates.  This  regiment  served  three  years  in 
the  war.  March  2.  1863,  he  was  made  a 
First  Lieutenant.  In  1867,  Mr.  McCord  was 
appointed  Deputy  United  States  Marshal  by 
United  States  Marshal  E.  R.  Rose,  and  was 
re-appointed  in  1880.  During  his  term  of 
office  he  has  made  470  arrests.  July  29, 
1881,  Gov.  S.  M.  Cullom,  having  special  con- 
fidence in  his  ability,  patriotism  and  valor, 
appointed  him  his  aid-de-camp,  and  commis- 
sioned him  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Illinois 
State  troops  in  the  Sixteenth  Congressional 
District,  with  a  rank  as  Colonel.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  Col.  McCord  makes  a  very 
acceptable  and  efficient  officer.  Col.  McCord 
first  married,  November  1, 1856,  to  Miss  Altha 
A.  Means,  daughter  of  Josiah  Means,  a  farmer 
of  Christian  County.  111.  She  died  March 
22,  1861,  leaving  one  daughter.  Rosa  B. .  now 
an  efficient  teacher  in  the  graded  schools  of 
Greenville,  and  one  son,  Charles  R.,  present 
Assistant  Surgeon  in  the  Illinois  State  Prison, 
at  Chester.  Mr.  McCord  again  married, 
March  8,  1S63.  to  Miss  Ella  R.  Donnell. 
youngest  daughter  of  the  lamented  George 
Donnell,  one  of  Bond  County's  most  respected 
pioneers.  They  have  three  children  living 
— Ella,  George  A.  and  Emma  H.  Emily 
died  in  infancy. 

ABE  McNEILL.  banker.  Greenville,  is  a 
native  of  Clinton  County,  111.,  son  of  Neilly 
and  Minerva  (Mills)  McNeill,  he  born  in  Ire- 
land, and  she  in  Kentucky.  They  had  nine 
children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living.  Our 
subject  received  his  education  hi  Bond  County. 
and  began  life  as  a  farmer  and  dealer  in  stock. 
He  has  been  a  resident  of  Greenville  for 
about  fifteen  years,  in  which  time  he  has  proven 
himself  to  be  a  thoroughly  practical  and  sue- 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


25 


cessful  business  niau,  having  been  identified 
with  many  of  the  business  and  public  enter- 
prises of  Bond  County,  notably  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Greenville,  as  the  President 
of  that  institution  for  several  years.  In 
1853,  Mr.  McNeill  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Etzler,  daughter  of  John  Etzler,  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  five  children  have  been  born  to 
them— Alice  J„  Horace  M.,  William  A.,  Mary 
and  Martha. 

J.  B.  McADOW,  farmer.  P.  O.  Greenville, 
was  born  September  22,  1839,  in  Greenville 
Precinct,  Bond  County,  111. ;  son  of  Samuel  N. 
and  Jane  (Paisley)  McAdow.  His  father  was 
born  in  Tennessee  September  10,  1807,  and 
was  a  pioneer  farmer  of  Bond  County,  and 
died  in  November,  1873;  he  was  twice  mar- 
ried; his  first  wife  (Jane  Paisley),  by  whom 
he  had  nine  children,  our  subject  being  one, 
was  born  at  Elm  Point,  111..  July  14,  1817, 
and  died  September  3,  1841.  His  second 
wife,  by  whom  he  had  five  children,  was 
Betsey  Brewster.  Our  subject,  who  is  an  ex- 
tensive reader  and  a  well-informed  man,  re- 
ceived a  fair  education  and  adopted  the  oc- 
cupation of  a  farmer.  At  Alton,  111.,  Octo- 
ber 6,  1867.  he  married  Miss  Clough,  born 
in  Alton.  111..  April.  1S47,  daughter  of  Sam- 
uel and  Lucy  (Brooks)  Clough.  Samuel 
Clough,  who  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  was 
born  in  Portland,  Me.,  in  March.  1805,  and 
died  in  April,  1874.  His  wife,  who  is  still 
living,  was  born  in  Lowell.  Mass..  in  Decem- 
ber, 1809,  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Madison 
County,  111.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McAdow  are  the 
parents  of  five  children — Anna  Clay,  Lillie 
Jane,  Samuel  Guy.  Fred  Clough  and  Will- 
iam Henry.  Mr.  McAdow  has  been  a  School 
Director  for  several  years;  his  brother,  Will- 
iam P.  McAdow,  served  in  the  One  Hundred 
and  Thirtieth  Illinois  Infantry  from  the 
autumn  of  1862  to  the  close  of  the  war, 
participating  in  the  engagements    at  Vicks- 


burg.  and  several  other  important  battles 
during  the  war.  Our  subject  is  a  member  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  and  his  wife 
of  the  M.  E.  Church.  His  father  was  a  Pres- 
byterian minister,  and  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States.  Mr.  McAdow  served  as  a 
Judge  of  Bond  County  about  nine  years, 
being  first  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired  term 
of  Judge  Draper,  in  1855. 

ROBERT  MACKAY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville, was  born  February  14,  1829,  in  Green- 
ville Precinct,  Bond  County;  son  of  Alexan- 
der C.  and  Mary  (Carson)  Mackay,  he  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  who  emigrated  to  Bond 
in  an  early  day;  she  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
who  died  in  1844,  leaving  four  sons  and  one 
daughter.  Mr.  Mackay  owned  240  acres  of 
land  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
July  8,  1856.  Our  subject,  after  receiving 
the  education  usually  accorded  to  the  sons 
of  farmers,  began  life  in  the  same  occupation 
as  his  father,  at  which  he  has  continued 
throughout  life.  In  November,  1853,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Margaret  Sugg,  a  native  of  Bond 
County,  and  daughter  of  Noah  A.  Sugg,  a 
pioneer,  by  whom  he  has  had  the  following 
children— Mary  A.,  now  Mrs.  J.  T.  Corrie,  of 
Kansas;  George;  Eleanor  J.,  Emily  R.,  Sarah 
E.,  Henry,  William,  Alvin,  Ollie  and  Walter, 
all  of  whom  are  now  living.  There  is  one 
dead,  Mattie,  who  died  at  the  age  of  eight- 
een   months.     Mr.    Mackay  is  a  Republican. 

ROBERT  MERRY,  Greenville,  was  born 
in  Kentucky,  near  the  Mammoth  Cave,  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1828.  He  is  one  of  twelve  children 
born  to  David  W.  and  Isabella  (McLonehon)  ft\ 
Merry.  His  father,  David  W.,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1801; 
came  to  Bond  County  about  1830,  and  died 
in   1852.      The  mother  of    our   subject    was 


H-* 


born  in. Kentucky  in  1802,  and  died  January, 
1871.      Robert  received  his  education,  which 


•JO 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  such  as  the  common  schools  of  that  day 
afforded,    in  Madison  County,  111.     In  Bond 
County,  November  18,  1849,  he  married  Mary 
E.  Clouse,  born   in  Bond  County  September 
28,    1834,   daughter   of  William  and  Sallie 
(Sags)  Clouse,  the  former  born  in  Nashville, 
Tenn  ,  September,  1818;  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation.     During  the  Black  Hawk  war,  he 
served  as  Major,  having  previously  been  pro- 
moted from  the  rank  of  Captain,  and  died 
May  20,  1871.     The   latter,  a  native  of  Ala- 
bama, died  in  March,   1S38.     Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Merry    are    the   parents    of   six    children  — 
Charles  W..  thirty  years;  Robert  A.,  twenty- 
seven   years;    Sallie    C,    twenty-five   years; 
James  W.,  twenty -two  years;  Emily  E.,  nine- 
teen years;  and  Ella,    sixteen  years  of  age. 
Charles  W.  is  married,  and  follows  the  min- 
ing business  in  Colorado;  Sallie  is  now  Mis. 
C.  H.  Martin,  of  Greenville,  and  Emily  C.  is 
Mrs.  Redfern,  wife  of  a  farmer  of  Cottonwood 
Precinct,  Bond  County.     Mr.  Merry  was  for- 
merly a  farmer,  but  abandoned  that  business, 
and  removed  in  the  autumn  of  1881  to  Green- 
ville, where  he  engaged  in  the   livery  busi- 
ness.     He  has  ten  good  outfits,  and  is  doing 
a  good,  paying  business.      He  is  one  of  the 
prominent  men  of  Bond  County. 

ANDREW  B.  MERRY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Greenville,  is  one  of  the  good  farmers  of 
Town  6,  Range  3.  He  was  born  in  Mad- 
ison County,  this  State,  November  28,  1840, 
and  was  brought  to  this  county  with  his 
parents  when  a  babe.  He  was  the  sixth 
son  of  David  Merry,  who  first  settled  in 
Town  (3,  Range  3,  and  came  to  the  town- 
ship about  the  year  184S,  and  died  in  1853, 
January  21.  Andrew  B.  was  then  brought  up 
under  the  fostering  care  of  his  mother,  with 
whom  he  lived  until  her  death.  January  31, 
1873.  November  27,  1879.  he  married  Ketu- 
rah  Nevinger,  born  in  Ohio,  daughter  of  Dan- 
iel Nevinger,   who  came  to  Bond  County  in 


1878,  and  located  in  Town  7,  Range  2.  Mr. 
Merry  has  but  one  child,  Gertie.  He  has 
169  acres  of  land,  and  is  a  neat  and  judicious 
farmer,  and  successful  withal.  His  farm  is 
located  in  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section 
31,  in  Town  6,  Range  3,  in  Greenville  Pre- 
cinct. 

McLAIN  &  CO.,  millinery  and  fancy  goods, 
Greenville.  The  business  of  ihis  house  was 
first  established  in  1870;  by  J.  M.  Miller. 
who  conducted  it  alone  until  the  year  1874. 
when  Mr.  William  A.  McLain  purchased  a 
one-half  interest,  and  the  house  then  took 
its  present  title.  In  1875,  Mr.  Miller  sold 
his  interest  to  Miss  Ella  E.  Hull.  Julia  E. 
Locke  succeeded  to  Miss  Hull's  interest  in 
1878,  and  still  holds  her  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness. This  house  holds  a  position  at  the 
head  of  the  millinery  and  fancy  goods 
trade  of  Bond  County,  and  in  those  lines  aim 
to  have  their  stock  always  complete  and  fresh. 
A  stock  of  books  stationery  and  notions  oc- 
cupy a  portion  of  their  salesroom,  which  is 
also  kept  well  assorted.  They  enjoy  the  con- 
fidence of  the  business  and  buying  public. 
and  have  a  liberal  and  steadily  increasing- 
patronage. 

ISAAC  NORMAN,  merchant,  Greenville, 
was  born  in  Parke  County,  Ind. ,  February 
22,  1841,  son  of  Wesley  and  Elizabeth  (Mc- 
Gelvery)  Norman,  he,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
born  in  1816,  a  retired  farmer  now  living  at 
Eiu'eka  Springs,  Ark;  she  a  native  of  Indi- 
ana; they  are  the  parents  of  five  children. 
Our  subject  began  his  business  life  as  a  clerk 
at  Martinsville,  Ind.;  afterward  at  Vandalia, 
111.,  and  later  at  Greenville.  In  1864,  at  Van- 
dalia, 111.,  he  married  Lydia  E.  Walker, 
daughter  of  Louis  Walker,  a  jeweler  of  Van- 
dalia. Four  children  have  been  born  to  them 
— Louis  V.,  Minnie  R.,  Laverne  and  Roy 
T.  Is  a  Methodist,  a  Mason  and  a  Repub- 
lican.    Mr.  Norman  is  a  member  of  the  well- 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


known  furniture  firm  of  Gerichs  &  Norman, 
the  representative  firm  in  its  lines  of  Bond 
County.  The  business  was  first  organized  by 
Mr.  J.  0.  Gerichs  in  1875.  Mr.  Norman 
has  conducted  the  business  for  him  from  that 
time  until  1880,  and  then  took  a  half-interest 
in  the  business.  Under  his  management  they 
have  built  up  a  large  and  growing  trade. 
Their  stock  is  always  full  and  complete,  and 
the  extended  popularity  of  this  firm  is  large- 
ly due  to  that  fact  and  the  inducements  they 
offer  their  customers  in  the  way  of  low  prices. 
S.  A.  PHELPS,  lawyer,  Greenville,  was 
born  June  2.  1817.  in  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  son  of 
Joshua  and  Elizabeth  (Pick)  Phelps,  of  Con- 
necticut, who  emigrated  to  the  then  far  West, 
Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1799.  The  subject 
was  of  a  family  of  nine,  being  the  youngest 
of  his  mother's  own  children.  He  attended 
the  common  school  of  Otsego  County,  and 
afterward  entered  Union  College,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  taking  the  full  course,  and  graduating 
in  1838.  He  first  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Mississippi,  at  Woodville, 
in  1839,  and  continued  there  until  coming 
to  Bond  County  in  1844.  During  the  first 
twelve  yr;irs  he  farmed  near  Greenville.  In 
1841,  he  married  Anna  Bulkley,  of  New  York, 
and  in  1856  came  to  Greenville  and  prac- 
ticed law.  His  wife  died  in  1843,  and  in 
1845  he  married  her  sister  Caroline.  Have 
two  sons — Alfred  and  George;  the  former  is 
a  lawyer  at  Denver,  Colo.;  went  out  as  a 
private  in  the  100-days'  service  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  Illinois 
Infantry;  served  three  years  and  returned; 
the  latter  was  State's  Attorney  of  Bond 
County;  resigned  the  office,  and  opened  prac- 
tice in  Leadville,  Colo.  Philo  is  a  Presby- 
terian minister  of  Livermore,  Cal. ;  Charles 
is  in  Chicago.  The  subject  was  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  As  a  politician  he 
■was  a  Republican.     Ho  ran  for  the  Legisla- 


ture in  1862,  and  received  a  majority  of  200 
in  his  own  county;  Madison  Count}'  turned 
the  majority  against  him.  From  1858  to 
1865,  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  Repub- 
licans. During  the  war  he  was  the  one  to  de- 
liver stump  speeches  throughout  Bond  County 
on  the  political  issues  of  the  day.  He  is  the 
oldest  practicing  lawyer  in  Greenville  or 
Bond  County;  he  has  his  office  over  the  post 
office. 

JAMES  PLANT,  deceased,  was  born  in 
Dixon  County,  Tennessee,  on  the  9th  day 
of  April,  1808,  and  was  a  son  of  Williamson 
Plant,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  was 
a  tailor  by  trade,  and  who  married  Frances 
Walts.  They  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters, 
James  being  the  second  youngest.  The  sub- 
ject commenced  life  as  a  farmer,  and  received 
his  education  chiefly  in  Pocahontas,  having 
come  to  this  county  in  1818.  He  was  mar- 
ried on  the  13th  day  of  April,  1837,  to  Miss 
Angeline  Chappell,  a  daughter  of  Robert 
Chappell,  who  was  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  died  in  Tennessee.  Angeline  came 
here  with  her  mother,  who  had  seven  children, 
four  of  whom  are  living,  Angeline  being  the 
second.  The  subject  has  three  children — 
Nancy  I.,  now  Mrs.  D.  F.  Hunter;  Sarah  E. 
(third  child),  and  George  F.,  a  farmer  of 
Greenville,  who  was  born  October  28,  1845, 
and  married  on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1872, 
Miss  Orrie  A.  White,  a  daughter  of  Wesley 
White,  one  "of  the  oldest  settlers  in  Bond 
County.  They  have  three  children — Oscar, 
Sarah  J.  and  Hattie.  The  subject  was  a 
Methodist;  in  politics,  a  Democrat,  and  owned 
1 60  acres  of  land.  His  first  wife  was  Eliza- 
1m 'tli  Watson,  by  whom  he  had  three  children. 
He  died  on  the  22d  day  of  March,  1850. 

JOHN  W.  PLANT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville, was  born  in  Humphrey  County,  Tenu, 
March  12,  1817.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of 
ten  born  to  John  and  Mary  (Thompson)  Plant. 


28 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


John  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in  1785; 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  in  Ten- 
nessee in  1865.  Mary,  his  wife,  came  to  her 
death  by  being  struck  by  lightning,  in  1830; 
What  little  education  our  subject  obtained 
was  in  the  subscription  schools  of  Tennessee. 
He  learned  the  molder's  trade  with  his 
brother,  William  Plant,  in  Tennessee,  where, 
at  Palmyra,  July  30,  1845,  he  married  Ann 
F.  Williamson,  who  was  born  there  in  1826. 
Her  parents  were  Burwell  and  Evanna  Will- 
iamson, of  South  Carolina.  To  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  W.  Plant  were  born  thirteen  children, 
three  of  whom  are  dead — Robert,  Mary  C, 
Cornelia,  Cave  J.,  Samuel  W.,  William  A.. 
Perry  F.,  Edward,  Margaret  A.,  Laura,  Mar- 
tha, John  B.  and  Lizzie.  Mr.  Plant  followed 
his  trade  seventeen  or  eighteen  years,  and 
since  then  has  farmed  here  twenty-eight  years. 
He  is  a  Methodist,  and  his  political  views 
are  with  the  Eepublicans.  By  hard  work, 
economy  and  industry,  Mr.  Plant  now  owns 
662  acres  of  as  good  land  as  can  be  found  in 
Bond  County. 

COL.  JOHN  B.  REID,  retired,  Greenville, 
was  born  in  Ireland  August  8,  1830;  son  of 
James  and  Isabella  (Barclay)  Reid.  who  came 
to  America  in  1831,  bringing  a  family  of 
eight  children,  John  B.  then  being  only  one 
year  old.  Alexander  Reid,  the  grandfather 
of  our  subject,  was  a  soap  and  tallow  chandler 
in  Ireland,  and  his  son  James,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  learned  the  business  of  his  father, 
but  abandoned  it  for  music,  which  he  made 
the  profession  of  his  life.  When  he  came  to 
America,  he  made  Nova  Scotia  his  home  for 
several  years,  and  finally,  in  1863,  died  in 
New  Brunswick,  his  wife  dying  the  year  pre- 
vious. They  left  six  sons  and  f our  daughters, 
John  B.  being  the  youngest  son.  He  was  ed- 
ucated partly  in  New  Brunswick,  and  partly 
in  New  York,  and  afterward  learned  the  shoe- 
makers trade,   in  which  he  continued  until 


1860,  having  come  to  Greenville  from  Boston 
in  1854.  From  1856  to  1861,  he  was  Post- 
master at  Greenville,  and  was  Clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court  from  1860  to  186S.  In  1862, 
he  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirti- 
eth Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was 
elected  Captain,  but  was  commissioned  as 
Major  on  the  organization  of  the  regiment; 
was  afterward  promoted  to  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel, and  later,  Colonel.  While  in  the 
army,  he  was  elected  to  the  Clerkship  of 
the  Circuit  Court,  and  the  Government  be- 
ing appealed  to,  it  was  decided  that  he 
could  hold  the  civil  as  well  as  the  military 
office  at  the  same  time.  He  served  about 
three  years,  having  been  wounded  in  the 
shoulder  by  a  Minie-ball,  and  was  taken 
prisoner  and  confined  for  a  couple  of  months, 
when  he  was  paroled.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Emma  T.  Holden,  of  Woburn,  Mass. ;  has  five 
sons  and  five  daughters;  two  oldest  sons  mar- 
ried and  in  business.  Col.  Reid  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  Church,  being  a  Deacon  in 
the  same;  is  Master  of  Masonic  Lodge,  No. 
245;  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  an  A.  O.  U.  W..  a 
temperance  man  and  a  Democrat. 

ROBINSON  &  REID,  general  loan  and  in- 
surance agents.  This  enterprising  business 
firm,  composed  of  William  E.  Robinson  and 
J.  Ward  Reid,  is  one  of  the  most  wide-awake 
and  prosperous  in  its  line  in  Bond  County. 
In  one  sense,  this  copartnership  may  be  said 
to  have  existed  longer  than  any  other  in  Bond 
County,  as  Will  and  Ward  were  both  born  in 
the  same  neighborhood,  and  in  youth  at- 
tended the  same  school.  In  1876,  they  grad- 
uated at  the  Greenville  High  School,  under 
Prof.  Inglis.  Mr.  Robinson  then  taught 
school  one  year,  and  Mr.  Reid  entered  upon 
a  course  of  study  at  the  Illinois  State  Uni- 
versity, at  Champaign,  and  his  schoolmate 
naturally  enough  came  the  next  year.  They 
each  spent  two  years  at  Champaign,   during 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND   PRECINCT. 


29 


which  time  the  possibilities  of  a  bright  and 
prosperous  business  future  became  a  favorite 
topic  for  conversation  and  discussion  between 
them,  which  talk  finally  led  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  their  studies.  Mr.  Robinson  entered 
the  Circuit  Clerk's  office,  at  Greenville,  and 
during  his  nineteen  months1  connection  with 
that  office,  he  made  a  business  trip  to  Colo- 
rado. During  this  time  Mr.  Reid  clerked 
in  H.  T.  Powell's  drug  store,  Greenville.  In 
the  fall  of  1880,  they  entered  an  abstract  and 
insurance  office  at  Mt.  Vernon,  111. ,  where 
they  obtained  practical  ideas  of  their  busi- 
ness. They  formed  their  copartnership  Sep- 
tember, 1881,  and  Mr.  Reid  immediately 
commenced  work  upon  a  set  of  abstract  books, 
which  are  now  the  most  complete  in  the 
county  and  in  fact  the  only  ones,  since  all 
others  are  but  indexes  of  the  county  records. 
Much  time  and  labor  have  been  bestowed 
upon  these  books,  and  Robinson  &  Reid  have 
now  the  only  complete  set  of  abstract  books 
in  Bond  County.  These  valuable  records  en- 
able this  liiin  to  furnish  to  applicants  ab- 
stracts of  titles  on  much  shorter  notice  and 
in  less  time  than  any  others.  They  are  also 
making  a  specialty  of  fire  and  tornado  insur- 
ance, and  represent  the  Liverpool,  London, 
and  Globe;  Continental,  of  New  York,  Amer- 
ican, of  Newark.  N.  J.,  the  German,  of  Free- 
port,  111.,  California,  of  San  Francisco,  and 
the  Manhattan,  of  New  York.  The  first  men- 
tioned is  the  largest  fire  insurance  company 
m  the  world,  and  the  others  are  equally  safe, 
and  each  has  its  desirable  features  for  the  in- 
surance of  different  classes  of  property.  Mr. 
Robinson  returned  to  Greenville  in  December, 
having,  during  the  past  summer,  written  up 
a  complete  set  of  abstracts  of  the  records  of 
Platte  County,  Neb.  Since  that  time  this 
young  and  enterprising  firm  have  been  build- 
ing up  a  business  which  shows  the  confidence 


the  people  have  in  them  as  men  of  business 
and  reliability. 

JOHN  RIEDLINGER,  saloon  keeper, 
Greenville,  was  born  in  Highland,  111. ,  March 
11,  1854;  son  of  Martin  and  Margaret  (Rude) 
Riedlinger.  He  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade, 
and  died  in  1873;  his  wife  is  still  living. 
They  were  the  parents  of  four  boys  and  four 
girls.  Our  subject  learned  the  tinner's  trade 
with  Mr.  Theodore  Ruger,  in  Highland,  and 
afterward  tended  bar  for  Mr.  Schotte.  in 
Greenville.  In  Greenville,  April  28,  1875, 
he  married  Miss  Mary  Ellen  Huessey,  born 
October  7,  1854,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Annie 
Huessey,  and  three  children  have  been  born 
to  them — Louis  F.,  Lela  M.  and  Ida  A.  Is 
a  German  Protestant,  a  member  of  the  Mu- 
tual Aid  Association,  and  a  Republican.  The 
father  of  Mr.  Riedlinger  removed  from  Ger 
manj,  his  fatherland,  to  Switzerland,  and 
from  there  came  to  America,  his  wife  accom- 
panying him  in  his  travels.  He  was  a  man 
much  respected  in  his  own  country  as  well  as 
this. 

JOHN  J.  SMITH,  deceased,  was  born  in 
Harrison  County,  Ind.,  April  10,  1813;  son 
of  James  and  Sarah  (Long)  Smith,  he  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  a  farmer,  shoemaker  and 
blacksmith;  she,  a  native  of  Kentucky.  They 
had  ten  children,  John  J.  being  the  eldest. 
The  father  of  James,  and  great-grandfather 
of  the  seven  sons  of  John  J.,  was  Edwin 
Smith,  one  of  three  brothers  who  came  to 
America  during  the  Revolution,  as  British 
soldiers,  but  Edwin's  heart  not  being  in  that 
unjust  struggle  against  the  weak  but  deter- 
mined colonies,  he  left  the  army  of  England 
and  settled  in  Virginia,  afterward  removing 
to  Kentucky,  where  he  died.  John  J.,  our 
subject,  only  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation, but  was  a  well-informed  man.  He 
followed  farming  all   his  life,  and  was  a  man 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


highly  respected  for  his  many  qualities  of 
rnind  and  heart.  He  left  each  of  his  sons 
21  >0  acres  of  land,  and  such  was  his  systematic 
methods  of  doing  business  that  it  cost  only 
$225  to  settle  his  estate.  He  was  fifty-seven 
years  of  age  when  he  joined  the  Baptist 
Church  of  Smith  Grove  (named  for  him). 
He  was  a  Democrat  in  h's  political  views,  but 
always  conservative  in  sentiment.  July  15, 
1840,  he  married  Eliza  Hubbard,  born  in 
Tennessee  June  30,  1822,  daughter  of  Philip 
and  Emily  (Smithwick)  Hubbard,  he  a  Bond 
County  pioneer,  and  she  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  eight  sons  were  born  to  Mr. 
Smith,  one  of  whom,  David  D.,  died  from  the 
bite  of  a  snake  in  1854;  the  other  seven  are 
all  residing  in  this  county,  and  a  short  sketch 
of  each  one  we  give  as  follows: 

Cyrus  J.  Smith,  farmer,  P.  Q,  Greenville, 
was  born  January  17,  1842;  is  a  thorough- 
going farmer,  and  has  287  acres  of  land,  all 
well  improved.  He  is  a  Democrat.  He  has 
been  married  twice;  first,  June  16,  1867,  to 
Miss  Catharine  Watson,  daughter  of  James 
Watson,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  She  died 
December  17,  187(3.  leaving  one  daughter, 
Annie.  August  2,  1877,  he  married  Hannah 
Orme.  daughter  of  Thomas  Orme,  a  resident 
of  this  State  up  to  the  time  of  his  deatb,  No- 
vember 10,  1879,  he  being  a  native  of  En- 
gland, and  emigrating  to  this  country  in  1838; 
was  a  shoemaker  and  farmer,  and  had  four 
children,  Mrs.  Smith  being  the  youngest. 
The  others  are  John  T.,  Walter  L.  and  Law- 
rence E.  Mrs.  Smith's  mother  was  Ann 
Hawksworth,of  English  birth. 

Newt. in  T.  Smith,  a  farmer,  was  born  April 
20,  1843.  September  14,  1864,  he  married 
in  Beaver  Creek  Precinct,  Emeline  Castle, 
who  was  born  in  Ohio  February  27,  1841, 
daughter  of  John  T.  Castle,  a  farmer,  and 
native  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  who  came  to  I><  >nd 
County   about    1845.       Mrs.    Smith   was    the 


oldest  child.  Mr.  Smith  is  an  enterprising 
farmer,  and  owns  227  acres  of  excellent  land, 
on  Section  28,  Township  4,  Range  5,  and 
twenty-three  acres  on  another  section.  He  is 
a  Democrat;  he  has  seven  children — William 
N.,  Arthur  D.  Robert  M.,  Rhoda  L.,  Lois  L.. 
Emeline  and  Lillie  M. 

James  M.  Smith,  farmer,  was  born  Decem- 
ber 25,  1844,  and  was,  like  his  brothers, 
raised  to  a  life  of  farming.  He  was  married 
May  1,  1870.  to  Miss  Martha  Castle,  daughter 
of  John  Castle,  and  they  have  one  child, 
Grace,  born  in  November,  1878. 

J.  Frank  Smith,  farmer,  was  born  Septem- 
ber 26,  1854,  on  the  old  Smith  homestead, 
in  Greenville.  He  has  195  acres  of  good 
land,  which  came  to  him  from  his  father'-, 
estate.  February  10,  1S76,  he  married  Ellen 
McCulley,  a  native  of  Bond  County,  born 
March  28,  1856,  daughter  of  Frank  McCul- 
ley and  Mary  (McCaslin)  McCulley,  he  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  Mr.  Smith  has  three 
children — Mollie,  Dora  and  Harry.  Is  a 
Democrat. 

Charles  C.  Smith,  farmer,  was  born  in 
Greenville  Precinct,  on  the  old  homestead, 
March  28,  1857,  and  was  married  March  10, 
1S78,  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Goad,  born  April  16, 
I860,  daughter  of  William  and  Amanda  (Al- 
len) Goad.  Mr.  Goad  has  been  a  resident  of 
Bond  County  for  about  seven  years,  and  has 
three  children.  Mrs.  Smith  being  the  oldest. 
One  child  has  been  born  to  Sir.  Smith,  Pearl, 
born  December  0,  1879.  He  owns  210  acres 
of  good  land,  and  is  a  Democrat. 

Phillip  Smith,  at  home  on  the  homestead, 
was  born  December  8, 1858,  and  married  Mi- 
Frances  Hunter  March  12,  1882. 

Peter  L.  Smith  was  born  December  12. 
1.859;  is  unmarried,  and  lives  on  the  home- 
stead  with  his  mother,  he  being,  like  his  six 
brothers,  a  farmer. 

H.  H  SMITH,   trader,  railroad   agent  and 


GREENVILLE  CITY   AND  PRECINCT. 


31 


Postmaster  of  Smithboro,  Greenville  Pre- 
cinct, is  the  founder  and  chief  proprietor  of 
Henderson,  which  is  situated  four  miles  east 
of  Greenville,  on  the  Vandalia  &  Terra  Haute 
Railroad.  The  subject  of  these  lines  was  born 
in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  Feb.  19,  1833;  son  of 
Samuel  Smith,  a  Marylander,  son  of  William, 
who  emigrated  with  his  family  and  settled  in 
Clark  County,  Ohio,  when  it  was  a  wilderness. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Anna,  daughter 
of  Philip  Hedrick,  who  was  likewise  an 
early  settler  in  Clark  County,  Ohio.  Hiram 
H.  had  good  common  school  advantages,  com- 
pleting  the  same  at  Delaware,  Ohio:  came  to 
Illinois  in  1854,  to  Greenville;  his  father 
came  three  years  later.  When  Mr.  Smith 
came  to  the  county,  he  purchased  80(1  acres 
in  Town  5,  Range  2,  and  engaged  in  farming 
and  stock-raising;  came  to  this  place  in  1870, 
and  with  the  exception  of  two  years  spent  in 
Greenville,  he  has  been  a  resident  of  this 
township,  and  has  done  much  toward  encour- 
aging the  growth  and  improvement  of  the 
township,  and  founded  the  town  soon  after  he 
came  here,  and  since  1871  has  been  Postmas- 
ter, the  office  being  named  in  honor  of  him. 
He  is  also  railroad  agent  here,  and  does  a 
general  trading  business,  and  is  a  thorough- 
going and  energetic  business  man.  In  1868, 
he  was  married  to  Eleanor  C.  Culver,  born  in 
Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  daughter  of  Andrew 
Culver.  Mr.  Smith  has  no  children;  has 
about  live  hundred  acres  of  land;  is  a  mem- 
ber  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  a  strong  and 
uncompromising  temperance  man. 

WILLIAM  S.  SMITH,  merchant  and 
banker,  Greenville,  was  born  in  Hampshire 
(now  Morgan)  County,  Ya. ;  son  of  Middleton 
and  Leah  (Williams)  Smith,  both  natives  of 
Virginia,  he  a  farmer  by  occupation,  born  in 
Frederick  County  December  '21,  1786,  died 
in  Greenville,  Bond  Co.,  111.,  July  29,  1849; 
she  born  in  Hampshire  (now  Morgan)  County 


December  30,  1784,  also  died  in  Greenville 
December  22,  1845.      She  was  the  mother  of 
nine  children — William  S.,  Thomas  W.,  John 
A.,  Isaac  M.,  Samuel,  Jane  M.,  now  wife  of 
John  S.  Hall,  a  farmer  near  Greenville,  111.; 
Mary  A.,  Ellen  and  Joshua  M.     Subject  be 
gan  the  business  of   life  at  fourteen  years  of 
age  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house,  and  has 
since  been  engaged  in   mercantile   business 
and  banking.     At  the  age  of  twenty -three,  he 
removed  from  Virginia  and  located  in  Green- 
ville, in  which  place  he  has  ever  since  resided. 
He  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First   Na- 
tional Bank  of  Greenville,  of  which  he  was 
President  for  several  years,  and  at  the  present 
time    a    Director;    has    tilled   the    offices    of 
School  Commissioner    and  County  Assessor, 
and  is  at  the  present  time  City  Alderman  of 
the  Third  Ward,   Greenville.       During    the 
years  1 840-47.  he  was  Representative  in  the 
Legislature.      He  has    been   twice    married. 
His  first  wife,  whom  he  married  near  Green- 
ville, was  Amanda  M.  Hall,  second  daughter 
of  Joshua    and  Charlotte  Hall,  of  Jefferson 
County,   Va.      She  died  January    21,     1849, 
leaving  seven  children — Tiffin  A.,  Sarah  Y, 
William  S.,  Jr.,  Charlotte  L.,  Ellen E..  Mary 
H.  and  JoshuaS.     Hewasmarried  thesecond 
time  at  Stony  Point.  Crittenden  Co.,  Ky.,  to 
Elizabeth   W.  Greathouse,  daughter  of  John 
S.  Greathouse,  attorney  at  law,  of  Sbelbyville, 
Shelby  Co.,  Ky.,  who  married  Lucy  M.  Clark 
of  Anderson  County,  Ky.     From  this  second 
union  six  children  have  been  born — Edgar 
T.,  Lucy  E.,  Alice  G.,  Elizabeth    L.,  Lucien 
G.  and  Clark  S.     Mr.  Smith  was  an  old-time 
Whig,  is  now  a  Republican,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  I  O.  O.  F. 

DR.  R.  C,  SPRAGUE,  physician  and  sur- 
geon, Greenville,  was  born  in  Washington 
County,  Ohio,  on  the  10th  day  of  June,  1828, 
and  is  a  son  of  Anson  Sprague,  a  native  of  Mass- 
achusetts, who  was  born  October  3,  1781,  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


died  July  9,  1856.  His  mother,  Susannah 
Sprague,  a  native  of  Fort  AYaterford  (first  gar- 
rison in  Ob  io),  was  born  April  2,  1798,  and  died 
December  9,  1857.  They  were  married  in 
AVashington  County,  Ohio,  in  1806.  The 
subject's  father  was  a  farmer,  and  held  the 
office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  several  years, 
and  moved  to  Franklin  County,  Ohio,  in 
1832.  The  family  were  long  and  well  known 
as  active  and  zealous  members  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  They  had  nine  children,  five 
sons  and  four  daughters.  Dr.  Sprague's  first 
schooling  was  in  the  district  schools  of  Frank- 
lin County,  Ohio,  near  Columbus;  afterward 
he  attended  the  academy  at  Reynoklsburg, 
in  the  same  county.  He  commenced  his  col- 
lege career  at  the  Eclectic  Medical  Institute, 
C'incnniati,  Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in 
1857.  He  also  took  a  course  in  the  Eclectic 
Medical  College  of  New  York  City,  in  1866. 
He  came  to  Greenville  with  a  brother,  Dr. 
Anson  Sprague,  in  1852.  In  1854,  at  Aran- 
dalia,  111,.  July  6,  Dr.  Sprague  married  Miss 
Martha  J.  Johnson,  born  in  Bond  County, 
111..  May  15,  1832,  daughter  of  Duncan  John- 
son, who  was  born  in  Tennessee  January  11, 
1803.  and  died  December  12,  1867.  Polly 
Johnston,  nee  Powers,  Mrs.  Sprague*  s  mother, 
was  born  in  Tennessee  August  5,  1807,  and 
died  January  22,  1S52.  They  were  married 
May  27,  1824,  and  moved  from  Tennessee 
soon  after,  locating  in  this  county.  Mr. 
Johnson  was  a  farmer,  and  held  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace  for  many  years.  He  was 
prominently  connected  with  the  milling  in- 
terest of  this  and  Fayette  County,  and  was  a 
zealous  worker  in  the  Methodist  Church,  all 
his  family  belonging  to  the  same  denomina- 
tion. Dr.  Sprague  has  been  a  member  of 
the  City  Council  for  many  years,  and  is  the 
father  of  seven  children,  four  living— Clara 
Ellen,  now  Mrs.  John,  of  Greenville;  Sarah 
Aland,  now  Airs.  AV.  H.   Alclntyre,  of  Rush- 


ville;  Bomulus  D.  and  Ruby  B. ,  now  in  school. 
The  children  deceased  are  Alary  Irene,  Bev- 
erly J.  and  Hattie  Alabel.  The  Doctor  is  a 
member  of  the  Christian  Church,  an  A.  O. 
U.  AV. ,  and  a  Republican. 

AVILLIAM  B.  SYBERT,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Greenville,  was  born  in  Ohio  February  13, 
1822;  son  of  Henry  and  Sarah  Sybert,  both 
of  whom  are  dead,  he  departing  this  life  in 
1864,  and  she  in  1S66.  He  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  left  eleven  children,  seven 
girls  and  four  boys.  Our  subject  attended 
school  in  Aladison  County,  Ind.,  and  com- 
menced the  life  of  a  farmer  in  Greenville 
Precinct,  in  which  occupation  he  has  contin- 
ued, owning  at  the  present  time  227  acres  of 
the  best  land  in  the  State,  an-:i  being  highly 
respected  as  a  farmer  and  a  man.  He  has 
filled  the  position  of  School  Director,  and  is 
a  Alethodist  and  a  Republican.  October  3, 
1844.  in  Greenville  Precinct,  he  married 
Miss  Malinda  E.  Edwards,  daughter  of  John 
Edwards,  and  seven  children  have  been  born 
to  them — James  F.,  John  H.,  Harriet  M., 
Lemuel,  Albert.  Morgan  L.  and  Betsey  E. 

REINHOLD  SUESSENBACH,  farmer,  P. 
O  Greenville,  was  born  in  Prussia  Alarch  19, 
1838.  He  was  the  son  of  Christian  AVilhelm 
and  Renate  (Taesler)  Suessenbach,  both  dying 
in  Germany,  he  in  1859,  and  she  in  1840. 
Our  subject  was  one  of  a  family  of  three. 
He  was  educated  in  Prussia,  where  the  law 
requires  them  to  attend  school  for  eight  years. 
In  Bond  County,  in  June,  1875,  he  married 
Alary  Schmollinger,  daughter  of  Christopf  and 
Frederika  Schmollinger.  Subject  had  a  family 
of  three — Amanda  Bertha,  Conrad  Gustav 
and  Heinrich  Oscar.  In  Germany,  he  learned 
the  brick  and  stone-mason  and  plasterer's 
trade,  and  has  worked  at  it  a  good  deal,  but  is 
farming  at  present.    He  is  a  Republican. 

D.   D.    THOA1SON,  farmer,  P.  O.   Green- 
ville, Greenville  Precinct.      Among  the  enter- 


GREENVILLE   CITY   AND  PRECINCT. 


33 


prising  farmers  in  this  township  is  Mr.  Thorn- 
son,  who  was  born  October  2,  1840,  in  Hen- 
dricks County,  Ind.  He  is  a  son  of  John  R. 
Thomson,  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  and  emi- 
grated to  Indiana  about  the  year  1842.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  stock-trader,  and  was  prom- 
inently identified  with  that  country  as  a  busi- 
ness man.  He  died  August  5,  1862.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  His 
wife  survives  him.  Nine  children  were  born 
to  them;  seven  are  now  living.  Their  names 
are  as  follows — Nelson  G,  David  D.,  Sarah 
E.,  Samuel  E.,  Arthur  R.,  Ollie  D.,  John  R. 
and  Ella  D.  All  reside  in  Indiana  except 
David  D. ,  who  was  raised  a  farmer,  and  re- 
mained with  his  father  until  he  became  of 
age.  September  26, 1867,  he  married  Lavinia 
S.  Hendrix,  born  in  Hendricks  County,  Ind., 
daughter  of  Jesse  Hendrix,  of  that  place. 
In  the  fall  of  1871,  he  came  to  this  county, 
and  after  buying  and  locating  on  several  dif- 
ferent farms  in  the  county,  March  31,  1881, 
he  purchased  the  Samuel  Colcord  farm,  com- 
prising 272  acres,  where  he  now  resides.  He 
has  four  children  living — Amos  D.,  Cordia 
N. .  Bertha  and  an  infant  unnamed.  Mr. 
Thomson  is  a  member  of  the  German  Baptist 
Church. 

CAPT.  S.  M.  TABOR,  livery,  Greenville, 
was  born  in  Madison  County,  111.,  October 
29,  1833,  son  of  Isham  and  Phoabe  (Adams) 
Tabor,  he  a  native  of  Tennessee,  a  farmer, 
who  died  about  1837;  she  also  of  Tennessee, 
dying  in  1841.  They  were  the  parents  of  five 
children,  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  Capt. 
S.  M.  being  the  third  in  order  of  birth.  After 
receiving  an  ordinary  education,  young  Tabor 
began  his  business  life  as  a  farmer;  but  in 
1877,  he  entered  the  livery  business  in  Green- 
ville. In  1862,  November  20,  he  married 
Miss  Sarah  A.  Jett,  daughter  of  Daniel  Jett, 
a  pioneer  of  Bond  County,  and  six  children 
have  been  born  to  them — Lizzie,  May,  Flora, 


Hattie  and  Josie;  Edwin,  an  only  son,  died 
in  1874,  aged  one  year.  Capt.  Tabor  was 
Deputy  Sheriff  of  Bond  County  from  1868  to 
1878,  and  has  held  the  office  of  Constable  for 
about  thirteen  years,  and  his  present  term 
will  not  expire  until  1885.  In  1861,  he 
entered  the  service  of  his  country  as  a  private 
in  the  Thh-d  Illinois  Cavalry;  was  promoted 
to  a  Second  Lieutenancy  in  1864,  and  to  Cap- 
tain in  1865,  giving  four  of  the  best  year's  of 
his  life  in  battling  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union — a  record  to  look  back  upon  with  feel- 
ings of  genuine  pride.  He  was  in  thirty-two 
engagements,  and  being  slightly  wounded 
three  times.  Self  and  family  are  members 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  he  is  an  I.  O.  O. 
F.,  A.  O.  U.  W.,  a  Good  Templar  and  a  Re- 
publican. 

HON.  WILLIAM  S.  WAIT,  deceased.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Portland, 
Me.,  March  5,  1789,  and  was  the  second  of  a 
family  of  nine  children,  three  of  whom  died 
in  childhood,  and  six  living  an  advanced  age. 
Of  his  ancestors  we  have  no  extended  record. 
His  father,  Thomas  Baker  Wait,  born  August 
1,  1762,  was  of  Welsh  descent,  an  only  child, 
and  by  occupation  a  printer,  publisher  and 
book-seller.  He  was  a  man  of  firm  character, 
and  delighted  in  literary  pursuits.  The 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Elizabeth 
Smith,  was  born  October  25,  17(50,  and  was 
loved  and  blessed  by  all  who  knew  her,  and 
died  January  1,  1845.  William  S.  received 
his  rudimental  schooling  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town,  and  when  a  youth  entered 
the  book  publishing  house  of  his  father,  con- 
tinuing with  him,  who  was  at  times  associated 
with  others  in  the  business,  until  over  thirty 
years  of  age.  Their  business  was  at  different 
times  conducted  in  Portland,  Me.,  and  Boston. 
Mass.,  and  extended  over  all  parts  of  the 
Eastern,  Middle  and  Southern  States.  When 
a  mere  boy,  William   S.  and  a  brother   two 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


years  older  for  a  time  did  all  of  the  labor,  me- 
chanical, editorial,  and  otherwise  necessary 
to  publish  a  weekly  newspaper.  In  June. 
1817,  he  started  on  a  journey  to  the  west, 
through  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  Missouri.  This  he  accomplished,  arriv- 
ing at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  January  3,  1818.  He 
returned  into  Illinois,  reaching  Old  Ripley, 
Bond  County,  February  14,  following.  There 
he  made  his  first  land  entry  February  17. 
He  started  on  his  tedious  return  in  the  month 
of  April,  and  reached  Boston  July  11,  1818, 
having  traveled  more  than  rive  thousand  eight 
hundred  miles,  mostly  in  the  saddle.  With 
the  keen  foresight  of  an  old  time  pioneer, 
Mr.  Wait  made  note  of  the  wonderful  advan- 
tages that  the  Great  West  afforded  the  man 
of  energy  and  nerve.  June  27,  1819,  he 
started  out  on  a  second  prolonged  business 
trip  in  the  interests  of  his  house,  to  Virginia, 
via  New  York  City,  Philadelphia  and  Wash- 
ington, making  a  canvass  of  the  last-named 
State  for  some  of  their  publications,  riding 
about  six  thousand  miles,  and  returning  to 
Boston  in  April,  1820.  In  May,  1820,  he 
married  Sarah  Newhall.  of  Salem,  Mass.  She 
was  born  January  31,  1797,  and  was  the  sixth 
child  of  a  family  of  eight.  Her  parents, 
Thomas  and  Mehitable  (Cheever)  Newhall. 
were  born  1754  and  1762,  and  died  January 
1,  1832  and  January  12,  1830,  respectively. 
They  were  both  natives  of  Massachusetts,  and 
have  extensive  family  relations.  Of  their 
children  none  but  Sarah  ever  married.  Soon 
after  their  marriage  they  started  on  his  second 
trip  to  Illinois.  The  journey  was  a  tedious 
one,  and  attended  with  the  perils  of  a  long- 
drive  with  horses  and  light  wagon  through  a 
dense,  unbroken  wilderness.  It  was,  how- 
ever, safely  accomplished,  and  the  bride  and 
grooni  arrived  at  Old  Ripley  late  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1820,  and  immediately  began  farming. 


In  1821,  he  became  interested  in  a  mill.  He 
lived  at  Ripley  until  the  summer  of  1824, 
when  he  returned  East  with  his  wife  and 
child,  on  a  visit  to  their  parents.  Mr.  Wait's 
previous  business  relations  had  given  him  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  country  and  an 
extended  acquaintance  with  its  people,  which 
in  future  years  were  of  much  avail  to  him  in 
his  business.  The  winter  of  18'24-25  was 
spent  in  traveling  for  a  publishing  house 
through  the  Middlo  States  and  Illinois,  and 
early  in  April,  1825,  he  was  for  a  third  time 
at  Old  Ripley,  his  wife  and  two  children  join- 
ing him  in  the  following  November.  They 
returned  to  Boston.  Mass.,  in  February,  1827, 
however,  and  until  the  spring  of  1835.  he 
was  there  actively  engaged  in  publishing, 
when  he  again  returned  to  Illinois,  and  made 
a  permanent  stay,  settled  near  Greenville,  en- 
gaged extensively  in  farming.  A  prominent 
feature  of  Mr.  Wait's  enterprise  as  a  farmer 
was  the  planting  of  one  of  the  largest  apple 
orchards  in  Illinois.  William  S.  Wait  was 
always  foremost  in  any  local  undertaking 
that  was  calculated  to  advance  the  interests 
of  the  community,  and  was  ever  ready  with 
his  pen  or  good  words  to  assist  in  State  or 
National  enterprises.  His  readiness  and  abil- 
ity as  a  local  statesman  had  won  for  him  the 
personal  acquaintance  and  esteem  of  all  of 
the  Illinois  Governors  from  1818  to  1865, 
and  with  many  he  was  on  intimate  terms. 
He  was  known  as  a  man  who  could  not  be 
bought  and  sold,  was  never  backward  to  form 
and  express  plainly  his  views  on  any  impor- 
tant subject.  With  political  tricksters  and 
wire-pullers,  he  was  not  a  special  favorite. 
He  was  not  an  office-seeker,  and  had  no  bar- 
gains to  drive — allowed  them  to  go  their  own 
way.  October  14,  1845,  he  presided  as  Chair- 
man of  the  National  Industrial  Convention  at 
New  York,  on  which  occasion  he  delivered  an 
able  address.      June,  1S4S,    the   Industrial 


GREENVILLE   CITY    AND  PRECINCT. 


35 


Congress,  held  at  Philadelphia,  representing 
the  various  National  Reform  Associations  of 
the  United  States,  nominated  Gerrit  Smith 
as  their  candidate  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  William  S.  Wait  for  Vice  Presi- 
dent, which  candicacy  Mr.  "Wait  respectfully 
declined.  To  make  mention  of  the  numerous 
conventions  and  meetings,  political,  agricult- 
ural, railroad,  etc.,  in  which  Mr.  Wait  took 
a  prominent  part,  would  necessitate  the  addi- 
tion of  an  extra  chapter.  We  will  further 
state,  however,  that  he  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  formation  of  the  laws  of  Illinois,  wrote 
many  letters  and  newspaper  articles  regard- 
ing them.  Many  articles  or  parts  of  the 
Constitution  of  187S  were  from  his  pen,  as 
also  the  first  draf  ts  of  many  of  the  acts  of  the 
Illinois  State  Legislature.  He  took  promi- 
nent parts  in  County  and  State  Agricultural 
Societies;  was  the  prime  mover  in  the  projec- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  &  Atlantic  (now  Van- 
dalia  line)  Railroad  and  in  its  interest  spent 
a  great  part  of  his  time  from  1846  to  1865. 
(See  history  of  Vandalia  Line  and  genera] 
history  of  the  county  in  this  volume. )  He  was 
also  one  of  the  incorporators  of  tbe  St,  Louis 
&  Illinois  Bridge  Company.  Mr.  Wait  al- 
ways kept  well-informed  on  all  matters  of 
improvement,  whether  pertaining  to  county. 
State  or  Nation.  He  was  an  investigator  of 
all  new  subjects,  a  close  student,  and  a  clear 
and  voluminous  writer  on  political,  educa- 
tional, agricultural  and  reformatory  subjects, 
a  constant  correspondent  with  many  of  the 
best  minds  of  the  age,  and  a  frequent  con- 
tributor to  the  press.  He  died  July  17,  1865, 
and  she  who  had  been  his  faithful  helpmeet 
and  loving  wife  for  more  than  forty-five  years, 
departed  the  following  14th  day  of  September. 
Of  their  eight  children,  two  died  in  infancy; 
one  when  just  budding  into  womanhood.  One 
is  a  resident  of  Tulare  County,  Cal.,  and 
four  are  residents  of  Bond. 


T.  B.  WOOD,  harness  and  saddlery.  Green- 
ville, for  several  year's  a  thriving  citizen  and 
business  man  of  Greenville,  was  born  in  High- 
land County,  Ohio,  August  9,  1838.  His 
father,  Thomas  J.  Wood,  also  a  native  of  the 
Buckeye  State,  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  which 
he  followed  until  after  middle  life,  and  then 
entered  the  retail  grocery  business.  He  took 
for  his  wife  one  Evelyn  Hardy,  a  native  of 
Massachusetts.  Our  subject  received  in  youth 
only  the  advantages  of  a  common  school  edu- 
cation in  the  rural  districts  of  Highland 
County,  Ohio,  and  at  about  fifteen  years  of 
age  learned  the  harness-maker's  trade  at  Mt. 
Sterling,  Ohio.  After  remaining  in  Mt.  Ster- 
ling two  years,  he  went  to  Washington, 
Fayette  Co.,  Ohio,  for  about  the  same  length 
of  time,  and  came  to  Greenville,  Bond  Coun- 
ty. In  the  spring  of  1861,  he  entered  the 
Twenty-second  Illinois  Infantry,  taking  up 
arms  in  defense  of  the  Union.  After  six 
months'  service,  he  was  discharged  on  account 
of  disability.  Returning  to  Greenville,  he 
re-enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
Illinois  Infantry,  after  a  respite  of  about  six 
months.  He  remained  in  the  service  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  having  served  about  three 
years.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Vicksburg,  also 
in  the  heat  of  the  battle  of  Mansfield,  where  he 
received  a  severe  wound,  and  was  captured  by 
the  enemy.  After  confinement  in  a  hospital 
for  about  three  months,  he  was  paroled,  and 
later  exchanged,  and  closed  his  term  of  serv- 
ice on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  1865,  he  re- 
turned to  Greenville,  entered  his  present  bus- 
inss,  in  which  he  has  been  successful.  He 
manufactures  everything  in  the  harness  line, 
and  carries  in  his  stock  a  complete  stock  of 
saddles,  etc.  His  store  is  located  on  the  east 
side  of  the  public  square,  where  he  can  al- 
ways be  found  ready  to  meet  his  customers. 

EDWIN  B.  WISE,   merchant,  Greenville, 
was  born    in  Hebron,  N.  H,   December    '2'2, 


36 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1836.  He  was  one  of  twelve  children  born 
to  David  and  Elizabeth  (Hoyt)  Wise;  he,  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation; came  to  Illinois  in  October,  1854,  with 
his  family.  He  died  May  30,  1864.  His 
wife  was  the  daughter  of  Abram  Hoyt,  a  na- 
tive of  New  Hampshire,  and  a  pioneer  of 
this  State.  Our  subject  received  a  common 
school  education  in  New  Hampshire,  and  at 
Greenville.  Mr.  Wise  was  twice  married; 
first,  ou  February  7,  1862,  to  Lestina  D.  Cor- 
bin,  daughter  of  Ephraim  Corbin,  who  was  a 
native  of  England,  and  by  occupation  a  lum- 
ber merchant  of  Hannibal,  Mo.  She  died 
April  20,  1871,  leaving  three  children  — 
Alonzo  D.,  John  L.  and  Katie,  the  latter  hav- 
ing died;  second,  August  24,  1871,  he  mar- 
ried Kate  M.  Miller,  daughter  of  George  Mil- 
ler, of  Clinton  County,  111.,  a  carpenter  by 
occupation,  and  a  native  of  Perry  County, 
Penn.  She  is  the  mother  of  two  children  — 
Ernest  and  an  infant  now  deceased.  Mr. 
Wise  was  in  the  mercantile  business  at  Wise- 
town.  Beaver  Creek  Precinct,  Bond  County, 
a  thriving  little  trading  post,  which  he  estab- 
lished himself,  remaining  there  until  Febru- 
ary 1,  1882,  when  he  purchased  one-half  in- 
terest in  the  stock  and  business  of  the  well- 
known  New  York  clothing  house  of  Lewis 
Kaufman,  and  the  connection  of  Mr.  Wise 
with  this  establishment  is  a  sufficient  guaran- 
tee to  the  buying  public  that  the  New  York 
clothing  house  has  become  a  safe  and  profit- 
able place  to  exchange  money  for  merchan- 
dise. Mr.  Wise  enlisted  in  Company  C, 
Twenty- sixth  Illinois  Infantry  as  Sergeant 
August  19,  1801,  and  was  at  the  siege  of 
Corinth,  Miss.,  in  1862,  and  in  the  battle  at 
Farmington.  He  was  promoted  to  Second 
Lieutenant,  and  afterward  discharged  on  ac- 
count of  disability.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican;  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 


and  A.  O.  IT.  W.  Mr.  Wise  is  a  very  suc- 
cessful merchant,  and  is  highly  esteemed. 

WILLIAM  H.  WATSON,  grocer,  Green- 
ville, was  born  in  Newport,  Bond  County, 
July  31,  1849;  son  of  Andrew  W.  and  Cynthia 
A.  (Diamond)  Watson,  he  born  in  Cleveland 
County,  N.  C,  in  1812,  and  died  June  6. 
1881.  He  was  a  farmer  and  merchant,  and 
came  to  Bond  County  in  1820,  locating  in 
Zion  Precinct.  He  merchandized  for  twenty 
years  in  the  town  of  Newport.  His  wife 
was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  died  in  1856, 
leaving  four  children.  In  1858,  he  married 
Cornelia  J.  Daniels,  and  by  her  had  seven 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living.  Andrew 
W.  Watson  served  one  year  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war.  Our  subject  attended  the  schools 
in  Newport,  and  was  raised  on  his  father's 
farm,,  and  worked  in  his  father's  store.  May 
1,  1880,  he  married,  in  Greenville,  Louisa  A. 
Jett,  daughter  of  Mr.  Gabriel  Jett,  a  pioneer 
of  Bond,  who  died  in  1860.  Mr.  Watson  is 
of  the  firm  of  Watson  &  Jett,  grocers,  who 
commenced  business  together  in  1880.  They 
carry  a  tine  stock  of  goods,  and  do  an  exten- 
sive trade;  also,  a  general  produce  and  ex- 
change business.  Mr.  Watson  is  an  Odd 
Fellow  and  a  Republican. 

THOMAS  WAFER,  miller,  Greenville, 
was  born  about  twleve  miles  northwest  of 
Greenville,  in  Cottonwood  Grove  Precinct, 
and  is  a  son  of  the  late  James  and  Sarah  (El- 
der) Wafer,  he  born  on  Bullock  Creek,  within 
seven  or  eight  miles  of  King's  Mountain,  Dis- 
trict of  York,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina, 
on  the  28th  day  of  September,  1785,  and 
died  on  the  8th  day  of  February,  1873.  at 
his  home  in  Bond  County,  where  he  had  re- 
sided for  fifty- three  years;  she,  born  in  Liv- 
ingston (now  Crittenden)  County,  Ky.,  May 
22,  1795.  died  July  11,  1847.  The  subject's 
grandfather,    named    Francis,    was    born    in 


GREENVILLE  CITY  AND  PRECINCT. 


37 


South  Carolina  about  1750,  and  died  in 
Kentucky  in  the  year  1823,  and  his  great- 
grandfather, also  named  Francis  Wafer,  was 
born  in  Ireland  about  the  year  1706.  The 
parents  of  the  subject  had  eight  children, 
and  he  began  life  as  a  farmer,  and  married 
at  the  residence  of  the  bride's  parents  Mary 
Agnes  Davidson  McLain,  daughter  of  John 
A.  McLain,  who  was  born  in  Bedford  County, 
Term.,  June  17,  1826.  The  subject  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  well-known  firm  of  Plant  &  Wafer, 
millers.  He  has  one  son,  Charles  Louis,  and 
one  daughter,  Orrey  E.,  who  married  Robert 
Thacker.  In  religion.  Mr.  Wafer  is  a  Pres- 
byterian,  and  in  politics  a  Republican.  He 
is  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  of  Bond  County, 
and  one  of  its  most  substantial  citizens. 

JOHN  B.  WHITE,  deceased,  was  a  farmer 
and  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Bond  County. 
He  was  born  in  Rutherford  County,  N.  C,  Janu- 
ary 2d.  1790;  son  of  Thomas  White,  a  school 
teacher,  who  is  said  to  have  taught  the  first 
school  in  Bond  County,  near  Greenville.  He 
was  of  North  Carolina  birth,  and  his  wife,  a 
Miss  Torrence,  was  also  of  the  same  State 
They  bad  two  daughters  and  five  sons,  John 
B.,  our  subject,  being  the  oldest,  who  died 
June  28,  1873;  his  wife  preceded  him  Feb- 
ruary IS,  1848. 

Ele\zee  H.  White,  son  of  the  above,  was 
born  in  Bond  County  October  6,  1835;  is  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  February  22,  1863. 
he  married  Miss  Harriet  A.  Goodsen,  by  whom 
he  has  four  children — Ida  E. ,  John  B. ,  Hat- 
tie  A.  and  George  W.  Is  a  Presbyterian  and 
a  Republican. 

S.  E.  WniTE  is  anothor  son  of  John  B. 
White,  and  was  also  born  in  Bond  County;  is, 
and  has  always  been,  a  farmer.  In  April, 
1857,  he  married  Miss  Martha  Goodsen.  and 
has  three  children — William  T.,  Mago-ie  E. 
and  Fannie  M.      He  is  a  Republican. 

SPRAGUE  WHITE,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 


Greenville,  was  born  February  19,  1813,  at 
Greenville,  Bond  Co.,  111.  He  was  the  son 
of  James  White,  who  was  the  third  child  of 
Thomas  White,  and  the  only  child  now  living, 
and  Mary  (Denny)  White,  daughter  of  James 
Denny,  a  pioneer  of  Bond  County,  111.  Sub- 
ject was  one  of  a  family  of  seven,  four  of  whom 
are  still  living.  He  was  educated  in  Bond 
County,  having  attended  the  academy  at 
Greenville.  In  1877,  he  married  Virginia 
A.  Corrie,  daughter  of  Joseph  Corrie,  a  farmer 
an  old  settler  of  Bond  County.  Subject  had 
one  son — Roy  Sprague  White.  Our  subject 
began  teaching  school  when  but  a  youth.  He 
taught  about  twenty  years  in  Jersey  County, 
111. ;  then,  in  1875,  he  taught  in  Texas,  and 
has  since  been  a  resident  of  Greenville,  where, 
in  the  fall  of  1881,  he  was  elected  Justice  of 
the  Peace.  Mr.  Sprague  White  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  informed  men  on  general 
topics,  having  devoted  his  entire  life  to  read- 
ing and  studying  of  a  general  character.  He 
is  an  Old- School  Presbyterian  and  a  Whig- 
Republican.  His  grandfather  was  the  son  of 
John  White,  who  was  of  English  and  Irish 
descent,  and  emigrated  to  this  country  about 
1740. 

DAVID  WILKINS,  physician  and  sur- 
geon, Greenville,  was  born  March  2S,  1829, 
in  Merom,  Sullivan  Co.,  Lid.;  son  of  David 
W.  and  Frances  (Balthas)  Wilkins.  David 
W.  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1778;  removed  to 
Indiana  about  the  year  1820,  and  died  in 
1848.  His  wife,  also  a  native  of  Virginia, 
was  born  in  1782,  and  died  in  1847.  Our 
subject,  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  five  sons 
and  five  daughters,  attended  school  in  Sulli- 
van County,  Ind. ,  and,  having  chosen  the 
medical  profession,  took  his  course  in  the 
Medical  Department  of  Michigan  University, 
graduating  in  1853.  He  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Mulberry  Grove.  Bond 
Co.,  111.,   and  removed  to  Greenville  in   the 


38 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


autumn  of  1859.  At  Medarysville,  Ind.,  May 
29,  1853,  he  married  Maria  M.  Gwinn,  born 
in  Michigan  City,  Ind.,  May  27,  1836, 
daughter  of  Andrew  and  Mary  Ann  (Fultz) 
Gwinn.  Andrew  Gwinn  was  a  native  of  Lon- 
donderry, Ireland;  was  born  in  1788,  and 
died  in  1848.  His  wife  was  born  in  Balti- 
more, Md.,  in  1804,  and  died  in  1863.  Mrs. 
"Wilkins  bore  her  husband  four   children — 


David  R ,  Lillian  G..  Corwin  and  Hairy  E. 
:  Our  subject  entered  the  One  Hundred  and 
Thirtieth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  as  Sur- 
geon in  1862,  and  was  discharged  in  1865. 
He  is  a  skillful  physician,  and  has  a  large 
practice.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican, 
and  formerly  belonged  to  the  old  Whig 
party.  Mrs.  "Wilkins  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 


RIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


39 


RIPLEY  PRECINCT. 


ANNA  MARY  ARNOLD,  hotel-keeper, 
Old  Ripley,  was  born  in  Franco-Germany  De- 
cember 31,  1834,  the  daughter  of  Peter  and 
Catharine  (Molter)  Kloster.  They  were  born 
in  Germany,  he  in  1807,  and  died  in  1849; 
she  was  born  at  the  same  place  November 
23,  1811,  and  is  still  living.  They  had  six 
children,  four  daughters  and  two  sons.  Sub- 
ject went  to  school  in  Germany,  and  was  mar- 
ried to  George  Arnold  in  1S49,  at  St  Louis, 
who  was  born  in  Alsace,  Germany,  April  24, 
1812.  He  was  the  son  of  John  and  Annie 
( Assolt)  Arnold.  Subject  had  eleven  children 
—Edward.  Jacob,  Annie,  Clotilda,  Emil, 
Rosa,  Birdie.  Julia,  Lizzie,  George  and 
Charlie.  Subject  kept  Strasburg  Hotel,  St. 
Louis,  and  since  then  has  kept  a  hotel  here. 
Mrs.  Arnold  is  a  Catholic. 

JOHN  W.  COX  (deceased)  was  born  in  Bath 
County,  Va.,  December  15,  1S45.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  and  Charily  Ann  Cos.  John 
was  a  dentist,  and  died  at  Carrollton,  111. ; 
his  wife  died  in  1868.  They  had  a  family 
of  eleven.  Subject  received  most  of  his 
schooling  in  Marine,  111.  At  Mexico,  Mo.. 
October  5,  1871.  he  married  Mary  J.  West, 
who  was  born  there  on  February  3,  1851. 
Her  parents  were  J.  J.  and  Zelophia  West, 
he  of  Tennessee,  and  she  of  Kentucky.  By 
this  union  subject  had  a  family  of  five  — 
George  W.  (deceased),  Berthold,  Corwin. 
Josie  (deceased)  and  Nellie.  Mr.  Cox  was 
a  miller  at  Troy,  111. ;  afterward  built  a  mill 
at  Chillicothe,  Mo.  He  died  February  11. 
1882,  and  was  buried  in  the  old  Brown  Cem- 
etery at  New  Berlin.  He  was  a  Methodist, 
a  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  K.   P.    order. 


Mi-.  Cox  was  an  excellent  business  man,  pub- 
lic-spirited, of  strong  character,  and  loved 
and  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him. 

J.  W.  CLANTON,  hotel-keeper,  Old  Rip- 
Icy,  was  born  in  Bond  County,  III.  June  16, 
1850;  the  son  of  Wesley  and  Nancy  (Brewer) 
Clanton.  Wesley  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, 1811;  was  a  farmer,  and  died  in  1872. 
Mrs.  Clanton  is  still  living.  They  had  a 
family  of  four  boys  and  f  oiu-  girls.  Subject's 
opportunities  for  receiving  a  good  education 
were  limited,  having  only  attended  school  a 
few  years  in  Bond  County,  111.,  where,  Janu- 
ary 19,  1873,  he  married  Mary  E.  Long,  who 
was  born  in  Bond  County  October  17,  1853. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  1.  V.  and  Nancy  Long. 
By  this  union  they  had  three  children — John 
W.,  Lula  A.  (deceased)  and  Wayne  L.  Mr. 
Clanton  is  a  Baptist  and  a  Democrat.  He  is 
at  present  engaged  in  the  hotel  business  at 
New  Berlin,  111. 

FRANK  H.  DALHAUS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Old  Ripley,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany, 
February  22,  1830;  son  of  Aberhardt  and 
Margaret  Dalhaus,  both  born  in  Germany. 
He  died  in  Germany  in  1854,  and  she  one 
year  later.  They  had  seven  children,  five 
girls  and  two  boys.  Subject  attended  school 
in  Germany,  for  seven  years,  and  after  this 
worked  at  brick-making  there.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  St.  Louis,  April  1  1.  1874,  to  Christina 
TJrich,  born  there  Juno  22.  1852.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Neberga  Urich.  natives 
of  Germany.  Subject  has  one  child — Henry 
G.  During  the  war,  Mr.  Dalhaus  served  in 
Company  D,  Third  Illinois  Regiment,  under 
Captains  Davis  and  McLain.     He  kept  saloon 


40 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


in  New  Berlin,  111.,  twelve  years,  and  since 
then  lias  farmed.  He  is  a  Catholic  and  a 
Republican. 

JOHN  N.  FILE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Pocahontas, 
was  born  July  21,  1S2S,  in  Ripley  Precinct. 
His  parents  were  Moses  File,  born  in  North 
Carolina,  in  1804;  was  a  farmer,  and  died 
August  27,  1865,  and  Elizabeth  (Lyttaker) 
File,  bom  in  Tennessee  July  1,  1811.  They 
had  thirteen  children,  of  whom  our  subject 
is  the  oldest.  He  received  but  little  educa- 
tion, and  that  in  this  prec;nct.  Mr.  J.  N. 
File  was  twice  married;  first,  on  December 
24,  1851,  at  Pocahontas,  to  Mary  A.  Stallard, 
and  second,  on  January  6,  1856,  at  Pleasant 
Prairie,  to  Julia  A.  Cruthis,  who  was  born 
there  April  9,  1881.  Her  parents  were  John 
and  Millborry  (Redfearn)  Cruthis,  both  born 
in  North  Carolina.  Subject  had  a  family  of 
nine — Elizabeth  Millberry,  John  J.,  Thomas 
A.,  Mary  E.,  Martha  A.,  Ida  M.,  William  M., 
Henry  W.  and  Edward  R.  Mr.  File  has  al- 
ways been  a  farmer,  and  worked  hard  to  clear 
the  wilderness,  and  now  owns  607  J  acres  of 
as  good  land  as  can  be  found  in  Bond  County. 
He  is  a  Methodist,  and  his  political  views  are 
with  the  Republican  party. 

THOMAS  B.  FILE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Poca- 
hontas, was  born  in  Ripley  Precinct  March 
14,  1830;  is  the  son  of  Moses  and  Mary  E. 
(Lyttaker)  File.  Moses  File,  a  farmer,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  in  1803,  and  died 
August  26,  1865.  His  wife  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee in  1811,  and  died  in  1869.  Subject 
was  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen.  His  educa- 
tion, which  was  but  scant,  was  received  in 
Ripley  Precinct.  At  Greenville,  Bond  County, 
October  23,  1856,  he  married  Mary  E.  Gilles- 
pie, born  in  Clinton  County,  111.,  February 
6,  1839,  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Gilles- 
pie, the  former  a  native  of  Tennessee,  the 
latter  born  in  Madison  County  February  5, 
1814.      By  this  union  they  had  six  children 


—Frederick  S.,  John  "W.,  Benjamin  M., 
Thomas  Elmer,  Augusta,  Martha  A.  (de- 
ceased). Mi\  File  has  always  farmed  in  this 
precinct,  and  owns  638f  acres  of  the  best 
land  in  Bond  County.  He  made  the  first  road 
across  the  Bond  County  prairies.  Mr.  File 
was  School  Trustee  for  twelve  years,  Road 
Supervisor  four  terms,  and  is  at  present  Over- 
seer of  the  Poor.  He  is  a  Methodist  and  a 
Republican;  also  belongs  to  the  Masonic  and 
A.  O.  U.  W.  orders. 

JOHN  F.  FILE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville, 
was  born  in  Ripley  Precinct  July  13,  1832. 
His  parents  were  George  File,  born  in  North 
Carolina;  a  farmer,  and  died  in  February, 
L857,  and  Mary  (Lyttaker)  File  born  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  died  in  March,  1S78.  They  had 
thirteen  children.  The  subject  received  his 
education  in  Ripley  Precinct,  where  he  was 
married  March  17,  1853,  to  Miss  Willie,  who 
was  born  in  Pocahontas  in  1837.  Her  parents, 
Wilson  and  Fannie  Willie,  were  natives  of 
Tennessee  By  this  union  they  had  nine  chil- 
dren— Columbus  (deceased),  Mary  F..  George 
W.,  Carrie  F.,  Emma  J..  Lemuel,  John  F.. 
Henry  and  Lulie.  During  the  war,  Mr.  File 
served  eighteen  months  under  Capt.  McLain 
and  Col.  Carnahan,  in  Company  E,  Third 
Illinois  Cavalry.  He  began  business  as  black- 
smith with  his  grandfather,  Peter  Lyttaker; 
has  also  been  a  Constable  and  Deputy  Sheriff 
of  Bond  County.  In  politics,  he  is  with  the 
Republican  party.  He  now  owns  eighty 
acres  of  laud  on  the  Alton  road,  and  is  at 
present  a  farmer. 

JOHN  C.  FLECK,  farmer,  P.  O.  Old  Ripley, 
was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  February  21  •, 
1845;  son  of  Jacob  and  Jacobina  (Aalzgeber) 
Fleck,  both  natives  of  Baden,  Germany,  he. 
born  December  14,  1818,  she  in  1825.  They 
are  both  still  living,  and  had  a  family  of 
nine,  with  but  one  daughter.  Subject  went 
to  school  in  Baden  for  eight  years;  after  this 


KIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


41 


he  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  with  his 
father,  who  was  a  blacksmith  at  Baden,  Ger- 
many. In  St.  Louis,  May  7, 1872,  he  married 
Mary  Neifahrt,  born  in  New  Berlin,  111., 
January  6.  1858,  the  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Sybilla  Neifahrt.  Subjecthas  three  children 
—John  L. ,  Ida  E.  and  Charles  F.  Mr.  Fleck 
was  a  blacksmith  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  Pleas- 
ant Hill,  Mo.,  Pekin,  111.,  again  in  St.  Louis, 
in  Pocahontas,  and  lastly  in  this  place.  For 
the  last  three  years  he  has  farmed  here,  is  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Ripley  Precinct,  a 
Republican,  and  a  member  in  good  standing 
of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  I.  O.  O.  F. 

FREDERICK  W.  FRITZ,  carpenter,  Old 
Ripley,  was  born  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  April  21, 
1862,  a  son  of  Jacob  L.  and  Catharine  (With- 
mer)  Fritz,  natives  of  Bavaria,  South  Ger- 
many; he,  born  March  15,  1832,  a  painter, 
and  she,  born  February  15,  1840;  both  are 
still  living.  Our  subject  is  one  of  a  family 
of  three;  attended  school  in  Ripley,  and  was 
successful  in  his  studies.  He  taught  school  at 
the  Union  Schoolhouse,  in  Ripley,  for  awhile, 
but  has  since  followed  the  carpenter's  trade, 
which  he  learned  during  his  apprenticeship 
with  William  Boldt.  Mr.  Fritz  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

REV.  THOMAS  W.  HYNES,  farmer  and 
preacher,  Old  Ripley,  was  born  at  Bardstown, 
Nelson  Co.,  Ky.,  October  5,  1815;  was  the 
son  of  William  R.  and  Barbara  (Chenault) 
Hynes.  William  R.  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton County  Md. ,  January  27,  1771;  was  a 
merchant  and  farmer  in  Kentucky,  and  died 
at  Bardstown,  Ky.  April  10,  1837.  Barbara, 
his  wife,  was  born  in  Essex  County,  Va., 
March  13,  1793,  and  died  at  Greenville,  111., 
June  1,  1856.  Subject's  father  was  married 
twice;  by  his  first  wife  he  had  seven  children, 
and  by  his  last  he  had  twelve,  of  which  our 
subject  is  one.  He  first  attended  his  uncle, 
Stephen    Chenault's,   school,    at   Bardstown; 


then  for  two  or  three  years  attended  a  Roman 
Catholic  college,  called  St.  Joseph's  College, 
at  the  same  place;  then  entered  the  Hanover 
College,  Indiana,  and  lastly  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Hanover,  Ind.  He  taught  math- 
ematics six  or  seven  years  in  Hanover  College; 
then  became  a  Presbyterian  minister.  At 
Hanover,  Ind.,  October  1,  1839,  he  married 
his  first  wife,  Nancy  J.  Dunn,  born  at  Han- 
over, Ind.,  November  22,  1820.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Wafer,  who  was  born  in  Bond 
County,  111.,  March  30,  1825.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  James  and  Sarah  (Elder)  Wafer, 
he  born  in  York  County,  N.  C,  September 
28,  1775;  she,  born  in  Livingston  County, 
Ky. ,  May  22.  1795.  Subject  had  a  family  of 
eleven,  five  of  whom  are  still  living — William 
D. ,  who  is  route  agent  for  the  Vaudalia  Rail- 
road, living  at  Indianopolis,  Ind. ;  Samuel 
B.  is  General  Agent  for  A.,  T.  &  S.  F.  Rail- 
road at  Chicago,  111.;  Ella  M.,  Charles  H. 
and  Walter  B.  Mr.  Hynes  was  County  Su- 
perintendent of  Schools  in  Bond  County  for 
nearly  twenty  years.     He  is  a  Republican. 

W.  H  HARRIS,  physician,  Old  Ripley, 
was  born  in  Fillmore  Township,  Montgom- 
ery County,  111.,  September  10,  1858.  He 
was  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Emma  (Allen) 
Harris,  both  natives  of  England,  he  a  black- 
smith, born  February  4,  1834,  and  died  July 
26,  1867,  and  she,  born  January  23,  1836, 
and  died  May  1, 1870.  Our  subject  was  one 
of  a  family  of  seven.  He  was  educated  in 
the  common  schools  of  Fillmore  Township, 
and  attended  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and  the  American 
Medical  College  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.  In  Mont- 
gomery County,  111.,  April  14,  1882,  he  mar 
ried  Katie  E.  Moody,  who  was  born  in  Fill- 
more Township  February  16,  1859.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  James  S.  and  Eliza  (Bliss) 
Moody,  he  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  she  a 
native  of  Vermont.     Dr.  Harris  is  a  practic- 


43 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


ing  physician  at  present,  and  is  doing  well, 
and  bis  efforts  to  assist  and  lighten  the  suffer- 
ings of  humanity  are  being  appreciated  more 
and  more  every  day.     He  is  a  Republican. 

AUGUST  HUHN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville, 
was  born  in  Prussia  March  18,  1823;  a  son 
of  C.  C.  and  Mary  (Thasler)  Huhn,  both  na- 
tives of  Prussia,  he,  a  coal  miner,  died  in 
1865;  she,  in  1836.  Our  subject  was  of  a 
family  of  three  boys  and  two  girls,  and  was 
educated  in  the  land  of  his  birth.  In  1S59, 
in  Lake  County,  Ind.,  he  married  Sophia 
Riabe,  also  a  native  of  Prussia.  They  had 
seven  children — Otila,  Amanda,  Mary,  Selma, 
Emma,  and  two  died  in  infancy.  Subject's 
second  wife,  Anna  Mary  Anders,  is  a  native 
of  Austria.  Mr.  Huhn  was  a  coal  miner  in 
Prussia  for  twelve  years,  and  came  to  this 
country  when  he  was  thirty  years  old.  He 
is  now  a  farmer,  and  owns  160  acres  of  land; 
is  a  Lutheran,  a  Republican,  holds  the  office 
of  School  Director,  and  has  been  Road  Su- 
pervisor several  terms. 

LEMUEL  B.  LONG,  farmer,  P.  O.  Old 
Ripley,  was  born  in  Riplejr  Precinct  July  22, 
1833.  He  is  the  son  of  Peter  and  Betsey  S. 
(Vincent)  Long.  He  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton County  Ky.,  August  9,  1804;  was  a  far- 
mer, and  is  still  living.  His  wife  was  born 
in  North  Carolina  July  31,  1807,  and  died 
September  3,  1839.  Subject  was  of  a  family 
of  seven,  four  boys  and  three  girls.  What 
little  education  he  got  was  in  the  common 
schools  of  Ripley  Precinct,  and  a  short  time 
at  Greenville,  where,  on  January  16, 1862,  he 
married  Sarah  G.  Smith,  born  in  this  county 
October  17,  1831.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Aaron  and  Mary  (Laughlin)  Smith.  Aaron 
was  born  February  4,  1789,  in  Spartansburg 
District,  N.  C;  died  October  12.  1851,  and 
his  wife  was  born  in  Pendleton  District,  S. 
C,  January  26.  1796,  and  died  April  12, 
1859.      Subject  had  a  family  of  six — James 


E.,  Paul  W.,  Peter  L.,  Mary  O,  Sarah  E. 
and  Lemuel  S.  Mr.  Long  was  a  printer, 
farmer  and  merchant;  was  Postmaster  in  Old 
Ripley  for  twelve  years,  and  Justice  of  the 
Peace  at  Ripley  Precinct  for  some  time.  He 
has  been  engaged  merchandising  in  New  Ber- 
lin, 111.,  for  sixteen  years.  His  religion  is 
that  of  a  Bapist,  his  politics  Republican,  and 
is  a  member  of  ihe  Masonic  and  A.  O.  U.  W. 
orders. 

E.  J.  MUNSON,  physician,  Old  Ripley, 
was  born  in  Licking  County,  Ohio,  March 
24,  1834.  He  is  the  son  of  Dr.  George  and 
Emily  (Bliss)  Munson,  he  born  in  Ohio  in 
1S08;  was  a  physician,  she,  born  in  January. 
1815,  is  still  living.  They  had  twelve  chil- 
dren, three  boys  and  nine  girls.  Subject  first 
attended  school  in  Jeffersonville,  Ind. ;  then 
about  six  years  at  New  London,  Iowa,  where 
he  studied  medicine  with  his  father.  He  was 
married  three  times,  and  each  time  in  Bond 
County,  First  time,  February  5,  1863.  to 
Adeline  M.  Watson,  daughter  of  Wilson 
Watson;  second  time  to  Jeannette  Gunn, 
daughter  of  Seal  Gunn,  an  old  resident  here, 
and  third  time  to  Martha  E.  West,  daughter 
of  Thomas  West,  another  old  settler.  Sub- 
ject had  four  children  die  in  infancy,  and 
has  a  son  living,  Lorenzo  F.,  eight  years  old. 
Dr.  Munson  served  ten  months  in  Company 
I,  Fifty-seventh  Illinois,  under  Capt.  W.  B. 
Guthrie.  The  Doctor  is  a  Republican,  and 
commenced  his  professional  career  as  a  phy 
sician  in  New  London  under  his  father's  su- 
pervision. The  Doctor  is  a  writer  of  consider- 
able ability;  has  written  several  able  lectures, 
and  has  now  manuscript  ready  for  publication 
of  several  important  lectures. 

JOSEPH  J.  MUELLER,  blacksmith.  Old 
Ripley,  was  born  in  Wabasha  County,  Minn.. 
July  7,  1S58.  His  father.  Anton  J.  Mueller, 
was  a  saddler  and  harness-maker.  He  died 
February  17.  1868.     His  mother,  Magdalena 


RIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


43 


(Betschart)  Mueller,  is  still  living.  They  had 
two  sons  and  one  daughter.  Subject  attended 
school  about  foiu-  years  at  Greenville.  Here, 
on  February  23,  1882,  he  married  Frances  E. 
Hunter,  who  was  born  in  Bond  County  April 
28,  1857,  and  daughter  of  Win.  McLin  and 
Nancy  (Glenn)  Hunter.  Mr.  Mueller  is  a 
blacksmith,  and  has  run  a  shop  at  New  Ber- 
lin for  two  years,  with  his  custom  increasing 
every  day.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  Democrat. 

JOSEPH  NEATHAMMER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Pocahontas,  was  born  in  Bond  County  April 
20,  1854,  son  of  John  Neathammer  (whose 
biography  appears  in  this  work)  and  Catha- 
rine (Daudermann)  Neathammer,  born  in  Ger- 
many, and  died  November,  1878.  They  had 
a  family  of  four  girls  and  one  boy.  Subject 
was  educated  at  Mt.  Vernon  School,  Bond 
County,  and  two  years  at  Highland,  after 
which  he  went  on  the  farm.  He  married 
October  19,  1876,  in  Greenville,  Isabella  Zel- 
ler,  born  in  Madison  County  December  21  •. 
1857,  and  a  daughter  of  Sebastian  and  Mar- 
garet Zeller.  They  have  four  children — 
Catharine  M.,  Isabella  O.,  Joseph  A.  and 
Rosa  E.  Subject  held  the  office  of  Road  Su- 
pervisor in  1880,  is  a  Republican,  a  member 
of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  and  A.  O.  U.  W.  societies, 
and    owns  138  acres  of  fine  land. 

JOHN  H.  PAINE,  farmer.  P.  O.  Green 
ville,  was  born  in  Ripley  Township.  Bond 
County,  January  12,  1836,  son  of  Elisha  and 
Nancy  A.  (Fenton)  Paine,  he  a  farmer,  born 
in  North  Carolina;  died  July,  1871;  she  died 
in  1S77.  Subject  is  one  of  a  family  of  twelve, 
and  was  educated  in  this  county,  where,  June 
3,  1858,  lie  married  Elizabeth  Bean,  born  in 
Tennessee  in  184(1,  and  daughter  of  "William 
and  Margaret  Bean.  Subject  had  eight  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  died  in  their  infancy. 
Those  living  are  Mary,  Margaret  A,  John 
H. .    Lewis  A. ,  George   and  Albert.     At   the 


time  of  the  war,  Mr.  Paine  joined  Company 
B,  Sixty-second  Illinois  Regiment,  under 
Capt.  Jourdon.  He  is  a  Baptist,  a  Democrat, 
has  always  been  a  farmer,  has  held  the  offices 
of  School  Director  and  Road  Supervisor,  and 
owns  ninety  acres  of  land. 

JAMES  WHITE  was  born  in  Rutherford 
County,  N.  C,  in  the  year  1794,  and  emi- 
grated to  Illinois  in  company  with  his  father, 
Thomas  White,  and  family,  in  the  fall  of 
1816.  They  came  by  wagon,  the  only  means 
of  transportation  at  that  time,  James  being 
the  driver  of  a  five-horse  team,  carrying  the 
household  goods  of  the  family  over  a  route, 
the  greater  portion  of  which  traversed  as 
hilly,  mountainous  and  rugged  a  country  aa 
can  be  found  in  the  United  States  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  They  crossed  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  the  Cumberland  Mountains  over 
roads  that  would  now  be  called  impassable.  In 
going  down  the  steep,  rocky  mountain  sides, 
in  addition  to  having  both  the  hind  wheels 
of  the  wagon  locked,  it  was  often  necessary 
to  cut  down  small  trees  and  fasten  them  by 
the  top  end  to  the  hind  part  of  the  wagon,  in 
order  to  prevent  its  going  too  fast  and  be- 
coming unmanagable.  The  crossings  of  the 
mountain  creeks  and  rivers  were  equally  haz- 
ardous ;  but  in  the  face  of  every  obstacle  they 
persevered  until,  being  ferried  over  the  Ohio 
River  in  a  flat-boat  pushed  along  with  poles, 
they  landed  in  Illinois,  the  land  of  beautiful 
prairies,  which,  to  mountaineers,  as  they 
were,  appeared  surprisingly  level.  Continu- 
ing their  northwestern  course  from  where  they 
crossed  the  Ohio,  near  Golconda,  they  came 
to  a  halt,  and  settled  in  Section  9,  Town  5 
north,  Range  3  west,  one  and  a  half  miles 
west  of  where  Greenville  now  stands.  The 
country  was  then  a  wilderness,  without  roads, 
bridges,  mills,  schools,  churches,  or  any  other 
appurtenances  of  civilization.  The  wild 
beasts  usuallv  found  in  this  region,  and  the 


44 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Indians  who  hunted  them,  roamed  at  will 
over  the  vast  domain.  The  forests  were  rich 
with  the  stores  of  the  wild  bee,  and  the 
streams  abounded  with  fish.  The  prairies 
were  covered  with  a  rank  growth  of  grass,  as 
tall  as  a  man,  and  in  many  places  much  tall- 
er, while  the  timbered  lands,  in  many  local- 
ities, produced  a  luxuriant  growth  called  by 
the  settlers  "  wild  pea- vine,"  which  was  equal- 
ly as  tall,  and  through  which  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  pass,  either  on  foot  or  on  horse- 
back. All  this  afforded  ample  pasturage  for 
the  few  cattle  and  horses  that  were  in  the 
country.  All  supplies  for  the  settlers  had  to 
be  procured  at  St.  Louis,  then  a  small  trading- 
post,  and  were  exchanged  mostly  for  furs, 
venison  hams,  honey,  etc.,  and  Mr.  White, 
having  had  ample  experience  as  a  teamster, 
was  engaged  much  of  the  time  during:  the 
first  years  of  his  residence  here  in  hauling  to 
and  from  St.  Louis,  for  the  different  traders 
scattered  over  a  wide  extent  of  country.  The 
only  means  of  crossing  the  Mississippi  then 
was  by  what  was  called  a  horse-boat — that 
is,  a  boat  propelled  by  horse- power.  When 
the  people  wished  to  go  to  mill,  or  when  they 
needed  a  physician  they  had  to  go  to  Ed- 
wardsville,  there  being  none  nearer.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  married  in  August, 
1823,  to  Miss  Mary  Denny,  whose  family  em- 
igrated to  Bond  County  in  1819,  from  Lin- 
coln County,  N.  C.  He  settled  on  a  tract  of 
land  in  Section  9,  above  named,  where  he  re- 
sided until  the  death  of  his  wife,  which  oc- 
curred in  1852,  she  having  been  his  faithful 
consort  during  twenty-nine  years  of  the  toils 
and  hardships  incident  to  frontier  life.  They 
raised  a  family  of  six  children,  five  of  whom 
are  yet  living.  Since  his  wife's  death,  he  has 
resided  most  of  the  time  with  his  youngest 
son,  near  Jersey  vi  lie,  111.,  and,  although 
eighty-eight  years  of  age,  is  in  the  enjoyment 
of  excellent  health   and  spirits,  and  bids  fair 


to  live  many  years  longer.  He  has  been  a 
consistent  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
for  over  sixty  years,  and  has  never  been 
addicted  to  intemperate  habits  of  any  kind. 
His  recollection  of  the  scenes  and  incidents 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  this 
country  is  remarkably  good,  and  he  delights 
to  tell  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  frontier  life 
in  Illinois. 

ROBERT  WILLEFORD.  farmer.  P.  O. 
Old  Rijiley,  was  born  in  Rutherford  County, 
Tenn.,  June  6,  ISIS.  His  parents  were  James 
and  Sallie  (Price)  Willeford.  James  was  born 
in  Southampton  County,  Va.,  in  1791;  was  a 
farmer,  and  died  in  1862.  His  wife  was  born 
in  Franklin  County,  Va.,  and  died  in  1824. 
They  had  a  family  of  two  boys  and  two  girls. 
Our  subject  attended  a  subscription  school  in 
Tennessee  about  two  months,  and  for  a  short 
time  in  Bond  County,  where,  on  January  3, 
1819,  he  married  Malinda  E.  File,  who  was 
born  in  this  county  in  1830.  Her  parents  were 
Daniel  and  Martha  (James)  File.  By  this  mar- 
riage they  had  one  son,  Edward  L.,  who  married 
Lucy  Davenport  in  1869,  and  has  five  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Willeford  served  twelve  months 
in  the  Mexican  war  under  Capt.  Benjamin 
Sellers  and  Col.  Ferris  Foreman.  Subject 
has  alwaj's  been  a  farmer  and  stock-raiser; 
has  held  the  offices  of  School  Director,  County 
Commissioner  and  Township  Trustee.  He  is 
a  Regular  Baptist,  his  political  views  are 
Democratic,  and  he  owns  515  acres  of  the 
best  land  in  Ripley  Precinct. 

WILLIS  WILLEFORD,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Old  Ripley,  was  born  in  Ripley  Precinct  Jan- 
uary 30,  1832;  was  the  son  of  James  and 
Nancy  (Price)  Willeford,  natives  of  Virginia. 
James  was  born  November  30,  1791;  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  April  25, 
1862.  Nancy,  his  wife,  was  born  February 
6,  1801,  and  is  still  living  with  her  son  Willis, 
the  subject  of  our  sketch,  who  is  one  of  her 


RIPLEY    PRECINCT. 


45 


family  of  eight.  He  never  went  to  school 
much;  what  little  education  he  received  was 
in  subscription  schools.  He  married  in  Bond 
County  February  22,  1855,  Polly  A.  Long,  who 
was  born  in  Madison  May  15,  1836.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth 
(Vincent)  Long.  Subject  has  six  children — 
John,  Elizabeth,  James  L.,  Martha  E. 
(all  married),  "William  and  Mary.      Mr.  Wil- 


leford  is  a  farmer  and  stock-raiser.  He 
was  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1864,  Road  Su- 
pervisor in  1855  and  is  at  the  present  time 
Township  Trustee.  He  is  a  Regular  Baptist 
aud  a  Democrat.  Mr.  Willeford  is  one  of  the 
most  thrifty  and  successful  farmers  in  Bond 
County,  and  now  owns  nearly  fourteen  bun 
dred  acres  of  land. 


46 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


MULBERRY   GROVE   PRECINCT. 


M.    F.    BOOK,    farmer,    P.    O.    Mulberry 
Grove,  is  a  native  of  Lawrence  County,  Penn. ; 
was  born  January  21,   1841,  the  second  son 
born  to  his  parents,  who  were  John  C.   and 
Mary  W.  (Dick)  Book.     She  was  born  Feb- 
ruary   IS,    1321,    in    Mercer    County,    Penn. 
He  was   born  in  the  same  county  and  State 
October  16,    1816,  son  of  Michael  Book,   of 
Washington  County,  Penn.,  a  soldier  in  the 
war   of    1812,    and    died    in    Pennsylvania. 
John  C.  Book  emigrated  west  to  this  State  in 
1874,  and  died  August,   1878.     Our  subject 
was  brought  up  to  farm  labor,  working   for 
his  father  on  the  home   estate.     August  27( 
186-1,  he  volunteered  his  services  in  the  defense 
of  his  country,   was  enrolled  with  Company 
D,  One  Hundredth  Begiment  of  Pennsylvania 
Volunteer    Infantry.       He    participated     in 
many  hard  fought  and  bloody  battles,  some 
of  which  were  James  Island.  N.  C,  Bull  Bun. 
Chantilly,  South  Mountain,  Antietam,  Fred- 
ericksburg, Jackson,  Miss. ,  siege  of  Knosville, 
battle  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania.  North 
Anna  and  Cold  Harbor,  where  he  was  three 
times  wounded  and  from  the  effects  of  said 
wounds  he  was  discharged  in  February,  1865, 
and  returned  home  to  his  family.      May   16, 
1861,    he  became  the  husband  of  Elizabeth 
A.   Davis,    born   in    Mercer    County,    Penn., 
daughter   of   Daniel   and    Sarah   Davis.     In 
November,  1871,  he  emigrated  to  this  county 
and  purchased    land   where  he    now    resides, 
having  about  one  hundred  acres.      He   is  a 
member  of  the  M.   E.    Church,  and  a  stanch 
Bepublican. 

G.  C.  BKUNSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mulberry 
Grove,    was   born    in   the  Empire    State,   in 


Chautauqua  County,    December  1-">,  18 IS:  is 
the  sixth  child  and   fourth  son  born  to  Abel 
Branson,    a  native  of  Oneida  County.     The 
mother    of    our    subject    was    Sallie    Love, 
daughter  of  John  Love.     The  subject  of  these 
lines  was  reared  under  the  paternal  roof  until 
of  age,  and  in  fact  he  remained  with  him  un- 
til  he  attained  his  thirty-hfth  year,  at  which 
time  he  determined  to  cast  his  fortunes  with 
the   Buckeye    State,    locating    in    Ashtabula 
County,  on  the  Western  Beserve.     Here  he 
remained   until    the    fall  of   1863,   when   he 
came  to  this   State,  purchasing  eighty   acres 
in  this  township,  and  twenty  acres  in  Fayette 
County.      He  has  since  been  a  constant  resi- 
dent of  this  township  and  associated  with  its 
interests.     He  has  now  190  acres  of  land,  and 
has  improved  the  same,  and  brought  it  to  its 
present  state  of  progress,  having  a  new  house, 
good  fences,   and   the    surroundings    are    in 
keeping  with  the    average  of   improvements 
in  the  county.      While   in  Ashtabula  County, 
he  married  Mrs.  Bugby,  a  native  of  that  State. 
Her   maiden    name   was    Betsey    Whittaker. 
By  this  marriage  he  has  one  child.  Dwight 
W.,  who  resides  with  his  parents  on  the  farm, 
and  has  the  principal  charge  of  the  same.     It 
may  be  said  of  Mi-.  Branson  that  he  is  a  self 
made  man.     He  received  nothing  from  his 
parents    by    way  of   legacy    or    endowment, 
and  started  out  in  the  world  upon  his   own 
foundation,  and  by  close  application  to  his 
business,  he  has  at  length  secured  a  compe- 
tence for  himself   and  family,  having  given 
his  attention  to  farming  as  a  business.      He 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

CHABLES    E.     DEE,    miller,    Mulberry 


.MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


47 


Grove,  is  the  pioneer  miller  in  the  town  of 
Mulberry  Grove,  and  a  truly  self  made  man. 
Hs  is  a  native  of  Vermont,  born  in  1837,  near 
the  town  of  Georgia;  son  of  Hiram  and  Mary 
(Walker)  Dee.  The  Dee  family  are  of  Scotch 
and  German  ancestry.  Hiram  Dee  was  born 
in  Vermont  October  17,  1812;  son  of  Wash- 
ington Dee  and  Lucy  Cooley.  Hiram  Dee 
was  married  in  Vermont  May  7,  1835,  to 
Mary  Maria  Walker,  who  was  also  a  Vermonter, 
bom  July  12,  1813,  daughter  of  Lewis  Wal- 
ker and  Mary  Potter,  who  raised  a  family  of 
ten  children,  Mary  being  the  ninth  iu  order 
of  birth.  Our  subject  removed  in  the  fall  of 
1843  with  his  parents  to  Des  Moines  County, 
Iowa,  within  nine  miles  of  Burlington.  Here 
the  family  remained  seven  years.  Then  they 
moved  to  this  State  and  located  at  St.  Jacobs, 
in  Madison  County.  While  here  Mr.  Dee 
died  March  5,  1863,  from  disease  contracted 
while  in  the  army.  He  was  for  many  years 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  was 
an  old  line  Whig,  and  later  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican. His  wife  yet  survives  him  and  resides 
with  Charles  E.,  who  took  his  father's  place 
as  the  head  of  the  family,  and  had  charge  of 
the  same.  After  coming  to  maturity  he  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and  subsequently  accumu- 
lated enough  means  to  enable  him  to  purchase 
a  threshing  machine,  which  he  run  for  twelve 
years  in  connection  with  his  farming.  In 
1869,  he  came  to  Mulberry  Grove.  His  first 
enterprise  was  to  build  a  saw-mill.  In  1870, 
he  built  the  flouring-mill,  and  for  several 
years  ran  the  saw  machinery  in  connection 
with  the  grist  part.  He  was  first  associated 
in  partnership  with  E.  W.  Dee.  This  lasted 
until  1873,  when  our  subject  purchased  his 
partner's  interest,  and  since  has  run  the  same 
on  his  own  account,  and  is  doing  an  excellent 
business.  August  4,  1870,  he  married  Sarah 
B. ,  daughter  of  William  Riley,  of  this  town- 
ship.    He  is  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 


and  has  two  children — George  E.,  born  No- 
vember 7,  1873,  and  Charlie,  born  April  8, 
1881. 

CAPT.  ISAAC  N.  ENLOE.  farmer,  P.  O. 
Mulberry  Grove,  is  a  son  of  James  Enloe,  one 
of  the  old  settlers  in  Bond  County.  He  was 
born  on  the  homestead  on  Section  3,  March 
7,  1836,  the  second  son,  and  eldest  one  now 
living.  Capt.  Enloe  has  always  been  a  resi- 
dent of  the  township  where  he  was  born,  re- 
maining at  home  until  he  commenced  doing 
business  for  himself.  November  12,  1857, 
he  married  Sophronia  V. ,  daughter  of  Em  | 
Joseph  Hensley,  of  Mercer  County,  whose 
wife  was  Elizabeth  McGuire.  The  year  fol- 
lowing his  marriage,  he  located  on  the  farm 
he  now  owns,  consisting  of  1 24  acres  in  Sec- 
tion 4,  all  of  which  he  improved.  August 
13,  1861,  he  volunteered  as  private  in  Com- 
pany C,  Twenty-sixth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry; first  promoted  to  Fourth  Corporal, 
then  to  First  Duty  Sergeant,  afterward  to 
Orderly  Sergeant,  and  finally  was  commis- 
sioned Captain  of  the  Company,  which  he  had 
charge  of  until  July  29,  1865.  During  his 
service  he  was  engaged  in  New  Madrid,  the 
advance  on  Corinth,  Jackson,  Miss.,  Resaca 
and  all  the  battles  in  which  his  command  was 
engaged  until  August  15,  1864,  when  he  was 
wounded,  being  shot  by  a  sharp-shooter,  and 
was  disabled  until  January,  1865,  when  he 
joined  his  command,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  discharged  July  29,  1865.  since 
which  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming. 
In  politics,  a  Republican  of  the  stanchest  sort; 
he  cast  the  first  Republican  vote  in  Mulberry 
voting  precinct.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  at  Greenville.  He  has  five  chil- 
dren— Alice,  wife  of  George  Berryman,  of 
Greenville;  Solon  A.,  James  S.,  Lois  and  Joe 
Foy. 

JAMES   ENLOE,    retired    farmer,    P.    O. 
Mulberry  Grove,  has  been  a  resident  of  the 


48 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


State  since  1816,  and  of  Bond  County  from 
1818  to  1882.  He  was  a  son  of  Asahel  Enloe, 
who  was  a  native  of  York  District  of  South 
Carolina,  where  our  subject  was  born  October 
27,  1803.  The  grandsire  was  Isaac  Enloe,  of 
Scotch  parentage,  and  served  in  the  war  of 
the  revolution.  Our  subject  came  to  Madison 
County,  III,  with  his  father  in  1816,  the  next 
year  making  a  crop  there,  and  in  1818  came 
to  what  is  now  Bond  County.  Asahel  (his 
father)  purchased  land  where  Greenville  now 
stands.  The  cemetery  now  embraces  a  por- 
tion of  said  purchase.  He  was  a  scholarly 
man  for  his  time,  and  taught  school  for  many 
years,  and  was  appointed  Surveyor  of  the 
county  by  Gov.  Bond,  and  held  his  office  well 
on  to  forty  years.  He  was  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  being 
a  Clerk  and  Chorister  for  years.  He 
was  a  valued  member  of  the  community,  es- 
teemed by  all  who  knew  him  as  an  upright 
man  and  Christian  gentleman.  His  remains 
now  repose  in  the  cemetery  in  Greenville  on 
the  grounds  that  he  first  purchased.  His 
wife  was  Sarah  Stewart,  a  native  of  Ireland. 
She  bore  him  ten  children,  five  sons  and  five 
daughters-  Mary,  Violet,  Cynthia,  Ezekial, 
James,  Hannah,  Louisa,  Enoch,  Nathaniel 
and  Isaac.  James,  our  subject,  made  his 
father's  house  his  home  in  his  early  manhood, 
and  in  1825,  began  for  himself,  and  worked 
out  by  the  month  and  job.  January  1,  1829, 
he  married  Sarah  Bradford,  sister  of  Judge 
Bradford,  of  Greenville.  She  was  born  in 
Kentucky  March  19,  1816.  and  died  Novem- 
ber 22,  1871,  having  born  twelve  children. 
Eleven  of  the  number  lived  to  be  grown — 
Nancy  Ann,  Mary  E.,  William  B.,  Isaac  N, 
Violet  R.,  Samuel  G.,  Emery  L.,  Harriet  N., 
Louisa  I.,  James  S.,  Cynthia E.  and  Zontonia 
E.  In  1832,  Mr  Enloe  located  on  the  farm 
he  now  owns,  and  has  since  remained;  has 
300  acres  of   land.     Since  1835,  he  has  been 


a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
h-is  always  been  a  true  Republican,  and  never 
missed  an  election. 

SAMUEL  G.  ENLOE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mul- 
berry Grove.  One  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Bond  County,  elected  November,  18S1,  is  S. 
G.  Enloe,  who  was  born  on  the  homestead 
March  30,  1840.  He  is  the  second  son  of 
James  and  Sarah  (Bradford)  Enloe.  Samuel 
received  the  advantages  afforded  by  the 
schools  of  his  neighborhood.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  war,  he  donned  the  blue,  enlisting  as 
private  in  May,  1861,  in  Company  D,  Twenty- 
second  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry. 
Soon  after  he  was  transferred  to  Company  F, 
One  Hundredth  and  Thirtieth  Regiment,  with 
which  he  served  until  April,  1865,  when  he 
was  commissioned  as  First  Lieutenant  in  Com- 
pany B,  in  the  same  Regiment,  in  which  ca- 
pacity he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  was  mustered  out  in  August,  1865.  and 
returned  home  in  September  of  the  same  year. 
During  his  association  with  the  army,  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  following  engagements:  Fort 
Gibson,  Miss.,  Champion  Hills,  Black  River 
Bridge,  Siege  of  Vicksburg,  Siege  of  Mobile, 
and  after  his  transfer  to  New  Orleans  he 
served  in  all  the  battles  in  which  his  regiment 
was  engaged  in  Louisiana,  and  on  Cane  River. 
Upon  his  return  home  he  began  improving 
his  farm,  upon  which  he  located  after  his 
marriage  November  30,  1871,  to  Elizabeth  V. 
Martin,  born  in  Rockingham  County,  N.  C, 
daughter  of  J.  H.  Martin  and  Rachel  Proctor, 
now  of  Montgomery  County,  this  State.  In 
politics,  Mr.  Enloe  is  a  Republican,  and  in 
November.  1881,  he  was  elected  County  Com- 
missioner. His  farm  consists  of  115  acres. 
He  has  one  child,  Ernest  R. 

MOSES  ELAM,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mulberry 
Grove.  Among  the  substantial  citizens  of 
Bond  County  none  are  more  highly  respected 
than  the   above.     He  was  born  October   25, 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


49 


1821,  in  Rutherford  County,  N.  C,  and  emi- 
grated to  Fayette  County  with  his  parents 
when  a  mere  lad.  Here  he  remained  about  fif- 
teen years.  December  23,  1841,  he  married 
Martha  F.  Elam,  who  was  born  Jan.  12,  1827, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  daughter  of  Daniel  Elam 
and  Mary  Graves,  who  emigrated  from  Vir- 
ginia to  Maury  County,  Tenn,  about  the  year 
1 828,  where  they  remained  until  the  year 
1831,  when  they  removed  to  Bond  County, 
stopping  near  Greenville,  but  remained  a 
short  time,  and  located  permanently  in 
Fayette  County,  where  they  remained  until 
their  death.  Their  deaths  occurred  in  18G2 
and  1854  respectively.  They  raised  a  family 
of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living, 
of  whom  Thomas  resides  in  Arkansas:  Mary 
J..  Mrs  Elisha  Matthews,  of  this  county. 
Susan  became  the  wife  of  William  Cheese- 
man,  of  Henry  County,  Mo.  After  Mr.  Elam's 
marriage  he  remained  in  Fayette  County  three 
years,  and  then  moved  across  the  line  into 
Mulberry  Grove,  and  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing, continuing  twelve  years.  October,  1S56, 
he  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  situated 
in  Section  26,  and  has  since  been  engaged 
in  farming,  and  has  been  successful,  having 
nearly  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  320  here, 
and  212  in  Fayette,  and  besides  assisted  his 
children  in  making  a  start  in  life.  He  has 
five  children — Moses,  Thomas  E.,  Melvina, 
Jenkins  and  Richard,  all  residents  of  this 
county.  Melvina  married  Rev.  Thomas 
Vance,  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  father 
of  our  subject  was  William  Elam,  born  and 
married  in  Virginia,  and  son  of  Alexander 
Elam,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  of  English 
descent.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Patience,  daughter  of  Philip  Hurt,  who  re- 
moved from  Virginia  to  North  Carolina,  where 
they  remained  sixteen  years.  Mr  Elam  is 
a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

E.  V.  GASKINS,  farmer  and  stock-raiser, 


P.  O.  Mulberry  Grove.  "  Son,"  as  he  is  best 
known,  was  born  in  Greenville  November  29, 
1841.  He  is  the  only  son  and  sole  heir  of 
Judge  Enrico  Gaskins,  a  native  of  Norfolk, 
Va.,  born  June  14,  1812,  and  son  of  Spencer 
Gaskins.  Enrico,  the  father  of  "  Son,"  was 
a  hatter  by  trade,  and  came  West  to  Green- 
ville in  1835,  where  he  set  up  in  business, 
continuing  the  same  for  several  years,  and 
afterward  became  prominently  identified  with 
its  business  interests.  He  was  Clerk  of  the 
Court  about  twenty  years,  and  eight  years 
County  Judge.  He  was  a  thorough  and  cor- 
rect business  man.  In  1859,  he  entered  land 
in  Town  6,  Range  2,  and  purchased  other 
lands  adjoining  the  same,  which  land  is  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  E.  V.  Mi-.  Gaskin 
was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity; also  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  In  politics  he  was  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican, and  in  every  sense  of  the  word  a  repre- 
sentative man  and  valued  member  of  the  com- 
monwealth. His  marriage  with  Mrs.  Sarah 
Conn,  relict  of  Dr.  Conn,  was  crowned  with 
the  birth  of  three  children;  but  one  of  the 
number  is  now  living,  E.  V.  He  located  on 
the  farm  in  1872.  His  death  occurred  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1879.  Mrs.  Gaskin's  maiden  name 
was  Hall,  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Charlotte 
(Stridor)  Hall.  She  was  born  June  18, 
181  1,  in  Jefferson  County,  Va.,  and  came 
West  with  her  parents  to  this  county  in  1833. 
E.  V.  has  been  located  on  the  farm  since  his 
father's  location  here  in  1872.  In  1863,  he 
married  Charlotte,  born  in  this  county, 
daughter  of  John  S.  Hall.  He  has  one 
daughter,  Lena,  aged  sixteen.  For  four  years 
Mr.  E.  V.  Gaskin  was  a  resident  of  Mulberry 
Grove,  being  engaged  while  here  in  mer- 
chandising.  Since  his  location  here  on  the 
farm,  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming,  and 
is  giving  his  attention  to  the  breeding  of  fine 
cattle   and  horses,  of   which  he  has  the  best 


50 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


stock.  He  has  600  acres  of  land,  located  on 
Section  23,  with  a  new  house  and  comfortable 
surroundings. 

J.  J.  HARPER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mulberry 
Grove.  The  Harper  family  rank  among  the 
pioneer  families  in  Town  5,  Range  2.  They 
were  natives  of  Tennessee,  and  located  where 
J.  M.  Harper  now  resides.  The  subject  of 
these  lines  is  a  descendant  of  this  family. 
He  was  born  May  28,  1838,  on  the  farm  he 
now  owns,  on  Section  22.  He  is  the  second 
son  of  Thomas  Harper,  who  was  born  in 
Maury  County,  Tenn. ,  and  emigrated  to  this 
county  in  the  year  1829.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  Priscilla  Segraves,  daughter  of 
Bennett  Segraves,  likewise  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers  in  this  township.  But  two  children 
were  born  to  Thomas  Harper  and  wife,  whose 
names  were  Robert  and  Jefferson  J.  The  lat- 
ter was  young  when  his  father  died.  His 
mother  died  in  1807.  J.  J.  succeeded  his 
father  on  the  homestead,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  February  10.  1 859,  he  married  Mil  ley 
E.  Brown,  born  in  Fayette  County,  daughter 
of  James  and  Dorcas  Brown,  both  natives  of 
Tennessee.  Mr.  Harper  has  a  farm  of  170 
acres.  He  has  two  children — James  T.  and 
Alice. 

J.  P.  LILLIGH,  farmer.  P.  O.  Mulberry 
Grove.  Clarion  County,  Penn.,  sent  some 
good  farmers  and  citizens  to  Bond  County, 
among  whom  is  the  above,  who  was  born  in 
February,  1841,  being  the  eldest  son  of  Jacob 
Lilligh  and  Catharine  Mahle.  Jacob  Lilligh 
was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn. ;  son  of 
Jacob,  a  native  of  Germany.  The  family 
emigrated  West  to  this  locality  in  the  spring 
of  1805.  J.  P.  married  in  Pennsylvania  Han- 
nah Cornish  in  1854.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Henry  Cornish.  She  died  in  1872,  leaving 
two  children — Addison  and  Kate.  His  last 
marriage  was  to  Miss  Nancy  Buchaunon,  a 
native  of  this  countv.     She  was  a  daugLter 


of  John  Buchannon,  who  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  the  count}'.  When  Mr.  Lilligh 
first  came  here  he  purchased  eighty  acres  of 
land,  and  has  since  added  to  the  same  until 
he  has  now  500  acres.  For  twenty  years  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  German  Baptist  Church, 
with  which  his  parents  have  long  been  identi- 
fied. He  has  by  his  last  marriage  two  chil- 
dren living — Minnie  and  Grace.  He  has 
improved  the  farm  greatly  since  his  location 
here,  having  built  all  the  substantial  improve- 
ments on  the  same. 

HENRI  LILLIGH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Woburn, 
is  the  second  son  of  Jacob  Lilligh.  Henry 
was  born  May  1,  1849.  and  emigrated  to  this 
county  with  the  family  in  1865.  In  1^72. 
he  married  Harriet  Morey,  daughter  of  Hiram 
Morey,  one  of  the  old-time  settlers  in  this 
county.  After  his  marriage,  he  located  in 
Mulberry  Grove,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business,  where  he  continued  until 
1875,  when  he  located  on  the  farm  he  now 
owns.  He  is  an  excellent  farmer,  and  has 
been  successful.  He  has  280  acres  of  land, 
forty  of  which  is  timber.  His  farm  is  well 
improved,  and  is  very  productive.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  German  Baptist  Church,  and 
has  recently  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
minister  in  his  church.  He  has  four  children 
— Ida  Marian,  Mary  Louisa,  Emmet  Wilburn 
and  Edward  Earl. 

J.  MATTINLY,  physician,  Mulberry  Grove, 
specialist  of  the  eye  and  ear,  also  of  the 
treatment  and  cure  of  cancers,  who  first 
saw  the  light  of  day  July  7, 1813,  in  Lincoln 
County,  Tenn. ;  son  of  Rollin,  born  March  10, 
1788,  in  North  Carolina,  who  was  a  son  of 
Richard  Mattinlv,  whose  children  were  David, 
James,  John,  Rollin  and  Waring.  The 
mother,  Nancy  Luttrell,  was  born  March  31, 
1793,  and  died  May  13,  1881;  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Michael  Luttrell,  a  Revolutionary 
soldier,  and  who  lived  to  be  almost  a  centena- 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


51 


rian,  the   family  being  remarkable  for  their 
longevity.      Our   subject   removed   with   his 
father  to  Alabama,  in  Jackson  County,  when 
he   was  a   lad  of   tender  years,  where  they 
resided  until  the  year  1830,  when  they  came 
to    Marion    County,    this    State,   where   his 
father  died  September  6,  1866.     Very  much 
credit  is  due  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  as  he 
was  thrown   upon  his   own   resources   at  an 
early  age,  leaving  home  without  shoes  or  suf- 
ficient clothing  to  shield   him  from  the  in- 
clement weather,  and  unable  to  read  the  sim- 
plest sentence  in  a  newspaper.     He  hired  out 
at  $6  per  month,  and  assisted  in  maintaining 
the  family  in  the  meantime.     For  five  years 
he  drove  stage,  and  during  that  time  he  made 
use  of  his  spare  time  in  improving  his  mind, 
being  resolved,  that  as  his  temporal   affairs 
were  being  advanced,  that  his  mind  should 
receive  its  share  also.     He  came  to  this  town- 
ship in  1839,  and  was  married  the  same  year 
to  Mary  A.  Hubbard,  who  died  in  1840,  leav- 
ing one  son,  David  Rollin.      His  second  and 
last  wife  was   Sarah  Tate,  born   in    Stokes 
County,  N.   C,  September  9,  1809,  daughter 
of   Samuel  Tate,  born   in  Stokes  County,  N. 
C,  in    1776,   and  died  April  23,    1842,  and 
Sarah  (Faulkner)  Tate,  born  in  Wake  County, 
N.  C,  in  1775.  and  died  in  1853.     She  bore 
him  three  children,   two  of  whom  are  living 
—Lizzie,  wife  of  John  T.  Buchannon,  Annie 
and  Sarah  E.     Soon   after   he  came  to  this 
place,  he  entered  a  piece  of   land  and  began 
farming,  which  he  continued  until  1860.      In 
the  meantime  he  was  reading  scientific  works, 
medicine  being  his  favorite.     February,  1861, 
he  began  practice  in  Greenville.     Since  April 
10,  1862,  he  has  been   located  here  in  Mul- 
berry Grove,  giving  especial  attention  to  the 
treatment  of  the  eye  and  ear,  as  well  as  can- 
cer, treating  them  with  success.     He  has  200 
acres  of  land,  and  considerable  town  property. 
The  Doctor  has  done  much  to  impress  upon 


the  minds  of  the  people  the  necessity  of  the 
knowledge  of  phrenology  and  sexual  science 
among  the  people. 

E.    W.     OLIVER,     physician,    Mulberry 
Grove,  is  a  North  Carolinian  by  birth,  born 
in   Rockingham  County  February   10,  1844; 
son  of   Elijah   Oliver,  born  in  Rockingham 
County,  -N.  C,  about  1805,  and  died  January 
5,  1881,  whose   father  was  Peter,  who  was  a 
resident  of  North  Carolina  at  the  time  of  the 
battle  of    Bunker  Hill.     The  mother  of  the 
Doctor  was  Annie,  daughter  of  Enoch  Aston, 
born  in  Rockingham   County,   N.    C,   about 
1805,    and  died  in  1863.     In   1861,  he   left 
North   Carolina    for   Indiana,  where    he   re- 
mained a  short  time;  then  came  to  Charles- 
town,  Coles  Co.,  this  State,  where  he  remained 
some  length  of  time.     He   was,  early  in  life, 
left  to  his  own  resources,  with  a  limited  edu- 
cation, in  North  Caroli  na.     The  nearest  school 
from  his  father's  house  was  three  miles  and 
a  half;  hence  his   advantages  for  schooling 
were  not  encouraging.     After  his  coming  to 
Illinois,  he,  by  close  application  to  his  studies, 
succeeded    in  acquiring   such   qualifications 
that  enabled  him  to  teach  the  district  school 
of  the  neighborhood,  which  he  did  for  several 
terms.     During  this  time  he  took  up  the  study 
of  medicine.      In   1S70,  he  gave  the  subject 
his  earnest  attention.     He  continued  the  same 
until  his  graduation,  receiving  his  diploma 
at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  February  17,  1874,  in  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  at  which 
time  he  came  to  "Woburn,  Town  6,  Range  2, 
and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
where  he   remained  until  September,    ISM, 
when  he  came  to  Mulberry  Grove,  where  he 
has  since  been  identified,  and  is  having  a  lib- 
eral patronage  of  the  people.      He  was  edu- 
cated to  the  old-school  system,  but  he  ignores 
to  some  extent  some  of  the  medicine  common- 
ly used  in  that  system,  calomel,  for  instance, 
and  in  its  stead  makes  use  of  other  remedies 


52 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


equally  as  effective.  In  1871,  he  married 
Virginia  A.  Jett,  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  July  S,  1850,    daughter   of  Washington 

A.  Jett,  who  died  about  1856,  and  Sarah 
Wright.  By  her  he  had  five  children — the 
first  still  bom,  Albert  W-,  William  E.  (dead). 
Essie  W.  and  Harry  J.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Christian  Church  and  of  the  Masonic 
order.  He  has  but  two  sisters  living — Sarah 
and  Rachel,  the  former  of  Virginia,  the  latter 
in  Rockingham  County,  N.  C. 

JAMES  C.  PINNEO,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  P.  0.  Smithboro,  is  a  native  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  and  was  born  July  17,  1839.  He  is  the 
youngest  of  the  family.     His  father  is  James 

B.  Pinneo,  one  of  the  prominent  and  well- 
known  business  men  of  that  locality  (New 
Jersey).  He  was  born  in  Milford,  in  the 
State  of  Connecticut;  son  of  Bezaleel  Pinneo, 
a  Presbyterian  minister.  Our  subject  'is  a 
near  relative  of  the  grammarian,  whose  works 
are  so  well  known  in  the  Eastern  States. 
Eliza,  the  mother  of  James  C,  was  a  daughter 
of  Samuel  Lyman,  of  Goshen,  Conn.,  of  Pur- 
itanical stock.  The  family  of  Bezaleel,  con- 
sisted of  seven  children,  four  sons  and  three 
daughters,  of  whom  James  B.  was  the  eldest. 
The  subject  of  these  lines  received  good  school 
advantages,  and  of  a  good  business  education. 
He  first  came  West  in  October,  1861,  and  for 
some  time  was  in  Government  employ,  being 
connected  with  the  Quartermaster's  Depart- 
ment, and  afterward  engaged  in  trading  and 
in  commercial  pursuits  in  St.  Louis  and  else- 
where. In  1809.  he  made  the  purchase  of 
the  farm  he  now  owns,  situated  on  Section 
9,  and  moved  on  his  property  the  following 
year.  His  residence  is  built  upon  a  gentle 
eminence,  which  he  has  improved  by  planting 
shrubbery  and  evergreens,  and  on  either  side 
of  the  drive  are  beautiful  maples,  which  give 
the  place  a  refined  appearance.  Mr.  Pinneo 
has  put  all  the  improvements  on  the  farm  that 


now  appear,  in  the  way  of  building,  and  very 
much  of  the  fencing,  and  has  spent  much  la- 
bor and  money  executing  his  designs,  and 
has  an  excellent  farm,  which  is  adjacent  to 
Smithboro  Post  Office  and  Henderson  Station, 
and  four  miles  from  the  county  seat.  June 
9,  1870,  he  married  Miss  Minnie  Gray,  born 
in  Stamford,  Conn.,  daughter  of  William  E. 
Gray  and  Sarah  Adams,  the  latter  a  sister  of 
Stonewall  Adams.  The  parents  of  Mrs.  Gray 
emigrated  West  in  1858.  Her  father  was  a 
prominent  builder  and  contractor  in  the  West 
and  North.  Mr.  Pinneo  has  one  child — Saida 
L.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

JOHN  RILEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mulberry 
Grove,  was  born  December  4,  1828,  in  Town 
5,  Range  3,  ir  Bond  Count}-,  and  in  1835  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Town  6,  where  he 
lived  until  about  the  year  1868,  when  he  re- 
moved to  this  township,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  named 
Barnabas  Riley,  who  was  born  in  Georgia, 
and  emigrated  North  to  this  State  in  this 
county  in  1818.  He  stayed  one  year,  when 
he  went  South  to  Kentucky,  but  returned  to 
this  county  the  following  year,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1849.  His  wife  survived  him  until  1876. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was 
for  many  years  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church 
for  many  a  long  term  of  years,  and  leading 
light  in  the  same,  being  Class-Leader  and 
Steward  for  many  years.  John,  our  subject, 
was  raised  to  agricultural  pursuits,  his  father 
being  a  farmer.  He  worked  as  carpenter  and 
builder,  but  gave  his  attention  to  farming 
principally.  He  raised  a  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, whose  names  were  James.  William, 
John,  Elizabeth,  Minerva,  Samuel  M.,  Bar- 
nabas, Sarah  and  Mary.  March,  1850,  he 
married  Jane  C.  Steele,  a  native  of  this  State, 
and   daughter  of   Andrew  Steele.      She  died 


MULBERRY    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


53 


in  1S66,  leaving  one  child,  which  died  young. 
His  present  wife  was  Mrs.  Elizabeth  J.  Kings- 
bury, daughter  of  Richard  Withers,  of  Col- 
linsville,  this  State.  Mr.  Withers  wife  was 
Edna  Johnson,  her  father  being  Mr.  John- 
son, one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Madison  County. 
By  his  last  wife  Mr.  Riley  has  three  children 
— Evaline  S. ,  Anna  E.  and  John  E.  Mr. 
Riley  is  a  Republican,  and  filled  the  office  of 
County  Conmissioner  one  term,  and  since 
1846  has  been  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 
He  has  155  acres  of  land.  His  brother  Will- 
iam served  in  the  late  war,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Twenty-second  Illinois,  and  was 
badly  wounded,  and  is  now  on  the  pension 
list. 

J.  H.  SPRADLING,  farmer  and  merchant, 
P.  O.  Mulberry  Grove,  was  born  August  1, 
1828,  in  Maury  County,  Tenn. ;  son  of  James 
Spradling,  who  was  born  in  Tennessee  April 
9,  1796.  and  died  April  11,  1867,  who  served 
in  the  war  of  -1812,  and  married  Frances  T. 
Oliver,  who  was  bom  in  Virginia  March  25, 
1789,  arad  died  December  7,  1869,  and  by  her 
raised  a  family  of  three  children.  The  eldest 
was  Amarantha  P.;  J.  H.  and  Frances  J. 
were  the  other  two.  Amarantha  is  now 
the  wife  of  James  Riley,  and  Frances  J.  mar- 
ried John  Segrest,  both  of  this  townhip.  Our 
subject  emigrated  to  this  locality  with  his 
parents  when  he  was  quite  young,  his  father 
making  a  purchase  on  Section  25,  Town  6, 
Range  2  west.  He  entered  the  land  from  the 
(Tovernment,  and  engaged  in  farming,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  on  the  farm. 
He  was  a  stanch  Democrat,  and  highly  es- 
teemed by  his  fellow-citizens,  and  was  affili- 
ated with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  lived  a 
life  in  harmony  with  his  profession.  His 
death  occurred  in  April,  1866,  having  attained 
one  year  over  his  "  threescore  and  ten."  J. 
H.  having  attained  the  years  of  manhood,  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  a  husbandman.      Decem- 


ber 30,  1849,  he  wedded  Cynthia  A. ,  his  wife, 
who  was  born  in  Hancock  County,  Ind.,  Feb 
ruary  20,  1832,  daughter  of  William,  born  in 
North  Carolina  September  4,  1807,  and  Eliza 
(Snodgrass)  Jackson,  he  being  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  she  of  Indiana,  daughter 
of  James  Snodgrass.  John  Jackson,  the  pa- 
ternal grandfather  of  Mrs.  Spradling,  was 
for  many  years  a  resident  of  Carolina,  and 
removed  with  his  family  to  Indiana.  His 
son,  William  Jackson,  removed  to  this  county, 
locating  in  Town  5,  Range  2,  near  Fairview, 
when  the  county  was  partially  settled,  Mrs. 
Spradling  being  about  ten  years  of  age  when 
she  came  with  her  father.  The  family  con- 
sisted of  her  father,  three  brothers  and  her- 
self. The  mother  died  in  Indiana.  Since 
Mr.  Spradling's  marriage,  he  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  the  township.  Since  1870,  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  Grove,  and  been  en- 
gaged in  merchandising,  his  stock  consisting 
of  hardware,  grass  seed  and  agricultural  im- 
plements. He  has  about  three  hundred  and 
twenty-six  acres,  eighty-sis  being  in  the 
county  adjoining,  and  all  of  which  he  yet 
carries  on.  He  has  seven  children — John  F. : 
Eliza  P..  Mrs.  Joseph  Call;  William  H.  who 
resides  in  Pocahontas;  Albert  M.,  George  L., 
Laura  B.  and  Harry  W.  Mr.  Spradling  is 
a  good  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

L.  J.  SEGRAVES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Pleas- 
ant Mound,  is  the  oldest  living  settler  in  the 
township,  having  been  a  constant  resident 
here  since  the  spring  of  L828.  He  was  born 
March  11,  1816,  in  Maury  County,  Tenn. , 
and  emigrated  to  this  locality,  as  stated  above. 
His  father  was  Bennett  Segraves,  a  native 
of  Georgia,  born  July  21,  1791,  and  when  a 
young  man  moved  to  Tennessee,  where  he 
married  Margaret  Lockhart,  who  was  born  De- 
cember 25,  1797,  in  Davidson  County,  Tenn., 
and  died    September   22,  1844,  daughter    of 

D 


54 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Thomas  and  Martha  Lockhart.    He  (Bennett) 
died  July  29,    1868.      The  paternal  grand- 
father of  our  subject  was  Jacob   Segraves,  of 
Scotch  descent,  a  Revolutionary  soldier.      He 
remained    and  raised  a  large  family,  among 
whom  were  Vincent,   Bennett,  Daniel,  Isaac 
and  Sarah,  who  were  his  offspring  by  his  first 
wife.      By   his    second    wife    he   had  Jacob, 
William,    Henry  Jackson,    John,  Jane,  Pol- 
ly and  Malinda,   none  of  whom    are   living. 
Bennett  Segraves  was  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
a  Democrat    all  his   life,   and   a   substantial 
member  of  the  community,  and  passed  to  his 
rest   July  7,  1868,  having  raised  to  maturity 
the  following  children — Priscilla,  who  mar- 
ried Thomas  L.  Hooper:  Lockhart  J.,  Sarah 
J.  E.,  wife  of  James  Widger;  Nancy  D.,  wife 
of  John  George;  Martha.  Mrs.  William  Hen- 
ninger;  Love  married  Mr.    Steele;  Mary  H, 
wife  of  Wilson  T.  Hays;  Rebecca  never  mar- 
ried; Nelson  B. ;  Margaret  C,  Mrs.  Booker; 
Lucinda  P.,  Mrs.    John   Whitley.      Of  those 
living  are  Sarah,  Margaret,  Lucinda,  Mary, 
Lockhart  J.,  who  was  married    January  6, 
1843,  to  Diana,  born  in  Tioga  County,  Penn., 
March  10,  1826,  daughter  of   Gilbert,   born 
October   12,  1793,  and  Lucinda  (Ives)  Van- 
gorden,  born  October  22,  1797,  and  died  April 
5.    1867.     He  was  a    native    of   New    York, 
and  she  of  Pennsylvania.     They  came  West 
to  Michigan   in  1836,  and  to  this  county  in 
1840.     Mr.  Segraves  has  but  one  child,  John 
Bird,  who  married  Letta   Johnson.      He   re- 
sides on    a   portion  of   the  homestead   farm. 
He  has  three  daughters — Lillie  E.,  Lucinda 
G.  and  Delia.     Mr.    Segraves  has  207J  acres 
of  land,  and  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 
Mrs    Segraves  is   a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church.     The  children  born   them  deceased 
are — Maria  Lucinda,  who  died  July  7,  1871, 
aged  twenty-three  years,  eleven  months  and 
nine  days;  Mary  Eveline  died   in  1852,  aged 
fourteen  months. 


JOHN  WATTS,    farmer,  P.  O.    Mulberry 
Grove,  takes  first  rank  among  the  substantial 
farmers  and  stanch  men  of  Bond  County,  and 
began  in  the  world  poor,   having  served  his 
father  until  twenty-four  years  of  age,  giving 
him  the  entire  benefit  of  his  labor  and  earn- 
ings in  the  meanwhile.     He  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1808,  in  York  State:  eldest  son  of 
William  Watts,  a  native    of    Massachusetts. 
His  wife  was  Susanna  Hodge,  who  bore  him 
ten  children,  eight  of  whom  grew  up.     When 
a  lad  of  eight  years,  our  subject  removed  with 
his   parents    to  Franklin    County,   Ohio,  re- 
maining there  until  after  attaining  his  man- 
hood, when  he  removed  to  Madison  County, 
where  he  lived  until  the  fall  of   1858,  when 
he  came  to  Illinois  and   located  in  this  town- 
ship, and  purchased  205  acres,  fifty  of  which 
were  somewhat  improved.    Since  that  time  he 
has  been  a  constant  resident  of  the  township, 
and  been  identified  with  its  temporal  and  re- 
ligious  interests,    having  joined  the    M.  E. 
Church  soon  after  his  location  here,  and  been 
a  consistent  member  of   the  same.      In  tem- 
poral matters,  he  has  been  successful,  having 
acquired   and  owned   at  one  time  about  six 
hundred   acres  of   land,  a   large    portion   of 
which    he  has    since  sold    and    divided    out 
among  his  children,  reserving  268  acres  for 
himself.     After  leaving  his  father  at  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  he  was  married  to  Wealthy 
Babcock,  a  native  of   Pennsylvania,  daughter 
of    Nathaniel    Babcock  and  Rachel   Roovrs. 
Of  a  family  of  seven  children  born  him.  six 
grew  up — Susanna,  Catharine.  Lina,  Jasper 
Lucy  J.  and  Rosilla.      Susanna  is  the  wife  of 
William  Goff,  of  this  township;  Lina  resides 
in  Town  5,  Range  2,  and  is  the  wife  of  Cyrus 
Walker;    Catharine   married    John    Sellers, 
and  moved  to  Kansas  City;  Jasper  resides  in 
this  county;  Rosilla  and   Lucy  J.  both  mar- 
ried and  raised   families,  but   have  since  de- 
ceased. 


POCAHONTAS    PRECINCT. 


55 


POCAHONTAS   PRECIN(  T. 


JACOB  CRICHFIELD,  deceased.  The 
grandfather  of  the  above  was  an  Englishman 
by  birth.  His  given  name  was  Robert,  and 
he  served  on  board  of  a  British  man-of-war. 
When  near  the  Massachusetts  coast,  he  with 
several  others,  premeditated  their  departure, 
got  permission  to  go  out  rowing  in  the  jolly 
boat,  and  while  out  made  good  their  escape.  ] 
Soon  after  landing,  they  met  a  Quaker,  who, 
judging  them  to  be  deserters,  said  to  them, 
"  Thee  must  change  thy  clothes  and  thy  names, 
or  thee  will  be  caught.''  Acting  upon  this 
piece  of  useful  information,  Robert  (it  is  not 
known  what  his  surname  was)  chauged  his  to 
Crichtield.  He  had  three  sons  born  him, 
whose  names  were  Benjamin,  Absalom  and 
William,  all  of  whom  served  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  after  which  Benjamin  settled  in 
Romney,  Ya. ,  William  in  Somerset  County, 
Penn.  Absalom  never  married.  He  was  a 
musician;  the  others  were  farmers.  The  de- 
scendants who  came  here  to  Illinois  were  chil- 
dren  of  William,  who  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  had  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
all  of  whom  came  to  maturity.  Among  this 
number  were  Joseph  and  Jacob,  who  came  to 
this  county.  Joseph  emigrated  to  this  region 
of  country  at  the  time  of  the  war  of  1 8 1 2. 
His  wife  was  among  the  number  who  sought 
refuge  in  the  old  fort  which  stood  in  this 
township,  of  which  history  gives  an  account. 
Jacob,  his  brother,  came  West  to  Bond  County, 
arriving  here  April  4,  1839,  fixing  his  loca- 
tion on  Section  25,  in  Town  4,  Range  4,  in 
Millersburg  Precinct,  where  he  remained  un- 
til his  death  June  8,  1846.  His  wife's  maid- 
en name  prior  to  her  marriage  was  Johanna 


Jellison.  daughter  of  Robert  Jellison,  an  En- 
glishman. She  died  in  1850.  Mr.  Crichtield 
was  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  his 
house  was  the  home  for  the  ministers.  Four 
children  were  born  him — Edith  E..  Hannah 
S. ,  William  M.  and  Freeborn.  Of  this  num- 
ber Edith  died  unmarried.  Hannah  married 
J.  H.  Gilmore,  and  settled  in  Greenville.  She 
died  in  1873.  William  M.  and  Freeborn  both 
served  in  the  war  as  true  and  valiant  soldiers. 
William  M.  enlisted  in  June,  1861,  in  Company 
E,  Twenty-second  Regiment,  and  served  three 
years,  and  participated  in  all  the  battles  in 
which  his  company  took  part.  F.  G.  enlisted 
in  August,  1862,  in  Company  E,  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirtieth  Regiment  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry.  He  also  served  three  years. 
April  11,  1865,  William  M.  married  Emma 
Wild--,  who  was  born  in  Hamilton.  Ohio, 
daughter  of  Ralph  Wilds  and  Lucinda  Jack- 
son. He  has  three  children — Lilian,  Dale 
S.  and  Grace  E. 

TOBIA.S  FILE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Baden  Baden, 
came  to  Bond  County  with  his  parents  in 
L818,  and  located  with  them  in  Old  Ripley 
Precinct.  He  was  born  March  20,  1810,  in 
Cabarras  County,  on  Rock  River.  X.  C.  His 
father  was  Henry  File,  and  his  mother's  maid- 
en name  was  Reep.  To  Henry  File  was 
born  the  following  family:  George,  Daniel. 
Moses.  Tobias  and  Sallie.  Sallie  resides  in 
Litchfield,  and  is  the  wife  of  Isaac  Bilvew. 
She  and  Tobias  are  the  only  ones  living  of 
the  family.  All  of  the  above  settle.!  in  Bond 
County  and  have  descendants.  Tobias  re- 
mained with  his  father  until  he  was  grown. 
His  boyhood  was  spent  on  the  farm,  and   he 


50 


BIOGRAPHIC  A  I.: 


assisted  his  father  in  clearing  up  the  land. 
His  school  advantages  were  of  the  most  lim- 
ited character,  and  he  has  had  to  plod  his 
way  through  life  without  having  any  substan- 
tial school  benefits.  In  January,  1830,  he 
married  Sarah  Gillespie,  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see, daughter  of  John  Gillespie  and  Nancy 
McFerron.  Mr.  File  located  in  Millersburg 
Precinct,  where  he  now  resides,  in  1837,  and 
has  since  remained.  His  wife  died  in  1850, 
having  borne  him  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  living — Samuel,  William,  Nancy  J.,  To- 
bias, Jacob  and  George.  He  married  Fannie 
Cook  for  his  second  wife,  who  died  leaving 
no  issue.  His  third  and  last  wife  was  Mrs. 
Hannah  Baker.  Mr.  File  has  400  acres  of 
land,  and  since  1832  has  been  a  member  of 
the  M.  E.  Church,  and  has  always  been  one 
of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

JOHN  H.  GORDON,  physician,  Pocahon- 
tas, is  among  the  worthy  and  successful  practi- 
tioners of  medicine  in  Bond  County.  He  was 
born  October  29,  1842,  in  Huntsville,  Ala.;  is 
of  a  family  of  seven  sons,  all  of  whom  were 
doctors,  sons  of  Dr.  James  and  Mary  (Sander- 
son) Gordon.  When  a  babe,  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Spring  Hill,  Miss.,  and  left  there 
prior  to  1850.  He  was  educated  :  t  the  best 
schools  at  Russellville.  Ark,  and  began  the 
study  of  his  profession  before  seventeen,  and 
began  practice  ere  he  attained  his  majority. 
In  1S64,  he  received  the  benefits  of  the  St. 
Louis  Medical  College.  His  practice  was 
attended  with  the  most  favorable  encourage- 
ment, which  kept  him  busy,  and  his  gradua- 
tion at  the  Missouri  Medical  College  was  not 
completed  until  1874.  He  began  practice 
in  Millersburg,  this  township,  in  1864,  and 
two  years  later  he  came  to  Pocahontas,  where 
he  has  since  lived,  and  been  engaged  in  his 
profession.  At  the  time  he  came  here  there 
were   eight    physicians,    including   himself, 


in  a  town  not  exceeding  five  hundred  inhabit- 
ants. In  1868,  he  associated  with  his  brother, 
J.  T.  Gordon,  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  H. 
Gordon  &  Brother,  which  copartnership  lasted 
until  1870.  He  then  purchased  his  brother's 
interest,  and  continued  alone  until  1873,  at 
which  time  he  took  in  as  partner  his  brother 
W.  P.,  and  continued  together  until  1878, 
when  he  subsequently  associated  with  Dr.  A. 
R.  Clinton,  January,  1878,  which  partner- 
ship was  dissolved  in  the  summer  of  1879. 
Since  this  time  he  has  been  running  it  alone 
and  has  an  excellent  practice.  December  15, 
L861,  he  married  Emily  Torrence,  born  in 
North  Carolina,  but  raised  in  Arkansas.  She 
isjl  daughter  of  John  T.  Torrence  and  Jane 
Linch.  The  Doctor  has  eleven  children  born 
to  him,  five  of  whom  are  living — William  E., 
Charles  C,  Lewis  L.,  Kate  and  George  D. 
The  others  died  in  infancy,  except  Nancy  J., 
who  died  December  3,  1877,  aged  ten  years. 
The  Doctor  has  been  a  member  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  since  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. .  of 
this  place.  He  makes  a  sjaecialty  of  female 
complaints,  in  the  treatment  of  which  he  is 
successful. 

JOHN  W.  HARNED,  farmer,  P.  O.  Po 
cahontas,  was  born  in  Red  River  County, 
Tex.,  January  '26,  1819;  son  of  William  and 
Hannah  (Boyer)  Harned,  he  born  in  1792,  a 
Methodist  preacher,  left  the  Yuba  River,  Cal., 
October  8.  1850,  and  was  never  afterward 
heard  of.  His  wife  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  1792,  and  died  in  November,  1850. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  children, 
seven  boys  and  four  girls.  The  only  educa- 
tion our  subject  ever  had  was  received  in  a 
log  cabin,  in  the  Red  River  bottoms,  where 
he  attended  school  for  a  short  time.  He  first 
worked  on  the  farm  of  Williamson  Plant, 
Bond  County,  and  has  been  in  the  farming 
business  ever  since.      In  Bond  County  Febru- 


POCAHONTAS    PRECINCT. 


57 


ary  2,  1842,  he  married  Mary  M.  Nelson. 
born  in  Bond  County  August  16,  1820, 
daughter  of  William  and  Mary  (McLean)  Nel- 
son. He  lias  nine  children — William  O, 
Henry  O,  Joseph,  Nelson.  Melvina,  John  B., 
Eda  R..  Louis,  James  M.  and  Jennie.  Mr. 
Harned  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  his  wife  has  been  connected  with  the  old 
"  Gilead"  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
for  forty-five  years.  He  spent  the  first  ten 
years  of  his  life  in  what  is  now  Texas,  but 
which  was  then  part  of  Mexico,  and  owing  to 
his  constant  association  with  neighboring  In 
dian  tribes,  he  could  speak  the  Choctaw  lan- 
guage much  better  than  English.  His  father 
was  bitterly  opposed  to  slavery;  and,  during 
his  residence  in  the  South,  suffered  many  per- 
secutions on  account  of  his  abolitionist  prin- 
ciples. He  stood  by  the  side  of  Lovejoy 
when  he  was  shot.  He  built  a  hotel  in  Alton, 
111.,  in  1833,  where  our  subject  met  Lincoln. 
Douglas,  and  many  others  of  the  noted  men 
in  the  early  history  of  our  country.  Mr. 
Harned  was  well  acquainted  with  the  famous 
Black  Hawk,  chief  of  the  Fox  Indians. 

JAMES  S.  JOHNSTON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Pocahontas.  The  above  gentleman  first  be- 
held the  light  of  day  July  20,  1827,  in  Gin 
cinnati.  Ohio:  second  son  of  Campbell  John- 
son, a  native  of  Londonderry.  Lei  and,  where 
he  was  born  about  the  year  1793,  and  came 
to  America  in  1808,  in  company  with  his 
brother  James,  with  whom  he  worked  several 
years  as  carpenters.  Prior  to  the  war  of 
1812,  they  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
nails  at  Pittsburgh,  and  shipped  their  prod- 
ucts down  the  river  on  flat-boats,  and  were 
en  route  for  the  Lower  Mississippi  at  the  time 
of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  About  the 
year  1818,  he  went  to  Cincinnati  and  engaged 
in  a  general  mercantile  business,  remaining 
here  until  the  year  1832.  when  he  moved  to 
Clermont    County,   Ohio,    and    purchased   a 


farm,  upon  which  he  died  in  1842.  He  was 
a  Presbyterian,  and  a  stanch  Jackson  Demo- 
crat. His  wife's  maiden  name  was  Jerusha 
Sandford,  who  died  in  1852.  having  borne  five 
children  who  came  to  maturity  -John,  James 
S.,  Nancy  C. ,  Hannah  H.  and  Robert  A. 
John  served  in  the  Mexican  war.  and  is  now 
a  lawyer  in  Cincinnati.  Nancy  C.  resides 
in  the  same  place,  and  is  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Sherlock.  Hannah  H.  never  married.  Robert 
A.  also  resides  in  Cincinnati,  and  is  now  serv- 
ing his  second  term  as  Common  Pleas  Judge. 
James  remained  at  home  until  his  marriage, 
when  he  attained  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
His  wife  was  Melvina  Simpkins,  of  Clermont 
County,  daughter  of  David  Simpkins,  also  an 
Ohioan.  After  the  marriage  of  our  subject, 
he  engaged  in  merchandising  at  Belfast,  Ohio, 
where  he  continued  until  the  spring  of  1857, 
when  he  came  to  Bond  County,  locating 
where  he  now  resides,  on  Section  33,  in  Rip- 
ley Township,  Town  1,  Range  5,  where  he  has 
been  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.  He 
has  about  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  and 
has  given  considerable  attention  to  sheep  rais- 
ing, and  particularly  to  fruit  culture,  having 
one  of  the  largest  and  finest  orchards  in  the 
county,  embracing  nearly  sixty  acres.  He 
has  a  good  knowledge  of  law,  and  does  con- 
siderable local  practice.  He  is  a  Democrat, 
and  in  the  affairs  of  his  county  and  township 
he  bears  his  proportionate  part.  He  has  six 
children — Mary,  Nancy  O,  Cora,  Campbell 
D. ,  Lucinda  and  Hattie. 

HENRY  H.  METCALF.  Greenville,  is  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  early  settlers,  whose 
name  was  Baalam  Metcalf,  who  was  born  in 
April,  1800,  in  Jackson  County,  Ga.  He  em- 
igrated to  Bond  County  in  the  spring  of 
1S29,  making  his  first  location  on  the  north- 
east quarter  of  Section  14,  in  Beaver  Creek 
Township.  Town  4,  Range  3.  He  afterward 
removed  to  Greenville,   where  he  remained 


58 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


some  time,  then  came  to  this  township,  and 
remained  from  1854  until  his  death  December 
15,  1*71.  He  was  a  stanch  old  Whig,  and 
after  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party 
he  became  affiliated  with  it,  and  was  true  to 
its  principles  as  long  as  he  exercised  his  right 
of  suffrage.  He  took  a  deal  of  interest  in 
the  affairs  oE  his  county,  and  for  several  years 
was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  meted  out  jus- 
tice to  the  settlers  to  their  satisfaction.  His 
wife's  maiden  name  was  Emeline  Brown, 
daughter  of  Thomas,  whose  wife  was  a  Hill; 
both  families  came  from  theCarolinas.  Hen- 
ry H.  was  the  only  son,  and  has  always  been 
a  resident  of  Bond  County,  except  the  time 
spent  in  the  army,  which  he  entered  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  enlisting  in  the  spring  of 
1861  in  Company  E,  Twenty-second  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  served  until  July,  1*64,  and 
took  part  in  many  of  the  prominent  engage- 
ments in  which  his  regiment  was  in,  some 
of  which  were  Charleston,  Mo.,  Stone  River, 
FXesaca,  Corinth.  Mission  Ridge  and  Chicka- 
mauga.  September.  1866,  he  married  Ellen 
Hilliard.  daughter  of  J.  C.  Hilliard  and  Jane 
Dewey.  For  several  years,  Mr.  Metcalf  was 
engaged  in  teaching.  He  located  on  his  farm 
in  1869.  and  has  150  acres.  He  has  live  chil- 
dren— Jane  E.,  Ralph  E.,  Jennie  E.,  Hugh 
and  Allen.  He  is  a  member  of  the  M.  E. 
( 'liiireh.  He  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace 
in  the  fall  of   ISM. 

JOHN  NEATHAMMER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Po- 
cahontas, was  born  in  Bond  County,  Febru- 
ary I'll,  1M7;  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Hech- 
night)  Neathammer.  he  born  in  YVurtemberg. 
Germany,  in  1808.  He  followed  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  farmer,  and  died  in  1S59.  His  wife 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  died  in  1851. 
They  were  the  parents  of  five  children,  four 
boys  and  one  girl.  Our  subject  received  an 
ordinary  education  and  began  the  business 
of  life  as  a  farmer  in  Bond  County.      In  Bond 


County,  in  1870,  he  married  Ollie  Seafeldt, 
born  in  St.  Louis  in  1850,  daughter  of  Julius 
and  Mina  Seafeldt,  of  Pocahontas.  Mr. 
Neathammer  is  in  politics  a  Republican,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  IT.  W.  During  the 
war,  he  served  two  years  in  Company  E,  Third 
Illinois  Cavalry  (Capt.  McLaue),  and  took 
part  in  the  engagements  at  Memphis  and 
Nashville.  He  has  three  children — Mary, 
Mina  and  Julius. 

LEARNER  BLACKMAN  PLANT,  Poca 
hontas.  Cotemporaneous  with  the  earliest 
settlement  of  Bond  County  was  the  coming 
of  the  Plant  family  to  Pocahontas  Township, 
whose  advent  to  this  locality  was  shortly 
after  the  war  of  1812.  The  subject  of  these 
lines  was  born  in  this  township  April  12, 
L819;  is  the  eldest  son  of  Robert  Plant  and 
Nancy  Patterson,  to  whom  three  children 
were  raised  to  maturity,  L.  B.  being  the 
eldest.  Elizabeth,  who  married  George  Pat- 
terson, and  America,  wife  of  Henry  Eppstine. 
Robert  Plant  died  in  1852,  highly  esteemed 
by  his  friends  and  neighbors.  Learner  B. 
remained  with  his  father  until  he  married, 
which  was  in  December  5,  1839,  to  Rebecca 
Duncan,  a  native  of  Madison  County,  daughter 
of  Joseph.  After  his  marriage,  he  removed 
where  Stubblefield  Station  now  is,  and  en- 
a-aced  in  farming-.  In  1 858,  he  located  on 
the  farm  he  now  owns,  in  the  northwest  part 
of  the  township.  Before  dividing  among  his 
children,  he  had  over  four  hundred  acres  of 
land,  reserving  the  larger  portion,  upon  which 
he  lives.  He  has  five  children — Joseph,  L. 
D.,  Sarah  E.,  Henry  C.  and  Mary  A. 

JAMES  S.  RIDGWAY.  Pocahontas,  was 
born  in  Scioto  County,  Ohio,  August  '27, 
1831;  eldest  son  of  AVilliam  Ridgway,  born 
on  the  east  shore  of  Maryland  and  emigrated 
westward  to  Scioto  County,  where  he  married 
Nancy  Bethards.  Both  families,  Ridgways 
and  Bethards.  are  of  English  stock.    Our  sub- 


POCAHONTAS    PRECfXlT 


59 


ject  came  to  this  county  with  his  father  in 
the  fall  of  1841,  and  settled  in  Ripley  Town- 
ship. He  remained  here  about  five  years,  and 
then  settled  on  Section  29;  remained  there 
until  his  death,  December  11,  1868.  In  early 
days  a  Democrat,  and  in  1850  a  Republican. 
He  raised  to  maturity  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren— James  S.,  William,  Mary  and  George 
W.  Of  this  number  James  S.  is  the  only 
one  living  in  this  county.  William  died  in 
early  manhood.  Mary  became  the  wife  of  W. 
S.  Wait.  Geo.  W.  resides  in  Kansas.  James 
S.  remained  with  his  father  until  his  marriage. 
He  has  been  twice  married,  and  by  his 
last  wife  he  has  four  children — Nancy,  Ben- 
jamin, William  and  Ralph.  He  began  im- 
proving the  farm  in  1855,  locating  on  it  after 
his  marriage  in  1860,  and  has  since  remained. 
He  has  about  four  hundred  acres  of  land 
in  Section  27,  and  is  quite  extensively  en- 
gaged in  general  farming.  He  is  Demo- 
cratic in  politics.  His  wife  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

THEODORE  L.  SCHNEIDER,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Pocahontas,  was  born  in  Darmstadt, 
Germany.  August  23,  1829;  son  of  Lewis  and 
Mary  (Hoche)  Schneider,  he  a  carpenter  and 
cabinet-maker  by  trade.  He  died  in  Ger- 
many, as  did  also  his  wife.  They  were  the 
parents  of  five  children,  three  boys  and  two 
girls.  Our  subject  attended  school  in  Darm- 
stadt until  he  arrived  at  his  sixteenth  year, 
when  he  chose  the  trade  of  his  father,  and 
learned  it  with  him.  In  Bond  County,  in 
August,  1853,  he  married  Anna  Brown,  born 
in  Ohio  December  25,  1829,  daughter  of  John 
and  Nancy  Brown.  Mr.  Schneider  has  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  farmer,  and  has 
also  worked  at  his  trade  in  Bond  County. 
He  has  filled  the  office  of  School  Director  for 
fifteen  years,  and  is  at  present  County  Com- 
missioner. He  is  a  member  of  the  German 
rmed   Church,   and  connected    with  the 


Masonic  fraternity.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. His  farm  of  460  acres  is  one  of 
the  best  in  Pocahontas  Precinct.  He  has 
seven  children — John  L.,  Nancy  Ann,  Henry 
M.,  William  C,  Benjamin  P.,  Simon  I.  and 
Martha  S. 

JOHN  LEWIS  SEHNERT,  hotel,  saloon 
and  general  business,  Pierron.  Among  the 
principal  business  men  of  Oakdale  is  John 
L.  Sehnert.  He  was  born  June  23,  1850,  in 
Hesse  Darmstadt,  and  is  the  third  child  of  a 
family  of  five.  His  father,  Peter  Sehnert, 
was  married  to  the  mother  of  John  in  the 
Fatherland.  Her  maiden  name,  prior  to  her 
marriage,  was  Anna  E.  Weischant.  Peter 
Sehnert  was  born  in  Hesse-Darmstadt  Sep- 
tember 20,  1820,  and  died  in  1881.  His  wife 
yet  survives  him.  John  Lewis  was  but  a 
babe  when  his  parents  emigrated  to  America. 
Their  first  place  of  living,  soon  after  their 
arrival,  was  in  Bloomington,  McLean  County, 
where  the  family  remained  two  or  three  years, 
and  in  1857  came  to  Greenville,  where  he 
lived  about  ten  years,  when  he  located  in 
Madison  County,  where  he  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  days.  He  raised  a  family  of  four 
children.  The  eldest  was  Mary,  who  married 
Ulrich  Gatther,  and  lives  in  Town  5,  Range 
2.  Lizzie,  the  second  daughter,  married 
Michael  Mangers.  John  L.  and  John  Peter 
are  the  sons.  John  Lewis  was  raised  a  farm 
er,  and  has  learned  the  machinist's  trade 
and  has  had  much  practical  experience  in 
running  machinery.  November  10,  1874,  h" 
married  Miss  Franciska  Spengel,  a  native  of 
Madison  County,  daughter  of  Sebastian  Spen- 
gel. Mr.  Sehnert  removed  to  Pierron  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1881,  and  engaged  in  business.  He 
is  proprietor  of  the  Oakdale  House,  and  pro- 
vides  amply  for  the  entertainment  of  both 
man  and  beast.  He  farms  some,  and  has  a 
steam  thresher  (road  engine)  which  he  oper- 
ates during  the  fall  and  winter  season.      He 


60 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


has  three  children  born  him — George,  Sebas- 
tian and  Margaret.  George  and  Sebastian 
are  still  living. 

W.  S.  WAIT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Pocahontas, 
was  born  in  1828,  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  the 
eldest  son  of  William  S.  and  Sarah  (New- 
hall  )  Wait.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  this 
county  when  a  lad  of  few  years,  being  about 
the  year  1834  or  1835,  and  since  that  time 
has  been  a  constant  resident  of  the  county. 
In  1854,  he  began  running  a  saw-mill  near 
Greenville,  which  he  moved  to  this  place  in 
1857,  to  which  he  added  a  grist-mill,   being 


the  first  permanent  mill  of  the  kind  ever  run 
in  the  place.  He  engaged  in  the  stock  bus- 
iness, buying  and  selling,  which  he  carries 
on  in  conjunction  with  his  farming.  He  has 
been  twice  married.  First,  in  1859,  to  Mary 
Ridgway,  who  died  soon  after,  leaving  no 
living  issue.  In  May,  1877.  he  married 
Adele  Ravold,  a  native  of  France,  who  has 
borne  him  three  children.  Mr.  Wait  has  been 
successful  in  business.  He  has  about  seven 
hundred  acres  of  land.  He  is  not  a  mem- 
ber of  any  church  organization,  but  is  affil- 
iated  with  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  of  this  place. 


BEAVER    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


Gl 


BEAVER   CREEK   PRECINCT. 


HKNRY  BASS.  In  a  list  of  some  of  the 
most  prominent  agriculturists  and  self-made 
men  of  Bond  County,  the  name  of  Henry  Bass, 
of  Greenville  City,  occupies  a  prominent  place. 
He  was  born  in  Fayette  County,  111.,  April  22, 
1833.  and  was  the  sixth  child  of  the  family  of 
twelve  children  of  Guilford  and  Mary  Ann 
(Proctor)  Bass.  Guilford  Bass  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  removed  from  there  to 
Kentucky  for  a  time,  thence  to  Tennessee, 
thence  to  Fayette  County  in  1832,  locating 
northeast  of  Vandalia  about  twelve  miles. 
There  he  remained  until  his  death,  in  1845.  His 
wife  survived  until  1872,  when  she  also  de- 
parted this  life,  leaving  ten  sons  and  two 
daughters  to  mourn  her  departure.  But  two  of 
these,  William  and  our  subject,  are  now  resi- 
dents of  Bond  County.  Henry  left  home  at 
the  age  of  fourteen.  He  came  to  Bond  County, 
sought  and  found  employment  on  a  farm,  re- 
ceiving only  $7  for  a  hard  month's  work,  and 
saved  sufficient  means  to  make  a  part  payment 
on  his  first  purchase  of  100  acres  of  Bond 
County  land,  in  Beaver  Creek  Precinct.  In 
August.  185C.  he  made  a  second  purchase  of 
100  acres,  which  he  still  owns,  and  to  which  he 
has  since  added,  owning  at  one  time  1,500 
acres.  Mr.  Bass  married  Nancy  Goodson, 
daughter  of  Spencer  Goodson,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, a  farmer  and  blacksmith,  and  came  to 
Illinois  when  a  young  man.  With  the  exception 
of  a  four  years'  stay  in  Missouri,  he  has  been  a 
resident  of  Illinois,  and  now  of  Christian  County. 
The}'  have  six  sons  and  two  daughters — William 
H,  Abbie,  George,  Edward,  Walter,  Louis,  Leoni 
and  Leonard.  Abbie  is  now  Mrs.  C.  C.  Squires, 
of  Beaver  Creek  Township.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bass 
are  members  of  the   Baptist  Church  of  Smith 


Grove.  Their  home  is  in  Beaver  Creek  Pre- 
cinct, Town  4,  Section  20.  Guilford  and  Charles 
S.  are  deceased.  Guilford  died  November  14, 
1856,  and  Charles  S.  August  31,  18G6,  at  one 
year  and  eighteen  days  old. 

REV.  J.  J.  BLIZZARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Dudlev- 
ville,  is  a  descendant  and  grandson  of  James 
Blizzard,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the 
township.  James  Blizzard  was  born  in  Scot- 
land, and  emigrated  to  Kentucky  at  an  early 
day,  where  he  remained  until  the  winter  of 
1817  and  1818,  when  he  came  to  what  is  now 
Bond  County,  locating  in  this  township,  on 
Section  3,  one-fourth  of  a  mile  west  of 
Dudleyville,  and  remained  there  as  long  as 
he  lived.  He  was  an  upright,  Christian  man, 
and  his  house  was  used  for  church  pur- 
purposes  as  early  as  1820.  Here  the  pioneer 
preachers  were  entertained,  and  the  hardy  set- 
tlers worshiped  under  his  roof  until  a  more 
suitable  place  could  be  obtained.  His  son 
James  succeeded  him  ;  he  was  born  in  1801, 
August  4,  and  was  but  a  lad  of  sixteen  when 
his  father  came  here.  He  remained  with  him 
until  October  9,  1823,  when  he  married  Fannie 
McCord,  daughter  of  Robert  McCord,  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Bond  County.  Shortly  after 
his  marriage,  he  located  on  Section  4,  where  he 
settled  and  raised  a  family  of  six  children — 
William  M.,  Mary  J.,  Anna  1).,  J.  J..  Robert 
B.  and  Harriet  A.  Of  this  number,  but 
three  are  living — William  M.,  J.  J.,  and  Har- 
riet A.,  who  resides  in  Saline  County,  Mo., 
wife  of  James  W.  Gower.  William  M.  and 
J.  J.  reside  in  this  township.  James  Bliz- 
zard died  October  2,  1861.  They  were  for 
many  years  members  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  and 
were  highly  esteemed  by   all   who  knew  them 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


for  their  many  virtues.  John  J.,  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch,  was  born  November  8,  1829, 
on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  4,  where  he 
was  reared  to  manhood,  and  received  a  com- 
mon school  education.  .May  29,  1851,  he  mar- 
ried Catharine  McAdams,  born  in  this  county. 
daughter  of  Jesse  McAdams  and  Elizabeth 
Williamson,  which  couple  came  to  this  locality 
from  Logan  County,  Ky.,  in  1828.  In  the  fall 
of  1852,  Mr.  Blizzard  located  where  he  now 
resides,  and  has  been  engaged  in  farming  pur- 
suits, having  260  acres  of  land.  He  has  served 
as  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  several  years  ;  was 
elected  in  1859,  and  is  now  meting  out  justice 
to  the  people  in  this  part  of  the  township.  At 
fifteen  years  of  age.  he  was  converted,  and 
since  has  been  an  effective  worker  in  the  M. 
E.  Church,  both  as  a  layman  and  minister,  in 
which  capacity  he  has  officiated  for  over  a 
score  of  years.  lie  has  eight  children — James 
C.,  Lucy  E  ,  H.  W.,  Sarah  E.,  John  J.,  Jr.,  Jesse 
W..  Mary  C,  Edward  S..  Fannie  A.  and  Lois  S. 
ROLLIN  C.  DEWEY,  deceased.  The  Dew- 
ey family  came  to  Bond  County  about  the 
year  1837.  Nelson,  the  father  of  the  above, 
married  Lois  Scribner,  and  emigrated  from 
Vermont  with  his  family  to  Bond  County, 
locating  on  the  northwest  part  of  Beaver 
Creek  Township,  and  remained  here  the  remain- 
der of  his  days.  His  death  occurred  January, 
1850,  his  wife  August.  1847.  Rollin,  the  eldest 
child,  was  born  in  Vermont  April  S.  1827.  His 
brothers  and  sisters  were  Clay.  Jonathan.  Jud- 
son.  Peter.  Thomas.  Theron,  Mary  E.,  Ann, 
Judith,  Jane  and  Artie,  all  of  whom  lived  to 
be  grown  except  Thomas.  Januarys.  1852, 
Rollin  married  Elmira  C.  Shelton,  a  native 
of  Virginia,  daughter  of  Absalom  and  Mary 
(Belcher,  daughter  of  Godfrey  Belcher)  Shelton, 
who  came  West  to  this  State,  to  Clinton,  in 
-  2.  and  raised  live  sons  and  one  daughter. 
So  'ii  after  the  marriage  of  Rollin  Dewey  and 
wife,  they  located  on  the  farm  where  the  family 
have  since  remained.     His  death  occurred  July 


5,  1870.  Eight  children  were  born  them — 
Frederick  M..  Mary  E  ,  Henry  A.,  Virginia 
Rose.  Lois  A.  and  Katie  A.  The  other  died 
young.  Of  the  above,  Mary  E.  is  the  wife  of 
W.  E.  Taylor.  The  estate  consists  of  440 
acres,  upon  which  the  family  live,  the  farm 
being  conducted  by  the  elder  brother,  Fred- 
erick M. 

HENRY  GERKE.  farmer,  P.  0.  Beaver 
Creek.  Among  the  German  representatives  of 
Bond  Count}-,  none  are  more  deserving  of 
credit  than  Mr.  Gerke.  He  came  to  this  town- 
ship in  1856.  His  earthly  possessions  were 
wrapped  up  in  a  handkerchief  which  he  carried 
under  his  arm  as  he  walked  across  the  prairie 
from  St.  Louis,  where  he  landed  upon  his  com- 
ing from  his  native  home  in  Hanover,  now 
Prussia,  where  he  was  born  November  23, 
1836,  being  the  eldest  son  of  his  parents. 
Henry  and  Maria  C.  (Dorree)  Gerke,  whom  he 
left  in  the  old  country  at  the  age  of  twent}', 
and  embarked  for  the  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  workingmau.  When  Mr.  Gerke 
came  to  this  locality  he  had  nothing  to  com- 
mence with  but  his  hands.  At  first  he  worked 
out  b}'  the  month  for  two  years,  and  saved 
enough  money  to  buy  him  a  team  and  such 
things  necessary  to  go  to  farming,  and  for  four 
years  he  rented  land  and  saved  money  enough 
to  purchase  forty  acres  where  he  now  resides, 
and  he  has  since  added  to  the  same  until  he 
now  has  200  acres.  He  was  among  the  num- 
ber who  assisted  in  building  the  German 
Methodist  Church  in  this  township,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  Trustees.  February  5,  1S67. 
he  married  Catharine,  born  November  4,  1838, 
in  St.  (fallen,  Switzerland,  daughter  of  Mat- 
thias Hoffman  and  Anna  Strieker,  who  moved 
with  their  family  to  Clinton  County  in  1845, 
and  raised  the  following  children  :  John,  Jacob. 
Henry.  Mrs.  Gerke,  Matthias  and  John  Wesley. 
Henry  lives  in  Cedar  County.  .Mo..  John  W.  in 
California.  The  others  are  deceased.  Mr. 
Gerke    has    but    one    sister — Anna,     now     the 


15 E AVER    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


83 


wife  of  F.  Utlaut.  Mr.  Gerke  has  three  chil- 
dren— Edward  Lincoln,  born  November  10, 
Henry  Ward  born  November  22,  1872,  Annie, 
June  20.  1ST."). 

«' APT.  U.  B.  HARRIS,  retired  fanner.  P.  0. 
Beaver  Creek.     Among  the  representative  men 
of  Bond   County  is    Capt.  U.   B.  Harris,    who 
was  born  on  Section  27.  in  this  township.     He 
first  beheld  the  light  of  day  February  10,  1833, 
the   youngest  of  a   family  of  seven  children. 
His  father's  name  was  John  Harris,  a  native  of 
Logan  County.  Ky.,  son  of  Rev.  William  Har 
ris.  one  of  the  pioneer  ministers  of  the  Cum- 
land  Presbyterian  Church  of  that  locality. 
The    Harris    family    are    of    Irish,    extraction. 
John  Harris,  the  lather  of  our  subject,  came  to 
Bond   County    in    the   fall  of   1824,  with   the 
Goodson  family.     He  first  settled  on  Govern- 
ment   land,   and    afterward    purchased    of    the 
same   and   remained    a   citizen  of  the  county 
until    his    death,    July    4,    1832,   about    seven 
months  prior  to  the  birth  of  his  last  child,  Ur- 
ban  B.     The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Nancy 
Goodman,  born  in  Kentucky,  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Sarah  (Maxey)  Goodman.     The  names 
of  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  our  subject  were 
William  C.  Rice  B.,  both  ministers  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church;  Amanda  J.,  wife 
of  William    Murray  :    Nancy    E.,  wife   of  Har- 
mon  L.   Field  :   Sarah    A.  and  John   H.     The 
two  latter  died  at   an  early  age.     All  of  the 
above  are  now  deceased  except  Rev.  Rice  E.. 
who  wenl   out    as  Chaplain   in    the   Thirty-fifth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.     He  has  not  been 
heard   from  since   1S76.     Urban   B.  remained 
with    his    mother    until   twelve   years  of  age. 
when  he  left  home  to»do  for  himself.     He  had 
none   to  rely  upon  but  himself     He  obtained 
a   good    common -school    education,    and    for 
several   years  was   engaged    in    teaching.      In 
2,  he   raised   a  company   of  men   and    was 
commissioned    Captain    of   Company    E.    One 
Hundred  and  Thirtieth   Regiment  Illinois  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  and  served  thirty-three  months, 


when,  on  account  of  impaired  health   he   was 
mustered  out.  February,  1864,  at  New  Orleans, 
and  returned  home.     During  his  term  of  serv- 
ice he  participated  in  all  the  principal  battles 
in   which    his   command  was   engaged.      The 
principal     engagements    were    Magnolia    and 
Champion    Hills.    Black    River   Bridge.   Siege 
of    Vicksburg,    Jackson     (Miss.)     and     after- 
ward was  with  Bank's  division  on  Red  River. 
Upon  his  return  home   he  located   at   Millers- 
burg,  where  he  purchased  a  farm  and  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits,  where  he  remained  until 
March,  1867,  when  he  came  to  Beaver  Creek 
and  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business  under 
the  firm  name  of  Goodson  &  Harris.     After  a 
partnership   of    two   years    he    purchased    his 
partner's  interest,  and  continued   the  business 
himself  until   1S80,  when   he  gave  up  the  busi- 
ness to  his  son.  who   is  now  conducting   the 
same.     February  1.  1853,  he  married  Elizabeth 
A.  Gregory,  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Greg- 
ory.    This  marriage  has  been  crowned  with  the 
birth  of  sewn  children,  four  of  whom   an-   liv- 
ing :  Margaret,  wife  of  Thomas  J.  Hull ;   Luther 
J.,  Jonn  F.  and  Shaw  L.     The  others  died  in 
infancy.     lie  has  been  Township  Treasurer  for 
sixteen  years.     In  18(37,  he  was  elected  County 
Commissioner  and  served  four  years.     In  1876. 
he  was  again  elected,  and   re-elected    in    1879, 
and  has  since  filled  that  position  with  credit  to 
himself  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  friends. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  <  >.  F.  and  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  and  Elder  of 
the  same,  of  which  body  his  parents  were  also 
members.      His   father   was    a    Whig.     U.    B. 
having,  since   the  party  came   into  existence, 
been  affiliated   with   the   Republican  party,  and 
is  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  same. 

S.  J.  HUNTER,  farmer  and  stock-raiser,  P. 
i  >.  Dudleyville.  Samuel  Jefferson  Hunter  was 
born  in  Bond  County.  He  first  beheld  the 
light  of  nature  March  13,  1S27,  in  Greenville 
Precinct.  He  was  the  third  son  of  David 
Hunter,    who     was     born    January     1.    1801, 


G4 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


in    Davidson    County,    Tenn..    son    of    John 
Hunter,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  who  immigrated 
from  his  native  country  to  Tennessee  and  raised 
a  family  and  emigrated  to  Bond  County  about 
the  year  1824,  and   settled   near  Shoal   Creek, 
and  remained  here  until  his  death.     He  raised 
a  family  of  seven  sons,  all  of  whom  came  to 
man's   estate,   viz.  :    William.    Thomas,    John, 
Joseph.  James.  Samuel  and  David,  all  of  whom 
settled    in  Bond    County.     David  Hunter,  the 
lather  of  S.  J.,  was  married  in  Tennessee  to 
Elizabeth  Copeland.  and  removed  to  this  coun- 
ty about  two  3"ears  prior  to  his  father's  coming. 
He  remained    in  the  county   until   his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  winter  of  1875,  his  wife 
in  1855.     Seven  children   were  born  to   them, 
who  were  John  B.,  Samuel  J.,  Thomas  N.,  Re- 
becca I.,  Susan  A.,  George  W.  and  Joseph  J., 
all  living  at  the  present  date,  save  George  W. 
and  Susan  A.     The  father  of  the  above  was  a 
Democrat  all  his  life  ;   a  soldier  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  and  was  for  years  a  member  of  the 
.Methodist  Church.     Samuel  J.,  the  only  one  of 
the  name  in  this  township,  was  brought  up  on 
the  farm,  where  he  lived   until  his   marriage, 
which   occurred    January    30,   1850,  to   Sarah 
Young,  a  native  of  Bond  Couut\-,  daughter  of 
William  Young.     After  Mr.  Hunter's  marriage, 
he   located    near   Greenville    and    engaged   in 
fanning,  and  has  since  been  a  resident  of  the 
county.     He  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns, 
consisting   of    510    acres,    in    1857.      He    has 
children,  viz.  :     Laura  P.,  Hattie  A.,  William 
R.,  Harry  A.,  Benjamin  A.,  Hugh  E.,  Archie  A. 
and    Pearl.     He   has  been  a   member   of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  since  about  1862. 
D.  B.  HAWLEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Dudleyville. 
Of  the  enterprising  farmers   in   Bond    County, 
Mr.   Hawley  ranks  among  the  first.     He  was 
born   February  2.   1831,  in   Trumbull   County, 
Ohio  ;  is  the  second  son  and  third  child  born 
to  his  father.  Milton  Hawley,  who  was  born 
1802,  in  Western   New  York.     His  ancestors 
were  of  English  stock.     Milton  Hawley  came 


West  to  Trumbull  County,  and  there  married 
Mary  Taft,  and  removed  to  Madison  County  in 
1836,  and  remained  there  until  1843,  when  he 
came  to  Okaw  Township,  and  entered  1,800 
acres  of  land.  He  was  a  man  of  energy,  and 
was  well  read  in  law,  and  had  excellent  busi- 
ness qualifications.  In  politics,  he  was  formerly 
a  Whig ;  but,  later  in  life,  he  came  out  with  the 
Republican  party,  and  was  a  strong  anti-slavery 
man,  and  withal  generous  and  kind-hearted. 
His  death  occurred  1867  ;  his  wife  1865.  He 
raised  a  family  of  ten  children,  seven  sous  and 
three  daughters.  Celia,  the  eldest,  married  J. 
G.  Wright,  and  resides  in  this  township  ;  Luther 
G,  eldest  son,  resides  in  California  ;  Delevan. 
Bement,  Roman  M.,  Virginia,  Julius  A.,  Victo- 
ria A.  and  John  H.,  and  D.  B.,  the  subject  of 
these  lines,  who  remained  under  the  parental 
roof  until  March  9,  1854,  when  he  married  Su- 
san Steele,  born  in  Madison  County,  daughter 
of  John  W.  Steele  and  Catharine  Russell.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Russell.  Mr.  Haw- 
ley came  to  this  farm  in  1862,  and  has  since 
resided  there.  He  has  nearly  200  acres  of  ex- 
cellent land,  which  he  farms  in  a  neat  and  tasty 
manner.  He  has  put  all  the  principal  improve- 
ments on  the  same,  and  keeps  his  fences  and 
buildings  in  excellent  repair.  Has  the  follow- 
ing children  :  Catharine  A.,  Mrs.  Samuel  An- 
derson ;  Harriet  L..  in  California,  wife  of  J.  M. 
Reeves  ;  Lucy  A.,  Susan  E.,  Laura  A.,  Edwin 
B..  John  M.,  William  W.  and  Patience  V. 

JOHN  H.  HESTON,  P.  0.  Dudleyville,  born 
May  30,  1812,  in  Bucks  County,  Penn.,  being 
the  eldest  of  eight  children.  His  father  was 
Amos  Heston,  who  was  likewise  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian.  born  about  the  year  1774,  and  died  in 
1869,  aged  ninety-six.  His  father's  name  was 
Samuel  Heston,  whose  ancestors  came  with 
William  Penn,  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania. 
Samuel  served  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  His 
wife  was  a  Price,  prior  to  her  marriage,  Amos, 
being  the  fruit  of  this  marriage  ;  he,  Amos, 
married  Letitia  Hagerman,  daughter  of  Barnett 


BEAVER    CREEK    PRECINCT. 


65 


Hagerman,  who  also  served  in  the  Revolution. 
His  wife's  maiden  name  was  Groom.  The  Hes- 
tons  and  Hagermans  are  both  of  Quaker  stock. 
None  of  either  family  came  West,  save  J.  H. 
and  his  uncle  David,  who  came  to  this  county 
as  early  as  1815.  and  remained  here  until  1834, 
when  lie  moved  to  Leavenworth.  Kan.  Our 
subject  came  West  to  Muskingum  County,  Ohio, 
during  his  minority,  afterward  wen  I  to  Franklin 
County.  On  April  17.  1834,  he  enlisted  in  the 
regular  army  as  private,  and  served  through 
the  Florida  and  Mexican  wars,  and  served  until 
November,  1848,  when  he  resigned  with  rank 
of  Captain.  July,  1849,  he  married  Catharine 
1'.  Rarey,  born  in  Franklin  County.  Ohio,  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  Charles  Rarey  and  Mary  Kramer. 
Charles  Rarey  was  a  pioneer  of  Franklin  County, 
and  cut  timber  where  the  city  of  Columbus  now 
stands.  He  was  a  son  of  John  Rarey,  a  native 
of  Germany.  Mr.  Hestoncame  to  Bond  Count}' 
in  the  spring  of  1852,  and  settled  where  he  now 
resides.  He  has  put  nearly  all  the  improve- 
ments thereon.  He  has  since  been  engaged  in 
farming  pursuits,  and  been  a  large  wheat  raiser. 
Has  360  acres  of  land,  and  well  improved.  He 
has  seven  children — Joseph  S.,  Sarah  and  Mary 
(twins).  De  Witt  and  twin  that  died,  Hattie 
M..  Steve  A.  D.  and  John  C.  ;  Sarah,  wife  of 
Wallace  E.  Smith  ;  Mary,  wife  of  L.  Meaheimer  ; 
Joseph  S.  in  Kansas.  Mr.  Heston  is  self-made  ; 
his  brothers  and  sisters  were  Jesse  G.,  Morris, 
Mary  A.,  Jenks  S..  Sarah,  Samuel  and  Watson. 
Jenks  and  Samuel  were  killed  in  the  late  war. 

WILLIAM  G.  McCASLTN,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Pudleyville.  Cotemporaneous  with  the  early 
history  of  Bond  Count}-,  was  the  advent  of  the 
McCaslin  family  to  this  township.  The  head 
of  the  family  was  James  McCaslin,  a  native  of 
the  Emerald  Isle.  He  emigrated  to  North  Caro- 
lina at  a  very  earl}-  day.  While  here  he  mar- 
ried a  Scotch  lady,  and  subsequently  removed 
to  Caldwell  County,  Ky.,  where  eight  children 
were  born  to  him.  According  to  the  order  of 
their  birth,   were  as  follows  :     Hugh,   James, 


Gray,  John  0.,  Jane.  Martha.  Mary  and  Rachel 
With  this  family,  he  came  to  Bond  County,  and 
settled  in  Beaver  Creek  Township,  on  Section 
11.  Of  this  number  mentioned,  but  one  is  now 
living — Hugh,  who  was  the  eldest,  and  he  re- 
sides in  Montgomery  County.  John  Oliver, 
the  father  of  our  subject,  was  born  about  the 
year  1807,  and  married  Mary  Mills,  daughter 
of  William  Mills  and  Mary  Plant,  Both  fami 
lies  were  early  settlers  in  the  county.  This 
marriage  was  blessed  with  the  birth  of  the  fol- 
lowing children,  viz..  William  G.,  Elizabeth. 
Mary  J.,  James  W.,  John  W.,  George  W.  E lien 
and  Rebecca  were  the  ones  that  grew  to  manhood 
and  womanhood.  The  father  died  September. 
1859.  He  was  a  Whig,  and  a  Presbyterian  in 
faith.  The  mother  was  a  Methodist.  She  died 
August,  1879.  William  Gray  was  born  on  the 
farm  where  he  now  lives  July  13,  1S29,  and 
where  he  was  reared  to  manhood.  In  March. 
1852,  he  married  Mary  J.  Steele,  born  in  Morgan 
County,  this  State.  She  was  a  daughter  of  John 
Walker  Steele  and  Catharine  Russell,  both  of 
old  and  substantial  families  in  old  Morgan 
County.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCaslin  have  been 
born  twelve  children,  eleven  of  them  now  sur 
vive,  whose  names  are  John  Walker.  Catharine 
I.,  Clara  A.,  James  A.,  Harriet  M.,  Uretta  C. 
B.,  Warren  E.,  William  II.,  Mary  P.,  Alonzo  0., 
Hezekiah  C.  Catharine,  wife  of  Samuel  Floyd, 
resides  in  Okaw ;  Clara  resides  in  Clinton 
County,  wife  of  J.  E.  Wise;  Harriet  resides  in 
Okaw,  wife  of  Jackson  Huff.  Mr.  McCaslin 
has  spent  his  life  in  farming  pursuits,  having 
280  acres  of  land.  He  is  agent  for  Sharp's 
Stump  and  Grub  Puller,  a  very  desirable  ami 
useful  implement  to  farmers  having  stumpy 
land  to  till. 

FELIX  (I.  POTTS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Greenville. 
Of  the  early  settlers  of  Bond  County,  Stranger 
or  "Stringer"  Potts  was  among  those  who 
came  in  during  the  winter  of  1830.  He  was 
born  about  the  year  1797,  in  Rutherford 
County,  Tenn.,  son  of  Daniel  Potts.    "  Stringer  " 


06 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


ran  away  from  his  father  when  a  lad,  and 
joined  Gen.  Jackson's  command,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  mar- 
ried Anna,  daughter  of  Amos  Winset,  and  by 
this  union  twelve  children  were  born,  viz.:  Dan- 
iel,  Zephaniah,  Henry,  Elizabeth,  Amos,  John 
W.,  Millie,  Robert,  Lucinda,  Felix  G„  William 
and  Stranger.  Of  this  number,  nine  of  the  eldest 
were  born  in  Tennessee  ;  of  this  number  are 
living — Daniel  and  Wesley,  reside  in  Califor- 
nia ;  Henry,  in  Highland,  Madison  Co.;  Amos 
resides  in  Clinton  County  ;  Millie  in  Moultrie 
County,  wife  of  M.  Miller.  Stranger  Potts  em- 
igrated to  Bond  County,  locating  in  Pocahontas 
Township,  in  the  winter  of  1830.  but  soon  after 
came  to  this  township,  and  remained  here  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  February,  1838,  his 
wife  dying  the  year  previous.  Felix  G.  was 
born  April  18,  1829,  and  was  left  fatherless  at 
an  early  age.  He  went  to  live  with  Andrew 
Mills,  of  this  township,  and  remained  with  him 
until  grown  ;  he  then  hired  out,  and  then  laid 
the  foundation  of  his  present  possessions.  He 
had  a  very  limited  education,  yet  he  worked 
hard  and  patiently.  In  August,  1852,  he  mar- 
ried Margaret  A.  Brown,  daughter  of  James 
Brown,  from  Tennessee.  Mr.  Potts  has  nine 
children — Louisa  Jane.  Mary.  James,  Henry. 
Martha  Ellen,  Nancy.  Henrietta,  Millie  and  Ma- 
rion. He  has  540  acres,  all  accumulated  by 
his  own  industry. 

JOHN  THOMEN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Beaver 
Creek,  has  been  identified  with  Bond  County 
since  September,  1843.  He  was  born  Feb.  5, 
1829,  in  Canton  Basic.  Switzerland,  son  of  John 
and  Ursilla  (Dedwiller)  Thomen.  The  family 
left  the  old  country  in  May,  1843,  and,  after  a 
long  voyage  on  the  ocean,  tbey  reached  the 
American  shore,  and,  in  September  of  the  same 
year,  they  located  in  Bond  Count\\  His  father 
entered  land  on  Section  27.  in  Beaver  Creek 
Township,  and  resided  on  the  same  until  his 
death  ;  his  father  died  in  1869.  his  mother  in 
1856.     They  raised  a  family  of  three  children, 


viz.:  Elizabeth  (wife  of  George  Bernrider). 
John  and  Anna  B.  (who  married  Edward  Fry). 
Our  subject  remained  with  his  parents  until 
after  he  attained  his  manhood.  October  25. 
1855,  he  married  Susan  E.  Dizerens,  a  native  of 
Switzerland.  Mr.  Thomen  has  been  a  member 
of  the  German  Methodist  Church  since  its  or- 
ganization, and  was  one  of  the  first  members 
that  assisted  and  was  comprised  in  the  first  or- 
ganization. He,  has  80  acres  of  land  ;  his  res- 
idence is  located  on  the  northwest  quarter  of 
Section  27. 

MARTIN  L.  ULMER.  farmer.  P.  O.  Baden 
Baden,  is  the  eldest  son  of  George  ITlmer  and 
Priscilla  Tishhouser.  George  Ulmer  was  born 
March  14.  1823,  in  Canton  Graupenten,  Swit- 
zerland, son  of  Martin  and  Anna  Ulmer,  who 
came  to  Bond  County  with  his  son  George  in 
1839,  locating  in  the  west  part  of  the  township. 
His  children  were  George,  Lena,  Martha.  Peter. 
Casper  and  Paul — all  dead  except  George,  Cas- 
per and  Lena.  None  of  the  name  are  now  re- 
siding in  the  township  except  Martin  L ..  who 
was  born  here  February  25, 1853,  and  was  mar- 
ried February  29,  1876,  to  Sarah  A.  Stubble- 
fleld,  daughter  of  William  Stubblefield  and 
Susan  Bray.  After  he  married,  he  located  on 
the  homestead.  He  came  to  this  farm  in  1881, 
and  built  the  residence  he  now  occupies.  He 
has  190  acres.  He  has  two  children — Mary 
Ellen  and  Edward  Clyde  ;  Ida  May,  an 
infant,  died  in  1877.  To  George  Ulmer,  his 
father,  were  born  Anna  E.  (wife  of  C.  Gaffner). 
M.  L.,  Rosa  L.  (wife  of  William  Daggett).  W. 
Edward  and  George  F.  In  1876,  George  Ul- 
mer, father  of  Martin  L.,  removed  to  St.  Clair 
County,  and  there  resides.  William  Stubble- 
field,  father  of  Mrs.  Ulmer,  was  born  in  Mad- 
ison County  March  15,  1806,  son  of  William 
Stubblefield  :  he  died  March  7,  1S73.  William, 
Jr..  married  Susan  Bray,  who  was  born  Febru- 
ary 7.  1813.  in  Randolph  County.  N  C, 
daughter  of  William  and  Bettie  (McCaslin) 
Bray  :  she  is  yet  living,  and  with  her  daughter. 


BEAVER    CHEEK    PRECINCT. 


67 


Mr.  Ulmer.  The  family  came  here  in  the 
spring  of  1829,  and  settled  east  of  Greenville. 
To  William  Stubblefteld,  Jr.,  were  born  eleven 
children  ;  six  were  raised,  four  of  whom  went 
into  the  army — James.  Henry,  Samuel  and 
Fielden  ;  James  and  Henry  died  there.  The 
Stubblefield  family  are  likewise  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Bond  County.  Mr.  Ulmer  is  a 
Baptist. 

AUGUST  H.  UTLAUT,  farmer.  P.  0.  Baden 
Baden,  was  born,  February  18.  1853,  near  Ed- 
wardsville.  in  Madison  County.  His  father, 
Eberhart  Utlaut.  was  born.  January  2.  1708,  in 
Europe,  and  came  to  Madison  County  in  the 
fall  of  1852,  and  six  years  later,  came  to  this 
county,  locating  in  Beaver  Creek  Township, 
and  purchased  150  acres  of  land,  and  has  since 
remained  and  is  living,  being  now  in  his  eighty- 
fifth  year.  August  being  the  only  child  (now  liv 
ing),  has  always  remained  with  his  father  and 
lived  on  the  homestead.  He  was  married,  Octo- 
ber 17, 1872.  to  Anne  Gerke,  who  was  born  Jan- 
uary 1.  1852,  only  daughter  of  her  parents  and 
sister  of  Henry  Gerke,  of  this  township.  Mr. 
Utlaut  has  now  200  acres  of  land  ;  has  two 
children — Minnie  Julia  and  Frederick  William  ; 
is  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

DR.  J.  A.  WARREN,  P.  0.  Beaver  Creek, 
ranks  among  the  substantial  and  successful 
practitioners  of  materia  medica  in  Bond  County. 
He  was  born.  December  5,  183C.  in  Marion 
County,  this  State,  and  was  raised  in  Randolph 
Count}',  where  he  removed,  with  his  parents, 
when  small.  His  father  was  Alfred  Warren, 
who  emigrated  from  Tennessee  to  Marion  Coun- 
ty in  1817.  with  his  father,  John  Warren,  a  na- 
tive of  the  Carolinas.  John  Warren's  wife  was 
Frances  S.  Nelson,  born  in  Virginia,  daughter 
of  Bezaleel  Nelson.  Both  were  Virginia  fam- 
ilies, and  removed  first  to  Tennessee,  thence 
to  Illinois  during  its  early  settlement,  and 
thus  became  identified  with  its  interests  as 
farmers  and  agriculturists.  The  subject  of 
these  lines  was  raised  to  farm  labor,  attend- 


ing school  during  the  winter  and  applied  him 
self  to  the  farm  in  the  summer,  and  finally  en- 
gaged in  teaching,  which  vocation  he  followed 
for  several   years,   still   alternating   upon   the 
farm.     In  1805,  he  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, his  father  d3'ing  the   following  year.     In 
18G8,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion at  Keysport,  and   came  to  this   place   in 
1870  and  has  since  continued.     He  received  his 
diploma  at  Cincinnati  in  1873.    He  has  a  lai 
practice  and  has  been  uniformly  successful,  ami 
has  the  confidence  of  his  patrons.     In  1800.  he 
married  Jenuie  A.,  born  in  Randolph  County, 
this  State,  daughter  of  Maj.  A.  M.  Wilson  and 
Susnn  Young.    Is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
SAMUEL  G.  WHITE,  farmer.  P.  0.  Beaver 
Creek,  is  a  native  of  Bond   County,  where   he 
was  born  September  1.  1833,  being  the  third 
son  and  sixth  child  that  was  born  to  his  father, 
Samuel  White,  a  native   of  North    Carolina,  of 
Irish   extraction,  born  1794,  and  when  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  he  came  to  what  is  now  Green- 
ville, and    remained    in    the    county  until   his 
death.     He  was  a  tanner  by  trade  and  built  the 
first  institution  of  the  kind  ever  made  in  Green- 
ville.    He  was  also  a  farmer,  and  followed  this 
v<  .cation  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.    He  raised 
a  family  of  eight  children,  the  eldest  being  Man 
E.,  who  married  John  P.  Shields,  now  of  Kan- 
sas; E.  B.,  in  Greenville;  John,  uow  deceased  . 
Letitia  J.,  married  William  Donnell  ;  John  T. 
Barr:  Samuel  G.;  James  was  drowned  at  Bates- 
villein  1862,on  the  Arkansas  River;  William 
C.,  the  youngest.    Samuel  G.  remained  at  home, 
under  the  parental  roof,  until  he  attained   sev- 
eral years  past  his  manhood,     lie  was  married, 
in  1802,  to  Martha  J.  Hull,  daughter  of  Benja- 
min Hull.    After  Mr.  White's  marriage,  he  lived 
in  the  vicinity  of  Greenville,  and  engaged   in 
farming.      In  1878,  he  came   to   Beaver   Creek, 
and  purchased  a  farm  of  120  acres  in  the  south- 
east corner  of  Section  30,  where  he  now  resides, 
having  lived   all   his  life  in   Bond,  save  three 
years  spent  in  Clinton  County.  Mo.     His  father 


68 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  a  Whig  and  Presbyterian  in  belief  and 
practice.  Samuel  G.  is  a  good  farmer  and  is 
partial  to  good  stock  ;  has  three  children — Car- 
rie C,  Benjamin  and  Ida. 

WARREN  E.  WISE,  farmer,  P.O.  Beaver 
Creek,  is  the  eldest  son  born  to  D.  W.  Wise  by 
his  marriage  to  Evaline  Blaze.  Warren  E.  was 
born  January  2:.'.  1856,  in  Wise  Town,  and  was 
raised  to  farming  pursuits.  March  4.  1877.  he 
married  Mary  Myatt,  born  in  this  township. 
daughter  of  Wesley  Myatt  and  Mildred  McNeil. 
Soon  after  his  marriage,  he  located  in  this  town- 
ship, and  has  since  lived  here.  He  removed  to 
the  farm  he  now  owns  in  the  fall  of  1881.  His 
farm  consists  of  240  acres  on  Section  19;  has 
two  children — Mildred  E.  and  Edward  L. 

D.  W.  WISE,  deceased,  was  one  of  the 
prominent  business  men  of  Bond  County, 
and  during  his  life  was  a  valuable  factor 
in  the  representative  business  interests  of 
Bond  County.  He  was  born  January  15, 
1816,  at  Hebron,  in  New  Hampshire,  son  of 
David  Wise  and  Eliza  Hoyt.  In  1842,  Mr. 
Wise  came  West  to  Illinois,  locating  first  in  St. 
Clair  County,  where  he  lived  until  1848,  when 
he  came  to  Bond  County,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death.  He  was  four  times  married. 
His  first  wife  was  a  Barnes  ;  his  second  wife 
was  Mary  McCracken  ;  third  wife  was  Harriet 
Stewart,  who  bore  him  two  children — Joseph 
and  James.  The  former  was  killed  by  light- 
ning. James  resides  in  Okaw,  and  is  engaged 
in  farming.  He  married  his  last  and  fourth 
wife  in  1855  (March) ;  she  was  Evaline  Blaze, 
born  in  Botetourt    County,  Va.,    daughter  of 


William  Blaze  and  Catharine  Inglehart,  who 
came  West  in  1842,  and  located  in  Clinton 
County,  and  to  Bond  in  1845.  Mr.  Wise 
laid  out  Beaver  Creek,  and  for  several  j-ears 
was  engaged  in  merchandising  there  and 
was  a  very  successful  business  man,  and  was 
identified  with  the  religious  interests  of  the 
county.  At  first  was  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
.  Church  :  later  in  life  was  a  Methodist.  His 
death  occurred  January  17,  1871,  having  1,300 
acres  of  land  at  his  death.  In  politics,  he  was 
liberal,  and  was  early  a  representative  business 
man  of  Boud  County,  and  highlj-  esteemed  In- 
all  who  knew  him  or  had  any  business  rela- 
tions with  him.  By  his  last  wife  he  had  seven 
children — Warren,  George,  Catharine,  Mary, 
Grant,  Delia,  and  David.  Mrs.  Wise  has  in 
her  own  right  280  acres  of  land.  She  is  the 
only  one  living  of  her  brothers  and  sisters, 
seven  of  them,  she  being  the  youngest. 

GEORGE  W.  WISE,  farmer.  P.  0.  Beaver 
Creek,  is  the  second  son  of  D.  W.  Wise  by  his 
last  marriage.  He  was  born  on  the  homestead 
March  3,  1858,  where  he  remained  uutil  he 
embarked  upon  his  own  responsibility  to  do  for 
himself.  He  was  united  by  marriage  in  Sep- 
tember, 1880,  to  Miss  Maggie  'Wren,  born  in 
Bond  County,  daughter  of  Dr.  Edward  Wren. 
Since  his  marriage  he  has  been  a  resident  of 
the  farm  he  now  owns,  consisting  of  150  acres 
on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  27,  where 
he  has  built  a  new  residence,  and  is  well  situ- 
ated in  life,  and  has  bright  prospects  for  the 
future.     He  has  one  child — George. 


FAIPVIEW   PRECINCT. 


69 


FAIR  VIEW   PRECINCT. 


JOSIAH    BAITS,    fanner,    P.    0.   Pleasant 
Mound,  has  been  identified  with  Bond  County 

since  1840.  He  was  born  September  26,  1826, 
in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  the  youngest  child  of  his 
parents.  His  father  was  Daniel  Baits,  a  native 
of  Vermont,  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
married  Hannah  Jewett,  a  native  of  Connecti- 
cut, a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Jewett,  who 
served  in  the  French  and  Indian  war  and  Rev- 
olution. The  paternal  grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject was  David,  who  served  as  an  officer  in  the 
Revolution.  The  subject  of  these  lines  is  one 
of  the  self-made  men  of  Bond  County.  By  the 
death  of  his  father  he  was  thrown  upon  his 
own  resources,  and  had  the  care  of  the  family 
upon  his  hands  for  several  years.  He  left  Cin- 
cinnati when  young,  assisting  in  digging  the 
Miami  Canal,  and  for  a  time  assisted  the 
Engineer  Corps  in  their  labors.  When  the 
canal  was  completed,  he  drove  horses  on  the 
tow-path,  and  afterward  worked  on  the  boat 
and  served  as  steersman,  and  otherwise  made 
himself  useful.  About  the  age  of  sixteen,  he 
commenced  learning  the  boat  and  ship  carpen- 
ter's trade,  and  continued  at  the  same  about 
four  years.  In  1840,  he  came  to  this  township, 
where  he  has  since  lived,  except  three  years 
spent  in  Minnesota  prior  to  his  marriage.  Octo- 
ber 3,  1847,  he  married  Amanda  M.  Edwards, 
born  December  1. 1825,  of  Scioto  County,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  Charles  Edwards,  born  July  26, 
1806,  in  Mercer  County,  Penn.,  and  emigrated 
to  Ohio  when  thirteen  years  of  age.  He  was  a 
son  of  David  Edwards,  whose  wife  was  Catha- 
rine George,  daughter  of  Jacob  George,  of 
Germany.  Charles  Edwards  married  Margaret 
Buffington,  who  was  born  in  Meigs  County, 
Ohio.  April  14,  1806,  daughter  of  Joseph  Buf- 


fington, of  Pennsylvania.  His  wife  was  Chloe 
Harvey,  from  Indiana.  The  Edwards  family 
came  West  in  December,  1841,  and  located  in 
this  township.  Charles  Edwards  died  July  19, 
1875.  In  1848,  Mr.  Baits  located  forty  acres 
he  had  purchased  on  Section  35,  northeast 
quarter,  for  which  he  paid  $2.25.  Upon  this  he 
located  and  remained  on  the  same  until  January, 
1881,  when  he  located  where  he  now  resides, 
having  334  acres  in  all,  294  in  this  township, 
the  remainder,  forty  acres, is  located  in  Fayette 
County.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baits  have  been 
born  eight  children,  five  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters— Winfield  S.  (now  a  minister  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church),  Harriet  L.  (wife 
of  William  L.  Wells,  of  Jewett  County,  Kan.  ; 
Margaret  B.  (married  Marcus  L.  Whiteworth), 
Anson  Z.,  Amanda  M.,  Charles  D.,  Josiah  J. 
and  Eli  B.  Since  1867,  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

IRA  BEANBLOSSOM,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pleas- 
ant Mound  ;  is  the  only  surviving  male  mem- 
ber in  this  township  of  the  Beanblossom  family. 
The  above  was  born  in  Miami  County,  Ohio, 
November  1,  1847,  and  emigrated  to  this 
county  with  his  parents  in  April,  1856,  who 
located  on  Section  23,  where  they  lived  until 
1859,  when  they  moved  to  southwest  quarter  of 
Section  34.  His  father  was  Peter  Beanblossom, 
who  was  born  in  Juby,  1822,  son  of  John,  who 
was  born  December  18, 1792.  in  Rowan  County, 
N.  O,  and  emigrated  to  this  county  in  1856, 
remaining  here  two  years,  then  returned  to 
Miami  County,  but  stayed  a  short  time,  and 
returned  again  to  Bond  County,  where  in' 
abode  until  1865.  He  returned  then  to  Miami 
County,  where  he  is  yet  living,  now  ninety 
years  of  age.     He  had  a  brother,  George  Bean- 


70 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


blossom,  who  came  to  this  county  in  1830, 
locating  in  this  township.  He  was  a  minister 
of  the  German  Baptist  Church,  and  one  of  the 
first  members  of  that  order  and  church  in  this 
township.  He  remained  here  until  1858,  when 
he  moved  to  Macoupin  County,  where  he  died 
about  1867.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Barbara  Brandt,  born  in  Perry  County,  Penn., 
December  16,  1822,  but  raised  in  Ohio;  she 
was  a  daughter  of  Abraham  Brandt.  The 
father  of  our  subject  was  a  millwright  and 
carpenter,  which  vocation  he  followed  to  some 
extent  after  he  became  identified  with  this 
county.  He  also  was  engaged  in  farming.  He 
met  with  accidental  death  in  February,  1862, 
while  repairing  a  wheel  in  Mr.  Bourner's  mill, 
his  head  coming  in  contact  with  some  of  the 
machinery  which  crushed  him  in  such  a  manner 
that  he  lived  but  a  few  hours  after.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  German  Baptist  Church.  He  had 
the  following  children  born  to  him  :  Ira,  Levi, 
Simon,  Martin,  Abraham  and  Martha.  Levi 
resides  in  Norton  County,  Kan.  ;  Simon  in 
Jewett  County,  same  State.  Martin,  also  a 
resident  of  that  State  ;  Abe,  in  Montgomery 
County,  Ohio.  Martha  married  John  Sapp,  of 
this  county.  January  1,  1869,  our  subject 
married  Sarah  E.  Kellogg,  a  native  of  Craw- 
ford Count}',  daughter  of  Oliver  and  Mary 
(Welch)  Kellogg.  He  located  in  this  township 
in  1873.  He  was  of  English  extraction.  To 
Ira  Beanblossom  have  been  born  five  children 
— Ira,  Edwin,  Frances,  Addie,  John  C.  and 
Ella  May.  Is  a  member  of  the  German  Bap- 
tist Church. 

WILLIAM  DAVIS,  Jr.,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pleas- 
ant Mound,  first  saw  the  light  of  day  January 
19,  1830,  at  Old  Kipley,  now  New  Berlin,  in 
Bond  County.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Will- 
iam Davis,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  born 
April  4,  1796,  son  of  Jonas  Davis.  William 
Davis  was  married  in  Massachusetts,  to  Lucy 
Mayo,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Amy  Mayo, 
and  emigrated  to  Bond  County  in  November, 


1829,  locating  at  Old  Kipley,  where  he  re- 
mained one  year,  and  moved  to  Greenville, 
making  this  his  place  of  residence  until  the 
spring  of  1838,  when  he  located  on  the  north- 
west quarter  of  Section  23.  About  the  year 
1853,  he  returned  to  Greenville,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  days.  His  death  occurred 
September  13.  1SS1.  For  3-ears  he  was  identi- 
fied with  the  New  School  Presb3'terian  Church. 
Politically,  he  was  a  Whig  ;  later,  Republican. 
Ten  children  were  born  to  him,  seven  of  whom 
came  to  the  years  of  maturity,  viz..  William, 
Mary  A.,  Caroline,  Adelaide,  George.  Amy, 
and  John.  William,  our  subject,  was  married 
May  1,  1851,  to  Margaret  S.  Taylor,  born  in 
Vandalia.  111.,  daughter  of  John  H.  Taylor. 
She  died  1879,  having  borne  nine  children,  five 
are  living,  viz.,  Lucy  M.,  wife  of  A.  Cable  ; 
Hannah,  a  teacher  ;  Mary  E.,  wife  of  Alvin  H. 
Jackson  ;  John  T.  and  Amy,  at  home.  Farm- 
ing has  been  the  business  of  his  life.  His 
farm  consists  of  eighty  acres.  Since  the  spring 
of  1S66,  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  is  an  official  member. 

BENJAMIN  F.  MAYO,  farmer,  P.  0.  Green- 
ville, is  among  the  substantial  citizens  of  Bond 
County.  He  was  born  July  5,  1810,  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass..  and  emigrated  to  Bond  County  in 
the  year  1834.  arriving  at  Greenville  in  August, 
the  same  year,  and  since  that  date  has  been  a 
coustant  resident  of  this  county.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  an  English  family,  he  being  of 
the  tenth  generation  descended  therefrom.  His 
father  was  Thomas  Mayo,  who  died  when  B.  F. 
was  a  mere  lad.  He  was  the  son  of  Joseph 
Mayo,  who  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  Thomas 
Mayo  married  Amy  Davis,  who  was  bom  in 
Roxbury,  Mass.  She,  too,  came  from  Puritan- 
ical stock.  By  the  death  of  his  father  our  sub- 
ject was  early  in  life  thrown  upon  his  own 
individual  resources,  but  being  energetic  and 
imbibing  that  spirit  inherent  to  Yankeedom, 
his  course  was  soon  marked  out.  He  first  laid 
the  foundation    for  a   sure   thing   in  point  of 


FAIRVIEW   PRECINCT. 


71 


trades,  and  he  spent  seven  years  in  learning 
three  trades  — painter  and  glazier,  carriage 
making  and  trimming.  He  also  became  familiar 
with  the  use  of  carpenter's  tools.  Thus  armed 
with  three  trades  he  felt  sure  that  heeould  always 
get  employment  at  one  or  the  other.  About  this 
time  the  West  presented  to  him  advantages 
which  induced  him  to  remove  thither,  which 
he  did.  starting  with  $600  in  money,  but  taking 
very  sick  at  Smithland,  on  the  Ohio  River,  on 
his  way  here,  part  of  his  money  was  spent ;  but 
he  came  on,  and  upon  his  arrival  in  Greenville 
he  made  himself  useful  in  the  practice  of  his 
trades.  In  1S3S,  he  married  Lavinia  Jewett, 
who  died  1 853.  The  same  year  of  his  marriage 
he  located  on  the  north  half  of  Section  15. 
He  purchased  a  squatter's  claim  and  then  en- 
tered the  land.  He  remained  on  the  farm  until 
1 S74,  when  he  sold  out  and  located  on  Section 
22.  where  he  now  resides.  In  his  farming  he 
has  been  successful,  having  acquired  a  com- 
petence  for  himself  and  good  farms  for  his 
sons.  Seven  children  were  born  to  him  by  his  ! 
first  wife,  four  of  whom  arc  living — Eugenia  j 
E..  wife  of  Mr.  A.  Clump,  in  Jefferson  County. 
Mo. ;  Alonzo  J.,  in  Mount  Vernon  County,  same 
State  ;  Henry  and  Edwin,  at  home.  In  1854. 
Mr.  Mayo  married  Elizabeth  Deitch,  a  native 
of  Bedford  County,  Penn.,  daughter  of  Daniel 
and  Christina  (Houser)  Deitch,  who  came  West 
i  »  Wayne  County,  hid.,  in  1830,  remaining  here 
until  1852,  when  they  removed  to  Fayette 
County,  this  State.  They  raised  a  family  of 
six  children,  five  of  the  number  living — John 
and  Alexander  reside  in  Wayne  County,  Ind., 
Catharine  married  Zenas  Evans,  and  resides  in 
Kansas;  Susan  resides  in  Thaver  County,  Neb., 
wife  of  Joseph  Matchett.  Mr.  .Mayo  has  al- 
ways stood  aloof  from  any  association  with 
lodges  or  church  organizations,  having  never 
associated  himself  with  any,  yet  is  not  hostile 
toward  any  sect  of  people  or  denomination, 
but  has  lived  a  lite  that  has  been  conducive  to 
moralit}'  and  worthy  of  imitation. 


JOHN  RENCH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Pleasant 
Mound,  one  of  the  members  of  the  early 
families  is  Mr.  Rench,  who  was  born  November 
5,  1824,  in  Darke  County,  Ohio.  He  is  a  son 
of  .Joseph  Rench,  who  was  born  in  Lancaster 
Comity,  Penn.,  July  13,  1785.  When  a  lad  he 
removed  with  his  father  to  Ohio,  where  he  was 
afterward  married,  August  21.  1811,  to  Rhoda 
Coates,  born  December  29,  1789.  To  them 
were  born  twelve  children — Delilah,  William, 
Peter,  Mary,  Catharine,  Daniel,  Joseph,  John, 
David.  Rhoda,  Jacob  and  Aaron.  All  of  whom 
lived  to  be  grown  and  married  before  there  was 
a  death  in  the  family.  Joseph  Rench  moved 
with  his  family  from  (  Hiio  in  the  spring  of  1S37, 
and  entered  land  in  the  northeast  quarter  of 
Section  20;  also  entered  other  lauds  in  the 
township  near  by,  and  resided  on  the  same 
until  his  death  which  occurred  September  7, 
1856.  He  was  one  of  the  early  members  of 
the  German  Baptist  Church,  and  helped  to  or- 
ganize the  same.  His  wife  died  February  12, 
1811.  Of  the  children  born  to  them  are 
Daniel,  who  lives  in  Virden,  Macoupin  County  ; 
Catharine,  now  Mrs.  Abe  Waggoner,  of  Keo- 
kuk. Iowa  ;  David  and  Peter,  in  Fairview,  and 
Rhoda  ( Mrs.  Sutton),  the  others  deceased.  <  )ur 
subject  was  raised  on  the  farm  and  remained 
with  his  lather  until  his  marriage,  November 
2(1.  1849,  to  Mary  F.  Dixon,  born  October  25, 
1829,  in  Madison  County,  Tenn.,  daughter  of 
Alexander  and  Sallie  Stallings,  both  natives  of 
North  Carolina.  He  died  in  Texas.  Mrs. 
Rench  came  with  her  mother  to  Fayette,  in 
1836.  After  marriage  he  located  on  the  farm 
on  which  he  now  lives.  Ten  children  crowned 
this  union,  seven  of  whom  are  living — Thomas 
J.,  Eveline,  Almira,  Nancy,  John  L.,  Martha  E. 
and  Ida  M.  Eveline  is  the  wife  of  John 
Hunter,  in  Greenville,  Deputy  Sheriff  of  this 
county.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  German  Baptist  Church,  and  a  re- 
spected member  of  the  community  in  which  he 
resides. 


72 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


LA   GRANGE   PRECINCT. 


CAPT.  THOMAS  M.  DAVIS,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Greenville,  born  in  Trigg  County.  Ky..  the 
fifth  child  who  grew  up  that  was  born  to  Jona- 
than Davis,  a  Virginian,  of  Albemarle  County. 
Jonathan  came  to  Trigg  County  when  a 
young  man,  and  married,  in  Bryan  County. 
Margaret  McLean,  of  Pennsylvania,  daughter 
of  Thomas  McLean.  The  father  of  our  subject 
was  an  early  settler  in  this  county  ;  he  came  in 
1817,  to  what  is  now  Old  Ripley  ;  here  he  lived 
four  years.  He  was  a  millwright  by  occupa- 
tion, and  built  the  first  mill  in  the  precinct,  and 
perhaps  was  the  first  in  the  county.  The  site  is 
now  known  as  Brown's  Mill.  Jonathan  died 
here  in  1821,  and  his  remains  now  lie  interred 
in  the  Brown  Graveyard,  he  being  the  second 
one  buried  in  it — the  first  was  Dr.  Baker.  After 
the  death  of  his  lather,  our  subject  returned 
with  his  mother  to  Kentucky,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1835,  when  he  returned  to  this 
State  ;  went  first  to  Montgomery  County,  where 
he  married  Jane  Williams,  who  died  in  1840, 
leaving  no  children.  He  came  to  this  county 
in  1837,  where  he  has  since  remained.  His  sec- 
ond wife  was  Mrs.  Jane  Smith,  born  in  Trigg 
County,  Ky.,  daughter  of  Samuel  Scott ;  she 
died  in  1870,  leaving  but  one  child — William 

D. who  resides   with  his  father  on  the  farm. 

In  August,  1861,  Mr.  Davis  raised  a  company, 
which  was  lettered  D,  Third  Illinois  Cavalry, 
and  served  two  years.  In  the  battle  of  Pea 
Ridge,  he  had  his  horse  shot  from  under  him, 
yet  himself  escaped  uninjured.  After  his  return 
home,  he  resumed  farming.  Since  1839,  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  made  Elder  at  the  time  of  the 
organization  of  the  Maple  Grove  Society  here. 
His  wife  died  in  187(i.    He  has  about  400  acres 


of  land,  and  is  a  thorough  and  energetic  farmer. 
His  son  William  D.  was  born  in  1842,  and  mar- 
ried Gabriella.  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Ham- 
ilton and  Phebe  Stahl,  of  Keutueky,  who  came 
to  this  State  about  the  year  1846.  To  William 
D.  have  been  born  seven  children,  but  there  are 
but  three  living — Horace  E..  Luella  A.  and 
Orra  M.  In  the  winter  of  1881-82,  they  lost 
three  children  by  that  dire  disease,  diphtheria, 
all  within  the  short  space  of  eleven  days. 
William  G.  was  aged  fifteen,  John  T.  aged 
twelve,  and  George  W.  nearl}-  two  years  of  age. 
Capt.  Davis  had  one  brother — James — who 
emigrated  to  this  State  very  early,  ami  was  for 
many  years  prominently  identified  with  the 
county.  He  first  taught  school  for  several 
vcars.  and  for  a  time  carried  on  a  store  here  in 
the  township,  and  afterward  in  Greenville. 
Subsequently,  he  was  appointed,  under  Taylor's 
administration,  to  the  office  of  Register  of  the 
Land  Office  at  Vandalia.  He  was  elected  as  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention.  He 
afterward  located  at  Hillsboro  and  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  law  ;  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature, and  afterward  to  the  State  Senate,  and 
died  in  1868. 

JOHN  S.  DENXY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Greenville. 
was  born  in  this  township,  on  Section  33.  Town 
6,  Range  3.  August  13,  1827,  son  of  John 
Denny,  who  was  born  in  Lincoln  County.  N. 
C,  about  the  year  1793,  and  of  Irish  descent. 
He  emigrated  to  this  locality  in  1817,  before  it 
became  a  State.  He  was  married  about  the 
year  1820,  to  Sarah  Moore,  a  Virginian,  born 
near  Wheeling,  daughter  of  Samuel  Moore,  an 
early  settler,  who  married  a  lady  by  the  name 
of  Shepherd.  John  Denny,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  settled  first  in  Town   7,  Range  3.  and 


LA  GRANGE    PRECINCT. 


73 


cleared  up  a  farm  and  remained  on  the  same 
until  1851,  when  he  removed  to  his  son's  and 
died  in  Greenville,  in  November,  1870;  his  wife 
died  about  the  year  1868.  He  was  an  excellent 
citizen,  and  for  many  years  was  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  an  Elder  in  the 
the  same.  In  politics  he  was  a  Whig  ;  after 
the  dissolution  of  that  party  he  became  a  Re- 
publican, which  he  remained  until  his  death. 
The  eldest  child  born  to  him  was  James,  who 
died  at  twenty-two.  William  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen, Zimriporter  in  infancy  ;  next  in  order 
came  John  S.;  Alfred  N.;  Shepherd  died  in 
1878,  in  this  county.  Alfred  was  a  minister  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  :  he  left  no  issue. 
John  S.  received  good  school  advantages,  and 
afterward  graduated  at  McKendree  College,  in 
the  scientific  course  in  1854.  He  began  teach- 
ing at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  continued  as  a 
teacher  of  the  young  idea  for  quite  a  term  of 
years.  In  1S59,  he  was  brought  out  as  a  candi- 
date by  the  Republican  party  for  County  Treas- 
urer, then  moved  to  Greenfield  in  18(10,  and  was 
twice  re-elected.  In  1865,  he  was  elected 
County  Clerk,  and  served  twelve  years  in  this 
capacity.  In  1877,  he  returned  to  his  farm 
and  was  elected  County  Commissioner,  and 
Berved  as  such  three  years,  making  in  all 
twenty-one  years  in  public  service.  In  1854, 
he  married  Marietta  Mears,  of  Morgan  County, 
daughter  of  James  and  Mary  (McCordJ  Mears. 
By  this  marriage  seven  children  were  born  ; 
but  two  are  living — Charles  Irving  and  Effie 
May.  His  last  wife  was  Dorcas,  born  in  Mis- 
souri, daughter  of  James  Rosebrough.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for 
thirty-six  years.  His  farm  consists  of  230 
acres,  situated  on  Section  28  ;  residence  on  the 
northwest  quarter  of  the  section. 

GEORGE  II.  HONNELL,  school  teacher, 
Greenville,  son  of  Thomas  S.  and  Catharine  J. 
(Paisley)  Donnell ;  was  born  in  Bond  Comity. 
December  7, 1853.  His  father,  who  was  a  farm- 
er, was  born  in  Greenville.  Bond  County.     His 


mother,  who  is  still  living,  is  a  native  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  Our  subject,  one  of  a  family 
of  five,  received  his  early  training  in  the  school 
at  Greenville,  111.,  finishing  at  the  Northern  In- 
diana  Normal  and  Business  College.  He  also 
pursued  his  studies  at  Hillsboro  for  a  year. 
Mr.  Donnell  chose  for  himself  the  profession  of 
a  teacher,  his  first  charge  being  the  school  at 
Cherry  Grove,  in  La  Grange  Precinct.  He  has 
followed  the  profession  ever  since,  and  is  at 
present  teacher  of  the  common  school  in  New 
Berlin.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.     In  politics,  a  Republican. 

NEWTON  A.  HUGHE Y, farmer,  P.  ().  Green- 
ville ;  is  a  native  of  Missouri.  He  was  born 
October  8,  1838,  in  Perry  County.  His  father 
was  Milus  Hughey,  born  March  5,  1811,  in 
Rowan  County,  N.  O,  and  was  married  Novem- 
ber 2,  1837,  to  Staty  Begiua  Parks,  born  No- 
vember, 1818,  daughter  of  Joseph  Parks,  of 
North  Carolina.  Milus  removed  with  his  father 
Henry  Hughey,  to  Perry  County,  Mo.,  about 
the  year  1825,  when  a  lad.  Here  the  family- 
settled.  Henry  Hughey  was  born  May  25, 
1785.  He  married  Elizabeth  Gillen,  born  Janu- 
ary 20,  1788.  The  fruits  of  this  union  were 
John,  Stanhope,  Newton  A.,  Jane,  Mary  and 
Milus,  all  of  whom  attained  to  man  and  woman- 
hood, and  settled  in  Missouri.  Henry  Hughey 
died  December  25,  1831  ;  his  wife,  January  26, 
1845.  Milus  Hughey  was  a  farmer,  and  for 
many  years  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  a  Ruling  Elder  of  the  same.  He 
died  January  29,  1867  :  his  wife  1S44.  But 
two  children  were  born  them — Newton  A.  and 
Susan  E.  The  latter  married  Henry  Bimpage  ; 
she  is  now  deceased.  In  April,  1861,  Newton 
A.  Hughey  married  Julia  A.  Stevenson,  born 
November  2.  Is40.  in  Cape  Girardeau  Co.,  Mo., 
daughter  of  A.  K.  Stevenson,  of  North  Carolina. 
He  was  a  son  of  James  Stevenson  and  Jane 
Fleming.  They  raised  a  family  of  three  chil- 
dren. Mr.  A.  K.  Stevenson  died  November  9, 
1881  ;  his  wife  in  1844.     Mr.  Hughey  came  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Bond  County  in  1864,  locating  where  he  now 
resides.  He  has  210  acres,  and  has  put  nearly 
all  the  improvements  on  the  same.  Has  four 
children— Emery  G.,  Linley  J.,  Pearl  E.  and 
Roxana.  Two  died  when  infants.  Mr.  Hughey 
is  a  member  and  elder  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  .Mrs.  Hughey's  brother  Linley  was  a 
soldier  in  the  late  war  ;  member  of  Company 
B,  Twenty-ninth  Missouri  Infantry.  He  died 
October,  1862,  in  the  hospital  at  St.  Louis. 

JAMES  M.  JETT,  P.  0.  Elm  Point,  was 
born.  June  1,  1812,  in  Fauquier  County,  Va. 
He  is  the  eldest  son  of  John  Jett.  a  Vir- 
ginian, who  was  born  in  1787,  son  of  William 
Jett,  to  whom  was  born  the  following  chil- 
dren :  James,  John  William.  Thomas.  Wash- 
ington and  Jetferson.  James  M.,  the  grand- 
son of  William,  above  mentioned,  removed^ 
with  his  parents,  when  a  lad,  to  Greene 
County.  Tenn.,  afterward  to  Knox  County.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  yet  a  mason  by  trade, 
which  he  followed  when  convenience  was  con- 
sulted. In  the  fall  of  1829,  he,  with  trowel  in 
hand,  walked  from  Tennessee  to  this  county,  to 
look  out  a  home  for  his  family.  Having  no 
money,  he  defrayed  his  expenses  going  to  and 
from  by  the  aid  of  his  trowel,  occasionally  put- 
ting up  a  chimnej'  for  the  pioneers  as  he  passed 
through.  He  selected  a  place  on  Section  4, 
Township  6,  Range  3,  and  moved  his  family  out 
in  the  fall  of  1831.  Here  he  settled,  and  re- 
mained until  his  death,  which  took  place  October 
31,  1867.  The  farm  is  now  owned  by  his  son. 
B.  F.  Jett.  But  two  of  his  brothers  ever  came 
to  Bcmd  County.  They  were  John  William  and 
Thomas.  The  brothers  and  sisters  of  J.  M. 
were  William,  John,  Washington,  Jacob,  Jef- 
ferson. Benjamin  F..  Marion  and  Henry.  Of 
this  number,  J.  M.,  William,  Jacob  and  Jeffer- 
son are  in  this  county  and  precinct.  Washing- 
ton moved  to  Wisconsin.  Marion  and  Henry 
to  Kansas.  The  sisters  were  Susan.  Polly, 
Linda  and  Esther,  all  now  deceased.  The  year 
following  his  arrival   here,  James  M.  married 


Sallie  Jett,  daughter  of  Humphrey  Jett,  the 
pioneer.  She  died,  leaving  three  children — 
William  C,  Mary  and  Humphrey.  In  1846,  he 
married  Mrs.  Eliza  Pentercost,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Edwards,  daughter  of  John  Edwards, 
who  came  to  Bond  County  in  1819.  In  the  fall 
of  1837,  Mr.  Jett  located  where  he  now  resides. 
He  first  entered  sixty-seven  acres,  to  which  he 
has  added  at  different  times,  until  he  now  has 
about  three  hundred  acres.  He  has  been  hard 
working  and  industrious,  and  what  he  has  is 
mainly  the  fruits  of  his  own  accumulation.  He. 
for  several  years,  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  By  his  last 
wife  he  has  the  following  children  :  Samuel  A.. 
Martha,  John,  Margaret.  Henry.  Linda  and  Fi- 
nesse. John  resides  in  Kansas  ;  Margaret  in 
Missouri,  wife  of  Lafayette  Bently. 

JAM  MS  W.  JETT,  farmer.  P.  0.  Greenville, 
son  of  William  B.  and  Carisa  Parker  Jett. 
James  W.  was  born  December  27,  1824. 
in  Oldham  County,  Ky..  and  came  here, 
with  his  parents,  in  1834.  The  grandfather 
of  J.  W.  was  William.  The  lather  of  J.  W. 
was  a  farmer.  He  purchased  land  about  the 
year  1838  and  settled  on  the  same,  and  re- 
mained in  the  county  as  long  as  he  lived.  Be 
died,  aged  fifty-five,  in  1S44.  He  raised  a  fam- 
ily of  seven  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  was 
Elizabeth  ;  next  in  order  came  James  W.,  then, 
in  rotation,  Thomas  J.,  George  W,  Ann  E., 
Frances.  Louisa  J..  Henry  C.  and  Owen,  who 
married  Nancy  Laws  :  by  her  had  one  daugh- 
ter— Cora.  Thomas  J.  served  in  the  Mexican 
war,  and  there  died.  Henry  served  three  years 
in  the  late  war.  After  the  death  of  his  father. 
J.  W.  lived  with  his  mother.  At  the  age  of 
twenty- three,  he  married  a  Miss  Smith,  who 
was  born  in  Caldwell  County.  Ky.,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Smith.  Since  his  marriage,  he  has 
been  a  constant  resident  of  the  township.  He 
began  with  nothing,  and  from  this  small  com- 
mencement he  now  has  nearly  two  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  land  as  the  fruits  of  his  industry. 


LA   GRANGE    PRECINCT. 


75 


He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church;  has 
seven  children — Mary  J.,  wife  of  James  M. 
Jones,  of  Montgomery  County  ;  Louisa  married 
Abe  Hubbell ;  Agnes  is  the  wife  of  William 
Smith.  The  remaining  are  George,  Henry  B., 
Ida  and  Isaac  N. 

B.  F.  JP]TT.  farmer,  P.  0.  Elm  Point,  is  the 
seventh  son  and  tenth  child.  His  parents  were 
John  Jett  and  Elizabeth  Hittle.  B.  F.,  or 
'•  Doc,"  as  he  is  called,  was  born  in  December, 
1831,  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  his  birth  oc- 
curring the  same  year  of  his  father's  location 
in  Bond  County.  Benjamin  F.  was  raised  to 
farming  pursuits,  and  remained  under  the  home 
root  until  he  attained  his  manhood.  May  11, 
1857,  he  married  Mrs.  Nancy  Thatcher,  a  native 
of  Bond  County.  She  was  a  daughter  of  James 
Sheltou  and  Edith  Bently.  Mrs.  Jett  is  a  grand- 
daughter of  Col.  Bichard  Bently,  an  early  set- 
tler in  Bond  County  ;  came  here  about  the 
year  1828,  and  settled  in  Cottonwood  Precinct, 
near  Bethel.  He  was  a  prominent  man  in  his 
day.  He  was  identified  with  the  Baptist  Church 
in  its  early  organization,  and  a  Democrat.  He 
was  twice  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  in  all 
his  associations  with  his  friends  and  neighbors 
he  bore  the  high  regard  and  esteem  of  all. 
He  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  lived  to  see  his 
great-great-grandchildren.  After  the  marriage 
of  B.  F.,  he  removed  to  Jefferson  County  in 
1862,  and  remained  here  about  two  years,  ami 
returned  to  the  homestead  farm  and  has  since 
been  a  resident  of  the  same.  He  has  eighty 
acres  of  land;  has  eight  children  —  Edwin, 
Shelton,  Logan.  Frank,  James  B.,  Edith  0., 
Bichard  and  Lizzie;  is  a  member  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  at  Hopewell. 

S.  B.  KENAGA,  fanner.  P.  0.  Elm  Point, 
is  among  the  substantial  farmers  of  La  Grange 
Precinct.  He  was  born  October  18,  1841,  in 
Mifflin  County.  Penn..  the  youngest  son  of  his 
t  at  her.  John  Kenaga,  whose  father  was  Jacob, 
a  native  of  Holland.  The  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Sarah  Byler.     Prior  to  her  marriage 


to  John  Kenaga,  who  died  when  S.  B.  was  a 
lad,  he  removed  with  his  mother  to  Lawrence 
County  when  eight  years  of  age.  Here  he  lived 
until  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  came  to 
Logan  County,  Ohio,  where  he  lived  until  1868 
at  which  time  he  came  to  Bond,  and  located 
where  he  now  resides,  on  Section  8,  in  La  Grange 
Precinct.  February,  1864.  he  married  Mary 
Yoder,  a  native  of  Huntingdon  County,  Penn., 
born  1841.  and  came  to  Logan  County  with  her 
parents  in  1845.  Her  parents  were  Daniel  Yo- 
der and  Mattie  Hooley,  to  whom  were  born  five 
children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  Mr. 
Kenaga  is  a  successful  farmer,  and  principally 
a  self-made  man.  He  has  200  acres  of  land, 
is  a  substantial  citizen  of  the  community, 
and  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church  since 
1873.  His  children  are  Sarah  J.,  Anthony  J., 
Walter  0.,  Lewis  J.  and  Emma  M. 

WILLIAM  K  McCASLIN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Donnellson.  The  McCaslin  family  came  to 
Bond  County  in  1831,  where  they  have  since 
been  identified.  The  pioneer  was  Thomas  G. 
McCaslin,  who  was  born  February  16,  1795,  in 
Tennessee,  son  of  James  McCaslin,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  parentage.  November  10, 1818,  he  married 
Sallie  Robinson,  born  in  the  same  State  May 
18,  1704,  daughter  of  Samuel  Robinson.  Sub- 
sequent to  their  marriage,  they  removed  to 
Caldwell  County,  Ky.;  here  William  R.  was 
born  January  6,  1825,  being  the  eldest  son 
and  fourth  child  of  his  parents.  He  removed 
with  them  at  the  time  of  their  coming  ;  the 
family  spent  one  year  south  of  Greenville  six 
miles,  where  they  made  one  crop.  Coming 
north  in  the  spring  of  1832,  his  father  located 
400  acres  in  Town  7,  Range  3,  in  the  extreme 
north  part  of  the  county  :  said  lands  were  em- 
braced in  Sections  27,  28  and  29.  Here  the 
family  settled,  and  have  since  been  associated 
with  the  county  and  its  interests.  His  father. 
Thomas  G.,  died  about  the  year  1844  ;  his  com- 
panion survived  him  until  1869.  Seven  children 
were  born  them,  who  were  Elizabeth  J.,  Cin- 


76 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


dilla  A.,  Isabella  C,  William  R.,  Mary  M., 
James  W.  anil  Sarah  R.;  of  the  above  who  mar- 
ried ami  settled  in  this  county,  were  Elizabeth 
(married  Isaac  G.  Barr);  Cindilla,  William 
Smith,  of  Bethel ;  Isabella,  Robert  Frame  ;  Mary 
M.,  William  Laws,  of  Montgomery  County; 
and  Sarah  Allen  Thacker,  of  the  same  county ; 
all  the  rest  settled  in  this  county  and  are  liv- 
ing, except  James,  who  died  young.  William 
R,  remained  with  his  parents  until  he  attained 
his  majority.  He  was  first  married  in  184G  to 
Lucinda  Mclntyre,  who  died,  leaving  two  chil- 
dren— Sarah  E.  (now  wife  of  B.  F.  McLain),  and 
Thomas  G.:  his  second  wife  was  Mary  H. 
Denny,  daughter  of  George  Denny,  the  pioneer  ; 
she  died,  leaving  three  children — Elizabeth  M. 
(wife  of  George  Lewy).  Emery  and  Henry  B. 
His  present  wife  was  Nancy  A.  Roper,  a  Ken- 
tuckian,  who  bore  him  one  daughter — Hattie 
M.  All  of  his  children  except  the  last  are 
married  and  settled  in  this  county,  and  are 
doing  well.  Since  he  was  first  married,  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  farm  he  now  owns,  hav- 
ing some  300  acres  of  land,  all  of  which  he  has 
improved.  For  twenty-five  years  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Old  School  Presbyterian 
Church. 

JOSEPH  McCULLEY,  farmer.  P.  0.  Green- 
ville. Of  the  self-made  men  and  substantial 
farmers,  Mr.  McCulley  ranks  among  this  list. 
He  was  born  November  11.  1821,  in  Rockbridge 
County,  near  Lexington,  Va.  He  was  the  eld- 
est son  and  second  child  born  to  his  parents. 
His  father  was  Frederick  McCulley,  a  native  of 
County  Derry,  Ireland.  He  married  Margaret 
Irving,  and,  in  1819,  emigrated  to  Virginia, 
where  he  located,  and  remained  until  the  year 
1838,  when  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Lau- 
derdale County,  Ala.  Here  he  abode  until  the 
spring  of  1841,  when  the  family  started  in  wagon 
for  Illinois,  and  $50  in  money,  having  $25  when 
they  reached  Montgomery  County.  There  was 
a  family  of  eight  children.  A  cow  was  pur- 
chased for  $10,  and  a  plow  for  $8,  leaving  $7 


to  buy  such  things  as  their  necessities  required. 
The  family  was  poor,  and  had  no  means  to  pur- 
chase land  ;  but  they  began  work  in  earnest. 
Joseph,  being  the  eldest  son,  he  took  the  lead 
of  the  work.  In  1843,  he  came  to  Bond  County, 
and  selected  a  place  for  the  family.  He  pur- 
chased eighty  acres  of  land  at  $3  per  acre. 
There  were  twenty  acres  partially  cleared,  and 
a  small  cabin  on  the  same.  Here  his  parents 
died.  They  raised  a  family  of  six  children — 
Elizabeth,  now  of  Kansas,  wife  of  Calvin  Balch  ; 
Joseph;  Margaret,  married  Jerry  MeClung ; 
Martha,  married  S.  W.  I!.  Hull,  and  James  I.,  all 
of  Kansas.  Joseph  maintained  the  family,  and 
worked  for  them,  bringing  into  them  the  fruits 
of  his  labor.  He  remained  a  bachelor  until 
April,  1876,  when  he  married  Martha  L.  Mit- 
chell, a  native  of  Cape  Girardeau  County.  Mo. 
He  has  one  daughter — Margaret  Lunette.  Mr. 
McCulley  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  has  400  acres.  The  McCulley s 
were  of  Scotch  descent. 

R.  C.  PAISLEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Greenville, 
is  a  native  of  Bond  County,  and  was  born  J  une 
21,  1830,  on  Section  6.  in  this  township.  His 
father,  William  Paisley,  was  a  native  of  Guil- 
ford County.  N.  C.  born  June  8,  1795  ;  his 
wife  was  a  native  of  the  same  State  ;  her  maiden 
name  was  Nancy  Nelson,  born  May  30,  1795, 
and  they  were  married  August  13,  181G,  and 
emigrated  to  this  State  two  years  later,  locat- 
ing on  Section  (3  in  this  township,  and  remained 
a  constant  resident.  He  died  August  29,  1870  ; 
his  wife  preceded  him  August  3,  1847.  He 
served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  and  was  a  man 
of  quiet  and  reserved  manner,  yet  withal  a 
worthy  and  respected  citizen.  He  married 
Catharine  Denny,  who  yet  survives  him  ;  she  bore 
him  no  children.  The  children  born  to  him  by 
his  first  wife  were  Malinda,  who  married  J. 
Potter,  and  resides  in  Lincoln,  this  State  ;  John 
W.,  the  second  child,  resides  in  Lee  County, 
Iowa  ;  Joel  B.  resides  in  Lincoln,  in  the  dry 
goods  ;  William  F.  resides  in    this   township, 


I. A    GRANGE    PRECINCT. 


Mary  E.  married  Clemons  Boyd,  and  also  re- 
sides in  Lincoln.  Robert  C.  after  coming  to 
his  manhood's  years,  gave  his  attention  to  farm- 
ing. In  1852,  he  went  the  overland  route  to 
California,  and  spent  three  years  mining  in 
El  Dorado  County,  and  returned  to  this  county 
in  1855.  April  20.  1858,  he  married  Lydia 
Libby,  born  Oct.  21,  1835.  in  Pawlet,  Vermont, 
daughter  of  Isaac  T.  Libby,  born  1812,  in  Ver- 
mont, who  married  Nancy  Prisbee.  In  1850, 
he  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  which  he 
has  improved,  having  now  476  acres.  Mr. 
Paisley-  served  one  year  in  the  late  war  :  was  a 
member  of  Company  B.  Fifty-ninth  Illinois. 
He  has  three  children — Anna  M.,  Prank  N.  and 
Horace.  His  grandfather,  Paisley,  was  named 
John,  and  of  Scotch  descent,  and  had  a  family 
of  twelve  children  born  to  him.  Mr.  P.  and 
wile  are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Presb}'- 
terian  Church. 

CHARLES  WOOD,  deceased,  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Bond  County.  He  was  born 
January  0,  1708.  in  Darlington  District,  South 
Carolina,  son  of  Thomas  and  Jane  (Jenkins) 
Wood.  The  subject  of  these  lines  emigrated  to 
this  county  in  the  fall  of  1826  ;  he  made  one 
crop  on  the  farm  of  William  Paisley,  and  the 
following  year  he  located  on  Section  29.  in 
Town  7,  Range  3  La  Grange  Precinct  ;  here  he 
settled  and  cleared  up  his  land  and  remained  a 
constant  resident  of  the  township  until  his 
death,  January.  1867.  His  wife's  maiden  name 
was  Sarah  McCormick.  a  native  of  Scotland. 
who  bore  him  eight  children.  Mr.  Wood  was 
truly  a  representative  man.  While  in  Carolina, 
he  obtained  a  good  education  for  that  time,  and 
for  several  years  taught   school  prior  to    his 


coming  West.  He  was  an  industrious  and 
thoroughgoing  business  man  ;  he  was  often 
consulted  by  his  neighbors  to  make  mathe- 
matical calculations,  and  settled  affairs  too  c<  im- 
plicated for  his  rural  associates,  who  always 
found  in  him  a  valuable  and  safe  advisor.  As 
a  neighbor,  he  was  kind  and  obliging,  and  ever 
stood  ready  to  lend  them  a  hand  or  do  them  a 
kindness.  He  was  a  hospitable  man  ;  no 
stranger  or  wa^-worn  traveler  was  ever  denied 
food  or  shelter  under  his  roof,  neither  was  he 
ever  known  to  make  a  charge  or  a  bill  for  his 
hospitality.  He  was  not  a  member  of  any 
church  or  society,  but  never  opposed  those  who 
were,  but  aimed  to  abide  by  the  golden  rule  as 
near  as  he  knew  how.  He  left  land  and  prop- 
erty for  each  of  his  children,  although  he  had 
nothing  himself  when  he  settled  in  this  county. 
His  children  were  as  follows  :  Caroline,  Eli. 
Ezra,  Nancy  J.,  David.  John,  Sarah  A.  and  Ira, 
all  of  whom  lived  to  be  grown,  except  David, 
who  died  young-  all  of  whom  married  and  set- 
tied  in  this  county,  except  John,  who  never 
married,  yet  has  remained  in  the  county,  and 
since  the  death  of  his  parents  has  resided  with 
his  brother  Ezra.  John  served  three  years  in 
the  late  war,  and  was  a  true  and  faithful  soldier. 
He  was  a  member  of  Company  B,  One  Hundred 
and  Seventeenth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  participated  in  many  hard-fought  battles, 
and  came  home  unscathed.  Ira,  also,  was  a 
soldier  ;  he  served  in  the  cavalry  department, 
and  died  since  the  close  of  the  war.  Six  of  the 
family,  three  brothers  and  three  sisters,  reside 
near  each  other,  all  doing  well  and  have  good 
homes. 


78 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ZION   PRECINCT. 


J.  M.  BINGHAM,   farmer,  P.  0.  Woburn , 
is  a  Carolinian  by  birth,  born  March  19,  1828, 
in  Lincoln   County,  N.   C.     His  parents  were 
Samuel  Bingham  and  Barbara  Carpenter,  both 
natives  of  the  same  State.    His  maternal  grand- 
father was  Jacob  Carpenter.     Samuel  Bingham 
was  a  tanner  by  occupation,  and  raised  a  fam- 
ily of  ten  children,  viz..  Susan.  William,  Eliza- 
beth, Jacob,   Christopher,  Anna,  Samuel,  Mar- 
tin, Peter  and  Joseph  M..  who  is  the  youngest 
of  the  family  ;  his  father  died  when  he  was  fif- 
teen ;  he  then  remained  with  his   mother  until 
he  attained  his  majority,  at  which  time,  in  1849, 
he  came   to  Macoupin   County,  where  he  en- 
gaged to  work  by  the  month.  Having  no  means 
left  him   by  father  he  had  to  "  paddle   his  own 
canoe."  and  depend  solely  upon  his  own  exer- 
tions.     In  August,   1860,    he   came  to   Bond 
County,  and  the  same  year  he  married  Narcis- 
sus V.  Grigg,  a  native  of  this  county,  daughter 
of  Frederick    Grigg.      By   this    marriage  five 
children  were  bom,  viz.,  John  F.,  William  B., 
Lizzie  R.,  Carroll  S.   and  Emma  J.     After  his 
marriage  he  located  in  Town  6,  Range  2,  where 
he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1863,  when  he 
moved  to  Town  7,  Range  2,  and  located  where 
he  now  resides,  purchasing  at  first  eighty  acres 
on  Section  32  ;  he  has  since  added  to  the  same, 
until  he  now  has  190  acres  ;   he  has  put  all  the 
substantial  improvements  on  the  same,  has  a 
good  location  and  a  pleasant  home,  all  of  which 
he    has  acquired  by   his  industry  and  frugal 
economy.     Of  his  brothers  and  sisters  the  fol- 
lowing  settled    in    North    Carolinia — William, 
Susan.    Elizabeth,    Jacob     and     Christopher. 
Jacob   finally  removed  to  Iowa,  and   settled  in 
Marion    County.      Samuel    settled    in    Lucas 
County.  Iowa.   Annie  settled  in  Marion  County, 


having  married  Johu  Lackey.  Since  1867,  Mr. 
Bingham  has  been  identified  with  the  United 
Baptist  Church,  and  an  efficient  member  of  the 
same. 

JOHN  T.  BUCHANAN,  farming  and  insur- 
ance, P.  O.  Mulberry  Grove,  is  a  descendent  of 
one  of  the  early  settlers.    He  was  born  March  31, 
1S42.  in  this  township,  on  the  southwest  quarter 
of  Section  35  ;  his  father  was  John  Buchanan. 
born  February  17,  1797,  ami  in  1828,  July  31, 
he  married   Eleanor  Long,  who  was  born  No- 
vember 18,  1809.     Ten  children  were  born  of 
this  marriage,  of  whom  eight  lived  to  be  grown 
—James  L.,  Mary  A..  Nathaniel  W.,  Sarah  J., 
Martha  E.,   Priscilla  J.,  John  S.,    Nancy   E., 
George   P.      Deceased  are    Martha.   Priscilla, 
Nathanal  W.     John  Buchanan  died  March  13. 
1 880  ;  he  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church.     In  his  early  life   he  followed 
the  shoemaker's  trade,   but    later  he  took  up 
farming.     His  widow  yet  survives  him.     Our 
subject  was  raised  to  farm  labor.  April  9,  1862, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  I,  Sixty-fifth  Regiment 
of  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  in  this 
command  until  the  close  of  the  war  ;  was  in 
Miles  surrender  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  taken 
prisoner  here.     He  came  through  the  war  with- 
out wounds  or  receiving  serious  injury.   In  1866, 
he    married    Lizzie   R.  Mattinly.  daughter  of 
Dr.  Mattinly,  of  this  county.     After  marriage 
he  lived  at  the  Grove  some  time  ;  came  here 
in  February,  1879,  locating  on  Section  15,  where 
he  purchased  eighty   acres  and  is  engaged  in 
farming.     In  addition  to  his  fanning  he  is  in- 
terested in  protecting  his  neighbors  and  friends 
against  loss  by  fire,  and  gives   them  a  reliable 
indemnity  in  such  companies  as  the  Rockford, 
Continental  and  American  Companies.    In  pol- 


ZION    PRECINCT. 


79 


itics  Mr.  Buchanan  is  Republican  ;  has  three 
children —  Jesse  E.,  born  October  15.  1867; 
Sallie  J.,  born  August  22,  1869  ;  and  Annie 
R.,  March  15,  1876. 

M.  W.  CRUTCHLFY.  farmer,  P.  0.  Mul 
bery  Grove  ;  born  February  13, 1829,  in  Jeffer- 
son County,  Va.,  fifth  son  of  John  Crutchley 
and  Ann  Chambers.  The  family  emigrated 
west  to  Saline  County,  Mo.,  in  1839,  and  the 
following  May  came  to  this  county  ;  father  died 
1844,  mother  two  years  later.  But  three  chil- 
dren now  living — Samuel  and  M.  W.  of  this 
township  and  county,  and  George  a  physician 
in  Carroll  County.  Our  subject  started  in  life 
upon  his  own  merits,  and  for  seven  years  and 
nine  months  he  worked  continuously  for  John 
S.  Hall  on  his  farm  of  Town  5.  Range  2  ;  dur- 
ing this  time  he  saved  some  money  which  he  in- 
vested in  land.  November,  1856,  he  married 
Elizabeth  Miller,  born  in  this  county,  daughter 
of  John  Miller.  The  same  year  of  his  marriage 
he  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  which  land 
he  entered.  In  politics  he  has  been  Dem- 
ocratic, and  stanch  in  the  principles  of  his 
party.  His  brother,  Frank,  was  accidentally 
killed  on  an  adjoining  farm  in  1869.  He  has 
140  acres  on  southwest  quarter  Section  33, 
where  he  resides,  and  since  his  location  here 
has  given  his  attention  mainly  to  farming. 
March  3,  1881,  the  partner  of  his  bosom  and 
mother  of  his  children  was  borne  away  to  the 
spirit  land,  leaving  eight  children  to  mourn 
her  loss,  whose  names  in  order  of  their  birth 
are  George  N.,  Anna  E.,  .Mary  F.,  Thomas  S., 
Frances  A.,  Albert  \V.,  Elizabeth  (i.  and  Silas 
W. 

JAMES  S.  CORNISH,  farmer,  P.  0.  Smith- 
boro.  Among  the  young  farmers  of  this 
township,  who  have  been  here  less  than  a  score 
<  >f  years,  is  the  above,  who  was  born  October 
P»,  1847,  in  Clarion  County,  Penn.,  son 
of  Henry  Cornish,  who  was  born  September  26. 
1806,  in  Massachusetts,  son  of  Andrew  Cornish. 
His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Susan,  daughter 


of  Andrew,  who  was  a  son  of  Mark  Noble,  of 
Massachusetts.  The  family  first  settled  in 
Venango  County  ;  afterward,  in  1847,  located 
in  Clarion  County,  where  James  S.  took  his 
first  observations.  Father  died  in  his  sixty- 
eighth  year  ;  he  was  for  many  years  a  member 
of  the  German  Baptist  Church,  and  minister  of 
the  same.  The  children  born  to  Henry  Cor- 
nish and  wife  are  Rosanna,  Henry,  Mark,  Susan. 
Sarah.  John,  James  and  Aurilla.  James  re- 
ceived but  a  common  school  education.  His 
early  manhood  was  spent  in  the  lumber  woods, 
yet  at  the  age  of  twenty  he  began  doing  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  In  1874.  January  1, 
he  married  Susan  McDowell,  born  in  Clarion 
County  May  1,  1848,  daughter  of  James 
McDowell.  In  the  spring  of  1876.  he  emi- 
grated to  this  State,  locating  in  Bond  County. 
His  first  purchase  was  forty  acres  on  Section 
21  ;  soon  after  he  added  twenty  more.  In  the 
spring  of  1879,  he  sold  out,  and  purchased 
eighty  acres  on  Section  28,  where  he  has  since 
lived,  having  added  to  the  same  until  he  now 
has  120  acres.  He  began  upon  his  own  re- 
sources, and  had  nothing  donated  to  him.  but 
by  industry  and  frugality  he  has  secured  his 
present  possessions  solely  upon  his  own  indi- 
vidual merits. 

THOMAS  K.  CLINE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Woburn, 
was  born  on  the  farm  where  he  now  lives.  Sept- 
28,  1S42.  Is  the  youngest  son  of  Thomas 
Cline.  the  pioneer,  who  was  born  July  15,  1800, 
in  Lancaster  County,  sou  of  Henry  Cline,  from 
Germany,  with  whom  he  emigrated  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  North  Carolina  when  young.  He 
had  several  brothers  and  sisters,  who  were 
Amos,  Martin  (Thomas)  and  Mary.  October 
18,  1825,  Thomas  Cline  was  married  to  Sarah 
Mitehem.  She  was  born  June  12,  1807.  in 
Lincoln  County.  N.  O,  daughter  of  Nathaniel 
and  Mollie  (Tucker)  Mitehem.  After  mar- 
riage, they  raised  one  crop,  and  made  a  sale 
that  fall  which  amounted  in  all  to  $109.25, 
which  they  could   not  then  collect.     The  same 


80 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


fall,  they  came  to  this  count}-  with  one  old  blind 
mare.  During  that  winter.  Mr.  Cline  went  to 
Yandalia,  where  he  was  allowed  to  enter  eighty 
acres,  and  pay  for  the  same  when  he  could 
command  the  money  ;  he  after  entered  eighty 
more.  This  land  is  now  owned  bj-  his  son 
Thomas,  on  Section  29.  It  was  a  wilderness 
then  ;  but  two  houses  between  his  home  and 
Greenville  at  that  time.  He  died  June  24. 
1S68,  and  for  many  years  was  identified  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  before  his  death 
a  few  years  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  there  being  no  church  here  at  that 
time.  Eight  children  were  born  to  him  who 
grew  up  :  Mary.  William,  Nancy,  Lizzie,  Jennie, 
John,  Sarah  and  Thomas;  the  two  latter  are 
residents  of  this  township.  Thomas  was  raised 
a  farmer.  February,  1864,  he  enlisted  in  the 
Third  Illinois  Cavalry,  Company  G,  and  served 
until  the  fall  of  1865,  when  he  was  mustered 
out,  having  participated  in  all  the  battles  in 
which  his  command  was  engaged.  In  1867,  he 
married  Sallie,  born  in  Fayette  County,  daugh- 
ter of  Frank  Doyle.  Has  six  children — Lucy, 
Willie,  Jennie,  Frank,  Josie  and  Peter.  In 
1879,  he  moved  to  the  farm  he  now  owns,  where 
he  has  recently  erected  a  new  house.  He  lias  a 
very  fine  spring  on  his  farm,  which  feeds  a  large 
fish  pond,  which  is  being  stocked  with  many 
varieties  of  fish.  II  is  mother  is  yet  living,  and 
is  like  a  shock  of  corn,  fully  ripe  for  her 
Master's  use.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Free 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

PHIL1BERT  DECHENNE,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Woburn.  The  old  countries  have  furnished  no 
better  husbandmen  and  citizens  than  Mr. 
Dechenne,  who  hails  from  Valdajal,  Lorrainei 
France,  where  he  was  born -■  February  2,  1813. 
son  of  Nicholas  Dechenne.  a  farmer,  whose  wife 
was  Marianna  Bolmont,  who  bore  him  Isadore, 
Florinne,  Philibert,  Virginia,  Julian,  Francis, 
Mary,  Gilbert,  all  of  whom,  except  Isadore, 
emigrated  to  America,  in  1S37,  coming  direct 
to    St.    Louis,  locating    near  there  at  a   place 


called  French  Village.  The  father  of  our  sub- 
ject was  a  farmer,  and  owned  considerable 
property  in  France,  but  being  largely  in  debt, 
he  resolved  to  sell  out  and  pay  his  creditors, 
and  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  cast 
his  lot  with  those  of  his  family.  When  he  ar- 
rived at  St.  Louis,  he  had  but  about  $200.  He 
located  at  French  Village,  where  he  died  Octo- 
ber. 1844,  aged  sixt3'-two  ;  his  wife  died  1839. 
Philibert,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  learned  the 
blacksmith  trade,  which  he  followed  at  French 
Village  for  several  years,  working  on  the  farm 
a  portion  of  the  time.  In  1850,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  spent  two  years  at  his  trade. 
Upon  his  return  to  this  State,  he  located  in 
Rich  Prairie,  St.  Clair  County,  where  he  lived 
until  1858,  when  he  came  to  this  county  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  and  purchased  ninety 
acres  in  this  township,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained, having  now  170  acres.  In  1847.  April 
14.  he  married  Agatha  Royer,  born  1829  in  La- 
garde,  Lorraine,  France,  daughter  of  Francis 
Rover,  who  emigrated  to  St.  Clair  County  with 
his  family  in  1846;  he  died  two  years  after. 
His  children  were  Francis,  Jacob,  Celestine, 
Agatha.  Mary  and  Matilda.  Francis  and  Jacob 
are  deceased.  Matilda  resides  in  Jasper  County, 
Celeste  and  Mary  in  California.  Mr.  Dechenne 
has  nine  children — Jules,  Delphine,  Eugene, 
Leonora,  Theodore,  Victor,  Henry,  Edward  and 
Millie.  Delphine  is  the  wife  of  Jacob  Metcalf, 
and  resides  near  the  homestead.  Mr.  Dechenne 
has  one  brother  in  Pocahontas,  this  county. 
Has  one  brother,  Frank,  in  California,  and  one 
sister  in  New  Orleans.  Member  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

FREDERICK  DURR.  farmer.  P.  0.  Wobnrn, 
a  thrifty  farmer  in  Town  7,  Range  2,  son  of 
John  Durr,  a  native  of  Germany,  who  came  to 
America,  and  when  a  young  man  cast  his  fort- 
unes with  Bond  County,  when  it  was  but  par- 
tially improved.  For  several  years  he  worked 
out  by  the  month  and  earned  sufficient  means 
to  enable  him  to  purchase  a  home  in  this  town- 


ZION    PRECINCT. 


81 


ship.  He  married  Malinda  Kimbro,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  daughter  of  Frederick  Kim- 
bro, which  family  were  likewise  veiy  early  set- 
tles in  this  part  of  the  comity.  Mr.  Durr  and 
wife  had  born  them  the  following — John  H., 
Mary  E.,  Frederick,  George,  Isley,  Jonathan, 
Martha  A.  and  William.  Of  the  above  John 
H,  Martha  A.  and  Jonathan  are  deceased.  Mr. 
Durr  died  November  15,  1800  ;  Frederick,  his 
successor,  was  born  February  12,  1844,  on  Sec- 
tion 28,  Town  7,  Range  2,  on  the  homestead 
upon  which  he  lived  as  his  home  until  his  mar- 
riage. In  March,  1865,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
K.  Third  Illinois  Cavalry,  in  which  he  served 
until  the  tall  of  the  same  3-ear  ;  his  range  of 
observation  during  this  time  extended  from 
Eastport,  Miss.,  to  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  received 
his  discharge  October  19.  December  3,  1868, 
he  married  Julia  S.  Roberts,  born  in  this  town- 
ship, daughter  of  R.  S.  D.  Roberts,  an  old  and 
highly  respected  resident  of  the  county.  P>3r 
this  union  he  has  four  children — Keturah  E., 
John  R.,  Samuel  T.  and  Illinois  Maude.  Mr. 
Durr  has  360  acres  ;  located  on  the  farm  he 
now  owns  in  1868  ;  after  his  marriage  sold  his 
farm  on  the  south  half  of  Section  32,  Town 
7,  Range  2.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
United  Baptist  Church. 

F.  M.  ELAM,  farmer,  P.  0.  Woburn.  One 
of  the  largest  land-holders  and  most  successful 
farmers  in  Town  6,  Range  2,  is  Francis  Marion 
Elam,  known  among  his  friends  as  "  General," 
not  that  he  earned  the  title  from  his  associa- 
tion with  gory  battle-fields  or  valorous  deeds 
in  martial  array,  but  his  father  dubbed  him 
with  this  handle  to  his  name  when  a  youth, 
which  name  he  has  since  borne.  This  gentle- 
man was  born  in  Rutherford  County,  N.  C, 
April  18,  1826,  the  eldest  son  and  fifth  child 
born  to  his  parents,  who  were  Thomas  and 
Elizabeth  Elam,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward Elam.  The  paternal  grandsire  of  Francis 
M.  was  Alexander,  a  native  of  Virginia,  who 
emigrated  to  North  Carolina.      In    1827,  the 


family  moved  to  Sumner  County.  Term.,  where 
they  remained  until  1833.  when  they  came  to 
Fayette  County,  this  State  ;  here  Thomas  Elam 
died  in  1854,  his  wife  dying  in  1877  :  he 
and  wife  were  members  of  the  United  Baptist 
Church.  Twelve  children  were  born  to  them. 
nine  of  the  number  lived  to  be  grown,  viz., 
Susan,  Nancy,  Cicely  F.  M.,  Thomas  A.,  Sabra 
C,  Lovincia,  Sarah  and  Edward.  Francis  M. 
remained  at  home  until  he  reached  his  majority 
In  1846,  he  married  Nancy,  born  in  Sangamon 
County,  this  State,  daughter  of  Richard  Walker, 
a  Kentuckian  by  birth.  When  Mr.  Elam  was 
married  he  moved  to  this  township;  he  had  a 
small  commencement  in  the  way  of  this  world's 
goods  ;  had  one  yoke  of  young  steers,  three 
cows  and  a  three-year-old  Alley.  His  outfit  for 
keeping  house  was  bought  for  $5  ;  he  worked 
hard  during  the  day,  and  at  night  he  made 
such  furniture  as  they  most  needed  ;  with  a 
cheerful  heart  and  willing  hand  he  pushed 
ahead,  and  as  fast  as  he  made  money  he  in- 
vested it  in  land.  In  1849,  he  located  where 
he  now  resides.  Before  he  divided  up  his  land 
among  his  sons  he  owned  1,200  acres  ;  he 
has  now  about  700.  He  has  been  a  zealous 
member  of  the  United  Baptist  Church  for  many 
years.  Libert}'  Church,  of  which  he  is  an 
officer,  stands  upon  the  land  he  deeded  for  that 
purpose.  Of  the  following  eight  children  born 
to  him  but  five  are  living — Mary  E.,  James  F. 
John  S.,  A.  J.,  Daniel  E.,  Sarah,  Samuel  D.  and 
Joel  A. 

EUGENE  ENLOE,  merchant  and  P.  M.,  is 
the  eldest  son  of  Thomas  B.  Enloe,  born  in  this 
county  in  Town  6,  Range  3,  August,  1830,  son  of 
Ezekiel  Enloe,  of  North  Carolina.  The  wife  of 
Ezekiel  was  Charlotte  White,  daughter  of  Rich- 
ard White,  of  North  Carolina.  In  1858,  May 
1,  Thomas  B.  was  married  ;  his  wife  was  Sarah 
Cline,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  (Mitchem) 
Cline.  After  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Enloe.  lie 
moved  to  the  old  homestead,  where  he  died 
November  20,  1864.     Four  children  were  born 


82 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


to  him — Eugene,  Henry,  Ellen  and  Thomas  B. 
To  Ezekiel  Enloe  were  born  ten  children  ; 
eight  grew  up,  viz.,  Marshall,  Clayburn, 
Thomas  B.,  William.  Edward.  Mary,  Benjamin 
and  George  ;  five  are  now  living ;  Thomas 
Marshall  and  Clayburn  are  deceased.  Eugene 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  was  born  April 
24,  1859  ;  he  was  raised  on  the  farm.  April 
30,  1879,  he  married  Clara  M.  Moss,  daughter 
of  L.  S.  Moss  ;  has  two  children — E.  M.  and 
babv  unnamed  ;  is  now  running  a  store  at 
Woburn.  November  15,  1881,  he  was  commis- 
sioned Postmaster. 

LEWIS  S.  HUBBARD,  farmer,  P.  0.  Smith- 
boro.  This  gentleman  is  a  grandson  of  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
ty, and  son  of  T.  S.  Hubbard,  and  Ann  E.  Saun- 
ders. Lewis  S.  was  born  on  the  homestead 
farm,  situated  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Town 
5,  Range  2.  He  first  saw  the  light  of  day  Jan- 
uary 11,  1845.  His  father,  T.  S.  Hubbard,  be- 
iiu  a  farmer,  his  sons  were  brought  up  with  the 
same  education.  While  in  his  nineteenth  year, 
he  volunteered  his  services  to  put  down  the  re- 
bellion, enlisting  in  January.  1S64,  in  the  Third 
Illinois  Cavalry.  Tlie  first  six  months  of  his 
service  he,  with  his  company,  E,  acted  as  an  es- 
cort to  Gen.  Steele,  after  which,  he,  with  his 
company,  joined  the  regiment,  and  started  in 
pursuit  of  Hood,  on  his  march  in  the  rear  of 
Sherman.  He  participated  in  all  the  principal 
battles  in  which  his  company  was  engaged,  and 
escaped  without  wounds,  but  during  his  ex- 
posure he  contracted  rheumatism,  which  is  now 
a  source  of  considerable  annoyance  to  him. 
After  the  close  of  the  war,  he  and  his  command 
were  sent  North  into  Minnesota,  to  look  after 
the  Indians,  and  he  did  not  receive  his  release 
from  the  army  until  the  fall  of  1865,  after  which 
he  returned  home  and  resumed  labor  on  the 
home  farm.  September  17,  1873.  he  married 
Frances  Seaman,  daughter  of  Jonathan  and 
Mary  Ann  (.Miller)  Seaman.  Since  his  marriage, 
he  has  been  a  resident  of  the  farm  he  now  owns. 


situated  on  the  southwest  quarter  of  Section 
33,  which  farm  he  began  improving  in  1866 
He  has  120  acres,  and  his  wife  sixty.  He  has 
one  son,  Earl  S. 

WILLIAM  A.  JETT,  farmer,  P.  0.  Green- 
ville, born  January  15.  1819.  in  Fauquier  Coun- 
ty, Virginia,  second  child  and  son  of  Thomas 
and  Elizabeth  (Rogers)  Jett.  When  ten  years 
of  age,  he  went  with  his  parents  to  Tennessee, 
and  from  there  they  removed  to  this  county, 
about  the  year  1831,  his  father  making  his  loca- 
tion in  Zion  Precinct.  William  A.  remained 
with  his  father  until  several  years  past  his  ma- 
jority ;  in  fact,  he  made  his  father's  house  his 
home  until  he  was  married,  which  was  August 
28,  1856.  His  wife  was  Emma  S.  Davis,  a 
native  of  La  Grange  Precinct.  Her  parents 
were  William  and  Lucy  A.  (Nance)  Davis.  Will- 
iam Davis  was  a  native  of  Trigg  County.  Ken- 
tucky, son  of  Rev.  John  T.  Davis,  a  Baptist 
minister.  Lucy  A.  Nance  was  born  in  Versailles. 
Woodford  Co.,  Ky.  Mr.  Davis  removed  with 
his  family  to  Bond  County,  locating  in  La 
Grange  Precinct,  on  Section  9,  about  1830-:;7. 
where  the  Foster  brothers  reside.  Mr.  Davis 
died  April.  1857;  Mrs.  Davis,  August.  1865. 
To  them  nine  children  were  bora  ;  of  this  num- 
ber the  following  are  living:  Robert  Dale,  trav- 
elling salesman  ;  Amanda,  wife  of  Samuel  Plant, 
of  Greenville  Precinct ;  Margaret  resides  in 
Fayette  County,  wife  of  Henry  Casey  ;  Lucy 
A.,  wife  of  James  Saunderson,  same  precinct; 
also  Laura,  who  married  Addison  Thompson. 
Mr.  Jett  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  sh.  >it- 
ly  after  his  marriage  ;  he  has  160  acres.  His  fam- 
ily consists  of  six  children  :  Sarah  M.,  the  eld- 
est, is  the  wife  of  James  W.  Reed,  of  Green- 
ville ;  Flora  married  John  H.  Booher,  and  re- 
sides in  La  Grange  Precinct ;  those  at  home  are 
Stephen  A.  D.,  William  L.,  L.  Virginia,  and 
I  James  Arthur  Dale.  Mr.  Jett  is  not  a  member 
of  any  church  society  :  Mrs.  Jett,  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church. 

STEPHEN  JACKSON  JETT,  farmer.  P.  0. 


ZION    PRECINCT. 


83 


Greenville,  is  a  representative  of  Jett  Prairie 
Born  June  12,  1827,  in  Fauquier  County,  Va., 
and  emigrated  to  this  State,  with  his  par- 
ents, when  only  eighteen  months  old.  They 
located  on  Section  6,  Town  6,  Range  2  ;  here  he 
was  reared,  and  has  since  been  a  constant  resi- 
dent. His  father's  name  was  Thomas  Jett,  a 
native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  son  of  William  Jett, 
a  Revolutionary  soldier.  When  Thomas  Jett 
came  here,  he  entered  about  two  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  which  he  cleared,  and  re- 
mained on  the  same  until  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred June  29, 1854,  at  Pocahontas,  of  cholera, 
while  on  his  way  from  St.  Louis.  He  was  a 
Whig  and  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
His  wife  died  1859.  To  them  ten  children  were 
born,  all  of  whom  grew  to  manhood  and  woman- 
hood— James  H.,  William  A.,  Alexander  W., 
Thomas  J..  Stephen  J.,  Wesley,  Susana,  Mary 
J.,  Eliza  and  Sarah.  Stephen  J.  and  William 
reside  on  farms  adjoining.  Our  subject  was 
married,  in  February,  1849,  to  Nancy,  born  in 
this  State,  daughter  of  John  Boohor.  She  died 
1866,  leaving  four  children — John  W.,  William 
E.,  Thomas  M.  and  Stephen.  Mrs.  Jett  died 
May  9,  1866.  His  second  marriage  was  to  Eliza 
Bull,  of  Morgan  County,  daughter  of  Moses 
Bull,  and  four  children  were  born  to  them — 
Solomon,  Oscar,  Nancy  and  Charles.  Mr.  Jett 
has  210  acres  of  land. 

L.  S.  MOSS,  farmer  and  stock-raiser,  P.  0. 
Woburn,  is  the  eldest  son  of  W.  W.  Moss  and 
Drusilla  Scoggin,  daughter  of  Lemuel  Scoggin. 
The  former  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  1787, 
son  of  Henry  Moss,  a  Revolutionary  soldier. 
The  Moss  family  are  of  English  stock.  Three 
brothers  emigrated  from  England,  one  of  whom 
settled  in  Virginia,  another  in  North  Carolina, 
and  the  third  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  sub- 
ject of  these  lines  came  West  with  his  parents 
and  grandfather  in  1830.  They  located  first 
in  Madison  County,  and  about  five  years  later 
his  father  came  to  Bond  County  and  bought  a 
claim  ;  he  died  1861  ;  his  wife,  one  year  pre- 


vious. The  number  of  children  born  were  L.  S., 
James  H,  Henry  J.,  Martin  V.,  Edward  A.,  W. 
Preach  and  Mary  ;  but  two  of  the  above  are  in 
this  county — L.  S.  and  James  H.  L.  S.,  not 
Hiving  the  way  matters  were  being  "  run  "  about 
the  parental  roof,  he  ran  off  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen and  began  to  scratch  for  himself,  and, 
hiring  out  at  SO  per  month,  he  thus  continued 
on,  and  well  knows  what  is  to  "  paddle  "  his  own 
craft,  and  in  this  time  saw  much  of  the  workings 
of  human  nature  and  the  cold  side  of  humanity. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  went  to  Wisconsin  ; 
remained  here  some  time.  While  in  this  State, 
cast  his  first  vote  for  Gen.  Pierce,  and  has  since 
been  a  Democrat,  and  voted  his  sentiments  as 
well  as  talked  them.  From  Wisconsin  he  set- 
tled here  permanently  in  this  county,  where  he 
has  since  been  identified,  not  only  in  farming, 
but  in  trading  and  commercial  pursuits.  Was 
for  several  years  engaged  in  running  a  store  in 
Woburn,  also  a  mill  in  company  with  his 
brother  J.  H.  In  1850,  he  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Lewis  Kerr  and  Selma  Watson, 
both  families  from  North  Carolina.  Seven  chil- 
dren have  been  born  him,  viz.:  America,  Jose- 
phine, Clara,  Dolera,  George  L.,  James  H.  and 
Edith  H.  He  has  370  acres  of  land  adjoining 
Woburn  ;  has  forty -eight  acres  set  in  orchard  : 
raises  stock  and  grain.  Is  a  member  of  the  A.. 
F.  &  A.  M. 

JAMES  H.  MOSS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Greenville, 
born  February  11,  1833,  in  Madison  County, 
this  State,  is  the  second  son  born  to  his 
parents,  who  were  William  Moss  and  Drusilla 
Scoggin.  J.  H.  remained  with  his  parents 
until  he  attained  his  majority,  or  nearly  ;  left 
home  at  the  age  of  twenty.  In  1856,  he  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Jay.  born  near  Shelbyville,  this 
State,  daughter  of  Edward  Jay.  The  mother 
of  James  was  Jane,  daughter  of  Burril  Grigg- 
After  his  marriage,  he  first  located  on  the  Kline 
place,  and  from  1854  to  1858  he  was  interested 
in  running  a  saw-mill.  Afterward  he  moved  to 
the  Cross  Roads  (Wobunn,  where   he  and  hi- 


84 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


brother,  L.  S.,  were  for  some  time  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business,  also  in  running  the 
steam  saw  and  grist  mill.  In  18G8,  he  located 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Lemuel  S.,  which  he 
improved,  where  he  lived  until  1874,  when  he 
located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  containing 
680  acres  on  Section  30.  Of  a  family  of  ten 
children  born  to  him.  six  are  living — William 
W.j  Rose  E.,  Amy  L..  Delia  A.,  Lena  E.  and 
babe  unnamed.  Since  1859,  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  ; 
more  recently  has  been  associated  with  the  Free 
Methodist  Church,  as  well  as  an  official  member 
of  the  same. 

HENRY  H.  MULL,  farmer,  P.  0.  Woburn, 
is  a  thriving  farmer  of  Pennsylvania  origin, 
born  September  20,  1840.  in  Venango  County  ; 
son  of  Abraham  Mull,  who  was  born  in  Berks 
County,  1812,  and  married  Hannah  Gilger,  who 
was  a  native  of  Lancaster  County,  same  State. 
daughter  of  James  Gilger.  This  marriage  was 
crowned  by  the  birth  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
Sarah  was  the  eldest.  In  order  of  birth  came 
the  following:  Margaret  E.,  Henry  H..  Samuel 
E.,  Jonas  L.,  Catharine  J.,  Charles  W.,  David 
E.  and  Oliver  G.,  all  of  whom  are  living  in 
Pennsylvania,  in  Venango  and  Clarion  Counties. 
Father  died  in  1862  ;  mother  yet  survives  him. 
Henry  H.  received  a  good  common  school  edu- 
cation, and  early  in  manhood  learned  the  car- 
penter's trade  of  his  father.  In  June,  1862,  he 
volunteered  to  serve  three  years  in  the  defense 
of  his  country's  flag,  joining  Company  A.  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-tirst  Regiment,  which 
command  he  continued  with  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  serving  in  all  the  hotly  contested 
battles  from  that  of  Antietam  on.  At  the  bat- 
tle of  Gettysburg,  he  was  taken  prisoner,  but 
joined  his  command  two  months  after.  He  re- 
turned home  at  the  end  of  the  war  unscathed. 
In  I860,  he  cast  his  lot  ami  his  fortunes  with 
the  good  people  of  Bond  County,  arriving  in 
this  township  April  18,  and  immediately  en- 
gaged at  his  trade,  which  he  followed  regularly 


until  1873,  having,  three  years  previous,  lo- 
cated where  he  now  resides,  and  has  improved 
the  place  very  materially  since  his  occupation. 
The  forty  acres  occupied  by  the  house  was 
given  his  wife  by  her  father,  when  she  married, 
in  January,  1870  ;  her  name  is  Priscilla,  born 
in  Clarion  County,  Penn.,  daughter  of  Jacob 
Lilligh.  Mr.  Mull  has  added  to  the  forty  acres 
given  his  wife  180  more,  all  of  which  he  has 
earned  by  his  industry  and  management,  hav- 
ing received  but  about  $200  from  his  father's 
estate.  Has  three  children — Charles  O.,  John 
W.  and  babe  not  named. 

A.  W.  MAHLE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Woburn. 
This  gentleman  was  born  June  19,  1812,  in 
Hesse-Cassel,  and  emigrated  to  Lancaster 
County,  Penn.,  with  his  parents  in  1819  ;  three 
years  later  they  moved  west,  to  what  is  now 
Clarion  County.  Here  his  parents  died,  hav- 
ing had  to  them  born  twelve  children,  ten  of 
whom  grew  up,  three  of  whom  are  now  living. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Maria  Strichen- 
berger.  Mr.  Mahle  was  first  married  to  Cath- 
arine Sick  worth,  who  bore  him  seven  children  j 
of  whom  Edward,  Sarah  and  Maria  are  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Louisa  and  Emanuel  in  Arkansas. 
John  resides  in  this  county,  a  druggist  in  Mul- 
berry Grove.  Mr.  Mahle  married  for  his  second 
wife  Sarah  Shaner,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
by  her  has  three  children — Elizabeth,  Marietta 
and  demons.  She  was  born  March  16,  1827, 
daughter  of  Henry  Shaner  and  Elizabeth  Rapp, 
the  former  a  native  of  Lehigh,  she  of  Berks 
County.  To  them  were  born  six  children,  Mrs. 
Mahle  being  the  eldest  of  the  number.  Mr. 
Mahle  purchased  land  in  this  township  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  on  Section  21,  where  he  lived 
until  1882  ;  in  March  located  near  Woburn. 
where  he  has  improved  a  home.  Since  1 8  1 7 , 
he  has  been  identified  with  the  German  Baptist 
Church,  and  was  mainly  instrumental  in  get- 
ting the  church  built  in  this  township.  His 
farm  he  now  rents,  he  being  in  a  manner  retired 
from  active  business  associations. 


ZIOX    PRECINCT. 


E.  P.  POINDEXTER,  physician,  Woburn, 
takes  rank  among  the  first  physicians  in  the 
county.  He  is  a  representative  of  an  Old  Virgin- 
ian family.  He  was  born  August  10,  1838,  in 
Patrick  County,  in  the  Old  Dominion,  a  son  of 
Joseph  S.  Poindexter,  a  native  of  Campbell 
County  and  of  French  descent,  born  Oct.  5, 1802, 
son  of  John  Poindexter.  His  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Martha  Frasier,  who  was  born  and 
raised  in  Rockingham  County,  in  North  Caro- 
lina, near  the  Yadkin  River,  daughter  of 
Thomas,  an  Englishman,  a  man  noted  for  his 
large  size  and  physical  development,  being  six 
feet  and  seven  inches  in  height,  and  weighed 
240  pounds,  and  a  giant  in  strength  ;  he  moved 
to  Jackson  County,  Ohio,  in  1837,  and  died  in 
1845.  John  Poindexter,  the  paternal  grandsire 
of  our  subject,  was  a  large  slave-owner,  owned 
nearly  300  slaves  in  Virginia.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Chilton,  and  by  her  had  seven  chil- 
dren. Joseph  S.,  the  father  of  our  subject  was 
the  eldest,  who  emigrated  with  his  family  West 
to  Saline  County,  Mo.,  where  he  died  July 
3,  1863,  leaving  four  children,  three  sons 
and  one  daughter.  The  subject  of  these 
lines,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  was 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources  when  a  young 
man  ;  he  received  the  advantages  afforded  by 
the  common  schools,  and  in  1 858  he  entered  Mc- 
Kee  College,  but  the  war  broke  out,  preventing 
a  further  prosecution  of  his  studies  at  that 
time.  Dr.  H.  B.  Redmon  was  his  first  precept- 
or. In  the  spring  of  1861,  he  joined  Capt. 
Brown's  company  (Capt.  Brown  was  a  son  of 
Sam  Brown,  who  fought  Cassius  M.  Clay),  after, 
in  Col.  Brown's  regiment,  in  Parson's  division, 
m  I 'rice's  army.  The  Doctor  served  through  the 
entire  war.  He  at  one  time  raised  a  company 
and  served  as  Lieutenant  under  Capt.  Gullet ; 
he  was  wounded  but  once.  In  the  battle  of 
Pea  Ridge  he  was  gunner  in  one  of  the  batter- 
ies, and  did  effective  work.  He  followed  the 
fortunes  of  Price's  army  all  through  the  war, 
serving  in   various  localities  and   in  different 


positions,  enduring  much  hardship  and  expos- 
ure. Returning  to  his  former  residence  after 
the  war,  the  feeling  being  so  strong  against  him 
on  account  of  his  advocac}"  of  the  Southern 
cause  that  he  came  away,  and  cast  his  fortunes 
in  the  Sucker  State,  where  he  has  since  lived. 
In  1867,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at 
Charlestown,  in  Coles  County,  under  Drs.  Sil- 
verthorn  &  Trower,  continuing  his  studies, 
graduating  in  the  spring  of  1874  in  St.  Louis 
Medical  College.  His  course  was  a  slow,  yet  a 
thorough  one  ;  he  borrowed  the  money  to  ena- 
ble him  to  prosecute  his  studies  to  completion. 
April  16,  1870,  he  came  to  Woburn,  Bond 
County,  and  has  since  been  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  and  he  has  been  very  successful, 
having  the  entire  confidence  of  the  people.  In 
his  practice  has  given  the  poor  the  benefit  of 
his  skill  without  fee  or  reward,  and  did  it 
cheerfully.  September  17,  1873,  he  married 
Tabitha  J.  Goodrich,  born  in  Salem,  Marion 
County,  daughter  of  Chauncy  and  Ruth  (Col- 
burn)  Goodrich,  of  Masssachusetts.  The  Doc- 
tor has  three  children — Don  Victor,  Annie  and 
Delia  Maude.  In  religious  matters,  he  is  a  free- 
thinker. 

JOHN  W.  PRATER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville. The  Prater  family  were  about  the  first 
settlers  in  this  part  of  the  county.  The  pio- 
neer was  Halliday,  born  January  23,  1777  ;  he 
married  Anni  Adair,  who  was  born  May  1, 
1776.  The  family  emigrated  from  the  Caro- 
linas  to  Kentucky  in  the  early  part  of  the  cen- 
tury, but  remained  here  but  a  few  years  ;  finally 
came  to  this  locality  before  it  was  a  State,  mak- 
ing his  settlement  on  Section  31,  Town  7,  Range 
2;  here  he  remained  until  his  death  in  184(1, 
No  /ember  28  ;  his  wife  the  same  year,  August, 
30.  The  father  of  John  W.  was  Samuel  Prater, 
born  March  31,  1800,  in  South  Carolinia  ;  he 
married  Nancy  Walker,  daughter  of  James 
Walker,  of  Virginia.  Five  children  were 
the  issue  of  this  marriage,  who  were  in  order 
of  birth  as  follows  :    Tabitha,  John  W.,  Mich- 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ael  H.,  Martha  Ann  and  Mary.  Tabitha  mar- 
ried William  Beard  and  settled  in  Madison 
County.  Michael  never  married,  but  remained 
with  his  -mother  ;  Martha  A.,  married  James 
M.  Brown  ;  Mary,  Willis  Sands,  all  of  whom  re- 
side in  this  locality  ;  father  died  February  26, 
1852.  John  W.  was  married  March  12,  1846, 
to  Sarah  Hunt,  born  in  1827,  in  Warren  County, 
Ky.,  daughter  of  John  Hunt  and  Elizabeth 
Wright,  who  raised  a  large  family  of  children, 
a  dozen  or  more.  Mrs.  Prater's  parents  never 
came  here  ;  she  came  with  her  uncle,  Joseph 
Wright,  who  settled  here  in  Illinois.  In  the 
spring  of  1848,  our  subject  located  on  the  farm 
he  now  owns  ;  first  lived  in  a  cabin,  but  a  few 
rods  from  his  present  residence,  which  he  built 
in  1871.  His  farm  consists  of  266  acres;  has 
had  seven  children  —  James,  William,  John 
Thomas,  Caroline,  Samuel,  Sissie  and  Jessie 
K.  Mr.  Prater  was  born  on  his  farm  Decem- 
per  5,  1824  ;  since  been  a  constant  resident  of 
the  township.  He  drinks  neither  tea,  coffee, 
whisky  nor  uses  tobacco. 

R.  S.  D.  ROBERTS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Woburn, 
was  born  in  Kentucky,  Henry  County,  Septem- 
ber 15,  1822,  and  came  to  Bond  County  with 
his  parents  when  three  months  old,  remaining 
here  about  two  years,  when  he  went  with  the 
family  to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  came 
to  manhood's  3'ears.  He  was  married  in  July, 
1843,  to  Mary  R.  White,  a  native  of  Loudoun 
County,  Va.,  daughter  of  James  and  Mary 
( Vernando)  White,  who  came  to  this  State  about 
the  year  1839.  Shortly  after  his  marriage,  he 
came  to  this  county,  locating  in  Town  6,  Range 


2,  purchased  laud,  and  has  since  been  identified 
with  this  township  and  been  engaged  in  farm- 
ing pursuits.  He  has  been  successful  in  his 
business,  having  272  acres  of  land.  Had  eight 
children — four  sons  and  four  daughters — six 
living.  Mary  is  the  wife  of  Hardin  Elmore  ; 
James  H.  resides  in  Fayette  County  ;  Julia  is 
the  wife  of  Frederick  Deen  ;  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried Fred.  Kimbro,  now  deceased  ;  George,  de- 
ceased ;  Harriet,  wife  of  J.  F.  Elam ;  and 
Richard  at  home  ;  Stephen.  Mr.  Roberts  has 
been  a  member  of  the  United  Baptist  Church 
many  years,  having  joined  the  church  at  Lib- 
erty soon  after  its  organization.  Mr.  Roberts 
served  in  the  Mexican  war  under  Col.  Foreman  ; 
was  a  member  of  Company  E,  Third  Regiment, 
and  has  been  a  Jackson  Democrat  of  the  first 
order,  and  has  always  since  he  cast  his  first 
vote  been  a  warm  supporter  of  Jeffersonian 
principles.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  a  son 
of  Capt.  Benjamin  Roberts ;  he  died  in  Ken- 
tuck}-.  Roberts  died  1847  ;  he  was  one  among 
the  first  school  teachers  in  Montgomery  County. 
He  married  the  mother  of  R.  S.  D. ;  her  maiden 
name  was  Sarah  Simmons,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Simmons,  a  Revolutionary  soldier  of  seven 
years'  service  ;  he  lived  to  be  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  years  old.  His  wife  died  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  seven  of  cancer.  Our 
subject  had  one  brother,  Henry,  who  served  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  was  out  with  the 
Rangers,  and  also  in  the  Florida  war,  and  one 
brother,  Marcus  S.,  who  was  in  the  Mexican 
war  ;  he  is  now  in  Colorado. 


COTTONWOOD    GROVE    PRECINCT. 


^7 


COTTONWOOD   GROVE  PRECINCT 


JOHN  D.  ALEXANDER,  retired  farmer. 
Cottonwood  Precinct,  is  one  of  the  old  pioneers 
of  Bond  Count}-,  having  been  here  since  May, 
1820,  a  constant  resident.  He  was  born  Octo- 
ber 24,  1793,  in  .Mecklenburg  County,  N.  C, 
son  of  Jedediah  and  Betsey  Alexander — Jede- 
diah  was  born  1757,  son  of  Francis,  who  was 
born  1730.  The  Alexander  family  are  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent.  John  I).  lived  in  North  Caro- 
lina until  twenty-three  years  of  age.  Septem- 
ber, 1816,  moved  to  Maury  County,  Tenn.,  where 
he  lived  until  May  1,  1820,  when  he  came  to 
Bond  County,  and  located  three  miles  south- 
west of  Bethel  Church,  on  the  William  Cruthis 
farm  ;  where  he  lived  until  1832,  when  he  located 
on  Section  12.  in  this  precinct,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  He  joined  the  Sugar  Creek  society  of 
the  Presbyterian  order,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
when  in  North  Carolina,  and  has  since  been  a 
member  of  that  organization,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  members  at  the  time  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Bethel  Church,  September  15,  1825, 
and  of  sixty-two  members  he  is  one  of  three 
now  living.  His  wife  was  Mary-  Scott  McCord, 
whom  he  married  on  December  10,  1819.  She 
died  January  8,  1837.  having  borne  the  follow- 
ing children  :  William  F.,  James  H.,  Robert  W.. 
Demas  W.,  John  L..  Amelia  and  Melanthon 
Hill.  None  lived  to  be  married  except  Amelia 
J.,  wife  of  J.  V.  McFarland.  Melanthon  and 
Demas  M.  Robert  went  to  California  in  1850, 
and  was  killed  by  the  Indians.  Demas  M.  served 
through  the  late  war,  and  one  year  after  in  the 
regular  army.  He  was  first  commissioned  as 
Captain  and  came  out  as  Brevet  Major  ;  he  went 
out  from  Kansas,  where  he  had  gone  in  1856. 
He  was  prominent  and  well  known  in  that  lo- 
cality.    He  served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  and 


was  twice  elected  Representative  from  Douglas 
County.  He  died  in  1871,  highly  esteemed  by 
all  who  knew  him.  Melanthon  H.  was  born 
June  12,  1828,  on  the  Cruthis  farm,  and  moved 
with  his  father  to  the  place  he  now  owns,  where 
he  has  since  lived.  January  1,  1860,  he  married 
Caroline  V.  Foster,  born  1841,  near  the  Hudson 
River,  in  Dutchess  County,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Aaron  Foster,  whose  wife  was  a  Seaman.  He 
is  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
now  located  in  Vermillion  County,  where  he 
came  from  New  York  in  1843.  Mrs.  Alexan- 
der has  one  brother,  John  L.,  now  of  Vermillion 
County.  Mr.  Alexander  has  four  children  liv- 
ing— Leroy  E.,  Mary.  Percy  and  Clarence. 
Walter  died,  aged  ten  years,  in  1875.  Mr.  A. 
is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
has  310  acres. 

J.  V.  McFARLAND,  farmer.  P.  O.  Cotton 
wood  Grove,  born  May  15,  1833,  in  Cape  Girar- 
deau Co.,  Mo.,  son  of  Roberts,  and  Agnes  (Flem- 
ing) McFarland.  Roller!  S.  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  in  1799,  son  of  Jacob  McFarland  a 
native  of  Scotland.  In  the  spring  of  1818,  the 
father  of  our  subject  came  to  what  is  now  Bond 
County,  and  made  a  crop  on  the  site  of  ground 
where  Greenville  now  stands.  He  remained  here 
however,  but  a  short  time  after,  when  he  moved 
South  to  Tennessee,  afterward  removed  to  Mis- 
souri, when  he  returned  to  this  county  with  his 
family  in  1837,  and  loca'ted  in  Cottonwood  Pre- 
cinct and  remained  here  until  his  death,  March 
15.  1863  ;  his  wife  survived  him  until  May  12, 
1865.  They  were  both  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Of  seven  children  born  to  them 
but  two  are  living — H.  Columbus  and  John  V. 
who  remained  under  the  parental  roof  until  his 
marriage.      He  was  married  April  26,  1866,  to 


88 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


Amelia  J.  Alexander,  born  in  this  count}-, 
daughter  of  John  D.  Alexander,  and  Mary  S- 
McCord,  both  old  and  highly  respected  families 
in  the  county.  Since  his  marriage  he  has  been 
a  resident  of  the  farm  he  now  owns,  having 
174  acres  and  good  improvements,  which  were 
of  his  own  establishment.  He  has  no  children. 
He  has  served  as  County  Commissioner  one 
term,  and  as  Overseer  of  the  Poor.  Is  not  a 
member  of  any  church  yet  not  an  opposer  of 
religion  but  a  friend  to  the  same  and  mainte- 
nance of  good  morals. 

WILLIAM  F.  PAISLEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Elm 
Point,  born  November  24,  1836,  on  the  home- 
stead of  the  old  Pioneer,  William  Paisley,  situ- 
ated in  Town  6,  Range  2,  in  Cottonwood  Grove 
Precinct.  He  is  the  youngest  son  of  his  father, 
and  remained  with  him  until  his  death.  Novem- 
ber 24, 1880,  he  married  Alice  Hendriek,  a  native 
of  Alabama,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Julia 
(Philips)  Hendriek.  She  moved  to  Bond  Coun- 
ty with  her  parents  in  1875.  Mr.  Paisley  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  homestead  since  his  mar- 
riage,  having  235  acres  of  land.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
having  his  membership  at  Donnellson.  Has  one 
child — Lucretia,  born  September  21,  1881. 

JAMES  REDFEARN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Green- 
ville. The  Redfearn  and  Carroll  family  are 
cotemporaneous  with  the  early  settlement  of 
Bond  County.  James  Redfearn  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  Septembers,  1S13,  son  of  Isaac 
who  moved  with  his  family  to  Bond  County 
about  the  year  1825,  and  settled  at  Round 
Prairie,  this  county.  Isaac  had  the  following- 
named  children,  of  whom  James  was  the  eldest, 
the  others  in  order  of  birth  were  John,  Jane, 
Isaac.  Milherrv.  Jemina,  Martha,  Ruth,  Lydia 
ami  Ira.  James  Redfearn,  whose  name  heads 
this  sketch,  was  brought  up  to  hard  labor,  raised 
on  a  farm  and  had  little  or  no  school  advan- 
tages. In  March  4,  1842,  he  married  Nancy 
Carroll,  who  was  born  Ma}'  15,  1822,  in  Vir- 
ginia, daughter  of  Mac  Carroll    and  Elizabeth 


Barom,  who  were  Virginians.  The  family  first 
removed  from  Virginia  to  Tennessee,  and  from 
there  they  came  to  Bond  County,  about  the  year 
1827,  and  settled  with  the  Redfearn  family  on 
Round  Prairie.  Eleven  children  were  born  to 
them,  viz.:  Ambrose,  Jackson.  Nancy,  Caro- 
line, Rhoda,  Tillman,  Robert,  Mary,  Elizabeth, 
Berdine  and  Susan,  all  of  whom  lived  to  be 
grown  and  raise  families  except  Elizabeth.  Af- 
ter the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Redfearn  they 
settled  near  Bethel,  where  they  remained  un- 
til they  came  to  this  farm  in  1851.  Of  ten  chil- 
dren born  to  them,  nine  are  living — John  T., 
James  P.,  Lydia  M..  .Mary  1'..  Nancy  E.,  Jemi- 
ma E.,  McClellan.  .Millie  J.  and  G.  M.;  Isaac, 
deceased.  Lydia  married  E.  B.  Dagget,  Mary 
F.  married  John  Sibert ;  Nancy,  Wilson  File  ; 
Jemina.  Charles  B.  File  ;  all  residents  of  this 
county.  Of  Mrs.  Redfearn's  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, living,  are  :  Tillman,  Robert  and  Berdine, 
they  reside  in  Linneus,  Linn  Co.,  Mo.;  Rhoda. 
of  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  wife  of  Henry  Jandt,  a 
prominent  business  man  ;  Susan  resides  in 
Round  Prairie,  wife  of  James  Saner  ;  Mary 
married  John  Hochderfl'er,  and  lives  in  this 
county.  Mr.  Redfearn  has  960  acres  of  land. 
Mrs.  R.  is  a  member  of  the  United  Baptist 
Church,  and  a  thoroughgoing  business  woman. 
JAMES  W.  ROBINSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Cot- 
tonwood Grove,  was  born  in  North  Carolina, 
March  14.  1800,  son  of  Alexander  and  Betse; 
(White)  Robinson,  both  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina, who  came  to  Montgomery  about  1812,  he, 
a  harness-maker  by  trade,  and  dying  October 
10,  1853.  the  wife  having  died  many  years  pre- 
vious. Seven  children  were  born  to  them,  our 
subject  being  the  eldest,  who  was  raised  to  a 
life  of  farming,  afterward  carrying  on  milling, 
both  grain  and  saw  milling.  In  1831,  he  mar- 
ried Catharine  Hess,  who  died  July  11,  183."., 
leaving  one  sou.  Alexander  S.  February  12. 
1835,  he  married  Mary  Ann  Armstrong,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Polly  (Dudley)  Armstrong,  he 
of  Georgia,  and  she  of  North  Carolina.     Alex- 


COTTONWOOD    GEOVE    PRECINCT. 


89 


ander  8.,  the  eldest  son  of  our  subject,  eutered 
the  Union  service,  enlisting  in  Company  B,  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry,  Twenty-second  Regi- 
ment, and  was  captured  at  Chickamauga,  dying 
in  Libby  Prison,  Richmond,  January  20,  1864. 
Mr.  Robinson  has  had  born  to  him  four  daugh- 
ters and  two  sons.  Two  of  the  daughters  are 
living — Mary  E.,  Mrs.  J.  N.  Roseborough,  and 
Alvira  R.,  Mr.s  H.  M.  Ferguson.  Sarah  was 
Mrs.  Rev.  F.  G.  Strange,  who  died  leaving  two 
sons.  Lemuel  F.  Robinson  died  July  20,  1854. 
JOHN  M.  ROSS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Cottonwood 
Grove,  was  born  in  Maury  County,  Tenn.,  June 
7,  1823,  son  of  Thomas  Ross,  a  farmer  born  in 
Georgia,  in  1786,  and  died  in  Montgomery 
County,  in  1835,  whither  he  had  moved  in  the 
spring  of  1829,  locating  in  Town  7,  Range  4. 
Our  subject's  mother  was  Sally  (Armstrong) 
Ross,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  John  Ross  came 
to  Bond  County  when  a  mere  child  of  five 
years,  and  received  his  first  schooling  in  the 
pioneer  schoolhouse,  just  over  the  north  line  of 
this  county.  At  Cottonwood  Grove  he  learned 
the  blacksmith's  trade  with  Reuben  Morrell, 
and  followed  this  trade  about  fifteen  years. 
July  13, 1847,  at  Pleasant  Prairie,  this  county, 
he  was  married  to  Ruth  N.  Jones,  a  native  of 
the  same  county  as  her  husband,  daughter  of 
Pleasant  and  Sallie  (Osborn)  Jones,  the  former 
from  Virginia,  the  latter  from  North  Carolina. 
The  father  of  Thomas  Ross  was  one  Andrew 
Ross,  a  native  of  Scotland,  and,  like  his  grand- 
son, learned  the  trade  of  blacksmith,  and  was 
known  to  have  made  swords  and  bayonets  for 
use  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  was  buried 
in  North  Carolina.  Thomas  was  his  only  son. 
Our  subject  has  five  children  living — Albert  D., 
S.  Jeanette,  J.  Warren,  Sprague  D.,  L.  Shoe- 
man  :  one,  Louis  J.  is  dead.  Thomas  Ross' 
family  consisted  of  six  children,  four  sons  and 
two  daughters,  three  of  whom  are  now  living ; 
two  residents  of  Bond  and  one  of  Montgomery 
County  ;  all  farmers.  Our  subject  bought  his 
first  twenty  acres  about  1845,  and  has  since 


added  until  he  has  now  276,  84   of  which  he 
entered  June  22,  1853. 

JAMES  M.  VOLLENTINE,  farmer,  P.  0. 
New  Douglas.  Prominent  among  the  early 
settlers  and  representative  men  of  Bond  Coun- 
ty was  William  Bigford  Vollentine,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  son  of  Hardy  Vollentine.  Will- 
iam B.  emigrated  from  North  Carolina  to 
Tennessee,  where  he  married  Fannie  Plant. 
While  here  he  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  and 
participated  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He 
emigrated  to  what  is  now  Bond  County  when 
it  was  a  Territory.  When  he  first  came  here,  he 
remained  for  a  time  where  Pocahontas  Township 
now  is,  and  finally  located  in  Town  6,  Range  4, 
on  Section  18,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  1809.  He  was  thrice 
married.  His  first  wife  bore  him  the  following 
children — George  W.,  now  of  Christian  County. 
Hardy  of  Wisconsin.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Condiff  of 
Montgomery  County,  Mrs.  Nancy  Brown,  now 
of  Minnesota.  His  second  wife  was  Sophia 
Suggs,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  daughter  of  Josiah 
Suggs.  This  union  was  crowned  with  eleven 
children,  those  living  are :  James  M.,  John  J., 
Rebecca,  Letta  and  Christopher  C.  J.  M.  and 
C.  C.  reside  in  this  township,  Letta,  wife  of 
James  Ridgeway,  of  Pocahontas  Precinct.  His 
third  marriage  was  to  Elsie  Preckett,  a  native 
of  Kentucky  ;  she  bore  him  five  children — 
Jennette,  Lois,  Charles  J.,  Margaret  Jeunette 
and  Douglass.  William  B.  Vollentine  was  one 
of  the  prominent  men  of  the  county,  he  became 
a  large  landholder,  and  owned  at  one  time 
2,000  acres.  He  was  a  stanch  Democrat,  and 
took  a  lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  coun- 
ty, he  served  some  time  as  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
was  County  Commissioner  and  Associate  Judge, 
and  for  many  years  was  a  leader  in  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  during  the  early  part  of 
his  life.  He  was  generally  known  all  over  the 
country,  being  a  thorough  business  man — trad- 
ing largely  in  stock,  and  farmed  quite  extensive- 
ly— was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  persever- 


90 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ance,  and  a  successful  financier,  and  the  father 
of  twenty-three  children  ;  of  this  number  J.  M. 
was  of  the  second  set.     He  was  born  February 
4,  1828,  on  the  homestead,  where  he  remained 
until    his    majority,   after    which    he   attended 
school  two  years.     In  the  spring  of  1852   he 
went  to  California,  where  he  spent  seven  years 
in  Nevada  County,  where  he  was  engaged  in 
trading  and  freighting,  and  had  a   varied  ex- 
perience.    He  returned   here  to  this    township 
in  1859,  and   since  remained.     He,  for  a  time 
run  a  store  in  New  Douglas,  and  in  186G  he 
located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns,  which  place 
was  settled  by  William  Carson.     In  August  7, 
I860,  he  married  Louisa  J.  Jernigan,  born    in 
Christian  County,   daughter  of  Lewis   H.   and 
Sallie  (Curry)  Jernigan.     Lewis  H.  was  born 
in  Tennessee,  son  of  Jesse.  '  Lewis   H.  was   a 
very  early  settler  in  Christian  County,  Gabriel 
Jernigan,  son  of  Jesse,  was  Sherifl'  of  his  coun- 
ty two  terms,  and   represented   his  county  in 
the  Legislature.     Mr.  Vollentine  has  one  broth- 
er, Napoleon  B.,   he   is  a  liveryman    in    New 
Douglas.     Lizzie,  a  sister  who  resides  in   Mar- 
ion  County,  Kan.,  wife  of   Ben  Nesbitt,   and 
Emma,    Mrs.  William  Connor,  of  same  county. 
Mr.  Vollentine  has  a  good  farm  of  several  hun- 


dred acres,  and  is  a  thorough  and  progressive 
farmer,  and  one  of  the  best  in  the  township. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and 
has  been  a  class  leader  and  Steward  for  several 
years,  and  a  great  Sunday  school  worker,  at 
Corrington  Chapel,  Had  three  children  born  to 
him,  two  are  living — James  F.  and  William 
Lewis.  His  only  daughter.  Sallie  Sophia,  was 
removed  by  death,  August  16,  1876,  aged  nine 
years. 

E.  J.  VOLLENTINE,  farmer,  P.  O.  New 
Douglas,  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  early 
settlers.  He  was  born  February  3,  1837,  on 
the  homestead  farm,  which  is  now  owned  by 
W.  B.  Vollentine.  He  is  the  second  sou  and 
third  child  of  Jackson  0.  Vollentine,  whose 
wife  was  an  Armstrong.  Jackson  died  about 
the  year  1852,  March  30.  He  served  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  and  for  years  was  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  had 
four  children  born  to  him,  viz.:  William  D.,  E. 
J..  Alonzo  and  Thomas.  E.  J.  was  married 
In  1860  to  Mary  Smith.  She  died  1870,  leav- 
ing two  children— Ulis  T.  and  Jackson  O.  He 
has  260  acres  and  is  a  member  of  the  Method- 
I  ist  Episcopal  Church. 


OK  AW    PRECINCT. 


91 


OKAW   PRECINCT. 


JACOB  BARTH,  farmer  and  stock-raiser, 
P.  0.  Heilsburg.  Among  the  prominent  farmers 
and  self-made  men  of  this  portion  of  the  county 
is  Jacob  Barth,  who  was  born  October  9,  182G, 
in  Hesse-Darmstadt,  son  of  George  and  Barvell 
(Mann)  Barth.  Jacob,  when  a  lad,  learned  the 
glazier's  trade  in  the  old  country,  and  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  bid  good-bye-  to  the  land  of  his 
nativity,  and  cast  his  fortunes  with  America's 
free  soil.  He  left  home  with  nothing,  his  fa- 
ther's only  endowment  was  a  whipping,  which 
he  gave  Jacob  before  leaving.  Jacob  came  first 
to  St.  Louis,  and  sought  employment  at  his 
trade,  which  was  at  the  time  unprofitable  here  ; 
he  then  learned  the  wagon-maker's  trade  and 
worked  journey  work  for  several  years,  and 
traveled  over  several  States.  In  the  fall  of 
1850,  he  came  to  Bond  County  and  made  a 
purchase,  in  the  locality  where  he  now  resides, 
and  engaged  in  farming,  and  has  since  lived 
here,  and  became  one  of  the  leading  farmers 
in  his  township.  He  has  nearly  600  acres  of 
land,  which  he  farms  very  successfully.  In 
1850,  he  married  Elizabeth  Gertner,  a  native 
Wurtemberg,  who  has  borne  him  six  children — 
Edward,  Theresa  E.,  Matilda  E.,  Henry  G., 
Jacob  and  George.  The  daughters  are  mar- 
ried to  two  brothers,  James  and  John  Gunn, 
and  reside  iu  this  township. 

ALEXANDER  3IYATT,  deceased.  Prom- 
inent among  the  early  settlers  of  this  pre- 
cinct is  the  Myatt  family,  of  whom  the  above 
was  the  head  and  father.  He  was  born  Febru- 
ary 9,  1802,  in  Tennessee,  son  of  Wiley  Myatt, 
and  came  to  Bond  County  ill  the  year  1831, 
locating  first  in  Beaver  Creek  Township,  and 
removed  to  this  township,  locating  on  the  west 
half  of  Section  33,  in  the  year   1S36,   and  re- 


mained here  until  his  death,  September  4,  1865. 
For  many  jears  he  was  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  his  house  being  used  in  early 
time  as  a  place  for  holding  meetings,  and  the 
pioneer  minister  ever  found  under  his  roof  a 
hospitable  welcome.  He  was  a  man  of  quiet 
and  unpretentious  habits  ;  yet,  withal  he  was 
a  man  of  substantial  worth  and  merit.  He  was 
twice  married  ;  first  to  Mary  Chiseuhall,  of 
Tennessee,  who  bore  him  six  children,  viz., 
Emily,  Martha,  Pernecia,  Wiley,  Wesley  and 
Mary.  His  second  and  last  wife  was  Mrs. 
Murphy  Wilmerth,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Sugg,  b\"  whom  he  had  six  children  as  follows  : 
William  C.,  Josiah.  Alexander  B.,  Nancy  E., 
Sarah  S.  and  Murphy  L.,  all  of  whom  were 
born  in  this  county.  Of  this  number  William 
C.  and  Alexander  B.  reside  on  farms  adjoining. 
Alexander  Barnes'  sons  reside  upon  and  own  the 
homestead  farm  here  ;  he  was  born  April  17, 
1837,  and  was  married  June  30,  1858,  to  Car- 
oline Powell,  who  was  born  February  18,  1836, 
in  Montgomery  County,  Tenn.,  daughter,  of 
Benjamin  and  Nellie  (Cossie)  Powell ;  he  was 
a  son  of  Eaton  Powell  ;  she  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky, daughter  of  Robert  Cossie.  Mrs.  Myatt 
was  the  second  of  a  family  of  six  children,  but 
two  of  the  number  living,  herself  and  Catha- 
rine, who  reside  in  California,  wife  of  Alfred 
Louis.  The  Powell  family  came  to  Illinois  in 
1844,  and  were  Methodists.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Myatt  have  been  born  four  children,  but  two 
living.  Fannie  E.  and  Roxcillana.  The  entire 
family  being  members  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  Mr.  Myatt  has  265  acres,  and 
with  the  exception  of  about  four  years  spent 
in  Greenville  educating  his  daughters,  he  has 
remained  a  constant  resident  of  the  farm. 


MONTGOMERY  COUNTY  BIOGRAPHIES. 


HILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


LIEUT.  JESSE  K.  ALLEN,  deceased, 
was  born  in  Kingston,  Tenn..  September  5, 
A.  D.  L828,  and,  at  an  early  day,  came  with 
his  parents  to  Hillsboro,  111.,  which  was  about 
the  time  of  the  location  of  the  county  seat  of 
Montgomery  County  at  that  point,  and  when 
there  were  but  very  few  houses  in  the  town. 
William  Allen,  the  father  of  the  subject,  was 
born  in  Roane  County,  Tenn.,  January  15, 
1799,  and  was  married  to  Mary  K.  Killings- 
worth,  the  mother  of  Jesse  K.  Allen,  to  whom 
were  born  eleven  children — first,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch;  second,  William  A.  Allen,  for 
many  years  a  prominent  physician  in  Green- 
ville, 111.;  third.  Margaret  Allen,  now  inter- 
married with  Theodore  Smith,  of  Greenville, 
111. ;  fourth,  Aaron  Allen,  now  deceased; 
fifth,  Kufus  S.  Allen,  now  a  physician,  em- 
ployed the  General  Government  in  doctoring 
the  Indians;  sixth,  John  H.  Allen,  now  in 
Kansas;  seventh,  Emily  E.,  now  wife  of 
Charles  L.  Bartlett,  a  merchant  of  Hillsboro, 
111. ;  eighth.  Mollie,  now  married  to  Dr.  Per- 
kins, of  Fredonia,  Kan. ;  ninth,  Frank  F. 
Allen,  also  a  physician,  Neodesha,  Kan.; 
and  tenth,  Laura  Allen,  now  deceased;  and 
Charles  F.  Allen,  now  at  Mattoon,  111.  Will- 
iam Allen,  the  ancestor,  was  a  man  in  very 
moderate  circumstances,  and  consequently, 
his  son,  Jesse  K.,  was  denied  many  of  the 
advantages  enjoyed  by  his  youthful  compan- 
ions. In  his  youth,  he  attended  such  schools 
as  opportunity  afforded,  in  the  town  of  Hills- 


boro, and  later,  when  what  was  then  known 
as  the  Hillsboro  Academy  was  built,  in  1836, 
Jesse  attended  such  academy  as  far  as  means 
could  be  afforded  him.  and  it  was  here  he 
gave  promise  of  the  future  man.  He  was 
here  noted  for  his  industry  and  untiring  en- 
ergy in  his  efforts  to  acquire  an  education. 
He  particularly  excelled  in  mathematics  and 
those  studies  which  called  more  particularly  for 
the  exercise  of  the.reasoning  faculties.  He  was 
held  in  very  high  esteem  by  the  Faculty  of  the 
Hillsboro  Academy,  which  was  at  that  period 
second  to  none  in  the  State.  Lieut.  Allen,  hav- 
ing finished  the  school  course  at  the  academy, 
looked  about  him  for  something  to  do.  At  this 
time,  there  happened  to  be  a  vacancy  in  the  ca- 
detship  from  his  Congressional  District,  and, 
through  Gen.  Shields  and  his  friends  in 
Hillsboro,  and  the  then  Representative  in 
Congress,  the  appointment  to  West  Point 
was  secured  to  him,  and  in  1851  he  entered 
as  a  cadet  to  West  Point.  He  remained  at 
the  Military  Academy  for  the  usual  course  of 
four  years,  and  in  1855  graduated  with  honor 
and  distinction.  In  this  Military  School,  as 
in  the  academy  at  home,  he  excelled  in  the 
study  of  mathematics,  and  he  also  acquired 
distinction  in  civil  engineering.  After  he 
graduated,  he  entered  the  army,  being  at  that 
time  in  the  meridian  of  life  and  vigor  of  man- 
hood. He  was  full  of  ambition,  and  entered 
the  arnry  with  a  high  resolve  to  win  for  him- 
self a  name  and  fame  as  a  soldier.      He  was 


94 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


appointed  Lieutenant  in  Company  B  of  the 
Ninth   Infantry,  and  in  this  capacity  served 
the  Government  in  active  service  for  three 
years.      He  had  the  entire  confidence  of  his 
superior  officers,  and  was  often  intrusted  with 
services  which  called  forth  special  judgment 
and  nerve.      In  the  winter  of   1856,  he  was 
intrusted  with  $3,500  in  specie,  to  be  carried 
from  Washington  Territory  to  some  point  in 
Vancouver's   Island,   in  command  of  fifteen 
men.     They  were  overtaken  in  a  very  severe 
snow-storm,  and  all  his  men  deserted  him  but 
two,  and  it  was  supposed  he  was  lost,  but  in 
a  few  days,  he,  with  his  two  remaining  men, 
came  riding  into   camp,  with  the  funds  all 
safe.      Whether  as  citizen  or  soldier,  he  was 
always  reliable,  and  never  disappointed  the 
expectation  of  his  friends.      It  seemed  at  this 
time  that  a  life  of  activity  and  usefulness  was 
open  before  him,  and  he  was  surely  prepared 
to  enter  upon  it;  but  the  end  came  before  it 
could    reasonably    be     expected.      About    8 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  August, 
1858,  in  the  moment  of  accomplishing  a  suc- 
cessful surprise  on  a  camp  of  Indians,  he  was 
shot  down,  and  thus,  in  his  early  manhood, 
and  while  the  clew  of  youth  was  on  his  brow, 
he  was  called  upon  to  die  the  death  of  a  sol- 
dier.     He  died  as  he  had  lived — in  the  line 
of  duty.      The  following  letter  was  written  at 
the  time  by  his  superior  officer: 

Headquarters  Yakima  Expedition  ) 
Camp  on  the  Upper  Yakima  River, 

August  15,  1858.  ) 

Major  :  It  has  become  ray  painful  duty  to  com- 
municate to  you  for  Gen.  Clarke's  information,  and 
that  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  army,  the  sad 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  Second  Lieut.  Jesse  K. 
Allen  of  the  Ninth  Infantry,  who  expired  at  this 
camp  at  half-past  2  o'clock  to-day.  Lieut.  Allen 
died  the  death  of  a  soldier. 

He  fell  at  3  o'clock  this  morning,  at  the  moment 
of  accomplishing  a  successful  surprise  of  a  camp  of 
hostile  Indians. 

There  is  reason  to  fear  that  he  was  shot  accident- 


ally by  one  of  his  own  men  in  the  darkness  of  the 
hour. 

I  must  be  permitted  here  to  express  my  own  sor- 
row for  the  untimely  end  of  this  young  officer,  and 
to  offer  this  officially  my  tribute  to  his  worth.  He 
was  an  officer  of  rare  energy  and  zeal,  and  an  ac- 
quaintance with  our  army  of  seventeen  years'  dura, 
tion,  warrants  me  in  uttering  the  conviction  that  his 
place  will  not  again  be  readily  filled  in  our  service. 
His  loss  to  this  command  can  scarcely  be  overesti- 
mated. 

His  remains  will  be  taken  back  to-night  to  Fort 
Simcoe  by  his  company  commander  and  personal 
friend,  Capt.  Prazer  Ninth  Infantry,  who  will  take 
the  charge  of  his  effects,  required  by  the  regulations. 
It  is  perhaps  proper  to  report  in  this  connection  that 
Lieut,  Allen's  party  (fifteen  mounted  men),  captured 
in  this  sad  affair  twenty-one  men.  about  fifty  women 
and  children,  seventy  head  of  horses,  and  fifteen 
head  of  cattle,  besides  considerable  of  the  Indian 
property. 

Three  of  the  men  having  been  recognized  as  par- 
ticipants in  the  attack  on  the  miners,  were  shot  in 
compliance  with  my  general  instructions  on  this 
subject. 

I  am  sir,  very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant. 

Signed,  R.  S.  Gaiinett, 

Major  Ninth  Infant  ri/  Commanding. 

Major  W.  H.  Mackai.l. 

Assistant  Adjutant  General,  V.  S.   A. 
Fort  Vancouver.  It".  T. 

The  remains  of  Lieut.  Allen  were  brought 
to  Hillsboro  by  his  parents  and  relatives,  and 
were  interred  in  Oak  Grove  Cemetery,  near 
his  childhood  home.  Had  his  life  been 
spared  until  the  commencement  of  our  late 
civil  war,  he  would  have  been  found  battling 
for  the  "Union,  and  doubtless,  with  his  energy 
and  courage,  would  have  attained  high  rank 
as  an  officer  in  our  army. 

J.  C.  BABKLEY,  grocer,  Hillsboro,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  December  15,  1850; 
son  of  John  C.  and  Elizabeth  (Morrison)  Bark- 
ley,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  John  C, 
who  is  a  farmer,  was  born  in  1815.  His  wife 
died  April  1 4,  1 854.  Our  subject,  the  second 
son  of  a  family  of  five  sons  and  two  daughters, 
received  a  fair  education   in  the  schools   at 


HILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


'.».-< 


Hillsboro,  and  at  Freehold,  N.  J.  He  came 
to  Hillsboro  when  seventeen  years  old,  with- 
out money  or  education,  and  but  few  clothes. 
He  first  worked  on  a  farm,  then  in  a  brick- 
}  ard.  He  traveled  for  a  wholesale  house  in 
St.  Louis  (Udell,  Schmieding  &  Co.,  dealers 
in  wood  and  willow  ware),  and  finally  en- 
gaged in  the  grocery  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count in  Hillsboro,  where,  by  push  and  en- 
ergy, he  has  acquired  a  lucrative  trade.  He 
was  in  the  hotel  business  in  Hillsboro  for 
about  eighteen  months,  and  was  one  of  the 
many  citizens  who  lost  heavily  by  the  failure 
of  the  banking  firm  of  Haskell,  Harris  &  Co., 
of  Hillsboro.  He  married  in  Hillsboro,  No- 
vember 4,  1875,  Emma  A.  Slack,  born  in  Ohio 
October  18,  1857,  daughter  of  Daniel  Slack, 
a  native  of  New  Jersey,  who  died  in  Ohio  in 
1868.  There  have  been  born  to  them  one 
son,  Edward  Daniel,  and  one  daughter,  Mag- 
gie Elizabeth.  Mr.  Barkley  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church,  and  was  Assistant  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Sunday  school  in  Hills- 
boro for  two  years.  In  politics  he  supports 
the  Republican  party. 

CHARLES  L.  BARTLETT,  grocer,  Hills- 
boro. was  born  in  Montgomery  County  De- 
cember 20,  1839;  son  of  Samuel  T.  and 
Martha  (Maxey)  Bartlett.  Samuel  T.  was 
born  in  Henry  County,  Ky.,  in  1818.  He  re- 
moved to  Illinois  about  the  year  1885,  and  is 
now  living  at  Irving,  where  he  owns  and 
manages  a  large  farm  and  a  general  store. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  born  near 
Bowling  Green,  Ky. ,  in  1819.  Our  subject 
is  the  seconc?  son  of  a  family  of  seven  sons 
and  twTo  daughters.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion chiefly  at  Irving,  111.,  and  began  life  as 
a  farmer;  but,  after  being  three  years  in  that 
occupation,  he  abandoned  it  and  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business  in  Irving,  where  he 
remained  four  years.  He  left  Irving  in  1S72, 
and  came   to  Hillsboro,   where  he  has  since 


been  engaged  in  the   grocery   business.     He 
started  in  business  with  but  small  capital, 
but  by  his  tact  and  enterprise,  he  has  built 
up  and  is  now  enjoying  a  lucrative  trade. 
In  Hillsboro,  in  1868,  he  married  Emily  E.  Al- 
len, born  in  Hillsboro    in   1889,  daughter  of 
William  and  Mary  K.  (Killingsworth)  Allen, 
the   former  born   in  Tennessee,  and  died  in 
Hillsboro  in  1863;  the  latter,  still  living,  was 
also  born  in  Tennessee,  in  1812.    Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bartlett   are  the  parents  of   two  children — 
Charles  William  and  Nellie;  Carry  Bell,  their 
first  child,  died  in  infancy.     Mr.  Bartlett  has 
tilled  the  offices  of  Deputy  Sheriff'  and  Jailer 
of  Montgomery   County   for  two  years.      In 
politics  he  is  a  Democrat.     He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 
They  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
JACOB  BECK,  gun  smithing   and  cancel- 
doctor,    Hillsboro,    was    born    in    Frankliu 
County,  Penn,  November  30,  1820.     He  was 
taken  to   Virginia  when  about  nine  month- 
old  by  his  parents,  and  there  raised.      Chris- 
tian Beck,  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Penn., 
on  June  17,  1785,   was  a  gun-smith  by  occu- 
pation, and  died  in  Oregon  on  July  15,  1863. 
Mother  was  Lena  Ahl,  born  February  6,  1790, 
in  Cumberland  County,  Tenn,  and  died  Sep 
tember  5,  1821,  in  Williamsport,  Md.,  while 
en  route  to  Virginian  with  her  husband  and 
family.       Parents    had   seven    sons,    subject 
the  youngest.     Subject  was  educated  at  Mar 
tinsburg,   Va.,  common  schools.     Began   lift' 
as  a  gun-smith,  an  occupation  he  has  kept  up 
through   life.     In   1860,    subject    began   the 
practice  of  cancer  doctering  with  a  remedy 
he  had  come    into  possession    of   some   two 
years  previous,  and  had  experimented  with  it 
sufficiently  to  satisfy  himself   of   its   merits. 
From  that  time  to  the  present  time  he  has 
treated  large  numbers  of  cases  successfully, 
having  never   lost  a  single  case  that  came  to 
him  before  cancer   had   been   cut.     Subject 


9G 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Anti-Mormon 
forces  of  Hancock  County,  111.,  in  1845-46, 
and  forced  them  into  the  city  of  Nanvoo  from 
all  parts  of  the  county  and  surrounding 
counties,  and  there  they  submitted  to  a  com- 
promise to  the  effect  that  they  (the  Mormons) 
be  allowed  sufficient  time  to  send  a  committee 
West  and  seek  a  suitable  location  and  return 
and  report,  which  they  did  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1840,  and  left  that  fall  for  St.  Joseph, 
Mo.,  where  they  wintered,  leaving  twelve 
men  behind  at  Nauvoo  to  dispose  of  their 
property  and  settle  up  their  business.  Im- 
mediately after  the  settling  of  the  Mormon 
difficulties,  subject  enlisted  for  the  Mexican 
war,  or  rather  bought  the  place  of  another 
young  man  in  a  company  that  was  already 
organized,  paying  the  young  man  $'27  for  his 
position.  It  was  Company  A,  First  Illinois 
Volunteers,  called  the  Quincy  Riflemen,  com- 
manded by  Col.  John  J.  Hardin,  James  D. 
Morgan,  Captain.  He  paticipated  in  the 
battle  of  Buena  Vista.  In  politics  he  is  a 
Democrat.  Self  and  family  are  all  members 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  He  was  married  at 
Indianapolis,  Ind.,  February  10,  1848.  to 
Phebe  Ringer,  who  was  born  in  Frederick 
County,  Md.,  March  5,  1821,  and  was  the 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Maria  Magadalena 
(Darrl  Ringer,  he  a  native  of  Washington 
County,  Md,  and  was  born  March  15,  1791, 
and  died  April  22,  1859;  she  also  a  native  of 
Washington  County,  Md.,  was  born  February 
22,  1 790,  and  died"  in  the  year  1824.  They 
have  had  four  children  born  to  them — Julia 
Agnes,  born  November  2,  1848,  and  died  in 
1856;  Virginia  Magadalena.  born  November 
9,  1853;  Luther  Melanchthon,  born  Septem- 
ber 4,  1856,  and  Clara  Belle,  born  June  1, 
L859.  Subject  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order, 
and  also  to  the  Good  Templars. 

ADAM  H.  BELL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hillsboro, 
was  born  in  New  York  September  26,  1831. 


Frederick  Bell,  his  father,  was  born  in  New 
York,  in  the  town  of  Warren,  Herkimer 
County,  October  10,  1800;  was  a  tanner  and 
currier  by  occupation,  and  emigrated  to  this 
i  State  in  1856,  and  went  to  farming  in  this 
township.  He  died  February  15,1880.  Eliz- 
abeth Voorhies,  his  mother,  was  born  in  Ger- 
man Flat.  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  31, 
1802.  She  died  in  this  State  in  1878,  and 
was  the  mother  of  three  children,  the  subject 
being  the  youngest  of  the  family.  He  was 
raised  in  the  town  of  Chaumont,  Jefferson 
County;  was  educated  in  an  academy  of 
his  native  state,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty 
years,  he  commenced  civil  engineering,  which 
he  followed  successfully  in  different  parts  of 
the  United  States  until  1856.  He  came  to 
Montgomery  County,  111.,  and  commenced 
farming,  his  first  purchase  of  land  being 
eighty  acres,  and  has  added  to  that  until  he 
has  accunrulated  300  acres  of  good,  tdlable 
land.  He  has  quite  a  neat  cottage,  and  good 
barn  with  all  necessary  outbuildings,  and 
was  married  in  New  York,  March  12  1857,  to 
Miss  Lana  Fox.  Levi  M.  Fox,  her  father, 
was  born  in  Chester.  "Washington  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  7,  1809.  Her  mother,  Cynthia  M.  (Je- 
rome) Fox,  was  born  in  Paris,  Oneida  Co. .  N. 
Y.,  February  6,  1804.  The  wife  of  subject 
was  born  January  22.  1832,  and  she  has  a 
family  of  four  children.  The  names  are  as 
follows:  Franklin  J.,  born  July  9,  1859; 
Frederick  Meade,  born  August  12,  1860; 
Harry,  born  March  17,  1870;  Cora  Grace, 
born  November  5,  1871.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  order,  and  is  quite  a  public- 
spirited  man.  encouraging  all  public  improve- 
ments that  he  thinks  best  for  the  county  at 
large.  He  has  held  the  office  of  County  Sur- 
veyor one  term,  1860-61.  He  gave  general 
satisfaction,  but  found  it  did  not  pay  to 
neglect  his  farm  for  the  benefit  he  received 
from  the  office. 


HILLSBORO  CITY   AND  TOWNSHIP. 


W.  L.  BLACKBURN,  dry  goods,  groceries, 
boots  and  shoes,  etc. ,  Hillsboro,  was  born  in 
Clark  County,  Ohio,  January  16,  1847;  son 
of  Robert  B  and  Sarah  Ann  (Fuller)  Black- 
hum.  Robert  B.,  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
horn  near  Harper's  Ferry,  Va.,  March  3, 
1818.  About  the  year  1836,  he  moved  to 
Ohio,  thence  to  Illinois  in  1850.  His  wife 
was  born  in  Ohio;  our  subject  was  their  only 
child.  He  received  a  liberal  education  at 
Hillsboro,  and  began  life  on  the  farm.  In 
1872,  he  left  the  farm,  and  came  to  Hillsboro, 
where  he  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade  for 
about  two  years.  He  then  engaged  in  the 
mercantile  business  in  partnership  with  C.  L. 
Bartlett.  In  1877,  this  partnership  was  dis- 
solved, and  he  has  since  carried  on  the  whole 
business  himself.  He  does  a  brisk  business, 
and  employs  seven  or  eight  clerks.  He  owns 
a  neat,  commodious  frame  house  in  Hillsboro, 
where  he  resides.  He  married  in  Hillsboro, 
November  11,  1875,  Mattie  J.  Stewart,  born 
in  Hillsboro  November  12,  1857,  daughter  of 
John  R.  Stewart.  From  this  union  two  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  them — Wallace  Stew- 
art and  Blanche  Ittel.  Mr.  Blackburn  is  a 
supporter  of  the  Republican  party,  and  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  wife 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

CHARLES  W.  BLISS,  attorney,  Hillsboro, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  January  8, 
1846,  to  Rev.  Alfred  Bliss  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Chiu'ch,  a  native  of  Bradford,  Vt. , 
where  he  was  born  in  1811,  to  Seth  Bliss,  a 
farmer,  who  died  in  Vermont.  The  son  came 
early  to  this  county,  and  engaged  in  farming, 
but  subsequently  entered  the  ministry.  The 
maiden  name  of  the  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject was  Jerusha  Strong.  She  is  the  mother 
of  eight  children,  dve  of  whom  are  now 
living— Eliza  A.,  wife  of  James  I.  Moody, 
a  farmer  of  Fillinore  Township;  Celesta  J., 
wife  of   E.  C.  Devore,  a  lawyer  at  Seymour, 


Ind.;  George  A.,  a  hardware  merchant  at 
Nokomis;  Alice,  deceased,  wife  of  Lyman  C. 
Allen,  a  farmer  of  Fillmore  Township.  She 
left  three  children— Charles  W.,  Nellie  J., 
wife  of  John  C.  White,  a  lawyer  at  Effing- 
ham. 111.  Our  subject  worked  on  the  farm 
and  attended  the  common  schools,  and  grad- 
uated from  McKendree  College,  at  Lebanon, 
in  June,  1869.  He  then  taught  school  and 
read  law  with  Irwin  &  Krone,  of  Edwards- 
ville,  111.  He  was  admitted  in  the  fall  of 
1871,  and  located  in  Hillsboro.  where  he  has 
become  one  of  the  leading  young  attorneys  at 
the  Montgomery  County  bar.  He  was  married, 
October  15,  1872.  to  Elizabeth  W.  Phillips, 
a  neice  of  Judge  J.  J.  Phillips,  and  daughter 
of  Burrel  Phillips,  a  stock  dealer  of  Mont- 
gomery County.  By  her  he  has  two  children 
— Noi  Celecta  and  Clinton.  He  has  been  City 
Attorney  several  terms,  and  his  political  ten- 
ets Republican.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason, 
in  which  fraternity  he  has  held  numerous 
offices,  and  with  his  family  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

WILLIAM  BREWER,  retired,  Hillsboro, 
is  the  third  son  of  William  Brewer,  a  Caro- 
linian of  Welsh  extraction,  and  the  youngest 
of  three  brothers.  Daniel  and  George,  eldest 
of  that  number,  left  Carolina  at  an  early  date, 
and  settled  in  Tennessee.  The  family  of 
William.  Sr. ,  was  John  J.  and  Jesse,  who 
died  in  Carolina;  our  subject,  and  Thomas, 
who  died  near  Evansville,  Ind.  The 
daughters  were  Candis,  who  married  a  Mr. 
Williams,  settled  and  died  in  Iowa;  Keziah, 
wife  of  a  Mr.  Alder,  near  Hopkinsville,  Ky., 
and  Annie  died  young.  The  mother  of  these 
was  Millie  West,  a  Carolinian.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Chatham  County, 
N.  C,  June  18,  1803;  removed  to  Christian 
County.  Ky. .  and  settled  near  Hopkinsville. 
with  his  parents,  in  1807,  and  where  they 
died,    and  where  he  was  raised  and  married 


98 


BIOGRAPHIC  Ah  : 


to  Miss  Delilah  Hough,  a  native  of  Loudoun 
County,  Va.,  where  she  was  born  October  1, 
1807,  to  Samuel  and  Azuba  (Skinner)  Hough, 
natives  of  Virginia.      Her  grand  father  Hough 
was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  came  early 
to  this  country  with  two  brothers,  who  settled 
in  Vermont;  he  in  Virginia.      With  this  lady 
he  lived   happily  for    forty-four  years,    and 
until   her  death,  August   26,  1869,  when  she 
left  him  with  three  surviving  children  of  nine 
boi-n  to  the.pi — William  H. .  now  of  Hillsboro; 
Mary,  wife  of   S.   M.  Grubbs.  of   Litchfield; 
and  Ellen,  wife  of  Alfred  A.    <v    Sawyer,  of 
Hillsboro.       Mr.    Brewer  removed    with    his 
family  to  Illinois   in  November.    1834,   and 
settled  at  Palestine,  Crawford  County,  where 
he  remained  until   the  spring  of   1839.  when 
he  removed  to  Hillsboro.  his  present  place, 
of  residence.      In  1843.  he  was  elected  County 
Judge,  the   first  Whig  ever  elected  in  Mon- 
tgomery County,      He  was  re-elected  in  18  !•">. 
and  again  in  1847,  thus  serving  three  consec- 
utive terms.      In  1850.  he  was  elected  to  rep- 
resent the  counties  of  Montgomery,  Bond  and 
Clinton  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  served 
two  sessions,  but  positively  refused  to  suffer 
his  name  to  be  used  for  that  honor  longer, 
although  often    and  strongly  solicited.       In 
1853,  he  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
in  which  capacity  he  acted  until   1869.  when 
he  refused  to  act  longer.      While  in  this  office 
he  did  a  very  large    business,    and    decided 
more   cases   than    any   other    officer    in   the 
county,    and   what  is  still  more  remarkable. 
never  bad  any  of  his  decisions  reversed.      He 
has  been  an  eminent  example  of  a  self-made 
man,  who.  unaided,  has   arisen   from  a  hum- 
ble station  in  life  to  wealth,   honor   and  in- 
fluence.     From  boyhood  he  took  the  side  of 
morality  and  piety,  and  thus  gained  the  pub- 
lic confidence.      As  a  member  of  the  Method- 
ist Church    of    sixty  three    years'  standing, 
he  has  had  a  large  share  in  building  up  the 


morals  and  character  of  the  people  of  his 
community.  He  still,  although  in  the  late 
autumn  of  life,  stands  a  monument  of  past 
energies  rightly  directed,  with  a  large  influ- 
ence, large  acquaintance,  large  experience 
and  large  means  and  usefulness.  Mr.  Brewer 
was  married  the  second  time,  to  Mrs.  Robe] 
of  Elkton,  Ky.,  and  is  quietly  enjoying  his 
well-earned  honor  and  reputation  in  the  midst 
of  a  people  whose  growth  has  been  beneath 
his  own  eye.  His  only  living  son,  William 
H.  Brewer,  was  born  January  4.  1826,  in 
Trigg  County,  Ky. .  and  in  1827  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Todd  County,  Ky.  He 
remained  with  his  father  during  his  boyhood, 
receiving  limited  advantages  for  education. 
and  in  manhood  has  been  connected  with  his 
father  in  his  business  interests.  He  also  has 
been  twice  married.  First,  on  the  17th  of 
November,  1857.  to  Miss  Pernesia  Phillips, 
daughter  of  Capt.  Thomas  Phillips.  By  her 
he  had  four  children,  all  of  whom  died 
young,  the  mother  following  them  to  the 
grave  July  27.  1867.  in  her  thirty- fourth 
year.  His  second  marriage  occurred  July 
14,  1875,  to  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Brown,  widow  of 
William  W.  Brown.  By  her  he  has  three 
children — Mary,  Dwight  and  Raymond.  By 
her  first  husband  she  has  two  children — Ella 
and  John  T.  Mr.  Brewer  is  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican, and  with  his  family  belongs  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

JAMES  A.  BROWN,  station  agent  of  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  Hillsboro, 
was  bora  in  Montgomery  County,  111,  March 
23,  1848;  son  of  George  W.  and  Sarah  A. 
(Jenkins)  Brown,  he  a  farmer,  born  in  Guern- 
sey County.  Ohio,  July  9,  1819.  moved  to 
Illinois  in  1837.  and  settled  in  this  county, 
where  he  still  lives;  she  born  in  Darlington 
Village,  S.  C.  June  30,  1819,  and  is  still  liv- 
ing. Subject  is  the  third  son  of  a  family  of 
five  sons  and  one  daughter;  educated  in  Hi  i  In 


HILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


90 


boro  Academy,   where  he   received  a    good, 
thorough  course,  such  as  was  taught  in  that 
school,  and  began  life  here  in  town  as  a  news- 
boy, then  telegraph  operator,    taking  charge 
of  an  office  at  Pana,  afterward  at  Paris,  Kan., 
Litchfield,  Mattoon.  in  the  General  Superin- 
tendent's  office,  St.  Louis,  and  was  then  ap- 
pointed to  this  place,  at  the  age  of   eighteen 
years,  December  4,  1866.     He  has  also  been 
a  coal  dealer  in  this  town  for  about  ten  years ; 
been  in  the  giain  business  for  a  short  time. 
He  has  been  Alderman  for  two  terms,  and 
was  defeated  in  1876  by  a  small  majority  for 
Circuit  Clerk,  owing  to  being  a  Republican, 
and  the  county  being  Democratic   by  about 
eight   hundred    majority    at  the    time.       A 
change  of  sixty  votes  would  have  elected  him. 
At  Litchfield,    Montgomery  County,  Septem- 
ber 20.  1871,  he  married  Margaret  S.  Evans, 
born  in  Montgomery  County   July   1,    1853, 
daughter    of    James  D.    and  Elzira  (Eames) 
Evans,    he    born   in  Virginia  in    November, 
1823,  and  died  July  23,  1855;  she  born  in 
Kentucky  January  J.  1832.  and  died  at  Litch- 
field October  21,  1873.      From  this  union  five 
children   have  been  born  to  them — Frederic 
G.,    Herbert    (deceased),    Ethel    M..    Sarah 
Eleanor    (deceased),    and    Horace    E.       Mr. 
Brown  is  a  Methodist,  and  has  been  connected 
with  the  official  board  of  that  church  as  Trust- 
ee and  Steward  for  ten  or  twelve  years;  is  a 
member  of  the  Chapter  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, and  has  been  Master  of  his  lodge  in 
Hillsboro    for  a    year,    besides   filling   other 
subordinate   offices  therein.     He  owns  a  two- 
story  frame  residence  in  Hillsboro. 

THOMAS  B.  BROWN,  Postmaster,  Hills- 
boro, was  born  in  this  county  July  10,  1857. 
His  father  was  Newton  G.  Brown,  born  in 
Hillsboro,  N.  C.  April  26.  1822,  and  died 
September  4.  1879.  He  was  a  hotel  proprie- 
tor by  occupation,  and  when  about  thirteen 
years  of  age   emigrated  to  Illinois  with  his 


parents,  and  settled  in  Montgomery   County, 
and  on  August  16.  1849.  was  married  to  Eu- 
phemia  J.    Grantham,   daughter  of  William 
and   Susannah    (Mann)  Grantham.     She  was 
born  in  this  county  July  11,  1832.      Parents 
had  six  children  born  to  them,  two  sons  dy- 
ing in   infancy.     There    are  living  one    son 
(subject)   and  three  daughters,    viz. :  Medora 
F.,    now  the  wife  of  C.  A.   Freeland;   Lucy 
and  Ollie  G.      Subject  was  educated  at  the 
Hillsboro  High   School  and  Academy.       He 
began  business  as  a  dry  goods  clerk,  in  1871, 
in  this  town,  where  he  continued  until  Feb- 
ruary 7,    18S 1.    at   which  date    subject   was 
commissioned  Postmaster  at  this  place,  a  po- 
sition he  still  holds.      In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican.     Subject  belongs  to  the  Methodist 
Church  at  Hillsboro;  his  mother  and  sister 
Lucy    are    members   of   the    Congregational 
Church.       The    father,    Newton    G.    Brown, 
when  he  first  came   to  this   State,  settled   in 
this  county  on  a  farm,  and  pursued  that  avo- 
cation  for   a  few  years,   and  then  moved  to 
Missouri:  remained  there  about  one  year,  and 
thefl  returned  to  this  county  and  settled  in 
Hillsboro   about  1856,  and  engaged  in  team- 
ing,  and   also  run  a   meat  market,  the  only 
one  then  in  town,  for  quite  a  number  of  years, 
perhaps   until    about    1863.      He    then    pur- 
chased the  American  House.     In  the  fall  (Oc- 
tober) of   1869,  Mr.  B.   sold  out,  having  run 
the  hotel  from  the  time  he  purchased  it  in 
1863  until  the  above  date,  and  moved  to  St. 
Louis,  where  he   soon    was  taken  sick,  and 
remained  until  the  following  spring,  engaged 
in  keeping  boarding  house,  and  then  returned 
again    to  Hillsboro   and  resumed    the  hotel 
business,  this  time  at  the  City  Hotel,  where 
he    continued    until    the  time  of  his  death. 
Since  that  time,  our  subject  being  the  only 
son,  assumed  the  principal  responsibility  of 
the  family. 

EDWARD    S.     BURNS,    Deputy    Circuit 


100 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Clerk,  Hillsboro,  was  born  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
Va..  January  1,  1832,  and  moved  to  Ohio 
with  his  parents  in  1836,  and  came  to  Illi- 
nois in  1852;  the  son  of  Philip  and  Catha- 
rine B.  (Blackburn)  Burns,  he  born  in  1774, 
was  a  teacher,  and  died  in  Ohio  in  1840;  she 
born  in  Loudoun  County,  Ya.,  in  1808,  and 
died  at  Hillsboro,  111,  in  1850.  Subject  is 
the  oldest  of  a  family  of  sis.  He  received  an 
education  in  the  subscription  schools  of  Ohio. 
In  this  county,  September  27,  1855,  he  mar- 
ried Rachel  C.  Mann,  who  was  born  here 
September  14,  1834.  the  daughter  of  John 
and  Euphemia  (Hancock)  Mann,  he  born  in 
North  Carolina  July  24,  1800,  and  died  in 
this  county  January  24,  1838;  she  born  in 
Kentucky  in  1805,  and  died  in  1867.  Of  the 
Mann  family  there  were  four  sons — Samuel, 
Henry,  Robert  and  William,  and  three 
daughters — Margaret,  Mary  and  Rachel,  the 
latter  being  the  wife  of  our  subject.  Mr. 
Burns  has  seven  children— William  T.,  Charles 
H.,  John  T.,  Eddie,  Mary  E.,  Emma  C.  and 
Minnie  B.  He  taught  school  about  four 
years  in  Illinois,  then  manufactured  "brick 
for  two  or  three  years,  and  from  1866  to  1 8  1 5 
was  eno-acred  in  the  mercantile  business  in 
Hillsboro,  at  which  time  he  was  appointed 
Deputy  Sheriff  of  Montgomery  County,  served 
two  years  and  was  then  appointed  Deputy 
Circuit  Clerk,  which  position  he  still  holds. 
During  the  war,  he  was  drafted,  but  furnished 
a  substitute  and  remained  at  home  to  care 
for  a  wife  and  two  or  three  little  children. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burns  are  Methodists,  and  he  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  and  the  I.  O.  O. 
F.  orders,  a  Democrat,  and  owns  a  very  com- 
fortable frame  residence,  with  Lots  Nos.  12, 
13,  21  and  40.  Subject's  father  was  married 
in  Virginia  and  moved  to  Ohio  when  he  (sub- 
ject) was  about  three  years  old,  and  he  was 
only  fourteen  years  old  when  his  father  died. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he,  with  his  mother,   ■ 


two  brothers  and  three  sisters  moved  to  Illi- 
nois, all  of  whom  married,  and  whose  families 
now  live  in  this  county,  with  the  exception 
of  the  oldest  sister,  who  lives  in  Neosho 
County,  Kan.  Subject's  wife's  parents  were 
married  in  Kentucky,  and  emigrated  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  111,  in  October,  1827. 

WILLIAM  O.  BONE,  Deputy  Sheriff 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Ohio  September  18, 
1852,  and  came  to  Nokomis,  this  county,  with 
his  parents  in  1862;  son  of  James  S.  and  Mary 
(Miller)  Bone,  he  a  farmer  and  hotel  proprie- 
tor, born  in  Ohio  in  1815,  aud  is  now  living 
at  Nokomis,  where  he  owns  320  acres  of  laud; 
she  bora  in  Ohio,  aud  died  therein  ISM. 
Subject  is  the  youngest  son  of  a  family  of 
two  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  received 
his  education  principally  in  Illinois,  and  com- 
menced life  as  a  farmer.  He  clerked  in  a 
mercantile  house  for  some  time,  railroading 
several  years,  and  was  Constable  of  Nokomis 
for  four  years;  from  that  he  was  appointed 
Deputy  Sheriff,  au  office  he  has  filled  two 
years,  and  is  now  a  candidate  for  Sheriff. 
Mr.  Bone  is  a  Democrat. 

REV.  THOMAS  I.  COULTAS,  pastor  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Hillsboro, 
is  a  son  of  George  and  Eliza  (Wilson)  Coul- 
tas,  natives  of  Yorkshire,  England.  George, 
with  three  of  his  brothers,  sailed  for  America 
and  landed  at  New  York  April  14,  1830. 
They  went  from  there  to  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
where  they  remained  for  a  few  months. 
From  there  they  went  by  boat  to  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  and  from  there  to  Jacksonville,  111.,  by 
the  way  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Louisville,  Kv.. 
and  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  living  for  a  brief  time  in 
each  of  these  places.  Near  Jacksonville,  111, 
he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Eliza  Wilson, 
also  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  England,  and  who 
preceded  him  a  few  years  to  this  country. 
Their  acquaintance  ripened  into  a  greater  in- 
timacy, and  on  July  8,  1835,  they  were  mar- 


IIILLSBOKO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


101 


ried.  Shortly  after  this,  Mr.  Coultas  pur- 
chased from  the  Government  a  tract  of  land 
near  Winchester,  then  in  Morgan,  now  the 
county  seat  of  Scott  County,  111.  Here  he 
lived,  following  agricultural  pursuits  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  June  10,  1859.  Mrs. 
Coultas,  Sr.,  died  October  26,  1875.  Thomas 
I.  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  five  sons 
and  two  daughters,  and  was  born  May  5, 
1853.  He  lived  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
sixteen  years  of  age,  spending  most  of  the 
time  in  school,  first  in  the  country  schoolhouse, 
afterward  in  the  high  school  in  Winchester. 
In  September,  1809,  when  he  was  but  a  few 
months  past  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  was  reg- 
ularly licensed  as  a  minister,  and  received  in- 
to the  traveling  connection  in  the  Illinois 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
perhaps  the  youngest  man  ever  thus  received 
and  put  into  the  regular  work.  After  serving 
churches  in  Sangamon  and  Champaign 
Counties  respectively  for  two  years,  he  left 
the  regular  pastorate  to  further  prosecute  his 
studies.  In  September,  1871,  he  entered  the 
Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  of  Blooming- 
ton.  111.,  and  was  graduated  from  that  insti- 
tution in  June,  1875.  While  a  student,  Mr. 
Coultas  distinguished  himself  and  brought 
honor  to  his  alma  mater  by  representing  this 
institution  in  an  inter-college  contest  in  ora- 
tory, where  eight  of  the  leading  colleges  of 
the  State  contested  in  original  oration,  the 
judges  declaring  him  to  be  the  champion. 
By  virtue  of  his  success,  he  represented  the 
State  of  Illinois  in  an  inter-State  contest  in 
oratory,  held  at  Indanapolis.,  Ind.,  in  May, 
1875,  where  the  champions  of  six  States, 
which  had  held  similar  contests,  met,  and 
hie  also  Mr.  Coultas  won  the  gold  medal 
over  all  his  competitors.  After  his  gradua- 
tion, he  entered  immediately  upon  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  After  serving  the  church  at 
Barry,   Pike  County,   for  four  months   as  a 


supply,  he  was  re-admitted  into  the  Confer- 
ence, and  returned  to  this  church  for  two 
years  in  succession.  After  this  pastorate,  he 
very  acceptably  served  the  church  in  Pitts 
held,  the  county  seat  of  Pike  County.  From 
this  church  he  was  sent  by  his  Conference  to 
the  Trinity  Church,  Quincy,  III.  Here  he 
was  largely  instrumental  in  removing  from 
this  church  a  heavy  debt,  which  for  years 
hung  as  a  shadow  over  it.  The  church  in 
other  respects  greatly  prospered  under  his 
pastorate.  In  September,  1881,  he  was  made 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Hillsboro,  and.  al- 
though he  has  been  here  but  a  short  time. 
he  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  congregation 
and  the  community.  Mr.  Coultas  was  mar- 
ried, November  23,  1875,  to  Miss  Angie  Mor- 
rison, the  daughter  of  Henry  B.  and  Caroline 
(Sears)  Morrison,  then  of  Bloomington,  now 
of  Mouticello,  111.,  and  the  neice  of  Wash- 
ington Sears,  of  Scott  County,  and  Rev.  Hi- 
ram Sears,  of  East  St.  Louis,  one  prominent 
as  a  legislator,  and  the  other  as  a  minister 
and  educator.  Mrs.  Coultas  was  also  edu- 
cated at  the  Illinois  Wesleyan  University. 
There  have  been  born  unto  them  Aldo  Bliss 
Coultas,  March  10,  1877,  and  Edna  Bernice 
Coultas,  March  16,  1879.  Mr.  Coultas  is  a 
Republican  in  politics.  He  belongs  to  the  I. 
O.  O.  F.,  and  is  also  a  member  of  Union 
Chapter.  No.  10,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

CLARENCE  E.  COLE,  insurance  agent, 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Sussex  County.  N. 
J.,  April  30,  1848;  son  of  John  S.  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Paddock)  Cole,  he  a  farmer,  born  in 
Sussex  County,  N.  J.,  October  6,  1806,  and 
came  to  this  State  with  his  family  in  1849, 
and  died  August  30,  1880;  she  born  in  Sus- 
sex County,  N.  J.,  about  1813,  and  died  in 
this  county  November  13,  1877.  They  had 
one  son  and  three  daughters.  Subject  was 
educated  at  Hillsboro  Academy,  began  life  as 
a  farmer,  continued  as  such  for  fifteen  years, 


102  ' 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


commenced  the  insurance  business  in  1875, 
and  now  enjoys  a  very  fair  business.  .  He 
married  at  Nokomis,  October  10, 1871,  Fannie 
E.  Ellis,  daughter  of  D.  B.  Ellis,  a  Virginian, 
born  at  Princeton,  111.,  February  24,  1850. 
and  died  August  13,  1878.  The  result  of  this 
union  wasGracieE.,  born  August  25,  1872; 
John  E.,  born  January  16,  1874,  and  Floy 
A.,  born  September  15.  1876.  Mr.  Cole's 
second  marriage  took  place  at  St.  Louis  April 
21,  1880,  when  he  married  Miss  Eunice  E. 
Garrettson,  born  at  Marion,  Linn  Co.,  Iowa, 
February  24,  1860,  and  daughter  of  G.  W. 
Garrettson,  of  Marion,  Iowa.  Mr.  Cole  is  a 
Republican,  and  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
army  in  April,  1864.  as  drummer  of  Com- 
pany H,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third  Illi- 
nois Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  six 
months  under  Col.  Dudley  C.  Smith,  of  Shel- 
byville,  111. 

GEORGE  R.  COOPER,  attorney  and 
teacher,  Hillsboro,  was  born  July  25,  1855, 
at  Greencastle,  Ind. ;  came  to  this  county 
with  his  parents  in  185S;  sou  of  Jacob  R. 
and  Eliza  (Robinson)  Cooper,  he  a  carpenter, 
born  in  Fleming  County,  Ky.,  on  November 
16,  1816,  and  went  to  Indiana  in  1841,  where 
he  remained  until  1858,  and  died  in  Novem- 
ber, 1877;  she  born  in  Kentucky  in  1S20,  and 
is  now  living  in  East  Fork  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County.  Subject  is  the  second  son 
of  a  family  of  three  sons  and  three  daughters; 
received  his  education  at  Hillsboro  Academy ; 
worked  on  the  farm  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  be- 
gan teaching  school,  which  he  has  followed 
for  seven  years,  and  on  April  1,  1880,  he  be- 
gan reading  law  with  Rice  &  Miller;  then 
went  to  the  office  of  -Judge  E.  Lane,  with 
whom  he  still  reads,  and  will  make  applica- 
tion for  admission  to  the  bar  this  fall.  This 
young  man  deserves  great  credit,  as  he  has 
by  his  own  efforts  educated  himself;  his  par- 


ents being  of  limited  circumstances,  could 
not  give  him  such  an  education  as  he  desired. 
He  taught  school  for  sis  years  in  Fillmore, 
Fillmore  Township;  is  a  Republican,  and  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

EDMUND  DOUGLAS,  physician  and 
druggist.  Hillsboro,  was  born  near  Chillicothe, 
Livingston  Co.-,' Mo..  February  14.  1846,  to 
William  and  Parmelia  (Strawn)  Douglas,  he 
born  in  New  Gallaway,  Scotland.  March  9, 
1817,  and  still  living  in  Pike  County.  111. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Jannette  (Murry) 
Douglas,  natives  of  Scotland.  He  came  to 
America  in  1836,  was  a  carpenter  and  one  of 
the  contractors  on  the  State  University  at 
Columbia,  Mo. ,  where  he  was  married,  and  in 
after  life  engaged  in  farming.  His  wife  is 
a  native  of  Guilford  County,  N.  C.  where  she 
was  born  August  25.  1823,  and  came  to  the 
West  in  1830  with  her  parents,  Edmund  and 
Dorcas  (Morton)  Strawn,  natives  of  North 
Carolina.  Our  subject  is  the  third  of  twelve 
children,  seven  of  whom  are  living; — Andrew, 
a  farmer:  Mary,  Edmund.  John,  a  farmer; 
Churchwell,  a  farmer;  William  W.,  a  physi- 
cian, and  James,  a  farmer.  All  are  in  Pike 
County  but  our  subject,  who  received  a  dis- 
trict and  high  school  education,  and  graduated 
at  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Commercial  College, 
at  St  Louis.  In  1S67.  he  engaged  in  a  gen- 
eral business  at  Milton,  111.,  and  in  1872,  at 
the  same  place,  entered  into  the  drug  busi- 
ness, where  he  continued  until  in  1873,  when 
he  came  to  Hillsboro,  where  he  has  since  con- 
tinued. He  studied  medicine  in  connection 
with  his  business  pursuits,  and  attended  lect- 
ures at  the  St.  Louis  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  from  whence  he  graduated 
February  28,  1881,  and  practices  in  connec- 
tion with  his  business.  He  was  married  Oc- 
tober 15,  1875.  to  Illinois  Phillips,  daughter 
of  Burrill  Phillips,  and  neice  of  Gen.  J.  J. 
Phillips.     By  her  he  has  two  living  children 


HILLSBORO  <ITY    AND  TOWNSHIP. 


toy 


— Noi  Elizabeth  and  Mary  Jannette.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  and  Chapter, 
and,  in  his  political  belief.  Democratic. 

JOSEPH  T.  ECCLES,  retired  merchant. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Mercer  County.  Ky., 
January  7.  1807:  son  of  Henry  and  Polly 
(Gaunt)  Eccles.  Henry,  a  native  of  Berkeley 
County,  Va. ,  was  born  May  4,  1781,  and  when 
about  eighteen  years  old  he  moved  to  Ken- 
tucky and  settled  in  Mercer  County,  where 
he  married  August  15,  180,").  In  the  autumn 
of  1830,  he  removed  to  Vandalia,  111.,  and 
shortly  afterward  located  on  a  farm  about  four 
miles  from  that  town,  where  he  remained 
until  1837,  when  he  removed  to  Coles  County, 
111.,  where  he  died  September  21.  1851,  aged 
seventy  years  four  months  and  seventeen 
days.  His  wife,  Polly  Gaunt,  was  born  at 
Wilson's  Station,  Mercer  Co.,  Ky.,  March  15, 
1783,  and  died  at  Yandalia,  111.,  September 
21,  1835.  Our  subject,  who  began  the  busi- 
ness of  life  as  a  teacher,  received  his  educa- 
tion chiefly  in  Harrodsburg,  Ky.  He  taught 
school  at  Yandalia.  111.,  for  about  two  seasons, 
after  which  he  clerked  in  a  store  about  a  year, 
and  then  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
in  Vandalia  on  his  own  acoount  for  five  or 
six  years:  then,  abandoning  the  business  of 
a  merchant,  he  located  on  a  farm  about  five 
miles  from  Vandalia.  He  followed  farming 
about  nine  years,  but  gave  it  up  aud  removed 
to  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County,  where  he 
again  engaged  in  mercantile  business,  and, 
being  successful,  retired  a  short  time  ago. 
He  owns  some  fine  property  in  Hillsboro,  con- 
sisting of  his  residence,  a  brick  store,  town 
lots,  etc.  In  Todd  Countv,  Kv. ,  August  12. 
1829,  he  married  Jane  L.  Anderson,  born  in 
Green  County  Ky..  May  23,  1809,  daughter 
of  Pouncy  and  Nancy  (Lynch)  Anderson. 
Pouncy  Anderson,  a  native  of  Virginia,  died 
in  Todd  County,  Ky.,  June  0,  1^37:  his  wife 
was  also   a  native  of   Virginia.      Mr.    Eccles 


has  tilled  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  at 
Yandalia,  111.,  and  also  in  Hillsboro  for  sev- 
eral years.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Consti  - 
tutional  Convention,  held  at  Springfield,  111., 
in  1847.  He  has  also  been  Assistant  Assessor 
and  Deputy  United  States  Revenue  Collector. 
During  the  war,  he  was  a  recruiting  officer 
at  Hillsboro,  and  while  acting  in  that  capac- 

,  ity,  sent  in  thirty  new  recruits.  He  also  capt- 
ured and  returned  to  the  army  twenty-seven 
deserters.  He  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war 
in  1832.  He  nominated  Richard  Yates  for 
Governor  at  Decatur.  III.,  in  1860.  He  and 
liis  wife  are  Old-School  Presbyterians.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance.  In 
politics,  he  was  originally  an  old  Clay  Whig, 
but  now  supports  the  Republican  party. 

JOHN  W.  EDWARDS,  lumber  merchant, 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Tennessee  in  1821; 
son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Justice)  Edwards. 
John,  who  was  a  farmer,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1777;  removed  to  Tennessee 
about  the  year  1800,  and  left  there  in  1S38, 
afterward  residing  in  Pike  County,  Jefferson 
County  and  Upper  Alton.  He  died  in  the 
latter  place  about  the  year  1852;  his  wife 
was  born  in  North  Caroliua  in  1782,  and 
died  in  Hillsboro  about  the  year  1868.  Our 
subject,  the  fifth  son  of  a  family  of  eight 
sons  and  three  daughters,  received  a  limited 

•  education  in  Tennessee.  He  removed  from 
that  State  with  his  parents  in  1838,  and  set- 
tled in  Pike  County,  where  he  remained  two 
years;  then  removed  to  Jefferson  County 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  worked  on  his  father's 
farm.  After  remaining  in  Jefferson  Couuty 
two  years,  he  moved  to  Upper  Alton,  where 
lie  stayed  until  1855,  engaged  in  mercantile 
business.  From  Upper  Alton  he  removed  to 
Hillsboro,  where  he  engaged  in  the  mercan- 
tile and  grain  business  five  years,  then  dealt 
in  lumber  nine  years,  then  in  the  drug  busi- 
ness  nine  years.      In   1878,   he  gave  up  the 


104 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


drug  business,  and  returned  to  his  old  occu- 
pation of  dealing  in  lumber,  which  business 
he  is  now  engaged  in.  He  is  the  owner  of  a 
comfortable  frame  residence  in  Hillsboro, 
with  about  three  acres  attached.  In  Hills- 
boro, in  1848,  he  married  Joanna  Meade, 
born  in  Ohio  in  1825.  From  this  union 
there  have  been  born  to  them  eight  children, 
six  of  whom  are  living — David  A;  William 
A,  physician  at  Winchester,  111.;  John  M., 
now  residing  in  Kansas;  Albert  N.,  a  harness- 
maker  in  Hillsboro;  Frederick  W.  and  Sarah 
Isabel  King.  Mi*.  Edwards  and  his  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church,  of  which 
he  has  been  Steward,  and  is  now  Trustee. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  A. ,  F.  &  A.  M.  and 
I.  O.  O.  F.,  in  which  orders  he  has  held  all 
the  offices  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest. 
In  politics,  he  supports  the  Republican  party. 
LEONARD  G.  FATH,  Sheriff,  Hillsboro, 
born  in  Perryville,  Mo.,  November  20,  1847  ; 
son  of  Leonard  and  Miss  (Barkman)  Fath. 
both  natives  of  Germany  ;  he,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  came  to  the  United  States  about 
the  year  1840,  and  now  resides  in  Montgom- 
ery County  ;  she  came  to  America  with  her 
parents,  married  in  Perryville,  Mo.,  where 
she  died  in  1848.  Subject,  the  second  son 
of  a  Family  of  two  sons  and  one  daughter, 
received  his  education  in  the  common  schools 
in  Missouri,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years 
was  taken  from  school  and  placed  in  a  black- 
smith-shop to  learn  the  trade.  In  1864,  he 
came  to  Montgomery  County  with  his  parents, 
and  engaged  in  the  agricultural  implement 
and  grocery  business  in  Hillsboro,  for  two 
years  ;  then  giving  up  mercantile  business, 
he  worked  at  his  trade  for  two  years  ;  then 
removed  to  Nokomis  in  1873,  and  followed 
his  trade  there  till  the  fall  of  1870,  when  he 
,  was  elected  Sheriff,  an  office  which  he  held 
for  two  years,  but  was,  at  the  end  of  that 
time,   defeated  by  a  small   majority   in  the 


convention.  He  then  traveled  through  the 
country  for  nearly  a  year,  selling  agricult- 
ural implements.  At  the  convention  held 
May  24,  1879,  he  was  again  elected  Sheriff, 
an  office  which  he  now  holds.  During  ihe 
summer  of  1879,  he  spent  much  of  his  time 
in  devising  a  patent  plow  sulky  attachment, 
which  he  patented  November  30,  1880.  His 
invention  is  meeting  with  success  among  the 
farmers,  and  promises  to  prove  remunerative 
to  the  inventor.  In  Montgomery  County, 
February  23,  1871,  he  married  Laura  A. 
Marshall,  born  in  Ohio  in  1853,  daughter  of 
John  L.  and  Harriet  (Lattimore)  Marshall  ; 
from  this  union  two  children  have  been  born 
— one  son,  Leo  G.,  living,  and  one  daughter 
deceased.  Mr.  Fath  owns  a  house  and  lot  in 
Hillsboro  ;  he  is  a  Democrat 

I.  W.  FINK,  physician.  Hillsboro,  was 
born  at  Jonesboro.  111.,  August  24,  1824, 
to  John  and  Sophia  (Lingle)  Fink,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  North  Carolina,  he 
born  November  12,  1797,  and  came  to  Illi- 
nois in  1817,  his  parents  dying  in  his  child- 
hood ;  he  settled  in  Union  County,  where  he 
carried  on  tanning  and  farming  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  November  6,  1858;  his 
wife  was  born  August  1,  1800,  and  died  Jan- 
uary 11,  186(3  ;  she  came  to  the  State  early 
in  life  from  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  whither 
she  had  gone,  with  her  parents,  from  her 
native  State.  Their  children  were  I.  W., 
Henry  J.,  born  March  2,  1828;  Mary  A.. 
March  21,  1832,  wife  of  John  Miller  ;  John 
M.,  deceased,  without  issue;  George  W. , 
born  October  19,  1838  ;  Levi  A,  Jan.  30, 
1845.  All  are  farming  in  Union  County,  111., 
except  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education,  with  the 
addition  of  two  years  at  the  Hillsboro  Acad 
emy.  In  1850,  he  began  the  study  of  med- 
icine with  Dr.  A.  S.  Haskill,  of  Hillsboro, 
where  he  remained,  including  his  attendance 


HILLSBORO  CITY  AND  TOWNSHIP. 


105 


upon    lectures,   three    years,    and  graduated 
from  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College  in  1854, 
when  he  began  the    practice    at    Hillsboro, 
where  he  has  since  been  located  (except  one 
year  at  Shelby  ville),  and  has  built  up  a  large 
and  remunerative  practice.      He  is  a  member 
of  the  National,   State,  District  and  County 
Medical  Societies,  the  latter  of  which  he  or- 
ganized and  held  the  office  of  President.    He 
was  married,  April  24,  1855,  to  Miss  Emeline 
M.    Burnap,    born    in    Montgomery    County 
May   26,    1835,  and   died    January  8,    1857  ; 
she  was   a  daughter  of   George    and  Maria 
(Seward)   Burnap.  the   latter   related  to  the 
noted  Secretary  Seward  ;  by  her  he  had  one 
child — Mary  M.  D. ;  he  was  again  married  Oct. 
2.  1858,  to  Sarah  C.  Sawyer,  born  in  Boston, 
Mass.,    November    7.   18r!4  i  by    her    he   has 
three  children — Juliet  K..  John  W.  and  Hugh 
K.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order 
and   of  the   Democratic   party,  and  with  his 
family  belongs  to  the  Congregational  Church. 
ENOCH  JAMES   FILE,   Hillsboro,    born 
in  Bond  County,  111..  October  19,  1832  ;  son 
of  Daniel  and  Elizabeth  (James)  File.      Dan- 
iel, who  was   a   farmer,  was  born   in   North 
Carolina  in   1801,  and  in  company  with  his 
father,  Jacob  File,  who  died  in   1842,  came 
to  Illinois   in   1816.    when  it  was    a    Terri- 
tory ;     died    in    1851  ;     his    wife,     born    in 
Middle   Tennessee,    in  1811,   died   in    1845. 
Our    subject,     the    second    son    of    a    fam- 
ily   of     sis    sons     and  six   daughters,     re- 
ceived very  little  education,   his  school  life 
being   limited  to  four  months  that   he    at- 
tended in  Bond  County.     He  began  life  on 
the  farm,  then  learned  the  carpenter's  trade, 
which  he  followed  eight  years,  then  served 
as  clerk,  then  in  the   hardware  business  on 
his  own  account  for  seven  years.     At  the  end 
of  that  time,  he  sold  out  his  business  to  the 
firm  of  Challacombe  &  Ramsey,  for  whom  he 
now  clerks.      In  1801,  he  enlisted  as  private 


in  the  Federal  army.  Company  D,  Twenty- 
Second  Illinois  Infantry,  and  during  his 
time  of  service  was  promoted  from  time  to 
time,  until  he  received  command  of  a  com- 
pany. He  participated  in  the  engagements 
at  Belmont.  Mo.,  Stone  River  and  Chicka- 
mauga,  Tenn.,  Atlanta,  etc.  ;  was  wounded 
three  times — in  skull,  side  and  hand.  In 
1853,  in  Hillsboro  Township,  he  married 
Mary  Ann  Brown,  born  in  North  Carolina 
in  1829,  died  in  1856.  Her  parents  were 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Craig)  Brown  ;  the 
former  born  in  North  Carolina  September  5, 
1794,  came  to  Illinois  in  1835,  where  he  died 
in  1807  ;  the  latter,  born  February  12,  1807, 
died  August  4,  1843.  Mr.  File  was  again 
married  November  25,  1870,  to  Virginia  C. 
Brown,  sister  of  his  hrst  wife,  born  Septem- 
ber 20,  1842,  and  from  this  union  there  has 
been  born  to  him  two  daughters — Leva  and 
Anna  ;  his  iirst  wife  bore  him  one  daughter 
—May.  He  is  a  supporter  of  the  Republi- 
can party,  and  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity. 

JAMES  ROBINSON  GLENN,  miller, 
farmer  and  stock-raiser,  P.  O.  Hillsboro, 
born  in  Ireland,  August  10,  1834;  came 
with  his  parents,  one  brother,  John  F., 
and  one  sister,  Catharine  J.,  to  the  United 
States  in  1837,  and  lived  in  Louisville,  Ky., 
about  five  years.  His  mother's  name  was 
Catharine  Jane  Robinson.  Her  father  was 
born  in  Fintona,  Ireland  ;  built  a  Methodist 
Church  in  that  town  with  his  own  money. 
In  1839,  he  chartered  a  ship,  and,  with  his 
second  wife  and  one  son  and  seven  daughters, 
went  to  Australia,  settled  iu  Melbourne,  where 
he  purchased  property,  and  lived  there  the 
balance  of  his  life.  He  purchased  a  cattle 
ranch  in  Australia,  0x15  miles,  and  died 
there  at  the  age  of  ninety  years.  Grand- 
father Robinson's  grandfather  went  from 
England  with  William,   Prince  of   Orange, 


1C6 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


was  in  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  and  the  siege 
of  Londonderry.      Subject's  father.    Thomas 
S.  Glenn,  born  in  Ireland  about  1807,  is  still 
living    in    this  connty  ;      his    grandparents 
were  born  in  Ireland  ;  his  great-grandfather 
was  born  in  Scotland  and  was   a  mechanic. 
Mr.    Glenn  began   life   by  buying  grain    in 
Litchfield:  came  to  Hillsboro   in    1858,  and 
started  the  first  grocery;  was  married  in  Macou- 
pin County  in  1860  to  Miss  Sarah  V.  Love,  born 
in  Cabell  County,  W.  Va.,  in  1840,  daughter  of 
Louis  L.  and  Emily  (Eastham)  Love.  There- 
suit  of  this  union  is  three  daughters — Nora, 
Lama  and  Wilmina.      Mr.  Glenn  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Lutheran  Church,  a  Republican,  a 
Freemason  and  a   member  of    the    Council. 
After   going  out  of   the  grocery  business  in 
Hillsboro,  he  built  a  mill,  in  1866,  which  he 
has  operated  continually  since   its  erection. 
Himself  and  brothers  were  the  prime  movers 
in  starling  the  bank  at  Hillsboro  in   1870, 
known  as  the  Montgomery  County  Loan  and 
Trust  Company,  subject  having  been  elected 
President  on  its  organization,  and  holds  the 
office  at  the  present  time.     The  Glenn  Bros. 
also  own   a  farm  near  Hillsboro,  containing 
1.020  acres,  and  about  15,000  acres  in  Texas. 
REV.  C.  A.  GELWICKS,  Lutheran  minis- 
ter, Hillsboro,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
was  born  January  7,  1885.  and  son   of   John 
Gelwicks.  a  farmer,  and  also  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  born  March  16,  1811,  and 
is  still  living.     His  wife,   Magdalena    Wolf, 
was  also  a  native  of  the  same  State,  and  was 
born  in  December,  1812.     She  is   also  living 
in  her  native    State.      The  parents  had  six 
children  born  to  them,  but  only  three  raised 
to   maturity,    two    sons    (C.    A.    being    the 
eldest)  and  one  daughter.     Our  subject   was 
educated  at  Gettysburg,  Penn.,  at   the  Penn- 
sylvania College,   where  he  took  a  classical 
course,  but  was  called  away  just  three  months 
before  he  would  have   graduated,   and  then 


went  to  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in  1858,  and 
took  charge  of  a  church  at  Strasburg,  Penn., 
immediately  after  leaving  the  Seminar}'. 
He  has  devoted  his  entire  life,  up  to  the 
present,  in  the  profession  of  his  choice.  Our 
subject  was  a  volunteer  in  the  sanitary  de- 
partment of  the  federal  army  during  the  war, 
and  was  at  Mechanicsburg  at  the  time  that 
town  was  surrendered  to  the  Rebel  forces  in 
1864,  which  occurred  a  few  days  prior  to  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg.  Subject  is  now  and 
has  always  been  a  Republican  in  politics,  and 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Good  Templars  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  was  married  at 
Springfield,  Ohio,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1858, 
the  same  day  that  he  graduated  and  took 
charge  of  his  first  church.  His  wife  was 
Mary  Isabell  Wilson,  a  daughter  of  Elon 
Wilson,  of  Springfield,  and  she  was  born  De- 
cember 26,  1836.  Her  father  was  born  March 
31,  1801,  and  died  in  October,  1864.  Her 
mother,  Mary  Wilson,  was  born  in  March, 
1810,  and  is  now  living  at  Ida  Grove,  Iowa. 
Subject  has  had  six  children  born  to  him, 
but  four  living,  one  son,  Wilson  Gelwicks, 
and  three  daughters,  viz. :  Jennie,  Belle  and 
Lena.  Himself,  wife  and  eldest  daughter 
are  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Our 
subject  has  been  a  successful  minister,  as  is 
proven  by  the  few  moves  he  has  made.  In 
twenty-four  years'  service  he  now  has  his  fifth 
charge.  He  certainly  has  reason  to  feel 
proud  of  his  ministerial  career. 

DAVID  S.  GILMORE,  millwright,  Hills- 
boro, was  born  in  Hardin  County,  Ky..  April 
13,  1832;  son  of  Alexander  Gilmore,  born  in 
Virginia  about  1805.  When  quite  young  he 
came  to  Kentucky  with  his  parents  and  set- 
tled in  Hardin  County,  where  he  died  about 
1850.  He  was  also  a  millwright  by  trade. 
His  wife  was  Millie  Mudd.  who  was  also  a 
native  of  Virginia.      Thev  raised  three  chil- 


HILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


107 


dren,  two  sons  (David  S.  being  the  eldest), 
and  one  daughter.  Our  subject  eame  to  this 
State  in  1859,  and  first  located  in  Macoupin 
County,  where  he  remained  probably  some 
three  years,  thence  to  this  county,  where  he 
has  since  lived,  in  different  parts  of  the 
county,  but  for  the  past  sixteen  years  has  re- 
sided in  Hillsboro.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  Kentucky.  He  began 
business  for  himself  when  only  eighteen  years 
of  age,  as  millwright,  which  he  has  followed 
through  life,  in  connection  with  his  other 
business,  such  as  wagon-making,  stocking 
plows,  and  other  such  work  as  is  done  by  any 
first-class  mechanic,  such  as  our  subject  is 
justly  entitled  to  be  called.  He  is  Demo- 
cratic in  politics;  also  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order.  He  was  married  in  Grayson 
County,  Ky.,  on  August  12,  1847,  to  Rachael 
Watkins,  daughter  of  Isaiah  Watkins  and 
Catharine  (Thomas)  Watkins.  Subject  has 
three  sons,  viz.:  James  D.,  Robert  Lee, 
Jesse,  and  four  daughters,  Nancy  A.,  wife  of 
Duncan  Code;  Luiena,  Libbie  May,  Sarah  E. 
Our  subject  owns  a  comfortable  little  resi- 
dence in  East  Hillsboro.  He  has  worked  at 
hia  trade  through  different  parts  of  this  State, 
Missouri  and  Kentucky. 

SOLOMON  HARKEY,  Hillsboro,  was 
born  in  Iredell  County,  N.  O,  Decem- 
ber 26,  1806;  son  of  Martin  and  Chris- 
tina (Mensinger)  Harkey.  Martin,  who  was 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  February  24,  1771,  where  he  mar- 
ried October  9,  1794  In  1830.  he  left 
North  Carolina  and  came  to  Hillsboro,  where 
he  died  February  16,  1846.  His  wife,  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  was  born  February 
12,  1775,  and  died  at  her  son's  (subject's) 
house  in  Hillsboro,  September  17.  1850. 
Solomon,  the  fourth  of  a  family  of  eleven,  re- 
ceived but  very  little  education,  the  schools 
of  that  day  being  very  inferior  to  those  of 


to-day.      The  school  which  he  attended  was  a 
log  cabin  with  an  earthen  floor,  and  the  books 
studied  were  Dilworth's  Spelling  Book   and 
Pike's  Arithmetic,  the  Bible  being  the  only 
reader.      He  began  life  as  a  tanner,  and  fol- 
lowed   that   business   from   April,    1829,  to 
March  1833,  in  Edwardsville,  111. ;  thence  he 
removed  to  Hillsboro,  where  he  followed  the 
tanning    business    for   ten    years,    when    he 
abandoned    it   and   became   a    farmer.      He 
owns  a  fine  farm   of  653  acres  in  Hillsboro 
Township,  a  fine  two-story  frame  residence, 
and  five  lots   and  five  acres  of   land  in  the 
town  of  Hillsboro,  besides  about  200  acres  in 
Wisconsin.     He  has  been  a  noted  horseman 
in  his  day,  and  has  handled  many  fine  ones. 
He  made  a  specialty  of  draught  horses.      In 
Hillsboro  Township,  March  31, 1831,  he  mar- 
ried Sophia    Cress,  born  in  North   Carolina 
March  26,  1809,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Cath 
arine    (Bost)    Cress,    both  natives  of  North 
Carolina.     She  (Sophia)  came  to  Illinois  with 
her  parents   about  the  year  1817,   and  died 
December  21,  1878.     Mr.  Harkey  was  again 
married  October  30,  1879,  to  Mrs.  Eleanor  T. 
(McHenry)  Evans,  born  July  11, 1826,  daugh- 
ter of   George  McHenry.     He  has  had  nine 
children,  four  of  whom  are  dead — William  P., 
now  in  Yuba  City,  Cal. ;  Jacob  M. ,  Solomon 
S.,  Sarah  O,  wife  of  Benjamin  Wilton;  Vir- 
ginia T.,  Laura  L.  (deceased),  Martha  J.  (de- 
ceased), Mary  S.    (deceased),    and  Daniel  L. 
(deceased).      During   his  business  career  he 
met  with  many  reverses;    in    1881,    he    lost 
$2,1 160  by  the  failure  of  a  New  York  bank; 
in  1878,  he  lost  $2,700  by  the  Farmers  Me- 
chanics' Bank,  of  Hillsboro;  and   in  Decem- 
ber, 1881,  he  lost  about  $2,700  by  the  failure 
of  Haskell  Bros.  &  Co.,  of  Hillsboro.     He  and 
his    wife    are    members    of    the    Methodist 
Church;    he  is   a    member  of    the  I.   O.   O. 
F. ;  in  politics  he  supports  the  Republican 
party. 


108 


l'.loCKAPHK'AL: 


THOMAS  E.  HARRIS,  County  Superin- 
tendent, Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Massachusetts 
in  1815;  son  of  Thomas  and  Abigail  (Chapin) 
Harris,  lie  born  in  Massachusetts,  died  in 
Vermont,  and  she,  the  mother  of  five  sons  and 
three  daughters,  was  born  in  Vermont.  Our 
subject  is  the  second  son;  received  a  good 
education  at  the  Public  Schools:  commenced 
life  as  a  clerk  in  a  wholesale  dry  goods  estab- 
lishment in  Now  York;  went  to  England. 
lived  in  Manchester  for  three  years,  came 
from  there  to  this  State  and  commenced  farm- 
ing, which  business  he  still  follows.  He  has 
been  Township  '  Trustee  for  about  twenty 
years:  Supervisor  of  Butler  Township  three 
years,  and  was  elected  County  Superintendent 
of  Public  Schools  in  December,  1877,  an 
office  he  has  filled  acceptably  to  the  present 
time.  Mr.  Harris  was  married  in  this  county 
about  1842.  to  Hulda  Ware,  a  native  of  this 
county,  and  a  daughter  of  Obediah  and 
Electa  (Post)  Ware.  They  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Julia,  wife  of  Michael  Robertson,  of  this 
county,  and  who  now  lives  in  Butler.  Al- 
though Montgomery  has  a  Democratic  majori- 
ty of  500  or  600.  yet  our  subject  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  has  no  trouble  in  getting  the  po- 
sition he  now  holds,  such  is  an  evidence  of 
his  qualifications  and  popularity.  He  owns 
200  acres  of  land  in  Butler  Township. 

A.  HARTLINE,  boots  and  shoes,  Hills- 
boro, born  in  North  Carolina  October  3, 
1845  :  his  parents  are  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina :  his  father,  who  was  a  farmer  and  a 
blacksmith  by  trade,  died  there  in  1874  ;  his 
mother,  who  is  now  about  seventy-five  years 
of  age,  is  still  living  in  her  native  State. 
Our  subject,  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  seven 
sons,  received  a  limited  education  in  Iredell 
County,  N.  O,  and  remained  with  his  father 
on  the  farm  and  in  the  blacksmith-shop  till 
he  was  seventeen  years  old  ;  he  then  learned 
the   shoe  making  trade,  which  he  has  since 


followed.  Beginning  without  any  means,  he 
has.  by  industry  and  economy,  worked  up  a 
good  trade  in  custom  work,  and  in  addition 
carries  a  good  stock  of  ready-made  goods  :  he 
owns  a  neat  store  and  a  comfortable  two-story 
brick  residence  in  Hillsboro.  He  married  in 
Hillsboro,  October  5.  1870.  Mary  Ann 
Sharp,  born  in  North  Carolina,  daughter  of 
William  Sharp,  a  native  of  that  State,  who 
died  near  Hillsboro.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hartline 
are  the  parents  of  five  children — George 
Flora,  Jessie,  Bertie  and  Grace.  He  en- 
listed, in  1804.  in  Company  E,  North  Caro- 
lina Infantry,  and  served  under  Gen.  MeCray 
till  1865,  when  he  was  captured  near  Peters- 
burg, Va.,  and  kept  a  prisoner  till  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  and  his  wife  are  Methodists; 
in  politics,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  HAYNES,  County  Treasurer, 
Hillsboro.  born  in  Morgan  County.  111.,  Sep- 
tember 25,  184:1  ;  son  of  John  and  (Harriet) 
Seymour.  John,  who  was  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, was  born  in  Indiana  about  the  year 
1815  ;  he  lived  in  Kentucky,  principally,  till 
he  was  fourteen  years  old.  when  he  moved  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Cass  County  for  a 
few  years :  thence  he  removed  to  Morgan 
County,  thence  to  Montgomery  County,  where 
he  settled  permanently  in  1854  ;  his  wife  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  about  the  year  1819  ; 
she  came  to  Illinois  with  her  parents  when 
quite  young,  and  is  still  living.  James,  who 
is  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  five  sons  and  two 
daughters,  attended  school  in  Montgomery 
County,  and  afterward  at  McKendree  College, 
at  Lebanon,  and  the  Soldiers'  College  at  Ful- 
ton, 111.  He  followed  farming  till  1877, 
when  he  was  elected  County  Treasurer,  an 
office  which  he  still  holds.  In  1862,  he  en- 
listed as  private  in  the  Federal  army,  Com- 
pany F,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second 
Illinois  Infantry.  In  the  battle  of  Tupelo, 
Miss.,  July  14,  1864,  he  lost  his  right  arm  ; 


HILLSBORO   CITY    AND   TOWNSHIP. 


100 


he  was  captured  next  clay  and  held  a  pris- 
oner till  the  close  of  the  war,  during  which 
time  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  following 
places:  Mobile,  two  weeks;  Cahaba,  Ala,, 
four  months;  Macon,  Ga.,  two  and  a  half 
months;  Andersonville,  one  month;  Selma, 
Ala. ;  Mei-idian,  Miss. ;  Vicksburg  and  St. 
Louis.  From  St.  Louis,  he  was  released,  and 
having  reported  at  Springfield,  111.,  was  dis- 
charged in  the  spring  of  186").  He  is  a 
Methodist;  in  politics,  he  supports  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

GEORGE  B.  KING,  lumber  merchant,  etc. , 
Hillsboro,  born  in  Rowan  County,  N.  C, 
September  21,  1824;  came  to  this  county  in 
1 867 ;  son  of  James  King,  born  in  Surrey 
County,  N.  C.  in  17(J8:  farmer;  served  last 
two  years  in  the  war  of  IS  12;  was  in  nine 
months  in  the  same  war.  in  the  early  part,  as 
a  substitute  for  another  party,  when  only 
about  sixteen  years  of  age;  he  served  also  in 
the  regular  army  some  time  after  the  close  of 
this  war.  Subject  has  now  in  his  possession 
a  white  vest  that  was  made  by  a  French  lady 
for  his  father,  at  St.  Louis,  during  the  war; 
he  died  in  North  Carolina,  December  26, 
L825.  Elizabeth  (Barringer)  King,  subject's 
mother,  bom  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  Jan- 
uary 27,  1799,  and  died  in  Hillsboro,  111.. 
August  7,  1870.  Subject's  parents  raised 
one  son  and  two  daughters.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  North  Carolina  and  Virginia;  farmed 
and  taught  school  for  a  start  in  life;  although 
he  learned  no  trade,  yet  he  possessed  sufficient 
natural  genius  to  adapt  himself  to  almost  any 
kind  of  work;  was  in  the  habit  of  making  his 
own  shoes,  harness,  lay  brick,  build  chim- 
neys, etc.  When  he  first  came  to  this  place, 
in  1867,  he  taught  school  and  worked  at  the 
carpenter's  trade  at  intervals,  and  finally  in 
August,  1872.  he  began  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness, which  he  still  follows.  Subject  was 
conscripted   in   the  Confederate   service,    in 


March,  1863.  remained  there  till  the  follow- 
ing June,  when  he  was  taken  sick  and  sent 
to  the  hospital;  after  becoming  able,  he  was 
sent  on  to  rejoin  the  army,  took  a  different 
route  and  came  to  Ohio;  remained  about  one 
year,  and  then  came  on  to  this  State.  Re- 
publican now  in  politics.  Member  of  the 
I.  O.  O.  F.  Was  married  in  Hillsboro,  111., 
March  29,  1872,  to  Miss  Lydia  A.  Dilworth, 
born  in  Grant  County,  Ky.,  June  5,  1849;  a 
daughter  of  Absalom  H.  Dilworth.  born  in 
Guilford  County,  N.  C.  July  2.",.  1815;  lived 
several  years  in  Kentucky,  and  then  came  to 
this  State,  where  he  still  lives.  He  (Mr.  Dil- 
worth) married  Elizabeth  Work,  born  in 
Guilford  County,  N.  O,  December  13.  1823; 
was  brought  to  Kentucky,  when  only  nine 
years  old,  by  her  parents,  and  settled  in 
Grant  County,  where  she  died  August  15, 
1861.  Subject  has  one  son — Charlie  D..  born 
March  26,  1879,  and  one  daughter — Nellie  D., 
born  June  22,  1881.  Subject  is  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.  Owns  six  lots  in 
town,  two  lumber  yards,  nice  two-story  frame 
residence,  etc. 

HENRY  H.  KEITHLEY,  Deputy  County 
Clerk.  Hillsboro,  bom  in  Indiana,  November 
26.  L844;  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  in  1857; 
son  of  Seth  M.  and  Anna  Theresa  (Miller) 
Keithley,  he,  a  mechanic,  born  in  Kentucky, 
October  18,  1812,  went  to  Indiana,  with  his 
parents,  when  quite  young;  moved  to  Litch- 
field in  1N.">7,  where  he  still  lives  and  owns 
twenty  acres  within  the  limits  of  that  town; 
she,  born  in  Maryland  November  13.  1808, 
died  at  Litchfield,  111.,  November  22,  1869. 
Subject  is  the  oldest  son  of  a  family  of  two 
sons  and  three  daughters;  got  his  education 
at  Litchfield  and  Springfield;  was  a  painter 
for  four  years.  Deputy  Postmaster  at  Liteh 
field  for  two  years,  clerked  in  a  drug  store 
there  for  two  years:  moved  from  there  to 
Hillsboro  in  December,  1873.   when  he  was 


110 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


appointed  Deputy  County  Clerk,  by  George 
M.  Raymond,  County  Clerk,  an  office  he  still 
fills  satisfactorily.  Mr.  Keithley  was  mar- 
ried in  Hillsboro,  September  8,  1875,  to  Miss 
Camilla  Brown,  born  June  7,  1853,  who  has 
borne  him  one  child — Amy  R.  Subject  en- 
listed September  3,  18(34,  in  the  Federal 
army,  and  served  as  private  and  Corporal  un- 
til the  end  of  the  war.  He  is  a  Methodist, 
a  Republican,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  owns  a  nice  residence  in  East 
Hillsboro. 

JUDGE  EDWARD  LANE,  attorney, 
Hillsboro.  is  a  native  Ohioan  and  was 
born  in  Cleveland  March  '11.  1842,  to  -John, 
born  April  15,  1803,  and  Catharine  (Berry) 
Lane,  who  were  also  natives  of  Ohio,  and 
'died  in  the  "Forest  City"  about  1850,  at 
about  the  same  time,  the  father  having  been 
a  merchant  of  that  city.  Both  families  were 
of  Irish  extraction,  and  possessed  of  a  marked 
shrewdness  and  energy.  The  orphaned  family 
consisted  of  two  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom 
died  at  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  being 
four  years  the  senior  of  Edward,  who  came  to 
Hillsboro  in  the  spring  of  1858.  and  engaged 
in  work  upon  a  brick  yard,  at  which  he  con- 
tinued about  three  years,  then  began  going 
to  school,  working  at  the  same  time  for  his 
subsistence.  In  the  fall  of  1863,  he  began 
reading  law  in  connection  with  school-teach- 
ing, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  fall 
of  1864.  He  immediately  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Hillsboro,  where  he  has 
built  up  a  large  and  remunerative  practice, 
and  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession of  Montgomery  County.  In  1869,  he 
was  elected  for  a  term  of  four  years  to  the 
office  of  County  Judge.  In  1870,  October 
31.  he  was  married  to  Miss  Tucie  Miller, 
born  June  19,  1848,  a  native  of  Lawrence- 
ville,  111.,  and  daughter  of  Samuel  K.  and 
Margaret  Miller.     By  her  he  had   two  chil- 


dren— Bessie  and  Guy  C.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  order,  and  with  his  family, 
belong  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  In  his  po- 
litical sentiment,  he  is  Democratic. 

E.  F.  LEAK,  miller,  Hillsboro,  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  July  22,  1S47,  son  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  (Walker)  Leak.  Thomas 
Leak  was  born  in  England  in  1806;  emi- 
grated to  America  while  quite  young,  and 
died  in  Newark,  Del.,  in  1872;  he  was  a 
painter,  a  sailor,  and  finally  a  farmer.  His 
wife  was  born  in  England  in  I  SI  7,  and  died 
in  Jerseyville,  111.,  in  187:!.  Our  subject  is 
the  third  son  of  a  family  of  five  sons  and  one 
daughter.  He  received  a  common  school 
education  in  Delaware,  and  learned  the  mill- 
ing business,  in  which  occupation  he  is  still 
engaged.  He  began  the  business  with  very 
moderate  resources,  but  has  been  successful, 
and  now  owns  a  comfortable  frame  cottage 
in  Hillsboro.  He  married,  in  Philadelphia, 
in  April,  1873,  Esther  Comly,  a  native  of 
Delaware,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Miss 
(Sanders)  Comly.  Samuel  Comly,  whose 
parents  were  Quakers,  was  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leak  are  the  parents  of 
three  children — Edward,  Delia  and  Bertha. 
He  is  a  supporter  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

JOHN  J.  McLEAN.  Circuit  Clerk  and  Re- 
corder, Hillsboro,  was  born  at  Metuchin. 
Middlesex  Co.,  N  J.,  April  4.  1849.  and 
came  to  this  State  when  fourteen  years 
old,  with  his  parents.  He  was  the  son  of 
Martin  and  Mary  (Caryl  McLean.  Martin 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  November,  1819,  and 
came  to  the  "United  States  in  1847,  and  lo- 
cated in  New  Jersey,  remaining  till  1862,  and 
moved  with  his  family  to  this  county,  where 
he  still  lives.  He  is  a  farmer,  and  owns  51 M  > 
acres  of  as  good  land  as  is  in  the  county. 
Mary  Gary,  his  wife,  was  born  in  Ireland  in 
1812;  was  married  there;  came  to  the  United 


HILLSBORO  CITY  AND  TOWNSHIP. 


Ill 


States  one  year  prior  to  her  husband,  and 
died  July  9,  1879.  Our  subject  is  the  oldest 
of  a  family  of  three;  received  his  education 
partly  in  the  East  and  partly  in  St.  Louis, 
where  he  graduated  from  Bryant  &  Stratton's 
Commercial  College.  He  also  took  a  classical 
course  at  the  Christian  Brothers'  College,  St. 
Louis,  but  did  not  graduate.  In  Bois  D'  Arc 
Township,  Montgomery  County,  Oct.  10,  1S77, 
he  married  A.  Amanda  Thomas,  who  was  born 
there  October  10,  1855,  daughter  of  Samuel  R. 
and  Mary  E.  ( Dayton)  Thomas.  He  was  born  in 
Greene  County,  111.,  May  2,  1829;  is  still  liv- 
ing; she  born  in  L831  at  the  same  place:  still 
living.  Subject  has  two  sons — William 
Ralph,  born  July  17,  1879,  and  Edgar  M., 
born  March  21,  1881.  Mr.  McLeon  taught 
school  for  a  year,  and  was  afterward  elected 
County  Treasurer  of  Montgomery  County, 
and  served  two  years.  He  next  engaged  in 
real  estate  and  abstract  business  from  1875  to 
1880,  when  he  was  elected  Circuit  Clerk,  an 
office  he  still  holds.  He  owns  a  nice  two- 
story  brick  residence  in  Hillsboro,  besides 
about  480  acres  of  land  in  Montgomery 
County,  and  a  valuable  set  of  abstract  books 
worth,  probably,  $10,000.  He  is  also  an 
inventor,  having  patented  what  is  known  as 
McLean's  File  Cabinet  for  court  papers. 
This  is  an  invention  that  promises  to  be  very 
valuable  to  the  patentee. 

GEORGE  W.  MICHAEL,  hotel  proprietor 
and  farmer,  Hillsboro.  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina July  30,  1827,  son  of  Jacob  and  Annie 
(Lontz)  Michael,  both  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina. Jacob  was  born  about  the  year  1 798. 
He  is  a  farmer  by  occupation  and  still  living 
in  his  native  State.  His  wife  died  in  Indiana 
about  the  year  1S72.  They  were  the  parents 
of  twelve  children,  nine  sons  and  three  daugh 
ters:  six  of  the  sons  deceased.  Our  subject 
received  but  a  limited  education  in  North 
Carolina.      He  learned  the  house-carpenter's 


trade,  and  has  followed  it  the  greater  part 
of  his  life.  He  came  to  Illinois  March  L8, 
1881,  and  settled  in  Hillsboro,  where  he  has 
conducted  a  hotel  since  that  time.  He  mar- 
ried, in  North  Carolina,  October  20,  1857, 
Belzora  Hedick,  a  native  of  that  State,  born 
July  5,  1 833,  daughter  of  John  and  Barbara 
(Causler)  Hedick.  John  Hedick,  who  is  a 
farmer,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  March 
30,  1795.  His  wife,  also  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  was  born  February  12,  1804.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Michael  have  had  six  children,  four 
of  whom  are  living- -Thomas  J.,  who  married 
Miss  Teenie  Nichols,  of  Hillsboro;  John  T. ; 
Jennie,  wife  of  John  Goodman,  and  Emma 
H.  During  the  war.  Mr.  Michael  served  in 
the  Confederate  army.  Company  E,  Fourth 
Cavalry,  Deering's  Brigade,  Stewart's  Cav- 
alry, participating  in  the  battles  of  Manassas 
and  others  of  less  importance  near  Peters 
burg.  Richmond,  etc.  On  one  occasion,  he 
and  a  comrade,  by  coolness  and  strategy,  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  nine  federal  soldiers. 
Seeing  the  importance  of  a  good  education, 
Mi-.  Michael  has  endeavored  to  give  his  chil- 
dren all  the  advantages  in  that  direction 
within  the  reach  of  his  ability.  He  and  all 
his  family  are  Lutherans.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity;  in  politics,  he  is  a 
supportei  of  the  Democratic  party. 

SAMUEL  H.  McLEAN,  physician,  Hills- 
boro, is  a  native  of  Montgomery  Count;,'. 
where  he  was  born,  near  Hillsboro,  April  12> 
IS  I1.),  to  Robison  and  Emily  (Barry)  Mc- 
Lean, he  a  native  of  Greensboro,  N.  O,  and 
came  to  Montgomery  County  at  about  twenty - 
one  years  of  age,  or  in  about  the  year  1841. 
Here  he  engaged  in  stock-raising  and  farm- 
ing, which  he  followed  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  January.  1870.  Emily,  the 
mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Ban-en 
County,  Ky.,  and  came  with  her  parents  when 
but  a  child  to  Montgomery  County.      She  is 


112 


BIOGKAPHICAL: 


still  living  at  an  advanced  age.  Our  subject 
is  the  second  of  seven  living  children.  He 
received  the  meager  advantages  of  the  dis- 
trict schools  until  seventeen  years  of  age, 
when  he  spent  two  years  at  the  acadarny  at 
Hillsboro,  and  the  years  1871-72  were  spent 
at  the  University  at  Lincoln,  111.  In  the  fall 
of  1872,  he  entered  the  Eclectic  Medical  In- 
stitute at  Cincinnati,  graduating  therefrom 
in  the  spring  of  1874.  He  immediately  com- 
menced practice  at  Donnellson,  Montgomery 
County,  where  he  remained  three  years.  In 
the  spring  of  1877,  he  came  to  Hillsboro, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  iu  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  and  built  up  a  large  and  lu- 
crative practice.  Since  his  professional  ca- 
reer in  the  county,  he  has  held  the  offices  of 
Secretary,  President  and  Vice  President  of 
the  County  Medical  Society,  and  has  been 
twice  appointed  as  delegate  to  the  State  Med- 
ical Association,  of  which  he  is  a  member. 
He  was  married,  September  19,  1876,  to  Miss 
Lina  Kerr,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  daughter 
of  Robert  Ken-,  now  of  Montgomery  County. 
He  is  Republican  in  political  sentiment,  and 
with  his  family,  belongs  to  the  Methodist 
Church. 

WARREN  M.  NEFF,  blacksmith.  Hills- 
boro, was  born  in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  in 
1848;  son  of  William  H.  C.  and  Susan  (Huff- 
man) Neff.  William  H.  C.  was  a  farmer, 
and  was  born  in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  in  1825; 
removed  to  Montgomery  County  in  1854, 
where  he  died  the  following  year.  His  wife 
was  born  in  Ohio,  in  1880;  she  married  twice, 
the  second  husband  being  James  White,  of 
Montgomery  County.  Warren,  our  subject, 
has  two  sisters  and  three  half-brothers.  He 
received  his  education,  chiefly,  in  Hillsboro, 
and  worked  on  the  farm  till  he  was  twenty 
years  old.  when  he  learned  the  blacksmith's 
trade,  which  he  has  followed  ever  since.  He 
began  life  with    little  or  no  means,    but  by 


industry  and  economy,  and  strict  attention 
to  business,  he  has  built  up  an  extensive 
trade,  and  is  the  owner  of  considerable  prop- 
erty. He  owns  a  blacksmith  shop  and  lot 
adjoining,  a  house  and  lot  in  the  south  end 
of  Hillsboro,  and  eighty-three  acres  of  land 
in  East  Fork  and  Fillmore  Townships.  In 
Hillsboro,  November  17,  1875,  he  married 
Elmira  A.  Stout,  born  in  Indiana,  in  1855, 
and  died  in  Hillsboro,  December  4,  1880. 
Mr.  Neff  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of 
the  I.  O.  O.  F.  and  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  PAISLEY,  attor- 
ney, Hillsboro,  was  born  in  this  county 
in  1838;  son  of  Joseph  Paisley,  born  in 
North  Carolina  in  1797,  and  emigrated  to 
this  State  in  1822,  and  spent  first  two  years 
in  Bond  County,  thence  to  this  county,  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died 
on  his  farm  here  in  1857.  In  1837,  he  was 
married  to  Martha  A.  Allan,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, born  near  Lexington  in  1815,  and  is 
still  living  with  her  son,  subject,  in  this 
county.  Parents  raised  but  one  son,  subject, 
he  being  by  the  second  wife.  There  are  two 
half-sisters  living  by  first  wife.  Our  subject 
was  educated  at  the  Hillsboro  Academy.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1870.  having  read 
law  off  and  on  some  several  years  previous. 
He  began  life  as  a  farmer,  at  the  death  of 
his  father,  which  he  followed  for  four  or  five 
years.  He  was  next  County  Surveyor,  being 
elected  in  1865,  an  office  he  filled  for  two 
years.  He  next  engaged  in  mercantile  bus- 
iness, some  two  years.  He  held  the  office  of 
Master  in  Chancery  from  1868  to  1869;  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1880,  a 
position  he  now  holds;  enlisted  in  1862  in 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  Illinois 
Infantry  as  a  private,  and  was  afterward 
elected  Orderly  Sergeant,  and  served  three 
years;  participated  in  the  battle  at  Nashville, 
Tupelo,  storm  and  capture  of  the  works  of 


HILLSBORO  CITY   AND  TOWNSHIP. 


113 


Blakely,  at  Mobile,  Ala.,  besides  several 
minor  engagements;  was  never  captured  nor 
wounded  during  the  war;  belonged  to  the 
command  that  followed  Price  through  Mis- 
souri and  a  portion  of  Kansas,  in  1864,  a 
distance  of  about  600  miles;  left  Jefferson 
Barracks  on  the  2d  of  October  and  got  back 
to  St.  Louis  on  the  18th  of  November;  Dem- 
ocrat in  politics.  He  was  married  in  Ma- 
coupin County,  this  State,  on  the  5th  <>f 
June,  1S72,  to  Maggie  M.  Middleton.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  John  and  Sibilla 
(Galbreath)  Middleton;  wife  was  born  in  1846. 
Our  subject  has  five  children,  all  daughters, 
viz. :  Anna,  Ethel.  Georgia,  Maggie  and  Susie. 
His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian Church,  commonly  called  Covenant- 
ers, her  father  being  a  minister  of  that  church. 
Subject  owns  about  1.000  acres  of  land  in 
this  county. 

SAMUEL  PAISLEY,  farmer,  I'.  O.  Hi  11s- 
boro,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  the  year 
1811,  on  the  6th  of  July.  John  Paisley,  his 
father,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  10th 
of  August.  176:!.  and  was  taken  to  North 
Carolina  in  infancy  and  remained  there  until 
sixty-four  years  of  age,  and  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation.  He  emigrated  to  Illinois  in 
1828,  and  settled  in  Montgomery  County,  and 
commenced  farming.  He  entered  160  of 
land  and  bought  120  acres  of  unimproved  land, 
on  which  he  put  all  necessary  improvements, 
and  raised  a  large  family  of  children.  He 
married  in  North  Carolina  in  the  year  L791, 
to  Miss  Jane  (Rankin)  Paisley.  She  was  bom 
in  North  Carolina  in  the  year  1771,  and  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  was  the  mother  of 
twelve  children,  our  subject  being  the  eleventh 
child,  and  was  raised  on  the  farm  and  assisted 
his  father  in  his  boyhood  days.  He  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  the  coun- 
try, and  by  observation  and  energy  has  a 
good    practical    education.     He    commenced 


business  for  himself  as  a  farmer;  went  into 
the  Black  Hawk  war,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  and  served  three  months;  came  back 
to  this  county  and  purchased  forty  acres  of 
land  with  the  money  he  received  for  his  sen- 
ices,  and  has  added  to  it  until  he  has  reached 
the  handsome  estate  of  414  acres,  the  most 
of  which  is  good  tillable  land,  with  all  neces- 
sary improvements.  He  was  married  Sep 
tember  1,  1842,  in  this  county,  to  Miss  Clar- 
issa Fuller;  was  born  in  Clark  County,  Ohio, 
January  11.  1821.  Moses  Fuller,  her  father, 
was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  in  1787,  and 
died  November,  1879.  Elizabeth  Prillaman, 
her  mother,  was  born  in  Virginia,  in  the  year 
1778.  and  was  mother  of  nine  children,  eight 
living.  The  wife  of  subject  was  the  seventh 
child,  and  she  is  the  mother  of  five  children, 
one  deceased.  Their  names  are  as  follows: 
Moses  F.,  in  the  war  three  years,  was  in  sev 
eral  battles,  entering  the  service  at  seventeen 
years  of  age;  Lucinda  O,  Nettie,  William 
C,  Laura  J.,  deceased.  They  are  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Identified  with 
the  Republican  party.  William  Paisley,  his 
paternal  grandfather,  was  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war,  and  was  wounded  at  Guilford  through 
the  wrist.  Mrs.  Paisley,  the  mother  of  Rev. 
Samuel  Paisley,  said  that  she  had  no  rec- 
ollection of  her  pareuts,  they  having  been 
killed  by  the  Indiana  and  her  mother  died 
soon  after.  She  never  spoke  of  her  captivity 
at  all. 

JOSEPH  POLLARD,  hotel  proprietor, 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  St.  Louis  January  22, 
1856;  son  of  Daniel  and  Mary  (Phalan)  Pol 
lard.  Daniel  Pollard  was  born  in  Ireland 
and  emigrated  to  America  at  the  age  of  twenty 
two.  He  settled  first  in  New  Orleans,  but 
afterward  moved  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  was 
married  August  1">.  L850.  He  followed 
steamboating  for  several  years,  and  was  after- 
ward employed    on   the  police  force  in    St. 


114 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Louis.  He  died  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  in 
L867.  Of  his  seven  children,  three  sons  died 
prior  to  his  death,  and  were  buried  in  St.  Louis. 
Since  bis  death,  one  son  and  one  daughter 
have  died,  and  been  buried  in  Litchfield,  111. 
The  remaining  two  are  Joseph  (our  subject) 
and  Margaret.  His  wife.  Mary  Phalan,  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  1826.  She  came  to  Amer- 
ica with  some  friends,  when  she  was  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  and  stopped  for  a  time  in 
New  Orleans,  then  moved  to  St.  Louis.  Since 
the  death  of  her  husband,  she  and  her  son, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  have  been  engaged 
in  the  hotel  business.  They  first  kept  hotel 
in  Butler,  where  they  stayed  nine  years; 
thence  they  moved  to  Raymond,  remaining 
there  four  years,  and  finally  located  in  Hills  - 
boro,  in  June,  1879.  Here  they  ran  the  old 
American  Hotel  for  two  years  and  a  half, 
after  which  they  moved  to  their  present  house, 
the  City  Hotel,  where  they  have  met  with  an 
extensive  patronage.  Our  subject,  his  mother, 
and  sister,  are  Catholics.  He  is  a  supporter 
of  the  Democratic  party. 

JUDGE  EDWARD*  YOUNG  RICE,  at- 
torney, Springfield,  was  born  in  Logan  County, 
Ky..  February  8,  1820.  In  his  native  State, 
he  remained  until  about  fifteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  came  with  his  parents  to  Macoupin 
County,  111.  His  father.  Francis  Rice,  was  a 
native  of  Caswell  County,  N  C.  He  was  en- 
gaged in  a  ministerial  life,  and  identified 
with  agricultural  and  mercantile  pursuits. 
His  death  occurred  in  August,  1837,  aged 
about  sixty-three  years.  His  wife  was  Mary 
Gooch,  also  a  native  of  Caswell  County.  N.  C. 
and  a  daughter  of  William  and  Mrs.  (Carr) 
Gooch.  Both  were  among  the  prominent  fam- 
ilies of  North  Carolina.  The  parents  of  our 
subject  had  seven  sons  and  four  daughters,  of 
whom  two  sons  and  one  daughter  are  now  liv- 
ing, of  whom  the  Judge  is  the  youngest. 
The  eldest,  Hiram  J.,  a  farmer  of   Macoupin 


County,  and  Susan,  widow  of  Robert  Andr 
of  the  above  county.  The  Judge  received  a 
limited  education  in  the  common  schools, 
with  the  addition  of  about  two  years  at 
Shurtlelf  College.  He  then  taught,  school  and 
studied  law  with  Gov.  Palmer,  at  Carlinville, 
from  which  place  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  February,  is  4-1.  In  September  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  came  to  Hillsboro,  where  he 
practiced  his  profession  until  in  October, 
1881,  when  he  entered  into  partnership  with 
Judge  A.  N.  J.  Crook,  at  Springfield,  111. 
While  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, he  has -always  been  honored  with  a  large 
and  lucrative  practice.  In  1847,  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Recorder  of  Deeds  of 
Montgomery  County.  In  November,  1 
he  was  honored  with  an  election  to  the  Lower 
House  of  the  Illiuois  Legislature,  a  special 
session  carrying  him  to  the  year  1851,  and  in 
that  year  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
County  Judge  to  fill  the  unexpired  term 
caused  by  the  resignation  of  Joseph  Ral- 
ston, and  during  the  years  1853  to  1857, 
he  was  Master  in  Chancery.  In  April, 
lSi">7,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Circuit  Judge  for  a  term  of  four  years, 
but  by  the  formation  of  a  new  circuit,  com- 
posed of  Sangamon.  Macoupin.  Montgomery 
and  Christian  Counties,  he  was  re-elected  for 
a  term  of  six  years,  and  in  1867  for  a  term 
of  six  years  longer,  but  before  the  term  ex- 
pired he  resigned  his  office  to  accept  the  nom- 
ination for  Congress  from  the  "old  Tenth 
District."  In  that  position  he  served  until 
in  March.  1873,  and  it  was  during  his  term 
that  the  State  was  re- districted.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
which  assembled  in  December,  1869,  and 
completed  its  work  in  May.  1870.  In  this 
convention  he  served  upon  many  important 
committees.  In  the  early  part  of  1874,  he. 
in    connection    with    his     son-in-law,    Amos 


HILLSBOHO  CITY   AND  TOWNSHIP. 


115 


Miller,  opened  their  present  law  office  in 
Hillsboro,  now  under  the  firm  name  of  Rice. 
Miller  &  McDavid.  He  was  married  Novem- 
ber 29,  1849,  to  Mrs.  Susan  R.  (Allen)  Coudy, 
a  native  of  Clark  County,  Ivy.  She  had  one 
child — Isabella,  wife  of  F.  C.  Bolton,  a  rail- 
road operator  in  Indianapolis.  By  this  mar- 
riage, the  Judge  has  two  children  living — 
Mary,  wife  of  Amos  Miller,  and  James  E.  Y. , 
who  is  attending  Blackburn  University.  He 
is  a  Democrat  in  political  tenets,  and,  with 
his  wife,  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
GEORGE  M.  RAYMOND,  County  Clerk. 
Hillsboro,  is  a  native  of  Woodstock,  Windsor 
Co. .  Yt. ,  where  he  was  born  September  8,  1832, 
to  George  G.  and  Judith  Hix  (Phillips) 
Raymond,  both  natives  of  the  above  county, 
where  they  both  died.  She  was  a  daughter 
of  Shadrach  Phillips.  George  G.  is  a  son  of 
George  and  Phoebe  (Cobb)  Raymond.  The 
parents  of  our  subject  had  four  children,  of 
whom  he  was  the  oldest.  The  others  were 
Edna  I.,  widow  of  James  E.  L.  Southgate, 
who,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  Assistant 
Cashier  of  the  Winnebago  National  Bank; 
at  that  place  his  family  now  resides.  Sarah 
S.,  a  maiden,  residing  with  her  widowed  sis- 
ter; Elwyn  P.  died  November  11,  1881,  aged 
thirty-eight  years,  at  Shellmound,  Le  Flore 
Co.,  Miss.,  where  he  had  been  for  a  consid- 
erable time  in  the  capacity  of  book-keeper. 
Our  subject  received  his  education  at  the  dis- 
trict school  and  at  the  Green  Mountain  Lib- 
eral Institute  in  his  native  town,  after  which 
he  begun  life  as  a  farmer.  In  1853.  Sep- 
tember 12,  he  came  to  Rockford.  111.,  where 
he  engaged  in  mercantile  business,  remain- 
ing two  years.  In  1850.  he  went  to  Alton 
and  engaged  in  the  marble  business,  which 
he  carried  on  until  in  1860,  when  on  the  17th 
of  July  of  that  year  he  was  married  to  Jen- 
nette  Burdett,  a  native  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  of 
English -Scotch    descent,    and    daughter    of 


Emmons  and  Margaret  (Carr)  Burdett,  he  a 
wheelright  and  machinist,  now  residing  with 
his  family  in  Litchfield.  By  this  marriage 
there  were  two  children,  both  of  whom  died 
in  childhood.  In  February.  18(31,  he  moved 
to  Litchfield,  and  there  formed  a  partnership 
in  mercantile  business,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Stoddard  &  Raymond,  which  they  carried 
on  for  twelve  years,  when  by  the  dissolution 
of  the  firm,  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
book-keeper  for  the  banking  firm  of  Beach, 
Davis  &  Co.  During  his  residence  at  Litch- 
field, he  held  the  following  city  offices:  Alder 
man,  two  terms;  City  Treasurer,  two  terms, 
and  City  Clerk,  one  term.  In  December, 
1873,  he  took  tfpon  himself  the  duties  of  the 
office  of  County  Clerk,  having  been  previ- 
ously elected  upon  the  Granger  ticket,  the 
county  being  nearly  six  hundred  Democratic 
majority.  He  wjs  re-elected  on  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  in  a  square  political  contest,  and 
by  virtue  of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, another  year  was  added  to  his  time,  so 
that,  in  December.  1882,  he  will  have  served 
the  people  in  this  office  nine  years.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masons  at  Litchfield,  in  which 
order  he  has  for  several  years  been  command- 
ing officer.  He  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  highly  es- 
teemed citizens  of  Hillsboro. 

FRANCIS  ROOT,  local  preacher  and 
farmer,  born  in  Massachusetts,  raised  princi- 
pally in  New  Jersey.  He  was  married  to 
Mrs.  Marandis  D.  Holmes  (widow  of  Joel  D. 
Holmes,  deceased)  April  2.  1873.  Her  first 
husband,  Mi-.  Holmes,  son  of  Daniel  and 
Mercy  (Day)  Holmes,  was  born  in  Alfred. 
Me..  April  3,  1813,  and  married  Marandis 
D.  Bennett,  of  Wilbrahnm,  Mass.,  October  :!. 
1843.  Mrs.  Holmes  was  born  December  29, 
L826.  Their  children,  all  born  in  Hillsboro, 
111.,  have  been  Mary  M.,  Morrill  D..  Joel 
F.,   Lucy    N.,    Edward   and   Alice   A.     Mr. 


116 


15IOUKAPHICAL: 


Holmes,  deceased,  was  a  piano-rnaker  in  New 
York  City  for  a  number  of  years,  and  after 
coming  to  Illinois,  he  worked  at  the  carpen- 
ter's trade.  He  died  on  his  farm,  tive  miles 
south  of  Hillsboro,  on  April  5,  1870.  His 
son,  Frank,  ran  the  farm  after  his  fathers 
death,  for  several  years,  and  on  account  of 
his  health  failing,  he  was  obliged  to  quit  the 
farm,  and  his  brother  Morrill  then  took 
charge  of  the  farin  and  still  continues  to  run 
the  same.  He,  the  father,  was  not  connected 
with  any  church,  but  was  a  Methodist  in  be- 
lief, and  shortly  before  his  death,  he  pro- 
fessed religion,  and  died  happy.  He  was  a 
hio-hly-esteBmed  citizen  of  high  moral  char- 
acter, very  benevolent  all  through  life,  and 
perhaps  had  as  few  enemies  as  any  man  in 
his  country,  at  the  tinit*  of  his  death.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  politics.  Left  consid- 
erable estate  consisting  principally  of  lands. 
He  left  several  hundred  acres  to  his  family, 
besides  other  means.  His  widow  (now  Mrs. 
Root)  and  three  children — Frank,  Morrill 
and  Mary  M..  wife  of  Joseph  F.  Hughes, 
still  living.  Mr.  Root,  second  husband,  was 
born  in  Massachusetts.  February  14.  1809. 
Left  there  when  six  years  old  and  went  to 
New  Jersey  with  his  parents,  where  he  was 
educated;  left  there  when  about  twenty-live 
years  old  and  went  to  Ohio:  remained  there 
about  two  years;  from  there  to  Richmond, 
Ind. ;  remained  there  about  twenty-five  years 
in  the  woolen  factory  business,  hotel,  gro- 
cery, etc  ;  from  there  to  Greenville,  111.,  re- 
mained there  six  or  seven  years,  farming 
principally,  and  from  there  to  this  county. 
five  miles  south  of  Hillsboro;  moved  to  Hills 
boro  in  May,  1881,  where  he  now  lives. 
Began  preaching,  as  a  local  preacher,  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  about  twenty 
years  ago,  and  still  preaches  occasionally. 
Was  married  first  in  New  Jersey,  in  1831,  to 
Mary  B.  Brown.      She   died   in    1869.      His 


second  marriage  was  on  April  2,  1873,  to 
Mrs.  Marandis  D.  Holmes.  Mr.  Root  has  five 
living  children,  all  by  his  first  wife — James. 
William  and  Francis  C,  and  two  daughters  — 
Sarah  and  Julia  A.  Republican,  politically. 
Was  one  of  the  first  Abolitionists  in  Indiana; 
was  driven  out  of  the  church  on  this  account. 

CHARLES  A.  RAMSEY,  hardware,  Hills- 
boro, born  in  Pennsylvania  January  8,  1845, 
son  of  William  H.  and  Mary  (Rarer)  Ram- 
sey. William  H.  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
in  1820,  and  is  a  contractor  and  builder  by 
occupation.  His  wife,  also  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  born  in  1825.  They  are  both 
still  living.  Charles  A.,  the  eldest  son  of  a 
a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters. 
received  a  good  education  at  Pine  Grove  Sem- 
inary and  Academy,  and  also  at  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  Agricultural  College.  He  began 
life  as  a  clerk;  afterward  taught  school; 
studied  medicine  for  about  two  years,  but 
gave  it  up  and  engaged  in  the  drug  business 
in  Irving,  111.  In  1877,  he  gave  up  the  drug 
business  in  Irving,  and  came  to  Hillsboro, 
where  he  engaged  in  his  present  business, 
hardware  and  agricultural  implements.  He 
has  filled  the  office  of  Township  Supervisor. 
In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, as  private,  and  served  under  Gen.  Miles 
and  others,  and  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Sergeant  Major,  and  afterward  to  Adjutant. 
He  served  till  the  close  of  the  war,  and  par- 
ticipated in  many  hot  engagements.  In 
Shelby  County,  111.,  in  1870,  he  married 
Elizabeth  Corley,  born  in  Shelby  County. 
July  2.  IS  I1.),  daughter  of  B.  W.  and  Lois 
(Wakefield)  Corley,  natives  of  that  county. 
From  this  marriage,  they  have  one  daughter 
— Mary.  Mi-.  Ramsey  is  a  Republican,  and 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His 
wife  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

FRED  A.  RANDLE,  attorney.  Hillsboro, 
was   born  at  Bunker  Hill,  111.,  January  21, 


HLLLSBORO  CITY  AND  TOWNSHIP. 


117 


1854,  toE.  B.  and  Mary  E.  (Powers)  Handle. 
she  a  graduate  of  Oberlin  College.  Ohio,  and 
sister  to  A.  G.  Powers,  deceased,  the  artist, 
and  3  cousin  to  Hiram  Powers,  the  sculptor; 
she  was  born  in  Otto,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y. , 
in  1826,  and  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  a 
family  of  seven  sons  and  four  daughters;  ber 
death  occurred  October  10,  1857,  when  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  about  four  years  of 
age  ;  she  was  a  very  intelligent  lady  and  a 
kind  and  loving  mother.  E.  B.  Randle  was 
born  at  Bellville,  111.,  September  8,  1826, 
and  is  now  engaged  in  the  hardware  and  drug- 
business  at  Bethalto.  111. ;  he  was  one  of  a 
company  who  went  to  California  in  1849, 
locating  n«ar  Sacramento  City,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  mining,  and  was  quite  successful; 
on  his  return  home  in  1851,  by  way  of  the 
Pacific  and  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  upon  the 
latter  sea  he  was  shipwrecked,  and,  when  in 
a  perishing  condition,  he  was  picked  up  by  a 
friendly  vessel,  and  returned  home  and  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  married 
his  second  wife,  Marietta  Nelson,  of  Gilles- 
pie, 111.,  January  6,  1859,  by  whom  he  has 
two  living  children — Mattie  and  Mary  E., 
who  was  married,  June  13,  1880,  to  W.  F. 
Neisler,  of  Bethalto,  111.,  by  whom  she  has 
hail  one  child,  Lottie  E. ;  he  is  engaged  in 
business  with  his  father-in-law,  who  is  a  son 
of  Rev.  Richard  Randle,  one  of  the  pioneer 
LChers  of  the  State,  a  native  of  Georgia, 
and  still  living,  at  eighty -three  years  of  age. 
Our  subject  was  the  only  child  by  his  fath- 
er's first  marriage;  he  lived  upon  the  farm 
and  attended  district  school  in  winter.  In 
1874,  he  entered  the  Preparatory  Depart- 
ment of  McKendree  College,  at  Lebanon. 
111.  :  there  he  worked  for  his  board,  and  sur- 
mounted the  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
;.  smooth  educational  advancement,  until 
completing  his  Junior  year,  having  passed 
by    examination    the   course   of     Freshman; 


during  the  Junior  year,  he  also  took  the 
first  year  in  the  Law  Department,  and,  in 
the  year  1879,  graduated  from  that  institu- 
tion, and  came  to  Hillsboro,  where  he,  in 
July  of  that  year,  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  in  which  he  has  to  the  present 
time  met  with  flattering  success.  In  May, 
1881,  he  was  elected  for  a  term  of  tour  j  ■  i  9 
to  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which 
position  he  is  filling  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
constituency.  He  is  a  member  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  and  is  a  young  man  of  good  moral 
and  religious  habits. 

JOHN  A.  RALSTON,  boarding-house 
keeper,  Hillsboro.  born  in  Mifflin  County. 
Penn. ,  August  30,  1818;  came  to  this  State 
in  1S43  and  stopped  in  Hillsboro;  the  son  of 
William  and  Anna  (Black)  Ralston;  he,  a 
tanner,  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland  in  1783, 
came  to  the  United  States  when  quite  young; 
settled  in  Philadelphia,  Penn. ;  was  a  soldier 
of  the  war  of  1812,  but  the  war  was  brought 
to  a  close  before  he  was  called  into  active 
service  and  died  December  25,  ]StJ2  ;  she, 
born  in  Carlisle,  Penn.,  in  1782,  and  died  in 
June,  1873.  Our  subject  is  the  second  son 
of  a  family  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters; 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Perryville, 
Penn.,  and  was  married,  in  1852,  near  Tay- 
lorville,  111.,  to  Ann  Elizabeth  Ladd,  born  in 
Stonington,  Conn.,  in  1826,  who  came  to  Illi- 
nois in  the  spring  of  1849  with  her  mother 
and  family,  and  settled  six  miles  north  of 
Taylorville  ;  she  is  the  daughter  of  Noyes, 
Lorn  in  Franklin  County,  Conn.,  in  1798, 
died  1838,  and  Harriet  L.  (Williams)  Ladd, 
born  in  Stonington,  Conn.,  died  June,  1870. 
Our  subject  has  four  children — William  Cur 
tis,  Hattie  E.,  Eleanora  and  Florence  A.  He 
went  to  Missouri  in  1844  ;  remained  there 
about  ten  months,  then  went  to  Vandal ia, 
111.,  for  two  years;  then  back  to  Pennsylvania 
for  six  months;  returned  to  Taylorville,  111., 

H 


118 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


for  three  years,  then  to  Hillsboro  in  1853, 
where  he  now  resides.  Our  subject  is  a  tailor, 
and  has  followed  that  business  for  thirty 
years;  was  in  the  Federal  army  from  1862  to 
1865;  enlisted  as  a  private;  promoted  to  Sec- 
ond Sergeant,  and  was  at  the  fall  of  Viclss- 
burg,  but  was  not  called  into  action.  He  is 
a  Republican,  and  his  son.  William  Curtis,  is 
a  graduate  of  the  public  school  at  Hillsboro; 
read  law  with  Hon.  George  W.  Paisley,  of 
this  place;  went  to  Iowa,  located  in  Poca- 
hontas Center;  admitted  to  the  bar  there  in 
the  fall  of  1881,  and  now  has  a  fair  practice 
in  connection  with  the  real  estate  business. 

CHARLES  W.  SPRINGER,  abstracts  and 
real  estate,  Hillsboro.  born  in  Springfield, 
111.,  October  5,  1846.  son  of  Francis  and 
Mary  (Kreigh)  Springer;  he,  born  in  Mary- 
land in  1810,  came  to  this  place  in  1838;  es- 
tablished Hillsboro  College;  was  President  of 
same  till  1852;  moved  to  Springfield,  where 
the  college  was  opened;  sewed  again  as  Pres- 
ident for  several  years  ;  afterward  elected 
Superintendent  of  City  Schools;  came  back 
here  in  1874;  was  Superintendent  of  County 
Schools  for  several  years,  and  again  returned 
to  Springfield  in  1880,  where  he  now  is;  he 
is  a  pastor  in  the  Lutheran  Church ;  has  been 
a  preacher  all  his  life,  and  graduated  at  Get- 
tysburg College,  Gettysburg,  Penn. ;  she, 
born  at  Hagerstown,  Md.,  in  1815,  is  still  liv- 
ing. Our  subject  was  educated  principally 
at  the  university,  Springfield,  111. ;  began  life 
in  the  dry  goods  business,  in  which  he  con- 
tinued about  three  years;  taught  in  the  acad- 
emy, Hillsboro,  under  his  father,  as  Principal, 
for  a  term  of  one  year,  and  then  began  his 
present  business;  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
army  (100-days'  service)  in  the  summer  of 
1S64,  when  he  was  only  in  his  teens,  and 
was  the  whole  time  at  Rock  Island  in  charge 
of  the  prisoners.  His  parents  have  seven 
living  children,  subject  being  the  third  son, 


and  now  Public  Administrator  of  Montgomery 
County.  He  made  atrip  to  "Utah  in  1871; 
spent  six  months  there;  been  a  law  student 
for  several  years;  expects  to  be  admitted  to 
the  bar  next  winter,  and  will  make  law  his 
profession.  His  brother,  Phil  M.  Springer, 
is  an  agricultural  writer,  and  publishes  an- 
nually the  American  Berkshire  Record  at 
Springfield.  Another  brother,  John  G. .  was 
Quartermaster  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry  during 
the  war,  and  is  now  United  States  Internal 
Revenue  Gauger  of  the  Springfield  District, 
and  served  in  the  same  office  in  Arkansas  for 
ten  years. 

GEORGE  W.  SCOTT,  lawyer,  Hillsboro. 
born  in  Putnam  County,  111..  July  3,  1853; 
came  to  this  county  September,  1874,  Hon  of 
George  and  Harriet  B.  (Phillips)  Scott,  he, 
born  in  Virginia  March  10,  1813,  moved  to 
St.  Charles,  Mo. ,  with  his  parents  in  1820; 
his  father,  Phelix  Scott,  was  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor of  Missouri  in  1827-28,  and  his  father. 
Col.  Charles  Scott,  was  Colonel  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary army;  she.  a  daughter  of  Capt. 
Thomas  Phillips,  of  Hillsboro,  was  born 
in  Livingston  County,  Ky.,  in  1823.  Our 
subject  is  the  youngest  son  of  a  family  of 
three  sons  and  one  daughter:  attended  the 
high  school  at  Henry,  111. ;  graduated  at  the 
Northwestern  University  at  Chicago  in  1872; 
commenced  reading  law,   in  the  summer  of 

1874,  with  his  uncle,  Judge  Phillips;  began 
practicing  in  1876;  went  West  February  25, 
1879.  and  returned  August  20,  1881;  having 
visited  Colorado.  New  Mexico,  Old  Mexico. 
Arizona,  California,  again  to  Arizona,  thence 
home.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Colo- 
rado, and  practiced  there  ten  months.  Our 
subject  was  married,  in  Hillsboro,  December  9, 

1875,  to  Jennie  Russell,  born  at  Greenville 
June  6,  1857,  daughter  of  Thomas  J.  and 
Mary  (Buchanan)  Russell,  he  born  at  Har- 
per's Ferry,  Va.,  in  1833,  still  lives  here,  while 


HILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


ll'J 


she  was  born  in  Greenville,  111.  The  result 
of  this  union  is  one  daughter.  Pearl,  born 
January  30,  1877.  Our  subject  is  a  Demo- 
crat, a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  was  married  by  Rev.  James  Woolard, 
who  had  officiated  at  his  wife's  father's  and 
mother's  marriage,  and  also  at  his  wife's 
grandfather's  and    grandmother's    marriage. 

J.  P.  SPANGLER.  saddler.  Hillsboro.  was  ! 
born  in  Pennsylvania  April  8,  1846;  father 
was  George  Spangler;  he  was  also  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania:  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade. 
but,  in  after  life,  followed  the  vocation  of 
farming;  he  died  in  Pennsylvania  about  1852 ; 
mother's  name  was  Nancy  Myers;  she  was 
also  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  where  she  now 
lives;  parents  raised  three  sons  and  two 
(laughters:  subject  is  the  second  son.  and 
was  educated  at  the  common  schools  of  his 
native  State:  began  life  by  working  on  the 
farm,  and.  at  about  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  ! 
he  began  to  learn  the  saddler's  trade,  which  bus- 
iness he  has  followed  the  principal  part  of 
his  time  since,  except  he  traveled  about  two 
years  in  commercial  business.  He  worked  at 
his  trade  about  three  years  in  Memphis,  and 
the  next  place  he  located  was  at  Hillsboro, 
III.,  in  the  spring  of  1874.  where  he  still 
continues.  Our  subject  is  engaged  here  by  a 
company  known  as  the  Montgomery  County 
Co-operative  Association,  and  is  manager  of 
their  business.  Subject  was  married,  in  this 
town.  October  IS.  1877,  to  Miss  Tillie  Hol- 
deread.  daughter  of  Anthony  Holderead, 
who  died  at  this  place  about  1880.  Subject 
has  one  child.  Mamie  Adell,  born  Sep- 
tember 2.").  1878.  Subject  owns  a  comfort- 
abb'  two-story  brick  residence  in  town.  Re- 
publican in  politics.  Member  of  the  Masonic 
order  at  this  place;  self  and  wife  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Church. 

ALFRED  A.  K.  SAWYER,  dry  goods  and 
farming,  Hillsboro.  was  born  in  Boston  Au- 


gust 8,  1832,  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1840. 
His  father.  Amos  Sawyer,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, had  four  children,  two  boys  and  two 
girls,  our  subject  being  the  eldest,  who  was 
educated  partly  in  Hillsboro  and  partly  in 
St.  Louis,  and  began  life  farming,  after 
which  he  traveled  awhile,  clerking  on  steam- 
boats and  on  levee;  was  also  in  business  in 
Chicago  about  two  years;  has  been  in  the  dry 
goods  trade  and  farming  in  Montgomery  for 
about  sixteen  years;  he  owns  a  tine  farm  of  251 1 
acres;  has  one  residence  with  thirteen  acres 
attached,  and  another  on  Main  street;  has  a 
Hue  trade,  usually  employing  from  three  to 
live  clerks.  In  I860,  in  Hillsboro,  he  mar- 
ried Ella  Bremer,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
whose  father  was  a  North  Carolinian,  and  her 
mother  a  Virginia  woman;  he  is  living  in 
Hillsboro.  but  his  wife  is  dead.  Mr.  Sawyer 
has  had  five  chidren  born  to  him — Amos. 
Edgar.  Hubert,  Augustus  and  Ella;  oije  son, 
William,  is  dead  Is  a  Methodist,  and  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  and  Granger  frater- 
nities; has  also  filled  the  position  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace. 

THOMAS  D.  WASHBURN,  physician. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Greenfield,  Mass.. 
upon  the  25th  of  April.  1819;  he  is  the  eld 
est  and  only  sou  of  Dr.  Seth  and  Asenath 
(Dickman)  Washburn,  both  of  whom  were 
natives  of  the  above  State,  she,  born  about 
1800,  died  in  L840,  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
Dickman.  a  printer  and  book-seller  at  Spring  - 
lield.  Mass. .  and  a  man  of  considerable  prom 
inence  in  his  business;  he,  born  at  Leicester 
about  171)0.  died  February.  1825.  The  only 
sister  of  our  subject  is  Ruth  W.,  widow  of 
William  G.  Bancroft,  of  the  firm  of  Barnes. 
Bancroft  &  Co..  one  of  the  oldest,  wealthiest 
and  most  pi-ominent  wholesale  and  retail  dry 
goods  houses  in  Buffalo,  N  Y.  Dr.  Wash- 
burn, in  his  boyhood,  pursued,  in  the  differ 
ent  academies  and  colleges  of  New  England. 


120 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


the  languages,  sciences,  mathematics  and 
classics,  obtaining  a  valuable  and  practical 
knowledge  in  the  special  course  which  he 
selected.  At  the  age  of  twenty -one  years,  he 
began  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr. 
Ralph  Severance,  at  Saxon's  River,  Vt.,  then 
with  Dr.  James  Dean,  and  from  his  tutelage 
he  entered  the  intermediate  school  of  Bow- 
ditch.  Cole  &  Shattuck,  at  Boston;  after  re- 
maining for  a  time  at  this  school,  his  health 
failing,  he  went  to  the  State  of  Georgia, 
where  he  taught  a  private  school  for  three 
years,  and  then  entered  the  University  of 
New  York,  from  which  he  graduated  in  the 
spring  of  1846,  and  then  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  remained  three  years.  He  was  married, 
at  Oswego.  N.  Y. .  May  25,  1846.  to  Roxanna 
M.  Joslin,  born  at  Easton,  N.  Y.,  April  25, 
1819,  daughter  of  Peter  and  Hannah  (Rounds) 
Joslin,  he  born  in  1784,  died  in  1858,  she 
born  at  Easton  in  1787,  died  in  1862.  From 
Syracuse  he  removed  to  Grayville,  111.,  thence 
to  Lawrenceville,  and,  in  1856,  settled  in 
Hillsboro.  where  he  has  since  resided  and  en- 
joyed a  large  practice  in  his  profession.  In 
1 854,  he  held  the  office  of  President  of  the 
iEsculapian,  which  is  the  oldest  society  in  the 
State,  and  the  same  year  delivered  the  vale- 
dictory address  before  that  society;  he  has 
also  held  the  office  of  President  of  the  State 
Medical  Society,  and  at  the  present  time  tills 
that  position  in  the  Montgomery  County 
Medical  Society,  and  Vice  President  of  the 
Intei-State  Medical  Society.  His  contribu- 
tions to  medical  literature  have  been  numer- 
ous and  of  great  value  to  the  medical  profes- 
sion throughout  the  country.  He  served  three 
years  as  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-Sixth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry,  the  last  eighteen  months  of  the 
time  being  spent  as  Post  Surgeon  at  Little 
Rock,    Ark.      By   his    marriage,   there   were 


born  the  following:  Seth  Emory  and  Dan- 
iel W.,  living;  John  and  Edward,  dead.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  in  which  the  Doctor  has  held  for  a 
number  of  years  the  offices  of  Deacon  and 
Trustee.  He  is  a  Republican  in  his  political 
tenets;  a  man  of  prominence,  and  highly  es- 
teemed by  the  citizens  of  the  county;  he  is  a 
nephew  of  Emory  Washburn,  ex- Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  and  late  Professor  in  the  Har- 
vard Law  School. 

M.  M.  WALSH,  furniture,  etc.,  Hillsboro, 
born  in  County  Wexford.  Ireland,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1841 ;  his  parents,  James  and  Mary 
(Redmond)  "Walsh,  were  natives  of  County 
Wexford.  Ireland,  and  died  there.  He  is  the 
second  son  of  a  family  of  two  sons  and  two 
daughters;  he  received  an  ordinary  education 
in  Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  America  in 
1854,  and  settled  in  Montreal.  Canada,  wheiv 
he  remained  till  1856,  wheu  he  came  to  the 
"United  States.  He  learned  the  trade  of  a 
wagon-maker  in  Potsdam.  St.  Lawrence  Co.. 
N.  Y.,  and  at  the  end  of  his  apprenticeship. 
in  1859.  moved  to  Stamford,  Conn.,  where 
he  worked  at  his  trade  until  1861.  In  1864, 
he  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  worked 
about  a  year  stocking  rifles  for  the  Govern- 
ment; thence  he  went  to  Pittsburgh.  Penn. ; 
worked  at  his  trade  there  one  year;  thence  to 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  worked  six  months,  and 
then  returned  to  Pittsburgh;  from  Pittsburgh 
he  went  to  St.  Louis,  and  thence  to  Hillsboro, 
where  he  arrived  April  9,  1867;  here  he 
worked  at  his  trade  till  1869,  then  engaged 
in  the  hardware  business  till  1873,  when  he 
sold  out  his  hardware  stock  and  engaged  in 
his  present  line — furniture,  coffins,  sewing 
machines,  etc.  In  Hillsboro,  December  15. 
1870,  he  married  Minerva  M.  Hanson,  born 
at  Tribe's  Hill,  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June 
25,  1846,  daughter  of  John  A.  and  Susan 
(Lingenfelter)  Hanson,  both  natives  of  Tribe's 


IIILLSBORO   CITY   AND   TOWNSHIP. 


121 


Hill,  N.  Y.,  the  former  born  October  11,  1811; 
the  latter,  still  living,  was  born  February  29, 
1806.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walsh  are  the  pai'ents 
of  two  children — Ada  Irene,  born  September 
3,  1873.  and  Mina  M.,  born  July  5,  1S78. 
He  enlisted,  in  New  York  City.  April  16, 
1861,  in  the  Federal  service,  Fifth  New  York 
Volunteer  Infantry,  better  known  as  Duryea's 
Zouaves;  was  commissioned  Lieutenant  early 
in  1863,  and  remained  with  the  army  during 
its  term  of  service.  He  was  taken  prisoner 
during  the  seven-days'  fight  around  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  and  confined  in  the  tobacco  fac- 
tory prison  on  Carey  street,  Richmond,  for 
twenty-six  days,  when  he  was  paroled  and 
I'xchangedi  he  took  part  in  the  battle  of  ' 
Fredericksburg.  He  is  a  supporter  of  the 
Republican  party. 

PAUL  WALTER,  livery  business,  Hills- 
boro,  was  born  in  North  Carolina.  Cabarras 
County,  October  2,  1821.  Nicholas  Walter 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  about  1790,  and 
moved  to  North  Carolina  about  1809.  and 
married  Catharine  Goodman,  of  that  State. 
The  father,  Nicholas  Walter,  was  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  served  during  the  war;  partici- 
pated in  the  memorable  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans; he  was  a  farmer  and  millwright,  and 
died  in  North  Carolina  in  1825  ;  parents 
raised  four  sons  (subject,  youngest  son)  and 
three  daughters.  Subject  was  educated  at 
the  common  schools  of  North  Carolina;  began 
life  as  a  farmer  in  this  State  in  1839,  that 
being  the  year  of  his  emigration;  has  fol- 
lowed farming  and  stock-trading  the  princi- 
pal part  of  his  time  since  till  the  last  few 
years;  went  to  California  in  1850,  in  search 
of  gold;  was  there  about  six  years  in  all,  and 
came  home  about  $45,000  winner.  Being  a 
liberal-hearted,  whole-souled  fellow,  he  in- 
dorsed freely  for  his  friends,  and  was  caught 
for  upward  of  $40,000,  which  amount  he  paid 


by  selling  his  own  property,  never  waiting 
for  an  officer  to  settle  any  of  his  transactions. 
This  loss,  coupled  with  some  unprofitable  in- 
vestments, reduced  our  subject  again  to  mod- 
erate circumstances,  as  he  had  begun.  In 
the  late  war,  he  volunteered  in  the  First  Illi- 
nois Cavalry,  in  Company  E;  subject  was 
Captain  of  the  company,  under  Col.  Marshall; 
was  captured  at  Lexington,  Mo.,  by  Gen. 
Price ;  was  paroled  and  exchanged,  and  again 
entered  the  service,  but  was  discharged  by  the 
Government  on  account  of  a  violation  of  their 
oath,  having  taken  the  oath  to  enter  the  serv- 
ice no  more  during  the  rebellion;  after  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  subject  was  offered  the 
position  of  Major,  an  office  he  refused  to  ac- 
cept, preferring  to  stay  with  his  company; 
he  is  a  Democrat  now  in  politics;  member  of 
the  Masonic  order:  has  taken  all  the  degrees 
from  Entered  Apprentice  to  Knight  Templar. 
Subject  married,  in  this  county,  February  1, 
1844,  to  Emeline  Scott,  who  was  born  in 
North  Carolina  in  1827,  but  came  to  this  State 
when  quite  young,  in  1833,  with  her  parents; 
she  was  a  daughter  of  Alexander  and  Eliza- 
beth (Wood)  Scott.  Subject  has  eight  chil- 
dren, four  sons — George,  Scott,  Miller  and 
James;  and  four  daughters,  Marcilla,  Illi- 
nois, Susan  and  Estella;  wife  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church;  eldest  son,  George, 
was  educated  for  a  Presbyterian  minister,  but, 
on  account  of  his  health  failing,  was  obliged 
to  give  it  up. 

E.  L.  WAGGONER,  Hillsboro.  E.  L. 
Waggoner,  the  youngest  son  of  Milton  R. 
Waggoner;  Sarah  R.  McCollough,  his 
mother,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  September  28,  1S63.  His  boyhood  days 
were  spent  principally  in  attending  the  coun- 
try school ;  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  attend- 
ed the  school  of  Valparaiso,  Ind.,  one  year, 
and  two  years  at  Blackburn  University;  he 


122 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


then  came  to  Hillsboro,  111. ,  and  commenced 
in  the  mercantile  business  as  a  clerk,  as  he 
intends  to  make  that  his  avocation  through 
life.  He  and  his  brother  have  a  very  tine 
property    in    this    county,    and  our    subject 


stands  as  high  as  any  young  man  in  the 
county,  socially,  and  for  his  integrity  and  in- 
dustry, and  manly  principles,  he  has  no  su- 
perior. 


LITCHFIKI.D 


123 


CITY  OF  LITCHFIELD  AND  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  LITCH- 
FIELD TOWNSHIPS. 


DANIEL  CUTTING  AMSDEN,  nianufact- 
urer,  and  Secretary  of  the  Litchfield  Coal 
Company,  born  in  Southington,  Conn.,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1814,  was,  when  three  years  old, 
removed  to  Manlius  Square,  N.  Y.  Here  his 
father  remained  a  winter,  and,  in  the  spring, 
removed  to  the  site  of  the  present  village  of 
Honi")\  After  a  brief  residence  of  three 
years,  he  went  to  Cato,  Cayuga  County,  and 
became  a  contractor  on  public  works.  When 
he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  his  parents  locat 
ed  in  Erie  County,  and  young  Amsden  was 
reared  to  farm  labor,  which,  in  character  and 
severity  of  toil,  is  inappreciable  to  the  pio- 
neers of  a  prairie  region.  Before  attaining 
his  majority,  he  drove  stage  into  Buffalo,  then 
little  more  than  a  hamlet,  and  also  tried  the 
rude  hardships  of  a  lumberman.  Prior  to 
his  marriage,  in  1841,  to  Miss  Mary  Beach, 
he  had  leased  a  hotel  at  Gowanda,  Cattarau- 
gus County,  which  pursuit  he  afterward  ex- 
changed for  shop-keeping,  and  then  farming. 
He  was  an  ardent  politician;  held  several 
offices;  declined  to  be  Sheriff;  and  made 
money  only  to  see  it  slip  away  in  the  financial 
reverses,  which  shook  the  credit  of  States  and 
the  nation,  as  well  as  the  fortunes  of  individ- 
uals. In  1854,  he  removed  to  Berlin,  Wis., 
and  for  three  years  was  interested  in  regular 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  did  not  improve  his 
permanent  fortunes.  In  May,  1857,  he  ar- 
rived in  Litchfield,  then  a  little  village,  with 
its  few  cheap  houses,  located  as  if  sown  by 
the  wind,  and  of  a  general  appearance  to  dis- 
sipate day-dreams  or  poetic  fancies.  Here 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  foundry  and 


machine  shop  company  as  book-keeper  and 
general  utility  man.  Until  he  came  to  Litch- 
field, his  life  had  been  a  wide  preparation  for 
the  success  which  has  since  dogged  his  steps. 
He  had  looked  on  fortune's  smiles,  and  felt 
her  frowns.  His  schemes  had  successively 
turned  to  ashes,  and,  past  life's  meridian,  he 
came  here,  poor  but  resolute,  to  repair  pre- 
vious disappointments.  For  ten  years,  he 
spared  himself  no  toil  or  economy.  Tall — 
he  is  six  feet  two  in  his  stockings — thin,  with 
joints  of  strength  and  great  muscular  powers, 
he  made  himself  indispensable  to  his  employ- 
ers. In  1805,  he  became  by  purchase,  an 
equal  partner  in  the  foundry  and  machine 
shop,  the  firm  being  H.  H  Beach  &  Co.  The 
affairs  of  the  firm  were  prosperous.  Their 
shop  was  crowded  with  orders,  and  prices 
were  good.  In  1867,  he  was  elected  Mayor 
of  the  city,  and  his  firm  made  the  advances 
of  money  and  credit  which  caused  the  open- 
ing of  the  coal  mine  at  the  eastern  limits  of 
the  city — the  solid  foundation  of  its  subse- 
quent prosperity.  He  was,  in  1871,  one  of 
the  original  stockholders  of  the  Litchfield 
Bank,  and  the  next  year  was  a  heavy  sub- 
scriber to  the  stock  of  the  Car  Works,  and 
the  same  year  was  the  Republican  candidate 
for  State  Senator,  and  was  not  elected — an 
adverse  majority  of  1,200  was  too  great  a 
barrier  to  be  scaled.  In  1875,  the  foundry 
and  machine  shop  were  sold  to  the  Car  Works 
Company,  and  Mr.  Amsden  gave  his  chief  at- 
tention to  coal-mining.  He  now  has  a  large 
and  valuable  interest  in  the  mine  here,  in 
several  mines  in  the  famous  block  coal  region 


124 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


of  Indiana,  and  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Beach,  Davis  &  Co.,  bankers.  He  owns  a 
comfortable  interest  in  the  Car  Works  and 
the  Litchfield  Coal  Oil  and  Pipe  Line  Com- 
pany, and  has  bonds  and  a  goodly  balance  to 
his  credit  at  the  bank.  There  has  been  no 
accident  in  his  prosperity.  If  one  would  put 
money  into  ventures  which  should  benefit 
himself  while  enriching  the  community,  he 
must  be  able  to  bias  public  opinion  in  their 
favor  and  direct  currents  of  business.  If  the 
affair  prospers,  it  will  be  for  the  reason  that 
success  is  as  much  of  the  man  as  of  the  cir- 
cumstances. The  following  children  have 
been  born  to  Mr.  Amsden:  George  W..  Helen 
A.  and  John  B.  W.  Mr.  Amsden  has  become 
widely  known  as  a  man  of  influence  in  local 
affairs.  Every  politician  of  his  faith  seeks 
his  counsel  or  co-operation.  Himself  seeking 
no  office,  he  is  a  vigorous,  racy  specimen  of  a 
man  grown  wealthy  by  the  homely  arts  possi- 
ble to  all;  of  decision,  industry  and  economy. 
EDWIN  K.  AUSTIN,  Litchfield,  was  born 
in  the  town  of  Becket,  Berkshire  Co.,  Mass.. 
August  8,  1814;  he  received  an  academical 
education  iu  his  native  State,  and  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  went  to  Kentucky,  where  he  sold 
clocks  for  two  years.  From  Kentucky  he  re- 
moved to  West  Tennessee,  near  Memphis, 
where  he  taught  school,  and  also  engaged  in 
merchandising  seven  years,  then  removed  to 
Northern  Mississippi,  where  he  taught  pri- 
vate schools  till  1861.  He  then  moved  North 
to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  12(1  acres  of  land 
in  Montgomery  County,  near  the  eastern  bor- 
der of  North  Litchfield  Township,  and  after- 
ward added  1 20  acres  more,  which  he  farmed 
till  1866;  in  that  year  he  sold  out,  with  the 
intention  of  removing  to  the  Southern  States, 
but.  owing  to  the  changed  relation  of  the 
races  after  the  war,  he  abandoned  the  idea, 
and,  in  1868,  purchased  186  acres  of  land,  on 
which  he  resides.     In  Fayette  County,  Tenn., 


July  20,  1845,  he  married  Marian  W.  H aw- 
ley,  a  native  of  New  York,  born  February  25, 
1821 ;  they  have  two  children — Edwin  M.  and 
Laura  T.  Mr.  Austin  has  taught  school 
nearly  seventeen  years,  which  has  seriously 
impaired  his  health. 

ABEAM  D.  ATTEEBUEY  was  born  in 
Grayson  County,  Ky.,  February  26,  1827; 
passed  his  youth  on  the  farm,  and,  at  the  age 
of  twenty  was  apprenticed  to  the  blacksmith's 
trade  in  Harlan  County,  Ky.  In  1850,  he 
came  to  Illinois,  alone,  and  has  ever  since 
lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Litchfield,  where,  in 
the  above  year,  he  entered  a  quarter-section 
of  land,  at  $1.25  per  acre.  He  afterward  en- 
gaged in  breaking  prairie  land,  where  Litch- 
field now  stands,  for  two  years,  with  an  ox  team; 
farmed  one  year,  then  worked  at  his  trade  at 
Zanesville  two  years,  and  at  Litchfield  two 
years;  bought  out  Jeffries,  and  he  and  F.  G. 
Kessinger.  now  of  Baymond,  were  the  two 
blacksmiths  of  the  place.  In  1857,  he  settled 
on  the  quarter-section  of  land  that  he  had  first 
entered,  where  he  has  since  resided,  and,  by 
the  year  1862,  had  the  entire  160  acres  under 
cultivation.  He  has  engaged  largely  in  wheat- 
raising,  with  good  success,  and  has  added  to 
his  original  purchase  of  land,  until  he  now 
has  550  acres  in  this  county,  which  he  has 
acquired  by  his  own  efforts.  In  1853,  he 
married  Mrs.  Julia  Ogle,  of  St.  Clair  County, 
111.,  widow  of  the  late  Joseph  T.  Ogle,  by 
whom  she  had  one  child.  Joseph  T.  Ogle,  Jr., 
now  a  resident  of  this  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Atterbury  are  the  parents  of  three  sons — 
George  W. .  James  H.  and  Charles  M.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  of 
which  he  is  District  Steward  and  Trustee. 

S.  E.  ALDEN  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
December  15,  1819,  and,  when  nine  years 
old,  moved  with  his  parents  to  Madison 
County,  N.  Y.  When  fourteen  years  of  age, 
he  began  learning  the  carpenter  and  joiner's 


LITCHFIELD. 


125 


trade  with  his  father,  and  remained  in  Caze- 
novia.  Madison  Co..  N.  Y..  till  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  old.  In  1843,  he  went  to  New 
York,  where  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  until 
1851,  when  he  took  the  Panama  route  to  Cal- 
ifornia, where  he  worked  for  a  mining  com- 
pany as  machinist  and  pattern-maker:  he  also 
prospected  for  a  time,  and  afterward  engaged 
as  contractor  and  builder  in  San  Francisco 
and  Marysville,  Cal.,  where  he  remained  in 
business  thirteen  months,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  returned  to  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.  In  1855, 
he  left  Cazenovia  and  came  West  to  Litch- 
tield,  111.  His  first  work  in  Litchfield  was  on 
the  buildings  of  the  Terre  Haute  &  Alton  R.'R., 
on  which  he  worked  two  years,  during  which 
time  the  present  depot  was  erected;  he  then 
went  into  business  on  his  own  account  as  a 
contractor  and  builder,  and  constructed  many 
of  the  first  buildings  of  Litchfield:  he  carried 
on  business  in  the  city  and  county  principally 
until  1878,  when  he  became  foreman  carpen- 
ter for  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pacific  Rail- 
road, and  remained  in  that  position  three  and 
a  half  years:  he  built  the  Montgomery  County 
Court  House  in  1805,  and  a  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  at  Hillsboro  some  time  before. 
In  Cazenovi  i,  N.  Y.,  in  1842.  he  married 
Cynthia  H.  Russell,  born  in  Connecticut  July 
6,  1824,  third  daughter  of  Jesse  and  Mary 
(Andrus)  Russell,  natives  of  Connecticut,  of 
Puritan  stock,  and  parents  of  four  sons  and 
five  daughters,  all  living  save  one;  the  Rus- 
sells  were  for  many  generations  strict  Pres- 
byterians and  stanch  Whigs;  Jesse  Russell, 
father  of  Mrs.  Alden,  a  blacksmith,  and  very 
skillful  in  bis  trade,  was  a  fifer  in  the  war  of 
1812,  under  Gen.  Jackson;  in  1825,  he  made 
a  trip  to  Western  New  York,  purchased  a 
farm  and  sowed  some  grain,  but  became  dis- 
couraged and  returned  to  his  old  home  in 
Connecticut:  in  1828,  however,  he  returned 
with  his   family  and  settled  at  Cazenovia,  N. 


Y.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alden  have  four  daughters. 
Mr.  Alden  is  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  Pil- 
grim fathers;  three  brothers  came  over  in  the 
Mayflower  by  the  name  of  Alden — John, 
Ezra,  and  one,  name  unknown,  who  died  soon 
after  landing;  Ezra,  the  grandfather  of  our 
subject,  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  lived 
at  Greenwich,  Mass.;  he  had  six  sons  and 
three  daughters;  his  second  son,  Samuel,  the 
father  of  subject,  was  born  n°ar  Greenwich, 
Mass. ,  in  August,  1793;  he  was  a  carpenter 
and  joiner  by  trade,  and  worked  at  it  at  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  until  1828,  when  he  moved  to 
Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  in  January, 
1854;  his  wife,  Fanny  Andrus,  born  in  1791, 
died  December  1,  1874;  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  our  subject,  Samuel  E.,  is  the  eldest. 
The  A 1  dens  were  Presbyterians  and  Whigs. 

LOUIS  ALLEN,  attorney  at  law,  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Clinton  County,  111.,  in 
1852;  he  passed  his  youth  on  a  farm  in  his 
native  county.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  he  entered  the  McKendree  College  at 
Lebanon,  111.,  and  spent  two  years  there. 
After  teaching  one  term  of  school,  he  entered 
the  Union  College  of  Law  at  Chicago.  111.,  in 
the  fall  of  1874,  and  graduated  from  it  in 
June.  1876.  In  the  fall  of  the  following  year, 
he  located  for  practice  at  Litchfield,  and  has 
practiced  in  the  courts  of  this  county  ever 
since;  for  two  years  he  was  City  Attorney  of 
Litchfield.  In  1879,  he  married  Miss  Sophie 
Bond,  of  Clinton  County. 

HENRY  E.  APPLETON,  Vice  President 
Litchfield  Coal  Company,  Litchfield,  was  born 
in  Hampshire.  England,  in  1828;  he  was 
raised  on  a  farm,  and,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  learned  the  trade  of  wagon-making 
near  Southampton,  England.  He  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1851,  and  located  in 
Madison  County,  111.,  where  he  worked  at 
carriage  and  wagon  making  until  April,  1854, 


126 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


when  he  came  to  Litchfield  with  "'Uncle 
Dick''  O'Bannon,  and  here  started  the  first 
carriage  and  wagon  shop  of  the  city,  his  place 
of  business  being  the  site  of  the  market 
house.  He  carried  on  this  manufacture  until 
about  1807,  he  executing  the  wood  work  and 
Mr.  Jefferis  the  blacksmithing.  Mr.  Apple- 
ton  was  connected  with  the  engineer's  depart- 
ment on  the  construction  of  the  Wabash  Kail- 
road  while  it  was  building.  He  became 
timekeeper  for  Jefferis,  Amsden,  Benton  & 
Co..  at  the  coal  mines,  in  about  1870,  and, 
some  time  later,  became  a  member  of  the 
Litchfield  Coal  and  Mining  Company;  since 
the  organization  of  that  company,  he  has 
held  in  it  some  official  position,  being  several 
times  its  Assistant  Superintendent,  and  now 
being  its  Vice  President;  for  the  last  eleven 
years,  he  has  given  the  coal  mines  his  close 
attention.  He  is  a  member  and  also  Vice 
President  of  the  Litchfield  Oil  and  Pipe  Line 
Company.  In  1853,  at  Ridgely,  111.,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Herndon,  of  Madison  County,  111. ; 
her  death  occurred  in  1857.  In  1874,  he 
married  a  second  time,  the  lady  being  Miss 
Alice  Butt,  of  Litchfield,  of  English  birth. 
ALFRED  BLACKWELDER,  whose  por- 
trait appears  in  this  work,  was  born  in  Cab- 
arrus County,  N.  C,  near  Concord,  July  17, 
1811.  He  started  from  his  home,  October  4, 
1S34.  on  horseback,  and  came  through  to  Ill- 
inois, reaching  Union  County  in  twenty-one 
days,  where  a  sister  lived,  and  he  remained 
there  until  April,  1835,  when  he  came  to 
Hillsboro,  where  he  found  the  Circuit  Court 
in  session  in  a  log  house.  (He  has  helped 
to  build  three  court  houses  since  that  time.) 
His  earthly  possessions,  when  he  arrived 
here,  were  a  small  sorrel  horse  and  $10  in 
money;  he  worked  for  $10  per  month  for 
three  years,  working  first  for  Judge  Roun- 
tree,  who  held  all  the  county  offices,  office- 
holdiug  patriots  being  scarcer  in  those  good 


old  days  than  at  present.  He  married,  April 
19,  1837,  Miss  Joanna  Scherer.  daughter  of 
Frederick  Scherer,  of  North  Carolina,  who 
came  to  this  State  about  1833.  Mr.  Black- 
welder  rented  land  until  about  1S40,  when  he 
bought  eighty  acres  at  $5  per  acre,  unim- 
proved, in  South  Litchfield  Township:  he  built 
on  it  a  small  frame  house,  and  lived  there 
about  sixteen  years,  when  he  sold  his  farm 
to  secure  a  larger  tract  for  his  growing  boys, 
and,  by  exchange  and  purchase,  secured  240 
acres  in  the  same  locality,  farmed  it  six  years, 
and  made  great  iinpi-ovements  upon  it;  when 
the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  was 
built,  E.  B.  Litchfield,  through  his  agent, 
Maj.  Huggins,  bought  this  land  at  $20  per 
acre,  and  part  of  it  became  a  portion  of  the 
town  site  of  Litchfield.  Mr.  Blackwelder 
then  bought  of  James  Turner  ISO  acres,  and 
of  John  C.  Reed  '240  acres,  and  these  two 
tracts  comprise  the  420-acre  farm  of  our  sub 
ject,  inclusive  of  his  100  acres  of  excellent 
timber.  Very  little  or  no  improvements  were 
made  upon  his  land  when  Mr.  Blackwelder 
purchased  it,  but  he  has  so  persistently  and 
intelligently  managed  his  possessions  that  it 
is  at  present  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
and  every  acre  is  inclosed  with  fences.  Since 
1878,  Mr.  Blackwelder  has  relinquished  the 
active  management  of  his  farm  to  his  three 
sons;  he  has  eight  children  living  and  mar- 
ried;  four  died  when  young;  those  living  are 
Daniel  Monroe,  William  Riley,  Minerva  C. 
(now  Mrs.  Robert  Morrison),  Jacob  Francis, 
David  Alexander,  John  Martin,  Harriet  Louisa 
(now  Mrs.  Gideon  Davis),  Samuel  Richard. 
All  Mr.  Blackwelder's  sons  are  residents  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  all  of  them  farm- 
ers; both  sons-in-law  are  also  residents  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  farmers.  Mr. 
Blackwelder  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  filled  for  twenty  years  the  office 
of  Deacon,  or  Elder,  holding  membership  with 


LITCHFIELD. 


127 


his  denomination  for  over  fifty  years.  ,  Mr. 
Blackwelder  has  always  been  a  Democrat, 
casting  his  tirst  Presidential  vote  for  Van  Bu- 
ren.  His  wife  died  January  31,  1870,  being 
in  her  sixtieth  year:  they  had  been  married 
almost  forty  years.  The  old  gentleman  says 
that,  when  the  State  road  was  laid  out  from 
Edwardsville  to  Taylorville,  they  plowed  two 
furrows  all  the  way  through.  Mr.  Blackwel 
der  has  always  been  in  favor  of  anything  that 
might  redound  to  the  credit  of  his  county, 
and  is  a  man  who  has  won  and  retained  the 
respect  of  all. 

JAMES  F.  BLACKWELDER,  physician, 
Litchfield.  The  Blaekwelders  were  origi- 
nally from  Germany,  and  settled  in  North 
Carolina  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  The 
family  name  signifies  "black  forest."  Peter 
Blackwelder  was  born  near  Concord,  Cabarrus 
Co.,  N.  C.  in  1S10.  and  came  to  Illinois  in 
1832,  accompanied  by  a  cousin,  Alfred  Black- 
welder;  they  settled  in  Hillsboro,  and  came 
all  the  way  on  horseback.  They  purchased 
land,  and  Peter  at  one  time  owned  a  half- 
section  in  North  Litchfield  Township;  by 
trade,  he  was  a  carpenter,  and,  in  addition  to 
this,  he  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  a 
Lutheran,  and  was  the  first  Superintendent 
of  the  Sunday  school  organized  at  the  Long 
Branch  Schoolhouse.  This  was  long  before 
the  city  of  Litchfield  was  planned  and  laid 
out.  He  was  a  quiet,  unassuming,  worthy 
man,  and,  politically,  was  a  Free- Soil  Demo- 
crat, He  married  Mrs.  Nellie  "Wagoner, 
daughter  of  Frederick  Scherer,  of  this  county; 
she  bore  him  four  sons  and  three  daughters, 
all  of  whom  are  living  except  the  youngest 
daughter,  who  died  in  infancy.  Peter  Black- 
welder  died  in  1855,  and  his  wife  in  1853. 
They  were  the  parents  of  our  subject.  Dr. 
James  F.  Blackwelder,  who  was  born  in 
Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  what  is  now  North 
Litchfield  Township,  on  August  2,  1841;  he 


was  educated  in  the  Lutheran  College  build- 
ing, which  was  then  known  as  Hillsboro 
Academy.  In  1861,  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine  under  Dr.  I.  W.  Fink,  of  Hillsboro, 
where  he  read  until  he  entered  the  St,  Louis 
Medical  College,  taking  his  first  course  in 
L863.  The  following  year,  he  entered  the 
Cincinnati  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  June,  1804.  A 
few  days  later,  he  entered  the  army  of  Gen. 
Sherman,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Mar- 
ietta, Ga.,  as  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  in 
hospital  service,  and  for  four  months  served 
there  and  at  Atlanta,  Ga.  He  was  next  As- 
sistant Surgeon  for  the  Thirty-second  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  followed  its  fortunes  on  the 
memorable  march  to  the  sea;  he  continued 
until  mustered  out,  at  Washington,  D.  C,  in 
1865.  On  his  return  from  the  army,  he 
practiced  at  Hillsboro.  111.,  for  some  three 
years,  and  at  Moro,  Madison  County,  for 
about  the  same  length  of  time.  In  June, 
L871,  he  located  permanently  at  Litchfield, 
where  he  has  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative 
practice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Montgom- 
ery County  Medical  Society,  of  which  he  has 
been  Secretary,  and  has  also  a  membership  in 
the  District  Medical  Society.  The  Doctor 
has  two  sons. 

DANIEL  M.  BLACKWELDER  was  bom 
in  Montgomery  County,  near  Hillsboro,  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1839,  and  was  raised  to  a  life  of 
farming,  attending,  in  the  meantime,  the 
schools  in  his  section.  At  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  he  began  farming  for  himself.  In 
1861,  he  married  Miss  Helena  Cress,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina.  He  bought  ten  acres  of 
timber  land,  and  lived  for  nine  years  on  the 
homestead,  during  which  time  he  added  to 
the  original  purchase  until  his  tract  con- 
tained 125  acres.  Mr.  Blackwelder  has  of 
late  years  paid  considerable  attention  to  fine 
stock-raising,    principally    sheep    and   hogs. 


128 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


He  has  served  nine  years  as  School  Director, 
anil  seven  years  as  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways; takes  much  interest  in  all  improvements 
and  in  educational  matters;  he  has  two  sons. 
HENRY  HARRISON  BEACH,  manufact- 
urer, Litchfield,  of  Connecticut  ancestry,  is 
a  native  of  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  whence  he 
was  removed  by  his  parents  in  his  early  child- 
hood, to  Erie  County,  same  State.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  years,  he  entered  a  machine 
shop  as  apprentice,  and,  at  a  general  shop  at 
Rochester,  completed  his  training.  Continu- 
ing three  years  in  the  machine  shops,  he  then 
ran  an  engine  on  the  New  York  Central  Rail- 
road, and  a  construction  train  on  the  Great 
Western  Railroad  of  Canada,  and  then  be- 
came foreman  of  the  shops  of  the  Michigan 
Southern  &  Northern  Indiana  road.  In  185  1. 
when  twenty-five  years  old,  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Master  Mechanic  of  the  Michigan 
Southern  shops  at  Adrian.  Three  years  later, 
Dyer  Williams,  the  Master  Mechanic,  and 
Henry  A.  Angel,  the  owner  of  a  foundry,  to- 
gether with  our  subject,  visited  the  village  of 
Litchfield,  where  they  decided  to  build  a 
foundry  and  machine  shop.  Mr.  Beach  to  be 
the  manager,  and  resident,  and  business  part- 
ner. Mr.  Beach,  at  this  time,  had  become 
an  accurate  and  accomplished  machinist;  he 
possessed  a  social  disposition,  good  health, 
courage  and  hopefulness.  These  qualities 
constituted  almost  his  entire  capital.  In 
August,  1857,  the  foundry  was  put  in  blast, 
and  his  machine  shop,  containing  a  few  pieces 
of  second-hand  machinery  and  lathe  engines, 
was  ready  for  business.  At  this  hour,  the 
panic  began;  his  venture  appeared  about  to 
collapse;  for,  in  a  sparsely  inhabited  region, 
where  the  people  were  wedded  to  rustic  im- 
plements and  the  soil,  he  was  obliged  to 
create  a  demand  for  his  wares  and  labor;  he 
had  no  rival  shop  between  Alton  and  Terre 
Haute;     various    small    loans   made    on    the 


' '  street "  delayed  a  catastrophe,  and,  when 
ruin  seemed  only  a  few  days  away,  he  bought, 
on  credit,  a  portable  mill  for  grinding  corn, 
and,  placing  it  in  the  loft  of  his  machine 
shop,  began  the  manufacture  of  Indian  meal 
for  the  St.  Louis  market;  by  the  profits  of 
this  humble  enterprise,  he  tided  over  the  first 
winter  and  spring,  until  the  complete  removal 
to  this  point  of  the  railroad  shops  created  an 
active  demand  on  the  resources  of  his  shop 
and  foundry.  In  1860,  Mr.  Angel  retired 
from  the  firm,  and  a  couple  of  mill  engines 
had  established  Mr.  Beach's  reputation  as  a 
builder  of  steam  engines.  In  1865,  Mr. 
Williams  ceased  to  be  a  partner,  and  a  third 
interest  in  the  concern  was  sold  to  D.  C. 
Amsden,  on  the  usual  terms  of  payment,  and 
the  firm  was  thenceforward  H.  H.  Beach  & 
Co.  Mr.  Beach  was  married,  in  1866,  to 
Elizabeth  Gage;  he  has  been  blessed  with 
one  child,  Estelle  H.  At  length,  the  private 
and  industrial  welfare  of  the  city  de 
manded  cheap  fuel  at  its  doors,  and  in  1861 
his  firm  bought  real  estate,  and,  with  Best  & 
Sparks,  millers,  guaranteed  a  large  bonus  for 
sinking  a  coal  shaft.  The  experiment  of 
seeking  for  coal  at  this  point  was  a  bold  one, 
as  no  coal-field  was  known  to  exist  nearer 
than  twenty  miles;  the  prospector  failed, 
and  a  coal  company,  with  a  capital  of  $21 >, 
000,  was  formed,  his  firm  being  the  largest 
stockholders;  the  company  collapsed  when  its 
capital  was  exhausted,  and  the  mine  was  not 
ready  to  raise  coal;  a  second  one,  with  a  cap- 
ital of  Si 0,000,  was  organized,  to  continue 
the  work,  and  again  his  firm  was  its  chief  sup- 
porter. When  this  company,  burdened  with  a 
debt  of  $22,000,  was  unable  to  put  the  mine 
in  working  order,  his  firm,  with  a  few  indi- 
viduals, assumed  the  debt,  and  advanced  the 
funds  to  develop  the  mine.  Three  years' 
work  and  $50,000  were  required  to  opeu  it. 
The  coal  company,  of  which  he  is  the  h<j:ul. 


LITCIIFIKLI). 


[29 


has  disbursed  in  wages  three-quarters  of  a 
million,  and  reduced  the  price  of  fuel  to  two- 
fchirds  the  previous  price.  Mr.  Beach  was 
active  in  measures  to  secure  the  Wabash 
Railroad,  a  railroad  to  Louisiana,  Mo.,  and 
one  to  Springfield,  111.;  these  two  are  not  yet 
built,  but  the  Jacksonville  road,  to  which  he 
also  contributed,  is  in  operation.  In  1868, 
he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hagar  & 
Seath,  of  Teire  Haute,  who  desired  to  build 
a  foundry  and  car  works  in  that  city;  Mr. 
Beach  was  the  banker,  and,  when  the  invest- 
ment became  profitable,  he  retired;  by  his 
aid.  Mr.  Seath  now  writes  himself  one  of  the 
solid  men  of  Terre  Haute.  In  1871,  he  took 
one-third  of  the  stock  of  the  Litchfield  Bank, 
which,  proving  a  better  thing  for  its  officers 
than  for  its  owners,  he  aided  to  close  out  their 
interests,  and  founded  on  its  site  the  banking 
house  of  Beach,  Davis  &  Co.,  whose  success 
was  its  own.  and  whose  misfortunes  were  a 
result  of  the  panic  of  1873,  which,  however, 
passed  with  no  loss  of  stability  or  public  con- 
fidence. The  removal  of  the  car  shops  left 
vacant  a  series  of  buildings  well  adapted  for 
car  works.  Mr.  Beach  and  others  conceived 
the  design  of  forming  a  company  to  build 
cars.  Two  Eastern  gentlemen  offered  to  sup- 
ply the  skill  to  operate  the  company,  if  other 
parties  would  supply  the  money;  their  offer 
was  declined,  and  a  home  company  organized, 
Mr.  Beach  subscribing  one-seventh  of  the 
stock  The  company  nominally  failed  in  a 
few  years,  paying  only  85  cents  on  the  dollar. 
A<;ain  his  aid  was  implored,  and,  by  his  per- 
sonal assurances  and  engagements,  the  cred- 
itors were  appeased;  he  also  advanced  thou- 
sands to  J.  B.  L.  Keating,  the  brilliant  grain 
merchant,  who,  paying  out  a  couple  of  mill- 
ions for  grain,  failed — as  men  trading  on  bor- 
rowed capital  usually  do.  In  187<~>,  his  linn 
sold  their  plant  to  the  car  works,  and  the 
securities  taken  shrank  to  half  their  former 


value.  He  was  called  on  to  meet  a  vast 
amount  of  accommodation  paper,  and  this, 
with  other  losses,  scaled  his  fortune  down  to 
one-third  its  value  in  187(1;  but  he  was  an 
officer  of  the  car  works  and  the  coal  company, 
with  a  comfortable  salary:  he  became  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  flour ing-nii  11  and  elevator;  he  in- 
vested in  the  Indiana  coal  mines;  he  is  the 
foremost  man  in  the  Oil  and  Pipe  Line  Com- 
pany. Although  Mr.  Beach  began  life  with- 
out means  or  business  connections,  the  en 
terprises  which  are  indebted  to  him  for  exist- 
ence, or  for  their  prosperity,  have  at  times 
disbursed  wages  at  the  rate  of  a  third  of  a 
million  a  year.  His  agency  in  securing 
water-works  for  the  city  is  treated  of  more 
fully  elsewhere  in  this  work. 

R.  F.  BENNETT,  physician  and  surgeon, 
and  Mayor  of  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Shelby 
County,  111.,  on  October  2,  1839;  he  re- 
sided there  until  lie  was  nineteen  years 
of  age;  he  received  a  good  education  from 
the  Moultrie  County  Seminary  at  Sullivan, 
111. ;  he  left  school  at  seventeen  and  began 
teaching,  continuing  two  years.  At  the  a 
of  nineteen  years,  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  Dr.  Henry,  of  Paradise,  Coles 
County,  where  he  continued  two  years,  in  the 
meantime  attending  two  sessions  at  the  Cin- 
cinnati Eclectic  Medical  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1861,  and,  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year,  he  located  in  Litchfield 
for  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he 
has  since  been  actively  engaged.  In  Jau- 
uary,  1881,  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Dr.  ,).  H.  Tilden,  and  the  firm  has  a  large 
aud  lucrative  practice.  September  1.  1861, 
our  subject  married  Miss  Lizzie  Storm,  of 
Shelby  County,  111.  He  is  now  serving  his 
second  term  in  the  Montgomery  County  Ec- 
lectic Medical  Society  as  its  President;  he 
was  also  President  of  the  State  Eclectic  Med- 
ical  Society,  and   is  now  its  Treasurer.     In 


130 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


politics,  he  is  a  Republican.  During  1880 
and  1881,  he  was  Mayor  of  Litchfield,  and 
now  serves  his  third  term,  being  elected  this 
third  time  by  a  large  majority.  Dr.  Bennett 
is  esteemed  as  a  citizen,  popular  in  politics 
and  valued  as  a  physician.  Dr.  Bennett  has 
been  blessed  with  two  children — Harry,  born 
June  12, 1871,   and  Mary,  bornMay  10,  INTO. 

JOSEPHUS  BARRY,  deceased,  was  born 
in  this  county  March  2.  1835,  and  married, 
December  29,  1858.  Miss  Mary  M.  Mc- 
Adams,  settling  on  a  farm  of  160  acres,  after- 
ward buying  at  different  times,  until  he 
owned,  at  his  death.  240  acres  of  land;  his 
death  occurred  January  8,  1877,  his  wife  hav- 
ing passed  over  to  the  land  of  the  hereafter 
July  4,  1868,  leaving  an  only  son,  Charles 
Barry,  who  was  born  March  23,  1860,  who 
took  charge  of  the  homestead  on  reaching  his 
majority,  and  who  married,  February  25, 
1880,  Lucy  J.  Corlew,  daughter  of  John  Cor 
lew,  of  Montgomery  County. 

ISAAC  N.  BARRY,  farmer,  was  born  in 
Hillsboro  Township.  Montgomery  County. 
December  19,  1S37.  and.  after  receiving  a  fair 
education,  began  farming  on  eighty  acres  of 
land,  with  sixty  acres  in  timber,  which  his 
father  purchased  for  him  in  1859-60;  it  was 
partly  broken,  and  he  has  so  added  to  his 
farm  that  he  has  at  present  200  acres,  princi- 
pally in  grain  and  for  grazing.  In  1868,  he 
married  Miss  Margaret  A.  McAdams,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  McAdams,  of  this  county,  but 
of  Kentucky  nativity;  he  has  one  son  and 
two  daughters  living,  and  one  son  and  one 
daughter  dead.  Father  John  Barry  was 
born  in  Barren  County.  Ky.,  in  July,  1st  Hi: 
his  wife  was  Elizabeth  Robinson,  who  had 
one  son,  Wilson,  who  came  to  Montgomery 
County  in  1830,  locating  five  miles  south- 
west of  Hillsboro.  where  he  passed  his  days; 
he  served  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  two 
terms:  he  was  an  Old-School  Baptist   and  a 


Democrat;  he  was  for  many  years  owner  of 
the  Pepper  Grist-Mills,  which  stood  ou  part 
of  his  estate;  he  died  March  6,  1876,  in  his 
seventieth  year;  his  wife  died  June  8,  1868; 
they  had  a  family  of  nine  children,  all  of 
whom  grew  to  maturity  except  one;  they  were 
Wilson,  Susan  J.,  Elizabeth  A..  Josephus. 
Isaac  Newton,  John  Robinson,  William  Scott, 
Palmyra  C.  and  Sarah  A. 

STEPHEN  R,  BRIGGS,  deceased,  was 
born  near  Zanesville,  Ohio,  in  1812,  and. 
when  twelve  months  old.  his  father  moved  t<  i 
Illinois,  making  his  home  at  -Edwardsville 
over  two  years,  when  he  moved  to  the  terri- 
tory of  this  county  in  the  spring  of  1816. 
Our  subject  lived  in  this  county  until  his 
death,  on  May  13,  1872;  he  entered  several 
tracts  of  land  in  North  Litchfield:  his  origi- 
nal home  was  eighty  acres  three  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  present  city  of  Litchfield:  he 
was  in  the  ranger  service,  and  crossed  the 
"Western  plains,  being  over  sixty  days  ou  the 
way.  and  a  portion  of  that  time  was  fed  on 
half  rations.  At  one  time.  Mi-.  Briggs  was 
the  owner  of  500  acres  of  land;  he  was  con- 
sidered a  very  successful  farmer,  being  un- 
fortunate only  in  giving  his  name  to  friends 
as  surety,  and  in  consequence  being  obliged 
to  liquidate  the  debts  of  others  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  life.  For  eleven  years,  he 
was  Associate  Judge  of  this  county,  acting 
with  the  Democratic  party  until  the  war,  when 
he  joined  the  Republican  ranks,  holding  that 
the  Democratic  party  had  drifted  away  from 
him.  In  1S39,  he  married  Miss  Paulina  W. 
Wood,  daughter  of  James  Wood,  of  Sanga- 
mon County,  111.;  she  was  born  in  Virginia 
in  1823.  and  died  on  May  18, 1881 :  they  had 
a  family  of  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living.  James  M.  Briggs  is  the  oldest  living 
child,  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  on 
October  4,  1842;  he  obtained  a  fair  commoi 
school  education   by  attending  school  in  the 


LITCHFIELD. 


131 


winters,  after  the  com  was  gathered  in.  On 
attaining  his  majority,  he  began  fanning  on 
the  homestead,  and,  after  the  war,  owned  laDd 
in  that  vicinity.  Ic  1876,  he  came  to  his 
present  place,  and  here  engaged  in  the  ice 
trade,  erecting  in  that  year  a  building  with  a 
capacity  of  2,000  tons,  being  eighty-four  by 
sixty  feet,  twenty  feet  high,  and  located  on 
the  reservoir;  this  ice  building  is  to  be  con- 
nected by  a  side-track  with  the  Wabash,  St. 
Louis  &  Pacific  Railroad.  Since  his  com- 
mencement, he  has  done  an  excellent  retail 
business  in  the  city  of  Litchfield.  In  1877, 
he  married  Miss  Crilla  Brandle,  who  bore  him 
one  son. 

ROBERT  BRIGGS  was  born  May  Id, 
18'24,  on  the  place  now  belonging  to  Green 
Bandy's  heirs,  in  this  township,  son  of  Rob- 
ert and  Polly  (Lockhart)  Briggs.  Robert 
Briggs,  Sr. .  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
emigrated  to  Ohio  at  a  very  early  day,  finally 
coming  to  Illinois.  During  the  troublous 
Indian  times,  he  took  refuge  in  a  fort  at  Ed- 
wardsville,  and  there  joined  old  Capt.  Sam 
"Whitesides  in  excursions  against  the  red 
devils  at  Rock  Island;  the  Indians,  according 
to  the  old  gentleman,  seemed  to  be  as  thick 
as  the  grass  on  the  prairies.  They  remained 
in  the  fort  about  two  years — mother  and 
tliree  children  —  the  husband  going  out 
to  hunt  with  others  for  provisions.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  also  in  the 
fort,  and  was  a  great  hunter  and  Indian 
fighter.  Robert,  on  leaving  the  fort,  about 
1814,  settled  on  Lake  Fork,  near  where  Walsh- 
ville  now  stands,  but  a  man  named  Baker 
entered  the  land  over  Robert's  head,  thereby 
dispossessing  him  of  all  the  improvements  he 
had  put  on  the  land;  he  then  settled  on  land 
dow  belonging  to  Bluford  Bandy's  heirs, 
upon  which  he  built  a  cabin  and  commenced 
raising  corn;  he  sold  his  crops  in  St.  Louis. 
He  raised  ten  children.     Robert,  our  subject. 


remained  at  home  until  he  was  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  when  he  married,  October  9, 
lNI'.l.  Miss  Penelope  Petty,  of  Tennessee. 
Having  entered  forty  acres  of  land  near  where 
Raymond  now  stands,  he  lived  there  a  few 
years,  when,  his  parents  becoming  old  and 
feeble,  he  went  to  take  care  of  them,  all  the 
other  children  having  left  home  to  do  for 
themselves.  Mr.  Briggs  moved  to  his  present 
place  March  4, 1861,  and  has  since  lived  there. 
He  has  two  children,  and  one  dead.  Pleas- 
ant and  Burd,  his  two  sons,  are  at  home. 

H.  L.  BENEPE,  proprietor  Phoenix  Hotel. 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  New  Philadephia, 
Ohio,  in  1834,  but  was  raised  in  Wayne  " 
County,  where  he  lived,  receiving  his  educa- 
tion in  St.  Joseph  College,  in  Somerset,  Ohio. 
In  18u8,  he  came  West  and  settled  in  Colum- 
bia, Boone  Co.,  Mo.,  where  he  eugaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  plows  and  wagons,  and 
the  livery  business,  until  1874,  during  part  of 
that  period  constructing  large  contracts  of 
macadamized  streets  in  the  city  of  Columbia. 
He  next  came  to  Litchfield  and  bought  his 
present  hotel,  naming  it  the  Phoenix,  after 
having  renovated  and  repaired  it  from  top  to 
bottom:  he  has  conducted  it  ever  since,  ex- 
cept diiring  a  period  of  fourteen  months, 
when  he  rented  it  to  look  after  other  inter- 
ests; he  has  the  only  three-story  hotel  in  the 
city,  and  his  house  contains  thirty-five  rooms 
and  three  sample  rooms;  he  is  located  near 
the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  depot,  and  runs 
a  free  omnibus  to  all  the  railroad  depots;  an 
obliging  landlord  and  a  good  house  make  the 
'  Phoenix  a  hotel  a  fair  reputation. 

CHARLES  BALLWEG,  dealer  in  liquors. 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  on 
February  15,  1843,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  with  his  parents  when  he  was  nine 
wars  old;  in  the  summer  of  1852,  his  par- 
ents located  in  Adams  County,  Penn. .  and 
he  received  his  education  in  the  Abbottstown, 


132 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Perm. ,  schools;  in  the  spring  of  1863,  he 
came  to  Minnesota,  and  was  a  dealer  in  liq- 
uors; he  kept  a  restaurant  in  St.  Paul  in 
1864  and  1865;  he  went  thence  to  Winona 
and  represented  a  wholesale  liquor  house  of 
that  city,  traveling  in  the  Western  States 
two  years,  when  he  located  in  Rochester, 
Minn.,  where  he  remained  until  the  fall  of 
1872,  being  a  dealer  in  liquors  and  keeping 
a  billiard  hall.  In  1873,  he  came  to  Litch- 
field and  engaged  in  his  present  business, 
which  is  the  wholesale  and  retail  sale  of  liq- 
uors; he  carries  on  business  on  the  corner  of 
State  and  Ryder  streets,  and  does  a  prosper- 
ous business.  He  was  a  dealer  in  grain  in 
the  firm  of  Ballweg  &  Gilmore,  and  had  the 
mill  elevator  from  1875  to  the  summer  of 
1876,  when  Gilmore  retired,  and  our  subject 
continued  in  the  business  for  several  years. 
In  politics,  he  is  a  prominent  Democrat,  hav- 
ing been  a  member  of  the  Central  Committee 
of  the  county,  and  of  the  Congressional  Com- 
mittee; several  times  he  has  been  a  delegate 
to  the  Congressional  and  State  conventions. 
J.  R.  BLACKWELL.  grocer.  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Fayette  County.  111.,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1844,  the  city  of  his  birth  being  Van- 
dalia,  the  old  capital  of  the  State,  where  he 
lived  about  ten  years,  when  he  moved  thence 
to  Hillsboro,  111.,  at  which  place  he  lived 
with  his  uncle,  the  Hon.  J.  T.  Eccles;  in 
June,  1861,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Eighth  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, under  Col.  Richard  J.  Oglesby.  his 
company  being  B,  under  Capt.  Sturgis; 
under  the  call  for  three-months'  volunteers, 
he  served  three  months,  during  which  time 
the  regiment  was  quartered  at  Cairo,  111. ;  on 
July  5,  1862,  he  re-enlisted,  at  Hillsboro,  in 
the  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  in  Company  B,  under 
Capt.  R.  McWilliams;  he  participated  in  the 
campaign  from  Vicksburg  to  Meridian,  Miss., 


in  the  Red  River  campaign,  in  Arkansas 
and  Tennessee,  in  the  Nashville  and  Fort 
Blakely  canrpaigns,  the  Tupelo  and  Price 
campaigns,  in  the  campaign  against  Hood  in 
Middle  Tennessee,  and  in  the  Mobile  cam- 
paign; thence  to  Montgomery.  Ala.,  where 
the  regiment  was  at  the  close  of  the  war;  in 
all,  his  regiment  marched  2.187  miles,  trav- 
eled by  rail  778  miles,  and  by  water  6,191 
miles;  they  captured  two  stand  of  colors  and 
442  prisoners  of  war;  Mr.  Blackwell  never 
was  wounded,  taken  prisoner,  off  duty,  nor  in 
the  hospital;  he  was  mustered  out  on  July  5, 
1865,  and  would  have  veteranized  if  the  war 
had  continued;  on  his  return  from  the  army, 
he  studied  law  with  Maj.  McWilliams,  of 
Litchfield,  where  he  located  for  practice,  be- 
ing admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867;  he  practiced 
his  profession  here  foiu-  years;  from  1369  to 
1n77.  he  served  as  Postmaster  of  Litchfield, 
and  went  out  under  the  general  order  of  Pres- 
ident Hayes  that  no  re-appointments  be  made 
when  there  was  a  contest  and  the  incumbent 
had  served  eight  years;  the  largest  number 
of  names  ever  signed  to  a  petition  was 
sent  to  the  department  from  this  place,  in- 
dorsing him  and  asking  for  his  re-appoint- 
ment; the  petition  contained  the  indorsement 
of  Senator  R  J.  Oglesby,  Gov.  Beveridge  and 
Congressman  Gen.  J.  S.  Martin,  the  petition- 
ers numbering  1,500.  He  was  Alderman  from 
the  Second  Ward  two  years,  and  was  defeated 
for  Mayor  in  1878  by  a  small  majority;  in 
that  year,  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
at  Benton,  111.,  continuing  about  two  years. 
when  he  returned  to  Litchfield  and  here  en 
gaged  in  the  grocery  business;  he  has  now  a 
model  grocery,  on  Kirkham  street,  called  the 
••  Wabash  Store,''  and  is  doing  a  leading  bus- 
iness.     In    1866,    he    married    Miss    Hattie, 

i  daughter  of  Rev.  P.  P.  Hamilton,  of   Litch- 
field; she   died   in  1878;  to  them  were  born 

'  three  children,  two  girls  and  one  boy.    He  re- 


LITCHFIELD. 


133 


married,  iu  1879,  Miss  Alice,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Hugh  Corrington.  Robert  Blackwell  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  near  Shelby- 
ville,  Ky.,  in  1802;  he  learned  the  trade  of 
printing  at  Hopkinsville,  Ky.,  and,  when  a 
young  man,  came  to  Illinois,  locating  at  Kas- 
kaskia  in  1815,  at  which  place  he  became 
editor  of  the  first  paper  over  printed  in  the 
State;  it  had  been  established  shortly  before 
the  time  of  his  arrival,  by  Matbew  Duncan, 
wbo  was  also  from  Shelbyville,  Ky. ;  the  pa- 
per was  styled  the  Illinois  Intelligencer.  Mr. 
Blackwell  became  public  printer  of  the  new 
State,  and  was  at  one  time  State  Auditor;  he 
was  twice  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
that  district  in  Illinois.  "When  the  capital 
was  removed  from  Kaskaskia  to  Vandalia,  he 
removed  there,  and  resided  there  thirty  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business,  being  a  long  time  the  part- 
ner of  William  H.  Browning,  late  of  Chicago; 
he  died  in  1870,  leaving  one  son  and  two 
daughters  by  his  second  marriage,  their 
mother  being  a  sister  of  Hon.  J.  T.  Eccles, 
of  Hillsboro.  He  was  three  times  married, 
his  first  wife,  who  bore  him  no  children,  be- 
ing a  sister  of  Dr.  Stapp,  of  Decatur,  111.; 
his  widow,  nee  Miss  Mary  Slusser,  from  Ohio, 
lives  at  Vandalia;  his  demise  leaves  a  vacancy 
felt  by  the  public,  and  one  not  easily  filled. 
WILLIAM  M.  BEINDORF,  manufacturer, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany,  in 
the  city  of  Essen,  on  January  24,  1838. 
When  but  ten  years  of  age,  he  came  to  the 
United  States  with  his  mother  and  settled  in 
La  Fayette,  Ind.  In  his  seventeenth  year, 
he  began  to  learn  the  machinist's  trade  in  the 
shop  of  Joseph  Habler,  where  he  served  three 
years'  apprenticeship  and  one  year  as  jour- 
neyman; he  then  entered  the  employ  of  the 
La  Fayette  &  Indianapolis  Railroad  Com- 
pany, in  the  machine  department,  where  he 
remained  two  years,  removing  thence  to  Fort 


Wayne,  Ind.,  where  he  worked  two  years  for 
the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pacific  Railroad 
Company.  In  1863,  he  came  to  Litchfield, 
where  he  worked  in  the  railroad  shops  seven 
years,  and  afterward  engaged  his  services  to 
H.  H.  Beach  &  Co. ,  remaining  with  them  two 
years.  After  the  organization  of  the  Litch- 
field Car  Manufacturing  Company,  he  worked 
for  them  a  year.  In  1875,  he  opened  his 
present  machine  shop  in  Litchfield,  which 
has  beeD  in  active  operation  ever  since;  he 
employs  five  hands  in  the  manufacture  of 
threshing  engines  and  wagons  of  superior 
quality,  and  in  doing  a  general  repairing 
business.  In  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. ,  in  1803,  he 
married  Miss  Kate  D.  Myers,  who  is  the 
mother  of  his  three  children. 

JAMES  W.  BUTTS,  plasterer,  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Greenbrier  County,  Va.,  now 
West  Virginia,  in  1844,  and  lived  in  that 
place  until  1862.  His  first  service  was  in  the 
Fiftieth  Virginia  Infantry  Regiment,  White's 
division,  under  Joe  Johnston ;  he  was  sixteen 
years  old  wh  en  he  enlisted,  and  in  the  regiment 
mentioned  he  served  eighteen  months;  he 
fought  in  the  Confederate  army  in  the  battles 
of  Fort  Donelson,  Five  Oaks,  Williamsburg, 
Malvern  Hill  and  Gaines'  Mill;  he  was  capt- 
ured by  the  Illinois  troops  in  the  seven-days' 
fight  at  Malvern  Hill,  and  taken  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. ,  whence  he  was  sent  to  Camp 
Chase,  where  he  took  the  oath,  in  August, 
1862,  and  enlisted  in  the  Forty-fourth  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry  in  November,  same  year; 
his  regiment  was  assigned  to  duty  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  he  fought  in  the  battles  of  Somer- 
set, Ky. ,  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  and  in  other 
minor  engagements,  until  June  29,  1863, 
when  he  was  honorably  discharged  on  account 
of  disability.  He  then  located  in  Columbus, 
Ohio,  where  he  recovered,  and  he  again  en- 
listed, this  time  in  the  Thirteenth  Ohio  Vol- 
unteer Cavalry,  in  July,  1864,  and  joined  the 

i 


134 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  participated  in  the 
battle  of  Harper's  Ferry,  the  siege  of  Rich- 
mond, and  in  all  battles  up  to  the  surrender 
of  Lee;  he  was  in  the  Third  Brigade  of  the 
Second  Division  of  Sheridan's  Thirteenth 
Cavalry  Corps,  and  was  mustered  ont  at  Co- 
lumbus. Ohio.  July  21,  1865.  Among  his 
many  engagements  were  the  battle  of  Boy- 
den's  Plank  Road,  Stony  Creek,  Five  Forks, 
Farmersville  and  Appomattox;  he  was  wound- 
ed in  the  arm  at  Dinwiddie  Court  House  on 
March  31,  1865,  by  a  pistol  ball.  After  the 
war,  he  began  business  as  clerk  in  the  wood- 
yard  of  Lane  &  Early,  and  remained  with 
them  six  months.  He  removed  to  Iroquois 
County.  111.,  and  settled  on  a  farm  near  On- 
arga,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  until 
1869,  when  he  came  to  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  and  lived  at  Butler  and  at  Hillsboro, 
working  at  various  employments  until  1873, 
when  he  located  in  Litchfield  and  learned  the 
plasterer's  trade,  working  one  year  with  G. 
W.  Jackson  and  two  years  with  John  K.  Mil- 
nor.  Completing  his  trade,  he  worked  as 
partner  of  Mr.  Milnor  two  years;  since  that, 
he  has  been  a  contractor  for  himself,  work- 
ing from  two  to  three  other  men.  with  good 
success.  In  1873,  Mr.  Butts  married  Miss 
Jennie  Allen,  of  Litchfield. 

WILLIAM  E.  BACON,  real  estate  agent, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  March,  1821,  in  On- 
ondaga County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  lived  until 
he  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  when  he  spent 
two  years  in  Michigan,  at  a  branch  school  of  i 
Michigan  University,  of  Monroe,  going 
thence  to  New  York  State  again,  where  he 
acted  as  clerk  in  Cazenovia  for  a  time,  and 
then  went  into  mercantile  business  at  Fabius, 
in  his  native  county,  as  the  partner  of  Elisha 
C.  Lichfield,  a  relative  of  his,  who  was  a  Di- 
rector of  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad, 
and  through  him  obtained  the  position  of 
Paymaster  on  the   railroad,  which  he  held 


five  years,  after  which  he  became  Chief  Clerk 
in  the  Superintendent's  office,  under  General 
Superintendent  Samuel'Brown.  In  1856,  he 
resigned,  in  order  to  come  here,  where  he 
learned  the  shops  of  the  Terre<  Haute,  Alton 
&  St.  Louis  Railroad  were  to  be  located,  his 
informant  being  Mr.  Litchfield,  who  was  one 
of  the  originators  and  builders  of  the  road, 
and  the  man  for  whom  the  city  was  named. 
Mr.  Bacon  came  to  Litchfield  in  October, 
1856,  and  established  the  first  lumber-yard 
and  planing-mills,  conducting  a  prosperous 
business  two  years.  Selling  out,  he  became 
the  real  estate  agent  for  Mr.  Litchfield,  dis- 
posing of  property  at  this  point,  at  Gillespie 
and  at  Pana;  he  also  prepared  the  first  ab- 
stract of  titles  for  this  city.  In  1872,  he 
became  Secretary  of  the  Litchfield  Car  Man- 
ufacturing  Company,  which  position  he  re- 
tained until  August,  1880,  when  he  devoted 
his  entire  attention  to  real  estate.  Mr.  Ba- 
con is  a  practical  surveyor;  he  has  taken  an 
active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  since 
its  organization,  having  been  its  first  Mayor, 
and  re-elected  to  that  position,  since  which 
time  he  has  served  as  Alderman.  The  fa- 
ther of  our  subject  was  a  native  of  Vermont, 
and  a  distinguished  physician  and  surgeon, 
who  died  in  New  York.  William  E.  Bacon 
is  the  youngest  son. 

JOHN  CALDWELL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  County  Derry,  Ireland,  on 
March  16,  1837,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  with  his  parents  in  the  following  year; 
they  settled  on  a  farm  near  Staunton,  Ma- 
coupin Co.,  111.  Our  subject  was  raised  on 
a  farm,  and  in  his  boyhood  attended  a  few 
terms  of  subscription  school  in  the  school- 
houses  of  the  primitive  sort.  Until  1868, 
he  worked  the  old  homestead  of  his  father, 
and  then  came  to  Litchfield,  where  he  pur- 
chased twenty  six  acres  of  land,  on  which  he 
built  a  substantial  brick   building;  his  pur- 


LITCHFIELD. 


135 


chase  lies  in  the  northeastern  comer  of  the 
city  limits,  in  Burr's  Addition;  in  addition 
to  this  property,  he  owns  and  operates  several 
other  tracts  of  farming  lands  in  the  vicinity. 
He  married  Miss  Amelia  S.  Aughinbaugh  in 
1861 ;  they  have  had  sis  children,  all  of  whom 
died  when  quite  young.  Mr.  Caldwell  is  a 
Presbyterian.  The  father  of  our  subject,  Mr. 
Hugh  Caldwell,  was  born  in  Ireland  in  18*  15, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  in  183S.  farm- 
ing in  Macoupin  County.  111.,  until  tbe  close 
of  the  war.  From  1866  to  1882,  he  served 
as  Postmaster  at  Staunton.  111.  During  the 
wot,  be  was  Deputy  Provost  Marshal. 

T  J.  CHARLES,  Superintendent  of 
Schools,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal,  May  9,  1855,  and,  when  eleven 
years,  came  to  Litchfield,  where,  in  the  pub- 
lic schools,  he  prepared  for  college;  in  1873, 
he  entered  Westminster  College,  at  Fulton. 
Mo.,  and  took  a  three-years'  elective  course. 
In  1876,  he  began  teaching  in  the  public 
schools  of  this  county,  continuing  two  years, 
when  he  became  teacher  of  the  high  school 
department  of  the  Litchfield  schools,  holding 
that  position  one  year,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  time  he  was  elected  Superintendent  of 
the  Schools,  which  position  he  still  retains. 
The  city  schools  include  twelve  departments 
and  enroll  825  pupils. 

WILLIAM  CAMPBELL,  Postmaster. 
Litchfield,  was  born  March  17.  1843.  in  the 
county  of  Monaghan,  Ireland,  his  parents 
being  Scotch  Protestants.  He  was  but  four 
years  old  when  he  came  to  the  United  States 
with  his  widowed  mother  and  her  six  other 
children.  She  resided  seven  years  in  New 
York  City,  where  she  acted  as  dressmaker 
and  forewoman  of  a  large  manufacturing  es- 
tablishment: she  died  in  1865.  In  1856, 
Mr.  Campbell  came  to  Illinois,  being  then 
thirteen  years  old;  he  made  his  home  with 
Philo   Judson,  of  Evanston,   this  State,    for 


one  year.  In  1857,  he  went  to  Carlinville, 
where  he  engaged  his  services  as  clerk  to  G. 
W.  ^"oods;  he  continued  a  year,  and  then 
removed  to  Franklin,  Morgan  Co..  111.,  where 
he  lived  three  years  with  Abram  C.  Woods. 
and  clerked  in  the  store  two  years  of  that  pe- 
riod, the  remainder  of  the  time  workino-  on 
the  farm.  In  July,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the 
One  Hundred  and  First  Illinois  Infantry, 
Company  H,  for  three  years,  and  served  his 
entire  time;  his  regiment  was  assigned  to  the 
Army  of  the  Mississippi,  and.  during  1863, 
the  company  to  which  he  belonged  was  as- 
signed to  marine  duty  on  the  gunboat  La 
Fayette,  which  ran  the  blockade  at  the  siege 
of  Vicksburg  and  silenced  the  batteries  at 
Grand  Gulf;  late  in  1863,  they  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and 
their  battles  were  the  midnight  fight  at  Look- 
out Valley,  Missionary  Ridge,  Lookout  Mount- 
ain and  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea;  in  the 
first  battle  at  Resaca,  Ga. ,  Mr.  Campbell 
was  wounded  in  the  neck  by  a  Minie  ball,  on 
May  14,  1864;  passing  beneath  the  jugular 
vein,  it  lodged  in  the  tissues  of  the  neck,  and 
was  removed  on  the  following  day;  he  was 
sent  to  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  where  the  wound, 
which  had  be^n  badly  neglected,  healed  so 
rapidly  that  in  June  he  went  on  duty  as  a 
hospital  nurse;  he  left  the  hospital  service 
from  choice,  and,  on  July  10,  started  back  to 
join  his  regiment,  which  he  did  on  the  18th, 
and,  two  days  later,  engaged  in  the  battle  of 
Peach  Tree  Creek,  where  he  was  wounded 
twice  early  in  the  fight  by  some  Minie  balls 
which  struck  his  ankle,  crashing  the  tibia 
'  bone,  and  produced  a  flesh  wound  in  the  thigh, 
passing  out;  he  was  consecpiently  disabled, 
and  lay  in  the  hospital  until  July,  1865,  when 
he  was  discharged.  He  returned  to  Jackson- 
ville and  entered  school  for  the  winter.  In 
the  spring  of  1866,  he  became  a  clerk  for  bis 
old  employer.  G.  W.  Woods,  at  Carlinville. 


136 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


111.,  where  he  remained  until  March,  1873, 
when  he  came  to  Litchfield  and  took  charge 
of  the  ticket  and  express  office  of  the  Indian- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  under  Mr.  Keeler, 
continuing  three  and  a  half  years;  he  then 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Litchfield  Car  Com- 
pany as  assistant  book-keeper,  holding  that 
position  a  year,  when,  learning  that  none  of 
the  applicants  for  the  post  office  were  success- 
ful in  receiving  appointment  to  the  same,  he 
made  application  for  it.  and,  fifteen  days 
later,  was  appointed  by  President  Hayes,  his 
term  beginning  on  June  15,  1877;  in  January, 
1882,  he  was  re-appointed  for  four  years, 
after  a  severe  contest  for  the  position.  In 
1869,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  J.  Orcutt,  of 
Carlinville;  they  have  had  four  children — 
Lelia  Rose,  Essie  Orcutt,  Lucy  and  Grace. 
Mr.  Campbell  is  an  efficient  and  obliging 
Postmaster  and  an  estimable  citizen. 

F.  W.  CROUCH,  druggist,  Litchfield, 
came  to  Litchfield  in  March,  1881,  and  formed 
a  partnership  with  Dr.  J.  B.  Adelsberger,  and, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Adelsberger  &  Crouch, 
bought  the  drug  store  of  J.  W.  Steen,  and 
they  have  since  conducted  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness on  State  street.  In  June,  1881,  they 
opened  a  branch  store  at  Mt.  Olive,  and  en- 
larged it,  in  September  of  the  same  year,  by 
purchasing  and  adding  to  it  the  drug  house 
of  Flint  Bros.  He  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  School  Board  in  June,  1881.  Mr. 
Crouch  was  born  in  Washington  County, 
Tenn.,  on  January  1,  184(5,  and  in  1857  came 
with  his  father  to  Greene  County,  111. ,  where 
he  lived  a  short  time,  and,  in  1858,  moved  to 
Macoupin  County,  where  he  received  his  edu- 
cation during  the  winter  months,  and  did 
farm  work  the  remainder  of  the  time,  until 
1866,  when  he  entered  a  select  school  at  Scott- 
ville,  under  Prof.  J.  H.  Woodel,  continuing 
three  summer  terms,  and  teaching  during  the 
winters  of  the  same  years;  after  this,  he  adopt- 


ed teaching  as  a  profession,  and  followed 
it  in  the  county  until  1877,  when  he  was 
elected  by  popular  majority  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools  for  Macoupin  County,  serv- 
ing until  June  16,  1881,  resigning  a  few 
months  before  the  expiration  of  his  term,  in 
order  to  engage  in  mercantile  pursuits.  He 
has  been  an  active  member  of  the  County 
Normal  since  1872. 

JOHN  A.  CRABTREE,  deceased,  born  in 
Kentucky  May  9,  1809;  the  youngest  child 
of  John  and  Mrs.  (Harkins)  Crabtree.  His 
mother  died  when  he  was  three  years  old. 
When  eleven  years  of  age,  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois with  his  sister,  Mrs.  AVilliam  Jordan, 
and  her  husband.  AVith  this  sister  he  lived 
until  his  marriage,  in  1831,  to  Ann  Griffith, 
a  native  of  Montgomery  County,  who  bore 
him  twelve  children,  viz.:  William  (de- 
ceased), Margaret  (deceased),  James  (de- 
ceased), Nancy,  Francis,  Job,  Phoebe  (de- 
ceased), John,  Louisa,  Mary,  and  Charles  and 
Isaac  (twins).  He  worked  at  farm  labor  for 
others  prior  to  his  marriage,  after  which  he 
entered  a  tract  of  land  in  South  Litchfield, 
on  which  was  a  small  cabin.  During  his  life, 
he  put  about  360  acres  of  wild  prairie  laud 
under  cultivation,  and  had  acquired  in  all 
over  seven  hundred  acres  of  land  by  hard 
work  and  imceasing  industry.  He  made  most 
of  his  estate  before  the  war  by  raising  grain 
and  stock  for  the  St.  Louis  market;  he  served 
in  the  Black  Hawk  war;  donated  the  land 
to  what  is  now  known  as  the  Crabtree  Grave- 
yard. He  died  March  15,  1874.  Although 
uneducated,  Mr.  Crabtree  had  one  of  the 
brightest  intellects  of  his  county.  In  business, 
he  was  shrewd  and  successful;  in  social  life, 
generous  and  hospitable.  He  was  an  adher- 
ent of  the  Democratic  party. 

JOHN  CORLEW  was  born  in  Rockcastle 
County,  Ky.,  in  January,  1813,  son  of  Philip 
and  Anna   (Kincaid)  Corlew,   he,  a  native  of 


LITCHFIELD. 


137 


North  Carolina,  came  to  Kentucky  when  a 
lad;  followed  farming  during  his  life;  he 
and  his  wife  died  a  few  years  previous  to  the 
breaking-out  of  the  late  war,  aged  respectively 
eighty  and  sixty-eight  years;  they  were  the 
parents  of  nine  children,  only  four  of  whom 
are  living,  viz. :  John,  David.  W.  M.  and 
Jane  (now  Mrs.  Israel  Fogleman).  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  removed  to  Missouri  with 
his  parents  in  the  spring  of  1S17,  who,  after 
a  short  sojourn  in  St.  Louis,  moved  to  St. 
Charles,  and  remained  in  Missouri  until  1819. 
when  they  moved  to  Madison  County,  111. ; 
here  his  father  took  a  lease  in  timber  land  on 
Mississippi  River  bottoms,  cleared  the  place 
and  raised  four  small  crops;  in  the  winter  of 
1822-23,  moved  to  Montgomery  County  with 
his  wife  and  family  of  seven  children,  and 
located  in  what  is  now  Hillsboro  Township 
on  the  place  now  occupied  by  C.  H.  Missi- 
more,  entering:  eighty  acres  on  the  edge  of  the 
timber.  John's  first  teacher  was  Peter  Long, 
who  is  still  living  in  Bond  County;  the 
school  which  he  attended  was  about  one  and 
a  half  miles  from  his  home,  the  schoolhouse 
being  a  split-log  building,  14x14,  with  stick 
chimney,  puncheon  seats  and  floor,  a  long 
crack  in  the  wall  covered  with  greased  paper 
serving  the  purpose  of  a  window.  After  at- 
tending one  term  at  this  school,  he  went  to 
the  Clear  Spring  Baptist  Church  School,  two 
miles  distant  from  his  home.  He  enlisted  in 
Capt.  Hiram  Rountree's  company  and  went 
out  in  the  campaign  of  1832.  serving  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  About  the  year  1835,  he, 
with  his  brother  Lindsey,  who  died  soon 
afterward,  made  his  first  entry  of  160  acres 
of  land  where  he  now  resides;  he  worked  on 
his  farm  till  the  opening  of  the  Mexican  war. 
when  he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Third  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  under  Capt.  McAdams,  and 
participated  in  the  battles  of  Vera  Cruz  and 
Cerro  Gordo;  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 


Second  Lieutenant,  and  returned  home  in 
1847  and  resumed  farming.  In  1850,  he  was 
elected  Sheriff  of  Montgomery  County;  served 
two  years,  and,  after  an  interim  of  two  years, 
was  re-elected,  and  again  served  a  two-years' 
term.  He  has  steadily  acquired  property 
until  he  now  owns  about  two  thousand  acres 
in  Montgomery  County,  one  third  of  which  is 
under  cultivation;  he  has  bought  and  sold 
largely  in  real  estate.  In  1850,  he  married 
Mrs.  Eliza  J.  Jett,  widow  of  Wesley  Jett; 
from  this  union  five  children  were  born,  still 
living,  viz. :  Alice,  wife  of  Douglass  Simp- 
son; John  Martin,  who  lives  near  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal.;  Lucy  J.,  wife  of  Charles  Barry; 
E.  R.  and  Rosanna,  at  home.  Mr.  Corlew  is 
a  Democrat;  was  elected  Sheriff  by  that  party; 
he  has  held  several  positions  of  trust  in  his 
township. 

JACOB  CLEARWATER,  physician,  Litch- 
field, was  bom  in  December,  1821,  in  High- 
land County,  Ohio,  and,  at  the  age  of  two 
years,  with  his  parents,  left  his  native  home, 
and  lived  successively  in  several  different 
counties  of  Indiana  until  1831,  when  they 
removed  to  McLean  County,  111.,  where  our 
subject  was  raised  and  educated.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  years,  he  began  reading  medicine 
with  Dr.  Moran,  then  of  Leroy,  but  afterward 
a  distinguished  physician  of  Springfield. 
He  finished  his  medical  studies  with  Dr.  Zera 
Wakefield,  of  De  Witt  Comity,  111.,  after 
which,  for  a  period  of  four  years,  he  practiced 
with  Dr.  James  A.  Lemon,  of  De  Witt;  he 
located  then  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  now  Farmers' 
City,  De  Witt  Connty,  and  there  practiced 
eight  years.  In  1854,  he  came  to  Macoupin 
County,  and  at  Clyde  and  Gillespie  practiced 
his  chosen  profession  until  1861,  when  he 
came  to  Litchfield,  at  which  place  he  had 
had  patients  as  early  as  1854.  Dr.  Clearwater 
has  built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  in 
the  eclectic  school,  in  this  place;  he  is  a  mem- 


138 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ber  of  the  Medical  Association  of  Montgomery 
County,  and  of  the  State  Medical  Association; 
he  has  been  Treasurer  and  Vice  President  of 
the  former. 

JOHN   D.    COLT\    physician,    Litchfield, 
was  born  in  1S39,  in  Mahoning  County,  Ohio, 
at  Berlin,  where  he  passed  his  youth  and  re- 
ceived his  early  education;    he  attended  an 
academy  at  Ellsworth.  Ohio,  and,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  years,  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine with   Dr.   George  W.   Brooke,  of   Ells- 
worth; he  subsequently  continued  his  studies 
with   Joseph  Wagner,  of  Deerfield,  Portage 
Co. ,  Ohio,  to  which  place  his  parents  had  re- 
moved in  the  meantime.     He  entered  upon  a 
course  of  study  in  the  Western  Reserve  Col- 
lege (now  the  Medical   Department  of  West- 
ern Reserve  University),  and  was  at  the  same 
time  under  the  private  direction  of  Dr.  Proc- 
tor Thayer  until   1861,  when  he  joined  the 
"United   States   Navy  as  able-bodied  seaman, 
and  was  assigned  to  gunboat  service;  he  was 
on  the  Ohio  River  for  a  time,  but  was  finally 
transferred   to   Admiral    Porter's    command. 
Soon  after  entering  the  navy,  he  ceased  to  do 
sea  service,  and  was   employed   as  Assistant 
Surgeon,  and,  after  an  examination    by  the 
Fleet  Surgeon  in  1862,  was  transferred  to  the 
hospital  boat  Red  River;  he  acted  in  this  ca- 
pacity without  commission  until  1863,  when 
he   was   taken   sick,    and,   in  July,  returned 
home.     He  attended  a  second  session  of  the 
Western  Reserve  Medical  College,  and  grad- 
uated in  the  spring  of  1864,  and  at  once  came 
to  Litchfield,  where  he  has  since  enjoyed  an 
excellent  practice.     He  has  a  membership  in 
the  Montgomery   Medical  Society,   and  one 
also  in  the  State  Medical  Society. 

BARNARD  W.  COOPER,  machinist,  Litch- 
field, is  the  son  of  William  and  Jemima  (Kel- 
land)  Cooper,  the  former  of  whom  was  a 
Sergeant  in  the  Royal  Marine  Artillery,  and 
died  in  Barbadoes,  West   Indies,  on  January 


1,  1862,  and  was  there  buried.  Barnard  W. 
Cooper  was  born  in  Portsmouth.  England,  on 
January  27,  1857;  he  was  educated  in  the 
Royal  Naval  School  at  Greenwich.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  he  began  to  learn  the 
machinist's  trade,  serving  two  years'  appren- 
ticeship. He  came  to  the  United  States, 
reaching  Litchfield  in  June,  1874,  where  he 
worked  at  various  employments  until  August, 
1875,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Litchfield  Car  Manufacturing  Company,  and 
there  completed  his  trade  in  three  years;  he 
has  continued  in  their  employ  ever  since,  ex- 
cept for  a  period  of  six  months,  when  he  en- 
gaged his  services  at  Elkhart,  Ind.,  as  machin- 
ist in  the  shops  of  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michi- 
gan Southern  Railroad.  On  January  1,  1882, 
he  became  foreman  of  the  machine  shops  of 
the  Litchfield  Car  and  Machine  Company,  a 
position  he  still  holds;  his  department  has  in 
its  employ  twenty -two  men. 

JOSEPH  F.  DOLLAR,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in  the  town  of 
Portsheim,  in  December,  1853,  and  came  to 
the  United  States  when  eighteen  months  old, 
with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Marion 
County,  Ohio,  on  a  f  ami,  where  he  lived  until 
1865,  in  which  year  he  moved  to  Terre  Haute, 
Ind. ,  where  he  began  the  blacksmith' s  trade 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  yeara,  with  Ceith  & 
Hagar,  car-builders,  serving  three  years'  ap- 
prenticeship, and  continuing  with  them  seven 
years  as  journeyman.  He  spent  the  next 
eighteen  months  in  the  M.,  K.  &  T.  R.  R. 
shops  at  Parsons,  Kan.;  the  following  year 
he  spent  in  farming.  He  returned  to  Terre 
Haute  and  worked  for  Ceith  &  Hagar  three 
months,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period 
he  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  and  worked  in  the 
forge  department  of  the  car  and  machine 
shops  about  eighteen  months.  In  the  fall  of 
1880,  he  was  made  foreman  of  the  blacksmith 
department,  of  which  he  has  had  charge  ever 


LITCHFIELD. 


139 


since;  in  busy  seasons,  it  employs  thirty-five 
hands.  In  1870,  at  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  he 
married  Miss  Susannah  M.  Garner,  who  died 
on  August  9,  1871,  leaving  one  daughter.  In 
the  fall  of  1872,  he  married  Miss  Martha  J. 
Mulligan,  of  Terre  Haute;  of  this  marriage, 
there  are  three  children. 

DAVID  DAVIS,  grocer  and  banker,  Litch- 
field. David  Davis,  deceased,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  born  in  1785,  of  Welsh  par- 
entage, near  Genoa,  Italy,  and,  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  came  to  the  United  States. 
In  New  York  City  he  learned  the  baker's 
trade,  and  from  that  city  moved  to  St.  Louis. 
Mo.,  when  it  was  but  a  French  village;  he 
was  in  the  regular  army  five  years;  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  war  of  1812.  and  was  wounded 
in  the  battle  of  Queenstown.  with  a  saber, 
which  enabled  the  enemy  to  take  him  pris- 
oner, which  they  did,  carrying  him  on  flat- 
boats  to  Boston,  Mass.,  where  he  was  con- 
fined and  compelled  to  endure  many  priva- 
tions. He  lived  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  until 
about  1840,  when  he  removed  to  Madison 
County,  111.,  where  he  engaged  in  farming 
sixteen  years  or  thereabout,  coming  to  Litch- 
field in  1850.  After  coming  to  Litchfield,  he 
was  the  business  partner  of  his  son.  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  until  1872,  in  which  year 
he  died,  in  his  eighty-seventh  year,  having 
lived  a  life  of  honor.  David  Davis  was  born 
in  Madison  County.  111.,  in  December,  1838; 
he  received  his  education  inhis  native  county, 
and.  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  came  with 
his  parents  to  Litchfield.  111.,  where,  until 
1858,  he  successively  engaged  his  services  as 
clerk  and  book-keeper  in  several  business 
houses  of  the  city.  In  September,  1858,  he 
engaged  in  the  grocery  trade,  being  one  of 
the  first  grocers  of  Litchfield;  he  opened  his 
line  of  groceries  in  the  building  now  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  Hoog  a6  a  sack  depot.  In  1871, 
Mi-.  Davis  erected   his  present  building,  on 


the  same  block,  but  located  on  the  corner  of 
State  and  Edward  streets,  where  he  has  since 
conducted  a  flourishing  wholesale  and  retail 
business.  In  1870,  he  became  a  stockholder 
in  the  Litchfield  Bank,  and,  the  following 
year,  was  elected  its  President.  Shortly  after 
this  election,  they  re-organized  the  bank  as  a 
private  bank,  under  the  firm  name  of  Beach, 
Davis  &  Co. ;  of  the  new  departure  Mr.  Davis 
is  one  of  the  managing  partners.  That  he  is 
an  estimable  citizen  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  he  has  been  three  times  elected  Mayor 
of  Litchfield,  the  elections  being  made  by 
the  Independents;  he  served  in  1875,  1870 
and  1879;  in  1800  and  1807,  he  was  elected 
Alderman.  December  23,  1808,  he  married 
Miss  Blanche  Keating,  of  Rockbridge,  Greene 
Co.,  111.,  and  has  four  living  children,  two 
being  deceased. 

WILLIAM  G.  DAVIS,  liveryman,  Litch- 
field, was  born  near  Meadville,  Crawford  Co., 
Penn.,  in  1842,  and,  until  he  was  ten  years 
old,  was  raised  on  a  farm;  his  parents  then 
removed  to  Hartstown,  Penn.,  and  he  attended 
an  academy  there,  finally  becoming  a  teacher 
in  the  same  school.  In  the  summer  of  18011, 
he  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  where  he  engaged 
in  the  sale  of  lime  and  plasterers'  and  brick- 
layers' furnishings  for  a  period  of  three  years, 
during  which  time,  in  the  winters,  he  taught 
three  terms.  He  next  engaged  in  the  fancy 
groceries  and  restaurant  business,  with  good 
success,  for  about  four  years.  He  was  six 
months  in  the  army,  serving  half  the  time  in 
the  Seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  un- 
der Capt.  Munu,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
time  in  the  Eighty-fourth  Ohio  Regiment. 
In  the  fall  of  1872,  he  engaged  in  the  livery 
business,  and  has  since  continued,  enlarging 
his  trade  from  year  to  year.  In  1881,  he 
built  a  large  brick  addition  to  his  original 
business  house,  and  this  consisted  of  two 
stories,  with  an  elevator;  the  present  dimen- 


140 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


sions  ai'e  115x132  feet,  covering  almost  two 
lots.  Mr.  Davis  does  a  large  livery,  feed  and 
sale  business,  having  on  hand  a  full  line  of 
vehicles,  and  a  stable  furnishing  capacity  for 
from  seventy-live  to  one  hundred  horses.  In 
1875,  he  married  Miss  Susan  Aughinbaugh, 
of  Hillsboro. 

WILLIAM  T.  ELLIOTT,  deceased,  a  na- 
tive of  Franklin  County,  Ky.,  was  left  an  or- 
phan at  an  early  age.  In  his  twelfth  year, 
becoming  justly  dissatisfied  with  his  treat- 
ment and  condition  in  his  uncle's  household, 
he.  in  1838,  was  informally  adopted  by  R. 
W.  O'Bannon;  for  thirteen  years  he  was  a 
member  of  his  estimable  family;  with  no  ties 
of  blood  to  bind  the  lad  to  bis  foster  parent, 
they  were,  in  esteem  and  affection,  as  father 
and  son;  he  shared  Mr-.  O'Bannon's  fortunes, 
removing  successively  to  Missouri  and  Madi- 
son County  in  this  State.  In  1849,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Adeline  Swett.  of  that  county,  and, 
forming  a  brief  partnership  with  a  blacksmith 
at  Ridgely,  he  wrought  for  several  months  at 
wagon-making.  Turning  from  this,  he  began 
mercantile  life  with  his  foster  parent;  suc- 
cessful in  this  line,  he,  in  May,  1854,  re- 
moved his  family  to  Litchfield,  which  then 
consisted  of  his  store  and  dwelling,  and  one 
other  dwelling,  not  occupied.  He  was  by 
three  days  the  pioneer  settler,  James  W.  Jeff- 
eris  being  the  second  householder.  With  Mr. 
O'Bannon  as  a  partner,  he  opened  the  store 
of  W.  T.  Elliott  on  the  corner  now  covered  by 
the  banking  house  of  Beach,  Davis  &  Co., 
April  '2,4,  1854;  the  name  of  the  firm  was 
twice  changed  in  the  ensuing  twelve  years, 
and  fortune  smiled  on  his  venture.  In  1866, 
he  retired  from  commercial  life,  and,  in  con- 
nection with  P.  B.  Updike,  engaged  in  the 
sale  of  agricultural  implements.  He  took  the 
tide  at  its  flood,  and  it  bore  him  to  wealth. 
The  little  house  on  "  cheap  corner  "  was  ex- 
changed for  a  commodious  home  a  quarter  of 


a  mile  north,  on  State  street.  No  reverses 
swept  across  his  path.  His  eye  was  not  yet 
dim.  nor  his  natural  force  abated.  But  pul- 
monary disease  appeared,  and,  after  a  few 
months  of  hoping  against  hope,  and  dissolv- 
ing his  partnership  with  Mr.  Updike,  he  died, 
March  24,  1868,  to  the  profound  regret  and 
grief  of  the  city.  Mr.  Elliott  was  a  charter 
member  of  the  Charter  Oak  Lodge  of  Masons, 
and  an  Odd  Fellow;  for  several  terms  he 
presided  over  the  lodges  of  both  fraternities; 
in  graceful  recognition  of  his  zeal  and  effi- 
ciency in  works  meet  for  a  true  and  accom- 
plished brother  of  the  mystic  tie,  the  chapter 
bears  his  name.  He  greatly  aided  in  the 
erection  of  a  new  church  for  the  Christian 
society.  He  was  equally  estimable  in  what 
he  did  and  for  what  he  was.  He  was  of  me- 
dium stature,  spare,  but  sinewy:  he  was  of 
courteous  bearing,  diligent  in  business,  up- 
right in  his  dealings,  discreet  in  speech,  with- 
out concealments  or  the  need  of  them,  and 
true  to  his  party,  which  was  a  bar  to  no  per- 
sonal friendships,  and  never  limited  his  read- 
iness to  assist  others.  Leading  a  spotless 
life,  losing  no  friend  and  making  no  enemy 
in  the  dolorous  years  when  a  difference  of 
opinion  meant  hatred  and  all  uncharitable- 
ness,  he  blushed  only  at  his  own  praises. 
Three  of  his  six  children  still  survive.  Will- 
iam Lewis,  his  eldest  son,  at  twenty-two  a 
Knight  Templar,  and  the  youngest  one  in  this 
section,  died  in  1876,  in  his  twenty-sixth  year; 
his  second  daughter,  Lillie,  "  went  home  "  the 
following  year;  one  died  in  infancy — Minnie. 
ISRAEL  FOGLEMAN,  deceased.  Mel- 
choir  Fogleman  was  born  in  Cabarrus  County, 
N.  C. ,  in  177U,  and  was  educated  in  both  En- 
glish and  German,  afterward  learning  the 
trade  of  blacksmith.  March  4,  1811,  he 
was  married  to  Elizabeth  Meisenheimer,  and, 
on  the  17th  day  of  June,  1812,  a  son  was  born 
to  them,  he  being  our  subject,  Israel  Fogle- 


LITCHFIELD. 


141 


man,  who  was  baptized  March  4,  IS  13.  In 
the  autumn  of  1813,  Melchoir  and  family  set 
out  for  the  West,  first  landing  in  Indiana, 
but,  not  being  satisfied  with  the  country,  re- 
moved to  Illinois,  reaching  the  vicinity  of 
what  is  now  Walshville  on  the  Oth  of  June, 
1818,  and  for  several  months,  the  family, 
consisting  of  father,  mother,  the  son  and  two 
daughters,  subsisted  chiefly  on  venison  and 
honey,  of  which  there  was  an  abundance; 
Melchoir  afterward  (about  1820)  removed  to 
the  West  Fork,  where  he  lived  till  1824,  then 
he  moved  to  the  Clear  Spring  Branch  and 
built  the  grist-mill  known  as  the  old  li  Pepper 
Mill.''  They  had  two  sons  and  one  daughter 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  in  addition  to 
the  children  born  before  arriving  tbere. 
Melchoir  died  February  10,  1827,  and  his 
widowremained  at  the  mill.  In  1832,  Israel 
bought  out  James  Parrish,  and  commenced 
improving  a  farm  near  where  Litchfield  now 
is,  building  a  house  and  removing  his  mother 
and  the  children  into  it  in  1841.  He 
enlisted  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  in  1832,  be- 
ing Sergeant  in  Capt.  Boone's  company.  Re- 
ceiving a  land  warrant  for  services  in  the 
war,  he  entered  another  eighty  acres,  to  which 
he  added  until  he  had  350  acres  of  land.  In 
November,  1838,  he  married  Miss  Jane, 
daughter  of  Philip  and  Anna  (Kincaid)  Cor- 
lew,  who  was  born  January  27,  1821.  Mr. 
Fogleman  had  borne  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
pioneer  life,  and  was  a  man  highly  respected 
and  trusted.  It  is  said  that  he  acted  more 
frequently  as  administrator  and  executor  of 
estates  and  guardian  for  minors  than  any 
other  man  in  the  county;  he  served  as  Com- 
missioner, Justice  of  the  Peace  and  School 
Treasurer;  was  a  Democrat,  and  cast  his  first 
Presidential  vote  for  "Old  Hickory."  He 
died  June  17,  1870.  He  was  the  father  of 
fourteen  children,  but  six  of  whom  are  now 
living;  of  those  dead,  two  died  in  infancy  and 


three  grew  to  maturiiy;  those  living  are 
Amanda  E  ,  wife  of  William  K.  Blackwelder; 
John  W.,  merchant  in  Miller  Count),  Mo.; 
Sarah  L.,  wife  of  W.  Frank  Rainey,  of  Mont- 
gomery County;  Alida  M.,  Joel  M.  and  Will- 
iam D.  are  at  home. 

JOEL  M.  FOGLEMAN  was  born  April 
7,  1826;  is  a  son  of  Melchoir  and  Elizabeth 
(Meisenheimer)  Fogleman.  He  lived  with 
his  mother  near  the  old  mill  till  he  was  fif- 
teen years  of  age,  and  attended  school  in  the 
old  Clear  Springs  Baptist  Church.  In  1841, 
his  mother,  with  her  family,  moved  to  what 
is  now  North  Litchfield,  and  settled  near  her 
eldest  son,  Israel  Fogleman.  Joel  M.  worked 
and  improved  his  present  place — a  quarter  of 
School  Section  16,  which  had  been  purchased 
for  him  about  the  year  18*43.  till  1846,  when 
he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Third  Illinois  In- 
fantry, under  Col.  Forman  and  Gen.  Shields, 
and  served  in  the  Mexican  war  from  June  to 
November,  but  was  taken  sick  and  sent  home 
from  Matamoras,  Mexico.  He  married,  De- 
cember 30,  1847,  Nancy  Jane  Crabtree,  born 
in  Edwards  County,  III.  daughter  of  John 
Crabtree.  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  an  old 
Revolutionary  soldier,  who  died  about  1837. 
and  who  had  twenty-two  children,  Mrs.  Fo- 
gleman being  the  twentieth  child.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Fogleman  are  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  two  daughters  died;  those 
living  are  Henrietta,  now  Mrs.  David  A. 
Blackwelder;  Eliza,  now  Mrs.  Charles  Rose, 
of  Montgomery  County;  John  F. ;  Lizzie, 
now  Mrs.  Milton  C.  Ash;  and  William  J. 
Mr.  Fogleman  moved  to  his  present  place  in 
1848,  having  built  a  frame  house,  which  is 
still  standing,  at  the  rear  of  his  present  resi- 
dence; he  has  ever  since  remained  on  the 
same  place,  which  is  all  under  cultivation. 
His  mother,  who  was  born  February  4,  1788, 
died  April  27,  1850;  her  children  are  Israel, 
born  June  17,  1812;  Sarah,  now  Mrs.  Dillard 


142 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Duff:  Catharine,  now  Mrs.  George  Forehand; 
John,  living  in  South  Litchfield;  Peter,  died 
in  infancy;  Mary  A.,  died  in  1857;  and  Joel 
M. .  our  subject.  Mr.  Fogleman  is  a  Demo- 
crat; he  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
United  Baptist  Church. 

JOHN  FOGLEMAN,  son  of  Melchoir  and 
Elizabeth  (Meisenheimer)  Fogleman,  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  one  mile 
east  of  where  Walsh vi  lie  now  stands,  on 
Easter  Sunday,  April  11,  1819,  and  was  the 
first  white  child  born  in  Walshville  Township, 
and  is  now  perhaps  the  oldest  native  resi- 
dent of  Montgomery  Countj'.  Melchoir  Fo- 
gleman, the  father  of  our  subject,  started  a 
mill  where  the  "  Pepper  Mill  "  now  stands, 
in  1824.  the  wheel  of  which  was  overshot, 
the  water  being  brought  from  one-half  to 
three- quarters  of  a  mile,  in  oak  troughs 
placed  on  the  hillside,  connected  with  springs 
of  water;  the  mill,  which  had  a  capacity  of 
100  bushels  in  twenty- four  hours  in  flood 
time,  did  a  good  business,  drawing  the  pat- 
ronage of  all  the  early  settlement;  the  buhrs 
were  of  native  stone,  taken  from  the  prairie. 
Melchoir  Fogleman  died  in  1827;  his  widow 
held  the  mill  until  1843.  when  she  sold  it  to 
John  Kirkpatrick.  Our  subject  attended 
school  principally  at  Clear  Springs  Church ; 
his  last  school  term  (in  1835);  he  attended  the 
school  a  mile  west  of  Hillsboro,  taught  by  J. 
Grantham,  now  a  sub-clerk  in  the  United 
States  Treasury  at  Washington,  D.  C.  In  his 
early  days.  John  worked  in  his  father's  mill, 
and  was  familiar  with  all  the  heads  of  the 
families  in  the  county  at  that  time.  In 
1810,  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  of  John 
Corlew — forty  prairie  land  and  forty  acres  in 
timber — and  April  23  of  that  year  moved 
into  a  small  cabin  on  the  border  of  the  prai- 
rie, and  the  first  year  tilled  six  acres,  which 
he  had  cleared  in  the  timber,  but  his  crop 
was  nearly  all  taken   by   squirrels  and  rac- 


coons, which  infested  the  woods;  he  soon 
added  twenty  acres  to  his  original  purchase, 
and,  from  18(56,  steadily  increased  his  prop- 
erty, till  he  is  now  the  owner  of  300  acres  in 
this  township  and  200  acres  elsewhere.  He 
married,  April  19,  1840,  Elizabeth  Kirkland, 
daughter  of  Kobert  and  Jane  (Long)  Kirk- 
land, and  from  this  union  ten  children  have 
been  born,  of  whom  six  died  in  childhood; 
those  living  are  Daniel  M.,  Israel  P.,  Mary 
E.  U.  and  Francis  M.  Mr.  Fogleman  cast 
his  first  vote  for  Van  Bureu  in  1840,  and  has 
since  been  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party;  he  invariably  filled  the  office  of 
Clerk  for  township  and  county  elections;  has 
been  Township  Trustee  or  Treasurer  for  a 
great  many  terms,  and  has  acted  on  county 
and  township  committees;  he  was  elected 
Sheriff  of  Montgomery  County  in  I860,  and 
served  one  term. 

FRANCIS  MARION  FOGLEMAN,  farm- 
er, P.  O.  Litchfield,  was  born  on  the  place  of 
his  father,  John  Fogleman,  on  July  15,  1858. 
He  was  raised  a  farmer,  and  still  follows  that 
occupation  with  his  father,  on  whose  place  he 
has  resided  since  his  marriage,  on  March  2, 
1881,  to  Miss  Nancy  E.  Z.,  daughter  of  Da- 
vid Corlew.  He  is  a  young  man  of  enter- 
prise and  industry. 

WILLIAM  H.  FISHER  was  born  in  Mid- 
dlesex County,  N.  J.,  October  15,  1829,  where 
he  lived  until  six  yeai-s  old,  when  his  parents 
moved  to  Ohio,  residing  at  Mt.  Vernon  for 
eight  years.  In  1843,  his  parents  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  Jersey  County, 
where  William  H.  lived  ten  years.  In  1856, 
he  married  Elizabeth  Ivens.  of  Dayton,  Ohio, 
and,  the  same  year,  bought  forty  acres  of  land 
three  miles  from  Litchfield,  adjoining  the 
county  line  of  Macoupin  County,  and  in  ten 
years  he  acquired  480  acres  of  valuable  land, 
which  he  sold  in  1865,  and  moved  to  Litch- 
field, and,  a  short  time  thereafter  bought  160 


LITCHFIELD. 


143 


acres  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  town 
where  he  has  since  lived  and  been  engaged  in 
farming  near  the  city,  possessing  about  four 
hundred  acres,  the  larger  portion  of  which  is 
in  Montgomery  County.  The  father  of  our 
subject,  William  B.  Fisher,  was  a  native  of 
New  Jersey,  and  a  farmer  in  that  State,  but 
keeping  a  hotel  after  moving  to  Ohio.  After 
moving  to  Illinois  in  1845,  Mr.  Fisher,  Sr., 
resumed  farming,  which  he  continued  until 
his  death,  some  ten  years  later;  he  was  the 
father  of  ten  children,  nine  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing, William  H. ,  our  subject,  being  the  sec- 
ond son;  the  mother  is  still  living,  aged  sev- 
enty-seven years.  Our  subject  has  three 
children;  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
HENRY  K.  GARDNER  was  born  in  Will- 
iamson County,  Tenn. .  November  24,  1807; 
was  reared  on  a  farm  in  Maury  County,  Tenn. , 
and  worked  in  a  distillery  during  the  winter. 
He  came  to  Illinois  in  1833,  stayed  one  year 
near  Mulberry  Grove,  Bond  County,  then 
moved  to  the  eastern  part  of  Montgomery 
County,  where  he  entered  eighty  acres  of  land, 
on  which  he  worked  five  years,  and  improved 
the  greater  portion  of  the  farm;  he  then  re- 
moved to  Fayette  County,  where  he  worked  a 
farm  for  sixteen  years,  then,  in  1855,  bought 
his  present  place  of  120  acres  of  prairie  land, 
which  at  that  time  had  a  small  patch  of 
ground  broken,  and  on  which  stood  a  small 
cabin .  Since  he  came  to  Montgomery  County, 
Mr.  Gardner  has  been  chiefly  engaged  in 
farming,  but  has  also  worked  at  the  brick  and 
stone  mason's  trade,  which  he  learned  from 
his  father,  though  he  never  served  any  regu- 
lar apprenticeship.  In  Tennessee,  in  October, 
1829,  he  married  Winnefred  Wollard,  born 
October  1,  1807,  who  bore  him  three  sons  and 
three  daughters  (all  living),  and  died  in  Fay- 
ette County  in  April,  1854.  October  12. 
L854,  he  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs. 
Amanda  Jane  Jones,  widow  of  Lewis  Charl- 


ton Jones  and  daughter  of  Alexander  Mc- 
Williams,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Montgom- 
ery County;  she  was  born  in  that  county 
April  2U.  1826;  from  this  second  marriage 
two  children  have  been  born — one  son  and 
one  daughter,  both  living;  Mrs.  Gardner  had 
four  children  (all  living)  by  her  first  hus- 
band, Mr.  Jones.  Mr.  Gardner  has  had  fair 
success  as  a  farmer,  and  is  now  owner  of  254 
acres  of  land,  though  he  began  without  cap 
ital;  he  has  always  been  a  Democrat;  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Old-School  Baptist 
Church  for  about  forty  years. 

FRANK  H.  GILMORE,  Master  in  Chan- 
cery, Litchfield,  was  born  in  Greenville, 
Bond  Co.,  111.,  on  January  3,  1833.  Here  he 
passed  his  early  youth,  except  a  few  years 
spent  in  Northern  Illinois.  His  father, 
James  Gilmore,  died  when  he  was  twelve 
years  old,  and,  two  years  later,  he  entered  the 
printing  office  of  the  Protestant  Monitor, 
which  was  the  first  paper  of  Greenville,  and 
finished  his  trade  in  the  office  of  its  successor. 
Iu  1851,  he  came  to  Hillsboro,  111.,  and  there 
started  the  Prairie  Mirror,  of  which  Dr. 
Francis  Springer  was  editor:  he  conducted 
that  and  other  papers  as  publisher  at  the 
same  place  until  1862,  excepting  two  years. 
In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Company  B 
of  the  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until  the  close 
of  the  war;  at  the  organization  of  the  com 
pany,  he  was  elected  Second  Lieutenant,  and 
came  home  its  Captain.  At  Memphis,  Tenn. , 
our  subject  was  detached,  and  was  a  depot 
ordnance  officer  for  the  Army  of  Tennessee 
from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta;  he  joined  his 
company,  and,  just  after  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville, led  his  command  in  the  battles  attend- 
ing the  capture  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  and  in  other 
engagements,  till  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
returned  home,  and,  in  18(56,  was  elected 
Sheriff  and  Collector  of  Montgomery  County, 


144 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


serving  one  term — at  that  time  the  full  limit; 
after  those  two  years,  he  engaged  in  the  real 
estate  business  with  John  D.  Maddux,  at 
Hillsboro,  continuing  until  1874,  when  he 
came  to  Litchfield  and  engaged  in  the  pur- 
chase and  shipment  of  grain,  the  firm  name 
being  Ballweg  &  Gilmore;  he  continued  at 
that  but  one  and  a  half  years.  In  November, 
1 88(  •,  he  was  appointed,  by  Judge  Zane, 
Master  in  Chancery  of  this  county;  he  is  also 
Director  and  Secretary  of  the  Litchfield  Oil 
and  Pipe  Lime  Company,  and  has  been  since 
its  organization.  November  16,  1858,  he 
married  Mary  S.,  daughter  of  Col.  Robert 
Blackwel).  of  Vandalia,  111. ;  they  have  had  the 
following  children:  Angelina  E.,  James  R. 
and  Frank  P.  (both  deceased),  Henry  E., 
May  V.,  Sarah  E.  (deceased)  and  Mary  E.  A. 
He  was  raised  a  "Whig,  but  voted  for  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  since  which  time  he  has  acted 
with  the  Democratic  party,  being  conservative 
in  his  views.  His  father  was  a  native  of  East 
Tennessee,  and  his  mother  of  Virginia;  they 
emigrated  here  from  Hardin  County,  Ky., 
about  1828,  and  settled  in  Greenville:  his 
father  was  a  carpenter  and  builder,  and  died 
June  13,  1844;  his  Grandfather  Gilmore  was 
for  many  years  Probate  Judge  of  Bond 
County. 

CAPT.  EPHRAIM  M.  GILMORE,  retired, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Christian,  now  Todd 
County,  Ky.,  January  15,  1811.  Seven  years 
later,  he  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  Bond 
County,  111.,  who  settled  within  four  miles 
of  Greenville,  where  he  grew  up  and  learned 
the  elements  of  an  English  education.  There 
he  married,  January  19,  1882,  Miss  Mary 
W.  Harris,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  after  which 
he  moved  to  Greene  County,  111.,  where  he 
farmed  until  1861,  in  October  of  which  year  he 
raised  a  company  of  cavalry,  and,  by  permit 
of  Gov.  Yates,  it  was  attached  to  Col.  Logan's 
Thirty-second    Illinois    Volunteer   Infantry, 


and  went  into  Camp  Butler  for  the  winter, 
and  in  December,  it  was  detached  from  the 
Thirty-second;  in  February,  1862,  it  was 
ordered  to  Quincy,  and,  in  the  last  days  of 
February,  it  was  Company  F,  in  the  Twelfth 
Illinois  Cavalry,  and  ordered  back  to  Camp 
Butler  until  July,  1862,  when  they  were  or- 
dered to  Martinsburg,  Va. ;  there  Capt.  Gil- 
more was  forced  to  resign  because  of  poor 
health.  In  April,  1832,  he  was  out  forty- 
seven  and  one-half  days  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war.  In  December,  1862,  he  came  to  Litch- 
field, and  has  resided  here  ever  since.  For 
some  years,  he  engaged  in  the  grocery  busi- 
ness, but  is  now  passing  his  time  in  retire- 
ment. He  has  always  been  a  Democrat;  in 
1868,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in 
Montgomery  County  by  the  Democratic  party ; 
he  became  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization  in  1876,  and  served  four  years; 
he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Land  Com- 
mittee. In  1866,  he  was  elected  Mayor  of 
Litchfield,  and  is  now  Assessor  of  North 
Litchfield  Township.  Capt.  Gilmore  has 
had  the  following  children:  Lucinda  Isa- 
bella, John  H.,  Harvey  M. ,  Harriet  Elvira, 
Rachel  Eleanor,  William  Persis,  James  Polk, 
Louis  Barr,  Nancy  Mitter,  Mary  Murphy. 
He  lived  in  Bond  County  till  1834.  when  he 
moved  to  Macoupin  County,  and  lived  there 
until  the  spring  of  1852,  when  he  moved  to 
Greenfield,  111.,  where  he  was  a  merchant  and 
farmer  for  ten  years.  His  father,  John  Gil- 
more, was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  by 
the  first  Legislature  of  Illinois,  at  Vandalia, 
and  held  that  office  for  many  years ;  for  many 
years  he  held  the  office  of  Probate  Judge  of 
Bond  County. 

SAMUEL  M.  GRUBBS,  banker,  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  Co.,  111., 
in  1835,  where  he  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  en- 
gaged in  general  merchandising  in  the  town 


LITCHFIELD. 


145 


of  his  birth,  and  continued  with  fair  success 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  sold  his 
stock  and  came  to  Litchfield,  where,  in  part- 
nership with  R.  H.  Peall,  he  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  they  having  bought  the  bus- 
iness  of  J.  W.  Jefferis;  the  firm  afterward 
became  Jefferis  &  Grubbs.  Our  subject  sold 
to  Mr.  Jefferis  in  1S6S,  and  became  a  partner 
in  the  private  banking  house  of  Brewer,  Sey- 
mour &  Co.,  which  became  the  firm  of  Brewer 
k  Grubbs  in  1880.  Since  January,  1869, 
Mr.  Grubbs  has  given  exclusive  attention  to 
banking.  In  1857,  he  married  Miss  Mary, 
daughter  of  William  Brewer,  whose  sketch 
appears  elsewhere.  In  1 874,  Mr.  Grubbs,  by 
an  independent  ticket,  was  elected  Mayor  of 
Litchfield;  prior  to  this,  he  was  City  Treas- 
urer. He  is  a  Steward  and  Trustee  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  father  of 
our  subject  was  Moody  Grubbs,  a  native  of 
"Virginia,  who  moved  to  Todd  County,  Ky., 
when  a  young  man.  He  married  Miss  Cyn- 
thia Boone,  of  Bowling  Green,  Ky.;  she  was 
a  great-niece  of  Daniel  Boone.  Moody 
Grubbs  came  to  Hillsboro,  111.,  in  about  1833, 
and  died  four  years  later;  he  was  a  brick-ma- 
son by  trade;  his  wife  still  survives,  in  her 
eighty-eighth  year. 

S.  H  GEROW,  D.  D.  S.,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  in  1850, 
and  there  was  educated  in  the  grammar 
sohools.  In  October,  1879,  he  entered  the 
Dental  Department  of  the  University  of 
Michigan  at  Ann  Arbor,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated in  March,  1881,  with  the  degree  of  D. 
D.  S.  In  July,  1881,  he  came  to  Litchfield 
to  locate  for  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
and  has  since  been  actively  engaged,  having 
pleasant  dental  rooms  on  State  street,  where 
he  performs  both  mechanical  and  operative 
dentistry.  Although  he  has  been  here  but  a 
short  time,  he  has  been  very  successful  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession. 


CONSTANTINE  HOOG,  dealer  in  boots 
and  shoes,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Baden, 
Germany,  in  1825.  At  the  age  of  nineteen, 
he  began  learning  the  shoemaker's  trade,  and 
completed  it  in  two  years.  In  187)0,  he  came 
to  the  United  States  with  his  parents,  and  in 
that  and  the  year  following,  worked  as  jour- 
neyman in  Alton,  111.,  where  he  opened  a 
shop  of  his  own  and  carried  on  his  business 
until  1856.  In  that  place,  he  married  Miss 
Charlotte  Niemann  in  1854.  In  April,  1856, 
he  came  to  Litchfield,  and  lived  in  a  small 
shanty  just  east  of  the  dwelling  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  William  Wiegreffe;  here 
he  put  out  a  sign  and  made  shoes  during  the 
summer;  then  he  bought  the  site  of  his  pros 
ent  home,  it  being  Lot  3  in  Block  29,  and 
occupied  a  little  frame  building  which  stood 
on  it  until  1S59,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  he 
built  the  present  two-story  brick  residence, 
moving  into  it  the  same  year.  He  conducted 
a  shop  for  the  manufacture  of  custom  work 
from  1850  to  1873,  when  he  began  selling- 
Eastern  work.  Two  years  later,  he  sold  his 
store,  and,  for  three  years,  ran  a  hide  house 
and  sack  depot.  In  1878,  he  re-opened  his 
present  shoe  store,  and  has  since  conducted 
a  good  business  in  boots  and  shoes.  He  was 
the  second  shoemaker  of  Litchfield,  and, 
from  his  humble  beginnings,  he  has  steadily 
gained  a  prominent  place  among  the  business 
men  of  this  city.  He  has  always  been  a 
Democrat,  and  was  Alderman  from  the  Sec 
ond  Ward  in  1869.  Mr.  Hoog's  wife  died  in 
1874.  He  has  one  son  and  four  daughters 
living. 

VALENTINE  HOFFMAN,  merchant, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Bavaria  on  May  14. 
1833,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in  IS  12 
with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Columbus, 
Ohio,  shortly  after  removing  to  a  farm  near 
Reynoldsburg,  Franklin  Co.,  Ohio,  where 
our  subject  grew  up  and  received  an  English 


146 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


education  in  the  public  schools.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen,  he  learned  the  trade  of  iron-mold- 
ing at  Gill's  Foundry,  at  Columbus,  s(  rving 
live  years  as  apprentice  and  journeyman;  he 
then  traveled  two  years  as  journeyman,  work- 
ing in  St.  Louis  and  Indianapolis.  In  1856, 
he  came  to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  where  he 
married  Miss  Martha  Turner  January  15, 
1857,  and,  the  following  year,  came  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  111. ;  here  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  H.  H.  Beach  &  Co.,  as  molder,  and 
continued  until  the  war  broke  out.  He  first 
enlisted  for  three  months  in  the  Seventh 
Illinois  Regiment,  and  served  his  time  out. 
He  then  returned  to  his  old  place  with 
H  H.  Beach  &  Co.,  and  remained  until 
September,  1862,  when  he  again  enlisted, 
this  time  in  the  Ninety-first  Illinois  Regi- 
ment, as  private  soldier;  he  was  mustered 
in  as  Orderly  Sergeant,  and  his  first  engage- 
ment was  at  Elizabethtown,  Ky..  where  he 
and  the  entire  command  were  taken  prisoners. 
Dunne  his  confinement,  he  was  made  Second 
Lieutenant  at  Benton  Barracks;  he  was  re- 
tained a  prisoner  from  January  1,  1863,  to 
June  3,  1863,  and  was  then  exchanged,  when 
he  joined  the  Thirteenth  Army  Corps  in  their 
first  engagement  at  Morganza,  La.  He  went 
into  quarters  at  Carrollton,  above  New  Or- 
leans, and,  in  December,  1863,  he  went  with 
Banks'  expedition  across  the  Gulf  to  Texas, 
where,  for  seven  months,  he  experienced  con- 
tinual skirmishing.  In  March,  1805.  he  left 
Texas,  and  took  part  in  the  capture  of  Mobile. 
Fort  Blakely  and  Spanish  Fort.  At  Fort 
Blakely,  Capt.  Hoffman  was  wounded  in  the 
wrist  by  a  Minie  ball  while  on  the  skirmish 
line,  March  26,  1865.  In  1864,  he  was  pro- 
moted to  Captain  of  Company  A,  Ninety- 
first  Illinois  Regiment.  After  his  wound,  he 
was  sent  home  on  leave  of  absence,  and  was 
honorably  discharged,  being  mustered  out  at 
Camp  Butler,  111.,  in  September,  1865.      The 


following  year,  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  at  Litchfield,  at  first  having  but  a 
small  stock;  he  has  won  success  by  his  in- 
dustry and  perseverance,  and  for  nine  years 
has  been  located  on  Jefferson  street,  where 
he  has  built  up  a  large  trade  in  groceries, 
epieensware,  boots,  shoes,  etc.;  he  employs 
four  persons  in  his  store.  He  cast  his  first 
vote  for  Fremont,  and  has  always  been  a  Re- 
publican. He  has  ever  taken  an  active  inter- 
est in  city  affairs  and  all  matters  of  public 
interest.  He  served  one  term  in  the  City 
Council.  Mr.  Hoffman,  true  to  his  German 
birth,  is  fond  of  music,  and  creates  it  on  var- 
ious musical  instruments. 

MRS.  MARTHA  HOFFMAN,  Litchfield, 
daughter  of  James  and  Catharine  (Anderson) 
Turner,  was  born  in  Westmoreland  County, 
Penn. ;  she  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation in  Ohio,  to  which  State  her  parents 
moved,  settling  in  Licking  County,  when  she 
was  eleven  years  old;  after  living  in  Ohio 
about  seven  years,  they  moved  to  Macoupin 
County,  111.,  where  her  father  engaged  in 
fanning;  he  now  resides  in  Litchfield,  being 
in  his  eightieth  year;  her  mother  died  four- 
teen years  ago.  Our  subject  married  Capt. 
V.  Hoffman  in  Macoupin  County;  of  their 
marriage,  six  children  have  been  born,  but 
three  of  whom  are  living,  the  others  having 
died  in  infancy  ;  those  living  are,  namely. 
Ella  Nora,  the  oldest  daughter,  who  was  bom 
in  Litchfield  on  February  1.  1861,  and  who 
received  her  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  this  city,  in  addition  to  a  fine  musical  edu- 
cation; on  May  3,  1882,  in  Litchfield,  she 
married  George  Andrew  Beeler.  of  Hamilton, 
Ohio;  the  second  daughter.  Ida,  was  born 
September  15,  1872;  and  the  third  living 
child,  a  son,  Walter  R. ,  was  born  March  11, 
1876.  Mrs.  Hoffman  is  one  of  a  family  of 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  deceased. 

JOHN  C.  HUGHES,  deceased.    The  father 


LITCHFIELD. 


147 


of  our  subject,  Thomas  C.  Hughes,  was  born 
in  Knox  County,  Tenn. ,  in  about  1804.  He 
was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  was  married,  in  his 
native  county,  to  Miss  Mary  Godsey.  In 
1828,  he  came  with  his  family  to  this  county 
and  first  settled  in  the  Gray  neighborhood, 
afterward  moving  to  the  place  now  owned  by 
John  Cover;  he  moved  thence  to  the  Craw- 
ford neighborhood,  and  thence  to  where  Mar- 
tin A.  Bitch  ie  now  lives ;  here  he  lived  sev- 
eral years,  and  each  one  of  the  previous  places 
he  improved  and  sold  at  an  advance.  After 
leaving  the  Ritchie  place,  he  moved  to  the 
head  of  Shoal  Creek;  thence  to  Litchfield, 
where  he  traded  largely  in  town  property,  at 
the  time  of  the  building  up  of  the  city;  here 
he  lived  until  after  the  war,  when  he  moved  to 
Section  22.  In  all,  he  owned  about  four  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  land,  and  was  remark- 
ably successful  in  almost  every  undertaking. 
Mr.  Hughes  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  North 
Litchfield  Township  four  years;  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church  for  many 
years.  He  was  the  father  of  four  sons  and 
three  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living  ex- 
cept John  C.  Hughes,  his  oldest  son,  whose 
sketch  appears  in  another  paragraph.  Thom- 
as C.  Hughes  died  November  ]4,  1871,  an  1 
his  wife  in  1866.  John  C.  Hughes  was  born 
in  Knox  County,  Tenn.,  on  December  17, 
1823,  and  came  to  Montgomery  County,  111., 
with  his  parents  when  in  his  sixth  year;  he 
was  fortunate  in  obtaining  a  common-school 
education  superior  to  that  of  most  farmer 
boys,  and  was  the  school-mate  of  Gen.  Jesse 
Phillips.  He  was  ingenious  with  tools,  and 
picked  up  the  carpenter's  trade,  building 
several  barns  and  houses  in  the  country  when 
not  engaged  in  farm  labor.  On  November 
26,  1846,  he  married  Miss  Susan  E.  Roberts, 
daughter  of  Josiah  and  Susan  (Hart)  Roberts. 
He  bought  a  Mexican  land  warrant  about 
three  years  after  he  had  settled   here,  on  va- 


cant land,  and  by  it  became  the  owner  of  160 
acres  in  1849.  He  engaged  in  farming  here 
until  1852,  when  he  went  by  ox  team  from 
St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  to  California,  the  journey 
continuing  over  one  hundred  days.  After 
spending  about  eighteen  months  in  the  mines, 
he  returned  by  the  Panama  route  in  1854, 
and  lived  on  his  farm  until  his  death,  on 
November  17,  1879.  At  the  time  of  his  de- 
mise, ho  owned  200  acres  of  land,  all  of 
which  was  acquired  by  his  own  labor;  he  was 
a  hard-working,  shrewd  and  enterprising 
farmer.  He  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter; 
one  son  died  at  the  age  of  six  weeks:  his 
children  are  William  H. ,  born  June  23,  184'.). 
a  stock-dealer  in  Colorado;  Hiram  J.,  born 
February  27,  1855;  John  C,  Jr.,  born  June 
23,  1857;  Mary  J.,  born  October  15.  1862, 
the  wife  of  John  Gundy,  of  this  county; 
and  George  B. ,  born  April  19,  1864.  Three 
sons  are  still  living  at  the  homestead. 

ESQUIRE  WILLIAM  C.  HENDERSON, 
real  estate  agent,  was  born  in  Columbus, 
Miss.,  on  January  25.  1S17.  When  about 
ten  years  old,  his  parents  removed  to  Illinois, 
first  settling  in  Clinton  County,  where  they 
lived  on  a  farm  until  1835,  in  which  year 
they  moved  to  Macoupin  County,  settling 
near  Gillespie.  In  1838)  our  subject  mar- 
ried Miss  Martha  Caulk  and  settled  near  Mt. 
Olive,  Macoupin  County,  where  he  farmed 
twenty  years  with  good  success.  He  came 
to  Litchfield  in  1858.  In  April,  1876,  he 
was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  since 
that  time  has  filled  the  office  of  magistrate. 
He  is  now  enjjasred  in  the  real  estate  and  col- 
lecting  business.  Politically,  Mi'.  Henderson 
is  a  Democrat,  and  always  has  been  such.  In 
1859,  he  married  a  second  time,  the  lady  be- 
ing Mary  A.  Green,  of  this  county;  of  thi  • 
marriage  there  are  no  children,  but  of  his 
first  there  are  six  living. 

H.    H.   HOOD,  Litchfield,  was  bom    Sep 


148 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tember  19,  1823,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia; 
his  father  was  Lambert  Hood,  born  near 
Camden,  N.  J.,  April  16,  1792,  and  died  July 
27,  1850;  the  mother  of  our  subject  was 
Sarah  (Hughes)  Hood,  who  was  born  in 
Wales  January  25,  1 793,  and  died  July  20, 
1S44.  Mr.  H.  H.  Hood  was  married,  first  in 
Jerseyville.  111.,  June  11,  1855,  to  Matilda 
W.  Jackson,  born  in  Philadelphia  August  '23, 
IS'29.  daughter  of  Charles  S.  Jackson,  of 
Philadelphia.  His  second  marriage  was  at 
Taylorville,  111.,  July  7.  1869,  to  Abigail  E. 
Torrey,  born  September  10,  1833,  daughter 
of  Joseph  Torrey,  of  Woodstock,  Conn.  The 
following:  children  have  been  born  to  Mr. 
Hood:  Charles  L.,  who  died  in  infancy; 
George  P.,  Sarah  Frances,  Annie  H.,  Oliver, 
Harold  H.  and  Abigail  Louise. 

WILLIAM  W.  HEWITT,  Superintendent 
of  Planet  Mills,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Shrop- 
shire, England,  in  April,  1849,  and  was 
brought  to  the  United  States  in  the  fall  of 
1851  by  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Terre 
Haute,  Ind.,  and  there  raised  and  educated 
him.  He  was  successively  book-keeper  and 
manager  of  a  yard  and  freight  department  of 
the  Vandalia  Railroad  at  Terre  Haute  from 
1869  to  1875;  since  1875.  he  has  been  in  the 
lumber,  grain  and  milling  business,  first  with 
McKeen  Bros.,  of  Terre  Haute,  with  whom 
he  continued  until  October,  1881,  when  he 
entered  the  employ  of  D.  L.  Wing  &  Co.  as 
Superintendent  of  the  Planet  Mills,  which 
were  erected  in  Litchfield  in  1881. 

JOSEPH  E.  HICKMAN,  Honey  Bend,  was 
born  in  Crittenden  County,  Ky.,  June  1,  1851, 
son  of  William  B.  and  Eliza  A.  ( Witherspoon) 
Hickman,  who  were  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren, all  living.  William  B.  removed  from 
Kentucky  in  1851  and  settled  on  a  farm  near 
Hillsboro.  111.,  where  he  died  in  March,  1N">7; 
his  wife  removed  to  Butler,  111.,  with  her 
family,  and  died  November  9,  1869.     Joseph 


E.  received  his  education  in  Hillsboro  and  in 
Butler,  and  left  school  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
and  entered  the  store  of  Hedge  &  Bro.  as 
clerk,  and  remained  with  them  and  their  suc- 
cessors, McGowan  &  Watkins,  for  seven  years. 
He  spent  the  year  1872  in  Nebraska,  then 
returned  to  Butler  and  worked  on  the  farm 
one  year,  and  from  that  time  until  1878  he 
ran  a  steam  threshing  machine  during  the 
summer  season,  and  taught  school  in  winter. 
In  January,  1878,  he  came  to  Honey  Bend, 
which  at  that  time  consisted  of  a  post  office 
and  blacksmith  shop,  with  no  railway  facili- 
ties except  a  side-track  for  passing  trains: 
there  were  but  two  houses  in  the  town;  he 
was  appointed  station  agent  and  Postmaster 
in  March,  1878,  which  positions  he  has  since 
held,  in  addition  to  which  he  is  now  agent  of 
the  Pacific  Express  Company;  he  also  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business  with  his  brother, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Hickman  Bros. ;  they 
do  a  fine  trade;  besides  general  merchandise, 
they  also  deal  in  coal  and  lumber.  Mr.  Hick- 
man married,  January  20,  1881,  Ida  L.  Hart, 
born  in  St.  Clair  County,  111.,  December  '20, 
1861,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Hilt) 
Hart;  they  have  one  child,  Ida  May. 

JAMES  B.  HUTCHISON  was  born  in  Trigg 
County,  Ky..  November  8,  1830,  and  received 
his  education  in  Cumberland  College,  at 
Princeton,  Caldwell  Co.,  Ky.  He  came  to 
Montgomery  County  in  August,  1S48,  having 
preceded  his  parents,  who  followed  in  No- 
vember; they  bought  land  in  Bond  County, 
where  they  died.  Our  subject  taught  school 
three  terms  at  WTalnut  Grove,  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county,  and  one  term  at  Lazy 
Neck.  In  the  spring  of  1849,  he  married 
Miss  Sarah  J.,  daughter  of  Capt.  James 
Black,  an  early  pioneer;  he  spent  some  time 
in  Marshall  County  about  1852-53,  but  re- 
turned to  Montgomery  in  1854  and  engaged 
in  mercantile    business  at  Donnellson  until 


LITCHFIELD. 


149 


1857,  during  which  time  he,  in  conjunction 
with  T.  C.  Donnell,  laid  out  the  town  named. 
Selling  out  his  business,  he  traveled  for  some 
time  in  the  mirsery  business.  In  1865,  he 
purchased  seven  acres,  which  he  has  since  in- 
creased to  twenty-two  acres,  and  follows  the 
nursery  and  market  gardening  business;  he 
has  about  ten  thousand  apple  and  fifteen 
hundred  peach  trees,  in  addition  to  other 
fruits  and  shrubs.  He  has  four  sons  and  three 
daughters  living.  The  father  of  our  subject, 
Rev.  William  T.  Hutchison,  was  a  minister 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Tenn. , 
in  December,  1799.  He  traveled  in  Missouri 
when  it  was  a  Territory.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Mary-  Clay  Davison,  a  native  of  Bourbon 
County,  Ky. ,  and  by  her  had  ten  sons  and 
two  daughters,  subject  being  the  second  son; 
he  died  on  his  farm  near  Greenville  in  Sep- 
tember, 18158,  having  preached  in  this  State 
twenty  years;  his  wife  died  in  1864. 

The  HOOD  FAMILY.  Of  the  ten  chil- 
dren born  to  Lambert  and  Sarah  Hood,  seven 
grew  to  mature  years,  and  the  four  still  sur- 
viving live  in  Litchfield.  The  family  on  the 
father's  side  were  for  several  generations  res- 
idents of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  where  the 
four  surviving  children  were  all  born;  their 
mother  was  Welsh,  coming  in  childhood  with 
her  parents  to  this  country.  The  father  was 
poor,  and  was  able  to  support  his  family  only 
by  the  constant  labor  of  his  hands,  united 
with  the  strictest  economy,  and  aided  by  his 
wife  and  older  sons.  In  1837,  the  parents, 
with  foiu-  of  the  children  (of  whom  H.  H. 
and  B.  S.  alone  survive),  removed  to  Alton, 
111.,  and  afterward  to  Otter  Creek  Prairie, 
then  in  Greene,  now  in  Jersey  County.  Their 
stay  in  the  West  was  only  for  about  eighteen 
months,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they  re- 
turned to  Philadelphia.  The  mother  died  in 
1844,  and  the  father  in  1850.     Ann  Hughes 


Hood  the  eldest  child,  was  for  twenty  years  a 
teacher  in  the  schools  of  Philadelphia;  in 
1857,  she  resigned  her  position  as  Principal 
of  one  of  the  secondary  schools  to  accompany 
her  brother  (with  whom  she  still  lives)  to 
Litchfield;  she  has  been  a  member  of  the  M. 
E.  Church  since  her  childhood.  Joseph 
Lybrand  Hood,  second  child,  was  born  Au- 
gust 22,  1819.  In  1845,  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Rebecca  Shapley,  who  died  nine  years 
later.  Four  children  were  born  to  them,  of 
whom  one  died  in  infancy  and  two  in  woman- 
hood; those  who  attained  maturity  were  Her- 
bert Shapley  (still  living),  Sarah  Hughes  and 
Edith  Prizer.  In  1856,  he  left  Philadelphia, 
and,  with  B.  S.  Hood,  engaged  in  the  sale  of 
drugs  and  books,  under  the  style  of  Hood  & 
Brother;  the  successors  of  this  firm.  Hood  & 
Son  (Joseph  L.  and  Herbert  S.),  are  still  in 
business.  He  united  with  the  M.  E.  Church 
about  forty  years  ago,  and  has  been  an  active 
worker  in  church  and  Sunday  school  during 
most  of  that  time.  Humphrey  Hughes  Hood, 
the  fourth  child,  was  born  September  19, 
1823.  In  1848,  after  reading  with  a  tutor, 
he  entered  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  graduated  in  the  spring  of 
1851.  In  the  following  autumn,  he  removed 
to  Jersey  County,  111.,  where  he  had  lived  a 
short  time  during  his  boyhood.  After  teach- 
ing a  winter  school  and  having  charge  of  a 
drug  store  in  Jerseyville  for  one  year,  he  re- 
moved to  Hardinsburg,  a  village  then  about 
two  miles  southwest  of  the  present  site  of 
Litchfield,  and  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  Late  in  the  following  autumn, 
Litchfield  was  laid  out,  and,  in  the  summer 
of  1854,  he  removed  his  office  to  the  new 
town.  In  June,  1855,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Matilda  Woodhouse,  eldest  daughter  of 
Charles  S.  Jackson,  of  Jerseyville,  who  died 
January  2,  1867;  by  this  union  he  had  five 

children,    of   whom   three    survive,    namely, 

J 


15C 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


George    Perry,    Sarah    Frances    and  Annie 
Hughes.      In  September,  1862,  he  entered  the 
array,  with  the  appointment  of  Assistant  Sur- 
geon of  the  One  Hundred  and  Seventeenth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,   and,   after  one 
year,  was   appointed    Surgeon   of  the  Third 
United  States  Heavy  Artillery,  with  quarters 
at  Fort  Pickering,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  holding 
that  position  three  years,  during  a  part  of 
which  time  he  was  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  John 
E.  Smith  as  Surgeon-in-Chief  of  the  District 
of  West  Tennessee.     In  July,  1869,  he  was 
married  to  Mrs.  Abigail  Elvira  Paden,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Joseph  Torrey,  of  Springfield, 
111. ;    two   children,    both    living,    were   the 
fruits  of  this  marriage — Harold  Humphrey 
and   Abigail    Louise.     Dr.    Hood    has    been 
three  times  elected  Alderman  of  the  city  of 
Litchfield,  and  once  Supervisor  of  the  town 
of  North  Litchfield;  the  discharge  of  his  offi- 
cial duties  have  invariably  been  with  the  most 
thorough  and  conscientious  exactness,  always 
making  himself  familiar  with  the    business 
before  him  and  the  best  method  of  disposing 
of  it  for  the  public  good,  before  committing 
himself.     The  same  traits,   together  with  a 
warm  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  his  friends, 
have  characterized  his  conduct  in  private  life. 
In  politics,  he  and  his  brothers  were  origin- 
ally Free-Soilers,  and,  since  the  organization 
of  the  Eepublican  party,  close  adherents  of 
the  latter.      Benjamin    Smith    Hood,    eighth 
child,  was  born  October  24,  1832;  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  Philadelphia; 
came  West  in  April,  1852;  taught  school  the 
following  summer  in  Madison  County,  Ind. , 
and    afterward,  till    the   spring  of    1856,  in 
Illinois,  principally  near  Jerseyville,  but,  in 
the   summer  of    1854,   in  the  old    Lutheran 
Church,  which  stood  on  what  is  now  Scherer's 
Addition  to  Litchfield.      In  Ajuril,  1856,  he, 
with  J.  L.  Hood,  engaged  in  the'  drug  busi- 
ness, from  which  he  retired  in  January,  1867. 


Since  that  time,  he  has  been  a  Notary  Public 
and  insurance  agent.  In  April,  1859,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  Tanner,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  S.  Jackson,  of  Jerseyville,  who 
died  December  25,  1866;  three  children  were 
born  to  them,  of  whom  Mary.  Louise  and 
Charles  are  still  living.  In  December,  LS67. 
he  bought  the  offices  of  the  Union  Monitor, 
of  Hillsboro,  and  the  Litchfield  News,  and 
consolidated  the  two  under  the  name  of  the 
Litchfield  Monitor.  He  sold  this  business  in 
January,  187(1,  but  again  bought  it  in  Jan- 
uary, 1878,  and  has  since  conducted  it,  the 
last  year  in  partnership  with  Mr.  John  G. 
Campbell.  He  was  Village  Clerk  in  1857, 
and  at  different  times  has  filled  the  office  of 
City  Clerk  for  nine  and  a  half  years.  In 
1861,  he  served  three  months  as  private  in 
Company  D  of  the  Seventh  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry. 

P.  T.  JAMES,  physician,  was  born  in 
Franklin  County,  Va. ,  January  5,  1828,  and 
passed  his  youth  in  the  village  of  Rocky 
Mount  and  vicinity,  was  educated  at  Emery 
and  Henry  College,  in  Washington  County, 
Va.,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1846,  when 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  reading  a 
preliminary  course  with  Dr.  William  L.  T. 
Hopkins,  of  his  native  place;  entered  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1848,  and  graduated  from  that  insti- 
tution in  March,  1850.  He  began  practice  at 
Elamsville,  Va.,  but  only  remained  a  short 
time,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  county. 
In  1855,  he  went  to  Missouri  and  practiced 
until  the  war  broke  out,  when  he  entered  the 
First  Missouri  Cavalry  Regiment,  under  Col. 
William  Brown,  afterward  becoming  Regi- 
mental Surgeon  of  the  First,  and  then  Acting 
Division  Surgeon  under  Gen.  Sterling  Price, 
serving  until  the  latter  part  of  1863,  when  he 
was  captured  by  Missouri  Federals,  held  two 
months,  and   finally  released  on  bond.     Sec- 


LITCHFIELD. 


151 


tioual  feeling  becoming  so  hitter  at  that  time, 
and  the  Doctor  feeling  that  his  property  was 
in  jeopardy,  he  removed  to  Illinois  in  1864 
and  located  at  Litchfield,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, with  good  success.  In  addition  to  his 
previous  preparation  for  the  intelligent  and 
thorough  understanding  of  his  profession,  the 
Doctor  attended  a  regular  course  of  lectures 
at  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College,  from  which 
he  received  the  degree  of  M.  D. ;  he  also  re- 
ceived the  degree  ad  eundem  from  the  Mis- 
souri Medical  College.  In  December,  1850, 
he  married  Miss  Emily  R.  Woods,  of  Frank- 
lin County,  Va..  a  relative  of  Gen.  Jubal 
Early.  His  paternal  ancestor  was  Welsh, 
and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Elizabeth  Thompson,  was  of  English  parent- 
age, both  of  whose  families  settled  in  the  Old 
Dominion  before  the  Revolution,  the  Jameses 
being  amongst  the  first  colonists  at  James- 
town ;  he  has  seven  children  living.  The 
Doctor  received  the  nomination  for  Coroner 
i  if  Montgomery  County  at  the  hands  of  the 
Democratic  convention  in  June.  1882. 

GEORGE  W.  JONES,  City  Clerk  and  at- 
torney at  law,  Litchfield,  was  born  on  April 
14.  1846,  in  Macoupin  County.  111.,  near 
Bunker  Hill;  he  is  the  son  of  Simeon  and 
Dorothea  (Starkey)  Jones,  who  were  natives 
of  Madison  County.  111.,  both  being  born 
near  Bethalto.  His  father  was  born  in  1811, 
and  was  raised  to  the  occupation  of  farming. 
The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  Rev. 
William  Jones,  one  of  the  first  Baptist 
preachers  in  the  State;  he  was  sometimes 
called  the  "fighting  preacher. "  Simeon 
Jones  came  to  Bunker  Hill  in  1828,  having 
just  married  and  settled  on  a  farm  one  mile 
west  of  that  place,  and  resided  there  until 
his  death,  in  1852.  By  his  efforts  he  ac- 
quired a  handsome  property.  He  was  a  prom- 
inent man  in  his  county,  and  was  Treasurer 


of  his  township.  In  religious  matters,  he 
entertained  the  Baptist  doctrine.  He  was  the 
father  of  niue  children,  six  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity,  and  are  still  living.  Our  subject 
was  raised  on  the  farm,  and  educated  in  the 
common  schools  and  in  Bunker  Hill  Acad- 
emy. He  began  reading  law  with  Woodson 
.v  Walker,  of  Carlinville,  111.,  in  the  spring 
of  1866.  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Sep- 
tember. 1867.  He  began  the  practice  of  his 
chosen  profession  as  the  law  partner  of 
George  P.  Fowler,  in  Litchfield,  in  the  spring 
of  1868;  the  partnership  was  dissolved  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year,  and  he  has  practiced  in 
this  city  ever  since.  He  was  elected  City  At- 
torney in  1869.  and  served  one  year;  he  was 
first  elected  City  Clerk  in  1878,  and  is  now 
serving  his  fifth  term;  in  the  spring  of  1882. 
he  was  elected  City  Attorney,  and  is  also 
serving  in  that  capacity.  He  is  Director  of 
the  Public  Library,  anil  Secretary  of  its  board. 
On  October  26,  1870,  he  married  Miss  Eu- 
genia A.,  youngest  daughter  of  J.  V.  Hopper, 
of  Bunker  Hill. 

WILLIAM  A.  LEACH,  grocer,  Litchfield, 
was  born  October  11,  1833,  in  Philadelphia, 
Penn.,  and,  at  the  age  of  one  year,  was  taken 
to  Salem.  N.  J.,  thence,  two  years  later,  to 
Wilmington,  Del.,  where  he  grew  up,  and,  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  apprenticed  himself  to  the 
molder's  trade,  serving  his  time  under  Bush 
&  Lobdell,  in  their  foundry,  working  also 
two  years  as  journeyman.  He  went  to  At- 
lanta, Ga..  in  1859,  and  worked  four  years  in 
;i  f i  mndry  there,  and  at  Macon,  Ga.,  was  fore- 
man for  one  year  in  the  Macon  &  Western 
Railroad  shops.  In  December.  1864,  he 
came  to  Litchfield,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
He  worked  as  molder  here  in  the  railroad 
shops  ten  years  for  Mr.  H.  H.  Beach.  In 
about  1875,  he  bought  a  farm  in  South  Liieli 
ti  Id  Township  of  206  acres,  and  conducted  it 
five  years  with  good  success;  ho  still  owns  it. 


152 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


In  January,  1880,  he  engaged  in  the  grocery 
trade  with  Mr.  Thorpe,  and  since  has  con- 
ducted a  prosperous  business  under  the  firm 
name  of  Thorpe  &  Leach,  on  Jackson  street. 
In  1862,  he  was  married  to  a  widow  lady, 
Mrs.  Jones,  nee  Miss  Temperance  Fowler,  at 
Atlanta.  Ga. 

BENNETT  P.  LEWRIGHT  was  born  near 
Winchester,  Frederick  Co.,  Va.,May4,  1813, 
son  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Price)  Lew- 
right;  Robert  was  at  one  time  wealthy,  but 
became  involved  through  security  debts. 
Bennett  P.  received  a  good  English  education 
at  Upperville,  Va. ;  went  to  Ohio  when  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  and  taught  school  there  three 
years;  went  to  Missouri  about  the  year  1837, 
and  taught  school  three  years  in  Franklin 
County,  that  State,  where  he  afterward  farmed 
till  1856,  then  moved  to  Miller  County,  Mo., 
where  he  remained  nine  years  engaged  in 
farming.  In  1865,  he  came  to  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  having  exchanged  555  acres  of 
land  in  Missouri  with  Mr.  Bowen  for  172 
acres  near  Litchfield;  here  he  lived  about  two 
years,  then  moved  to  his  present  place,  con- 
sisting of  ninety-six  acres,  to  the  cultivation  of 
which  he  devotes  his  time.  In  Ohio,  in  1838, 
he  married  Narcissa  Soofboiu'ow,  a  native  of 
Fayette  County,  Ohio,  who  has  borne  him 
twelve  children,  viz.:  Edmund  M.,  Maria 
S.,  Alphonso  J.,  Robert  W.  (deceased),  Mar- 
ium  F.,  Corinne  P.,  Robert.  William  L., 
Harley  B. ,  Jennie  R.  (deceased),  Frances  E. 
(deceased)  and  James  S.  Mr.  Lewright  is  a 
stanch  Democrat;  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  United  Baptist  Church  forty  years. 

EGBERT  S.  LITCHFIELD,  real  estate. 
New  York  City,  was  born  in  Onondaga  County, 
N.  Y.,  in  1836,  and,  when  a  mere  child,  was 
removed  to  Cazenovia,  where  he  was  educated 
in  a  seminary.  He  came  to  Litchfield  in  the 
fall  of  1855,  with  his  brother,  E.  E.  Litch- 
field, and  they  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 


ness, opening  a  general  store  on  the  site  of 
D.  Davis  &  Co.'s  present  grocery  building, 
continuing  four  years,  when  our  subject  went 
out  of  the  business  and  returned  to  his  home 
in  New  York.  In  1860,  he  returned  to  Litch- 
field and  remained  a  year,  when  he  went  to 
East  Saginaw,  Mich.,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  salt  for  a  period  of  four 
years;  retaining  an  interest  in  real  estate,  he 
has  frequently  visited  the  place  since.  He 
lived  five  years  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  when  he 
went  to  New  York,  where  he  engaged  in  the 
real  estate  business. 

JOHN  LANGE,  Superintendent  Car  and 
Machine  Company,  Litchfield,  was  born  in 
Oldenburg  six  miles  from  Bremen,  Germany, 
in  August,  1832.  In  his  fifteenth  year,  he 
left  school  and  became  a  seaman  on  a  mer- 
chant vessel;  he  shipped  as  boy,  and,  after 
sailing  four  years,  became  ship  carpenter, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  four  years;  he 
was  on  the  sea  from  1845  to  1853,  and  sailed 
on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  Mediter- 
ranean, North  and  Baltic  Seas  in  his  travels; 
he  rounded  Cape  Horn  and  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  visited  Australia,  the  Indies  and  South 
America;  he  made  several  trips  between  Eu- 
rope and  the  United  States.  Leaving  the 
sea,  he  came,  via  New  Orleans,  La. ,  to  Alton, 
111.,  in  the  fall  of  1853,  and  there  became 
car-builder  for  the  Terre  Haute  &  Alton  Rail- 
road; he  remained  at  Alton  until  the  shops 
were  moved  to  Litchfield,  in  1858,  when  he 
came  also,  and  worked  in  the  car  department, 
where  he  rose  to  the  position  of  Master  Car- 
Builder;  when  the  shops  were  removed  to 
Mattoon,  Mr.  Lange  went  there  for  six  months 
to  aid  in  starting  them  in  oj^eration.  He  be- 
came a  charter  member,  and  also  a  Director, 
of  the  Litchfield  Car  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany ;  at  the  opening  of  that  company' s  shops, 
he  became  Superintendent  of  refitting  shops 
for  manufacturing  purposes,  and  was  the  first 


LITCHFIELD. 


153 


Superintendent  of  the  shops,  which  position 
he  virtually  has  held  ever  since,  at  various 
times  having  been  elected  to  other  offices  in 
the  company.  At  the  re-organization  of  the 
Litchfield  Car  and  Machine  Company,  he  be- 
came a  stockholder  and  Director;  he  has  been 
Superintendent  and  Vice  President  of  the 
present  company.  Since  1S58,  he  has  been 
in  the  shojss  continually,  except  the  six 
months  at  Mattoon  In  Alton,  111. ,  on  De- 
cember 18,  1853,  he  married  Miss  Fanny 
Bohnens.  a  native  of  Hanover,  Germany. 
His  father's  name  was  Charles  Lange,  a  car- 
penter. 

GEOEGE  B.  LITCHFIELD,  restaurant, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  in 
1842,  and  came  West  in  1856,  with  his  par- 
ents, locating  in  Litchfield.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen,  he  began  his  apprenticeship  in  the 
office  of  H.  A.  Coolidge,  publisher  of  the 
Litchfield  Journal.  In  1863,  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  E.  J.  C.  Alexander  and  ran 
a  job  office  here  for  a  year,  when  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  B.  S.  Hood  and  published 
the  Litchfield  Monitor  for  a  period  of  two 
years;  then,  selling  his  interest  in  that  pa- 
per, he  bought  a  job  office,  and,  during  that 
year,  printed  a  paper  for  the  Fithian  Broth- 
ers of  Carlinville.  He  next  sold  the  job 
office  to  Kimball  &  Taylor,  who  established 
the  Independent,  and  he  then  became  mana- 
ger of  its  office,  continuing  about  one  year, 
when  he  started  the  Montgomery  Democrat, 
which  afterward  became  the  Litchfield  Demo- 
crat. For  the  first  year,  he  took  in  R.  S. 
Young  as  editor,  after  which  he  conducted  it 
in  his  own  name  until  September,  1881,  when 
he  sold  it  to  Mr.  Charles  T.  Tobin,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  restaurant  business  on  State 
street.  His  father.  Elisha  W.  Li'chfield,  was 
born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  in  1819,  and  moved 
to  Syracuse.  N.  Y.,  at  which  place,  in  1839, 
he  married  Mary  E.  Johnson.     At  that  place 


he  was  a  large  wholesale  grocer  and  last 
manufacturer.  After  coming  to  Litchfield, 
he  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade,  and  subse- 
quently in  the  grocery  business,  at  which  he 
continued  until  his  death,  on  April  28,  1862; 
his  wife  and  son  died  in  the  same  year.  He 
was  the  second  Mayor  of  the  town,  and  held 
that  office  two  years. 

ELI  LEE,  grocer,  Litchfield,  was  born  in 
Greene  County,  111.,  where  he  lived  until  De- 
cember, 1829.  He  entered  a  grocery  in  Car- 
rollton,  where  he  conducted  business  until  he 
came  to  Litchfield,  in  1863,  and  opened  a 
grocery  and  provision  store  on  the  site  he  now 
occupies,  at  No.  67  State  street,  where  he  has 
carried  on  that  business  ever  since,  except  a 
period  of  about  three  years,  during  which  he 
was  engaged  in  the  agricultural  implement 
business.  Mr.  Lee  has  taken  an  active  inter- 
est in  public  affairs  of  the  city  and  county, 
and  has  served  several  terms  in  the  City 
Council;  he  is  now  a  member  of  the  Town- 
ship Democratic  Committee.  In  1859,  he 
married  a  daughter  of  Capt.  E.  M.  Gilmore. 
The  father  of  our  subject  is  Archibald  Lee, 
who  was  born  in  Huntsville,  Ala.,  in  1804, 
and  came  to  this  State  in  1814,  with  his  par- 
ents, who  settled  in  White  County  and  lived 
there  until  1832,  when  he  removed  to  Greene 
County,  where  he  has  since  resided;  he  now 
lives  in  Greenfield,  Greene  County,  in  his 
seventy-seventh  year.  He  served  in  both 
campaigns  of  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Jane  Upton,  of  AVhite  County,  in 
1822,  and  raised  a  family  of  fourteen  chil- 
dren, twelve  of  whom  are  living. 

GEORGE  A.  MATTHEWS,  merchant  and 
contractor,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Caroline 
County.  Mil.,  in  183(1,  and,  when  four  years 
old,  left  his  native  State.  He  was  raised  in 
Muskingum  County.  Ohio.  and.  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  began  to  learn  the  brick-mason's 
trade,  and  also  brick-making;  he  served  three 


154 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


years'  apprenticeship  in  Zanesville,  Ohio. 
In  1857,  he  came  to  Illinois  to  build  the  rail- 
road shops  at  Litchfield,  and  acted  as  fore- 
man of  the  men  on  brick  and  stone  work  dur- 
ing 1857  and  1858;  he  was  foreman  when  the 
shops  were  remodeled  for  the  Litchfield  Car 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  also  rebuilt 
them  after  the  fire  of  187-!;  he  was  a  con- 
tractor and  builder  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  W.  T.  Matthews,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Matthews  &  Bro.,  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  after  which  the  firm  name  was  Matthews 
&  Chamberlain,  his  business  career  in  this 
direction  extending  over  a  period  of  twenty- 
five  years,  during  which  time  they  put  up  the 
major  portion  of  the  brick  structures  of  the 
city.  In  1865,  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  Kessinger,  the  firm  name  being  Kes- 
singer,  Matthews  &  Co.,  and  engaged  in  the 
grain  and  merchandising  business,  continuing 
about  three  years,  when  Mr.  Matthews  sold 
his  interest  to  Kessinger  &  Baker.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  brick-yard  and  brick-laying,  he 
afterward  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
candies  and  in  the  bakery  business  for  two 
years,  when  he  again  devoted  his  entire  time 
and  attention  to  brick  work.  In  October, 
1877,  he  bought  out  the  store  of  L.  Cramp, 
and  continued  business  in  the  frame  building 
on  the  corner  of  State  and  Madison  streets, 
which  he  replaced  with  a  handsome  two-story 
brick  building  in  1881,  in  October  of  which 
year  he  sold  his  old  stock.  In  January,  1882, 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Theodore  Hart, 
under  the  firm  name  of  G.  A.  Matthews  &  Co., 
and  opened  a  new  stock  of  groceries  in  his 
new  building  on  the  old  site,  where  they  are 
conducting  a  good  and  lucrative  business. 
He  has  built  ten  dwelling  houses  for  himself, 
and  two  storerooms,  and  has  given  employ- 
ment to  from  eight  to  twenty  men  for  a  large 
portion  of  each  year.  Mr.  Matthews  is  a 
stanch  Republican.      In    18(36,  he  was  mar- 


ried to  Miss  Temperance  Jones,  of  Litchfield. 
In  1859,  he  married  Miss  Hattie  Carlo,  of 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  and  removed  to  Wyandotte, 
Kan.,  where  he  lived  three  months,  when  his 
wife  and  child  died,  in  September,  1860. 
His  present  wife,  n(5e  Miss  Jones,  has  one 
daughter,  Jessie,  born  on  May  30,  1879. 
The  father  of  our  subject  was  a  ship  carpen- 
ter, and  his  wife,  Mr.  Matthews'  mother,  was 
of  Quaker  parentage — was  Sarah  Vain;  she 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  Their  chil- 
dren, with  the  exception  of  our  subject  and 
another  son,  are  residents  of  Ohio. 

JACOB  MOCK  was  born  in  Alsace,  France, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Strasbourg,  in  1826, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  par- 
ents when  two  years  old.  They  settled  in 
Montgomery  County,  Penn.,  where  our  subject 
spent  his  youth,  and,  at  seventeen,  went  to 
learn  the  carpenter's  trade,  serving  two  years 
and  three  months,  after  which  he  worked  as 
a  journeyman;  also  worked  one  year  under 
instructions  in  Philadelphia.  He  then  went 
to  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis, 
then  to  Madison  County,  111.,  where  he  and 
his  brother  worked,  taking  wild  land  in  pay- 
ment, thus  becoming  owners  of  140  acres  of 
land;  he  worked  at  his  trade  for  some  years, 
and,  in  the  meantime,  improved  his  land.  In 
186>5,  he  sold  his  farm  and  came  to  Litch- 
field, and  has  worked  at  car-building  ever 
since,  with  the  exception  of  six  years  at  mill- 
wrighting.  February  17,  1853,  he  married 
Miss  Lucinda  Wetmore,  daughter  of  Reuben 
and  Martha  (Olmstead)  "Wetmore,  of  Madison 
County.  They  have  had  the  following  chil- 
dren: Charles  J.,  George  W.,  Martha  An- 
netta,  Jessie  Bell  and  Orris  O;  those  living 
are  Edward  M.,  William  F.  and  Mabel  M. 
Mr.  Mock  was  originally  a  Whig,  but  is  now 
a  Republican;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Free 
Methodist  Church.  The  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, John  Mock,  was  a  cooper.     His  mother 


LITCHFIELD. 


155 


died  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  and  he 
was  raised  by  a  Dunkard  named  John  Crater, 
of  Pennsylvania. 

JOHN  H.  McMANUS,  photographer,  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  near 
Palmyra,  December  2, 1843;  son  of  Gr.  F.  and 
Emeline  McManus,  he,  a  native  of  Tennessee 
and  she  of  Kentucky.  In  addition  to  the  or- 
dinary common-school  education,  young  Mc- 
Manus attended  the  high  school  at  CarJin- 
ville.  111.  He  removed  with  his  father  to 
Athens,  Henderson  Co.,  Tenn. ,  in  1855,  where 
he  lived  three  years,  dividing  his  time  be- 
tween  going  to  school  and  assisting  his  father 
in  his  cabinet-shop.  His  father  removed  to 
Texas  in  1858,  and  our  subject  worked  with 
him  till  the  latter  part  of  I860,  when  he 
erected  a  large  mill,  in  which  he  was  engaged 
till  January  8,  1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  a 
company  which  ultimately  became  a  part  of 
the  Twenty-second  Texas  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  attached  to  the  Trans-Mississippi  De- 
partment of  the  Arniy  of  the  Confederate 
States;  in  June,  1862,  he  became  snare  drum- 
mer, and  remained  till  July,  when  he  was 
transferred  to  a  brass  band,  J.  B.  Norman, 
leader,  and  remained  in  it  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  in  1864-65,  playing  the  leading  in- 
strument. In  May,  1865,  the  army  disband- 
ing, Mr.  McManus  returned  to  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Texas,  where  he  attended  a  select  school  for 
some  time,  after  which  he  accompanied  his 
father  to  Dallas,  where  they  took  charge  of 
the  Osceola  Flouring-Mills,  where  the  son 
worked  as  engineer.  In  1866,  he  came  to 
Macoupin  County  and  obtained  the  position 
of  engineer  at  the  woolen  factory,  which  he 
shortly  gave  up,  and  worked  at  carpentering 
till  the  fall;  the  following  winter  he  spent  as 
;.  -rid,  Mt  in  a  private  school,  taught  by  Mr. 
Coolidge,  and,  June  7,  1867,  he  entered  the 
I  >h<  >(  ograph  gallery  of  D.  C.  Bacon,  spending 
three    months  under    instructions;    then    to 


Macoupin  County,  farming,  going  to  school 
in  the  winter;  continued  farming  in  1868, 
and  worked  at  building  with  his  father. 
During  a  portion  of  1870,  he  assisted  Mr. 
Bacon  in  his  gallery.  In  January,  1871,  he 
bought  his  present  gallery,  in  Litchfield, 
which  he  has  since  conducted  with  marked 
sitccess,  and  turning  out  work  equal  in  chem- 
ical effect  and  artistic  execution  to  the  best 
work  done  in  the  cities.  Mr.  McManus,  hav- 
ing made  a  study  of  his  present  profession,  is 
able  to  cope  with  the  best  artists  anywhere, 
as  he  thoroughly  understands  the  chemistry 
of  photography,  as  well  as  that  very  impor- 
tant accompaniment  of  good  portraiture — ar- 
tistic effect. 

THOMAS  McWILLIAMS,  deceased,  son 
of  Alexander  and  Nancy  (Kirkpatrick)  Mc- 
Williams,  was  born  in  Hillsboro  Township, 
Montgomery  County,  in  July,  1822.  He  re- 
ceived an  ordinary  education,  and  learned 
the  wagon-maker's  trade.  Ho  served  in  the 
Mexican  war  under  Capt.  McAdams,  and  for 
his  services  received  a  land  warrant  of  160 
acres,  in  addition  to  which  he  entere  ,  in 
1848,  the  land  on  which  his  widow  now  re- 
sides. He  married,  in  1850,  Susan  Jane 
Barry,  daughter  of  John  Barry,  and  from  this 
union  eight  children  were  born,  of  whom  two 
sons  and  four  daughters  are  living.  The 
names  of  the  eight  children  are  as  follows: 
Sarah  E.  (died  at  two  years  of  age),  John 
Newton,  Nancy  P.,  Amanda  J.,  Mary  Alice 
A.,  William  Henry  (died  at  eighteen  years  of 
age),  Franklin  W.  and  Minnie.  Previous  to 
his  marriage,  he  had  erected  a  log  cabin  on 
his  land,  had  broken  a  few  acres  and  fenced 
a  small  tract;  he  afterward  built  a  shop  near 
his  residence,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade, 
principally  on  repairing;  he  also  worked  at 
the  carpenter's  trade,  and  assisted  in  the 
erection  of  his  own  residence  and  outbuild- 
ings; he,  however,  devoted  his   time  chiefly 


156 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


to  farming,  and  owned  at  his  death  452  acres 
of  land,  which  he  had  accumulated  chiefly 
by  his  own  labor,  although  his  health  was 
broken  down  by  his  army  services;  the  home- 
stead farm  of  280  acres  he  kept  in  a  good  state 
of  cultivation.  He  was  a  supporter  of  the 
Democratic  party. 

JAMES  N.  McELVAIN  was  born  in  Simp- 
son County,  Ky.,  five  miles  from  the  Tennes- 
see line,  May  17,  1818,  son  of  William  and 
Jane  (Neely)  McElvain.      William,  the  father 
of  our  subject,  born  in  Cumberland  County, 
Penn.,    in  October,    1783,   went  to   Virginia 
when  seven  years  of  age,  thence  to  Kentucky 
when  twenty-two,   and   to  Illinois  in   1850; 
lived  in  Sangamon  County  for  some  years, 
and  died   in   Macoupin  County  January   12, 
1864;  his  wife,  a  native  of  Orange  County, 
N.  Y.,  died  February  1,  1849;  they  were  the 
parents  of  fifteen  children — ten  sons  and  five 
daughters,  subject  being  the  fifth  child;  of 
this  family,  six  sons  and  one  daughter  are 
living.     James  N.  received  his  education  in 
the   subscription    schools  of   Kentucky,  and 
began  farming  in  his  native  county.     In  1841, 
he  married  A.  A.  Hamilton,  of  Scott  County, 
Mo.,  who  has  borne  him  six  children,  of  whom 
four  are   living,  viz.:     Andrew  J.,  William 
H.,  James  N.  and  Mary  A.     In  the  fall  of 
1847,  he  moved  from  Kentucky  with  his  fam- 
ily and  settled  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
on  160  acres  of  land  which  he  purchased  of 
Benjamin  Hathaway,  who  had  entered  it  some 
years  previous,  and  had  broken  about  twenty 
acres.      Mr.  McElvain   has  since  resided  on 
the  place,  of  which  120  acres  are  under  cul- 
tivation, the  remaining  forty  acres  being  tim- 
ber land;  he  also  owns  various  tracts  of  land 
elsewhere.      He  has  given  particular  attention 
to  stock-raising,  for  which  his  farm  is  well 
adapted,  and  raises  cattle  of   a  good  grade; 
before    the    late  war,  he   raised   horses    and 
mules.     In  the  fall  of  1870,  he  was  elected  to 


the  State  Legislature  from  Montgomery 
County,  and  served  during  the  sessions  of 
1871-72;  he  acted  on  the  Committees  on 
Banks  and  Corporations;  was  elected  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  1852,  in  which  office  he 
served  four  years.  He  was  a  Whig  until 
1852,  and  has  since  been  an  adherent  of  the 
Democratic  party. 

SYLVESTER  MURPHY  was  born  in  Ma 
coupin  County,   111.,  June  10,    1845;    is  the 
only  living  child  of  Hiram  and  Sarah  (Huff) 
Murphy.     Hiram  Murphy,  born  in  Clermont 
County,  Ohio,  December  8,  1816,  came  West 
with   his  parents  in   1828   and   settled  near 
Carrollton,  in  Greene  County,  111.,  where  he 
lived  four  years,   then  moved   to  Macoupin 
County,  111.,  with  his  parents,  where  he  has 
lived  for  half   a  century;  he  has  been  a  suc- 
cessful farmer:    beginning  with  nothing,  he 
now  owns  600  acres  of  improved  land.     His 
wife,  whom  he  married  about   1843,  was  of 
German  descent.      Sylvester  received  his  pri- 
mary education  in  the  district  schools  of  Ma- 
coupin County,  and  finished  at  the  high  school 
in   Carlinville.      He    came    to    Montgomery 
County  about  the  year  1868;    lived  on  the 
farm  there  two  years,  then  moved  to  the  city 
of  Litchfield,  and  carried  on  farming  in  North 
Litchfield  Township,  raising  good  crops  of 
corn  and  wheat;  he  served  as  Town  Clerk  of 
South  Litchfield  in  1880.     The  great-grand- 
father of  our  subject  was  a  native  of  Ireland; 
his  wife  was  a  native  of  Germany,   named 
Hess,  and  bore  him  seven  sons;  he  started  to 
return    to   the   old    country,  but   was    never 
afterward  heard  of,  and  is  supposed  to  have 
been   lost  at  sea.      John    Murphy,   subject's 
grandfather,  was  born  in  Jefferson   County, 
Ky.,  January  26,  1791;  he  served  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  afterward  located  in  Ohio;  he 
engaged  in  flat-boating  to  New  Orleans  on 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi   Rivers;  was  mar- 
ried three  times,  and  had  eleven  children  by 


LITCHFIELD. 


157 


the  first  two  marriages;  he  was  the  youngest 
of  seven  son3,  all  of  whom  were  in  the  war  of 
1812,  after  which  they  became  scattered. 

ALEXANDER  Mc WILLIAMS,  deceased, 
was  born  in  Virginia,  and  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Madison  County,  Ky.,  when  seven 
years  of  age,  where  he  afterward  married 
Nancy  Kirkpatrick,  who  bore  him  thirteen 
children — six  sons  and  seven  daughters;  of 
this  family,  three  were  born  in  Kentucky; 
three  are  now  living,  viz. :  Lewis,  Mrs.  Van- 
daver  and  Mrs.  Gardner.  About  the  year 
1816,  he  caine  to  Montgomery  County  and 
settled  on  a  quarter-section  (160  acres)  of 
land  where  William  Atterbury  now  lives,  near 
the  Truitt  Bridge;  at  that  time,  there  were 
but  live  families  in  Montgomery  Cottnty,  the 
nearest  mill  being  that  of  Edwardsville.  He 
built  a  log  cabin  on  his  place  and  began 
farming,  in  which  occupation  he  met  with 
success,  having  at  his  death  about  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land.  He  was  a  Democrat,  and 
though  not  a  member  of  any  church,  favored 
the  belief  of  the  Old-School  Baptists.  Lewis 
McWilliams,  the  son  of  our  subject,  was  born 
on  the  farm  now  occupied  by  William  Atter- 
bury, in  Montgomery  County,  April  12,  1820, 
and  attended  school  at  Clear  Springs  Church, 
two  miles  from  his  home,  during  the  winter 
season,  till  he  was  a  large  boy.  In  1842,  his 
father  entered  for  him  eighty  acres  of  land, 
on  which  he  made,  hauled  and  put  up  7,000 
rails  during  the  winter  of  1842—43.  In 
March,  1843,  he  married  Martha  Jones, 
daughter  of  David  Jones,  of  Montgomery 
County,  and  from  this  union  five  children 
were  born — four  sons  and  one  daughter — of 
whom  two  are  deceased.  After  his  marriage, 
he  settled  on  the  eighty  acres  which  had  been 
entered  for  him,  on  which  he  now  resides, 
and  which  he  has  since  increased  to  4<  )0  acres, 
which  is  chiefly  under  cultivation;  he  has 
handled    and    fed    stock   quite   extensively. 


His  grandfather,  Hugh  Kirkpatrick,  in  the 
early  days  of  the  county,  built  a  horse  mill 
near  where  Woodbury  now  stands. 

JACOB  T.  MILES,  deceased,  was  born 
near  Brighton,  Macoupin  Co.,  111.,  May  21, 
1833.  His  paternal  ancestors  were  from  the 
Carolinas,  emigrating  thence  to  Logan 
County,  Ky.,  early  in  the  present  century. 
Mr.  Miles'  father  entertained  strong  anti- 
slavery  convictions,  which,  in  1833,  induced 
him  to  seek  a  home  in  a  free  State,  settling 
near  Brighton.  He  was  a  farmer  and  mer- 
chant until  the  last  fifteen  year's  of  his  life, 
during  which  he  was  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Protestant  Methodist  Church.  He  died  in 
1865,  the  father  of  twelve  children,  of  whom 
Jacob  was  the  first  born  in  Illinois,  and  the 
tenth  son.  One  brother  and  one  sister  sur- 
vive. The  latter  is  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  John 
Friend,  a  Christian  preacher,  lately  of  this 
city,  but  now  of  Iowa.  Col.  Jonathan  R. 
Miles,  of  Miles'  Station,  Macoupin  County, 
and  George  W.  and  F.  M.  Miles,  formerly  of 
this  city,  and  Samuel  Stratton.  were  cousins 
of  the  deceased,  and  Mr.  John  R.  Simmons, 
formerly  a  farmer  of  South  Litchfield,  now 
near  Brighton,  was  his  nephew.  The  family 
removed  to  Missouri  in  1 839,  and  returned  in 
1844,  living  in  Madison  and  Macoupin  Coun- 
ties. At  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  Jacob  be- 
gan to  learn  the  trade  of  carpenter  in  Alton, 
and  worked  thereat  in  that  and  various  neigh- 
boring towns  till  the  spring  of  1856,  when 
he  removed  to  Litchfield.  Here  he  carried  on 
the  business  of  a  carpenter  and  builder  until 
1873.  During  part  of  this  time,  he  was  in 
partnership,  first,  with  Lewis  Whitaker;  some 
years  afterward,  with  John  D.  Carson;  and 
still  later,  with  R.  A.  George.  In  1873,  he 
was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  since 
then  has  united  the  duties  of  that  office  with 
the  business  of  insurance  and  real  estate.  In 
1859,  he  was  elected  Alderman  of  the  Third 


158 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Ward  of  this  city,  and  tilled  that  position  two 
years.  In  April,  1861,  he  enlisted,  as  a  pri- 
vate, in  Company  D,  Seventh  Illinois  In- 
fantry, and  served  three  months.  Mr.  Miles 
was  three  times  married,  having  become  twice 
a  widower.  The  ladies  were  the  Misses  Eliz- 
abeth. Susan  and  Lou  Linder,  sisters  of  the 
late  Mr.  Eininett  Linder,  well  known  in  this 
city.  His  first  marriage  took  place  in  1858. 
He  died  at  his  home,  in  Litchfield,  111.,  about 
5  o'clock  P.  M.,  on  Saturday,  April  29,  1882, 
in  the  forty  ninth  year  of  his  age.  His  de- 
mise was  sudden  and  unexpected,  and  the 
news  of  it  tilled  the  townspeople  with  grief, 
for  he  had  been  esteemed  by  all.  He  leaves 
a  family  well  provided  for,  consisting  of  his 
wife  and  seven  children— two  grown  daugh- 
ters and  live  sons — Stella  F.,  Alice  M.,  Will- 
iam T.,  James  L.,  Benjamin  L.,  Arthur  M., 
and  Perley,  the  youngest,  being  four  years 
old.  He  is  greatly  missed  in  the  community, 
and  his  departure  leaves  a  place  vacant  none 
other  can  till. 

MARK  M.  MARTIN,  Vice  President  of  the 
Litchfield  Car  and  Machine  Company,  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Onondaga  County,  N.  Y., 
on  May  31,  1831.  -He  learned  the  trade  of 
car-building  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y,  beginning  at 
the  age  of  eighteen;  he  plied  his  trade  there 
and  at  Adrian,  Mich.,  being  foreman  of  the 
Michigan  Southern  shops  from  1853  to  1858, 
in  September  of  which  year  he  came  to  Litch- 
field, 111.,  and  entered  into  the  employ  of  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company 
I  then  the  Terre  Haute,  Alton  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad).  He  superintended  the  erection  of 
its  shops  here,  and  at  their  completion  became 
master  car-builder,  continuing  to  hold  that 
position  until  1864,  when  he  removed  and  be- 
came master  car  builder  for  the  Ohio  &  Mis- 
sissippi Railroad  Company,  having  charge  of 
their  shops  from  1864  to  1872.  He  then  was 
Superintendent  of  the  Cincinnati  Division  of 


the  Cincinnati.  Hamilton  &  Dayton  Railroad, 
and  in  1873  returned  to  this  place,  where,  the 
railroad  shops  being  removed,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Litchfield  Car  and  Machine 
Company,  who  leased  the  present  building. 
He  was  at  that  time  elected  Superintendent, 
and  has  held  an  office  in  the  new  company  ever 
since,  except  for  a  period  of  three  years,  dur- 
ing which  he  was  master  car-builder  of  the 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis  &  New  Orleans  Rail- 
road, being  located  at  McComb  City,  Miss. 
On  his  return,  he  was  Superintendent  of  the 
works  two  years,  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  Vice  President,  which  he  creditably 
fills. 

JULIUS  C.  MACHLER,  of  German  par- 
entage, was  born  in  April,  1844,  in  New 
York  City,  and  educated  in  its  public  schools. 
In  the  fall  of  1862,  filled  with  the  adventur- 
ous enthusiasm  of  youth,  he  enlisted  as  drum- 
mer boy  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Third  Reg- 
iment New  York  Volunteer  Infantry.  The 
regiment  joined  the  army  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
and  served  in  Burnside's  expedition  to  open 
the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  sta- 
tioned at  Newbern.  Here  young  Machler  was 
detailed  as  Orderly  or  Interpreter  to  the  Gen- 
eral Director  or  Medical  Officer  of  the  Vol- 
unteer Hospital,  and  remained  nearly  two 
years.  Under  this  officer  he  saw  service  at 
the  battles  of  Goldsboro  and  Kingston,  and 
was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Joe  Johnston. 
Mustered  out  in  April,  18(55,  he  returned 
home,  and  for  six  years  was  in  a  shop  for  the 
manufacture  of  ladies'  hats.  In  1871,  he 
came  to  Litchfield,  where  he  has  since  been 
interested  in  business.  Politically,  a  Demo- 
crat; he  is  now  serving  his  third  term  in  the 
City  Council,  and  is  deemed  a  careful, 
painstaking  and  industrious  officer.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1875.  Miss  Mary  McGinnnis,  and 
has  four  children. 

MICHAEL  MORRISON,  dealer  in  wines, 


LITCHFIELD. 


159 


liquors  and  tobacco,  Litchfield,  was  born  in 
•County  Mayo,  Ireland,  on  November  2,  1850, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  iu  1851,  with 
his  parents,  who  settled  in  New  York  State, 
at  Dundee,  moving  thence  in  a  short  time  to 
Illinois,  where  they  settled  on  Rock  River, 
near  Elgin,  where  our  subject  lived  until  he 
was  five  or  six  years  old.  The  family  then 
moved  to  Beaver  Dam,  Wis.,  where  they  lived 
two  years  on  a  farm.  Next  they  lived  in  La 
Crescent.  Minn.,  for  about  one  year,  and  then 
moved  to  Freeborn  County,  same  State;  that 
county  was  then  but  sparsely  settled,  and 
they  remained  about  two  years,  when  the 
mother  died,  and,  in  consequence  of  that  sad 
event,  the  family  broke  up,  and  our  subject 
first  found  employment  as  water-carrier  on 
the  railroad,  going  to  school  at  Rochester, 
Minn.,  during  the  winters,  until  1864—65, 
when  he  took  a  commercial  course  with  Hurd 
&  Belknap,  following  them  from  Rochester 
to  Winona,  Minn.,  and  completing  his 
course  in  the  spring  of  1866;  he  found  em- 
ployment as  clerk  in  a  furniture  store  at  Roch- 
ester. Minn.,  for  one  summer,  and  the  fol- 
lowing winter  he  pursued  his  studies  in  a 
private  school  there.  In  June,  1867,  he  was 
employed  by  O'Rourke  &  Woods  in  their 
grocery  and  liquor  store,  continuing  until 
December,  when  he  removed  to  Austin.  Minn., 
where  he  clerked  in  a  dry  goods  house  until 
the  fall  of  1868,  when  he  returned  to  the  old 
tirm,  which  had  changed  from  the  grocery 
to  the  dry  goods  business,  and  stayed  with 
them  until  February,  1861*,  when  he  went  to 
Dodge  Center  and  worked  in  W.  A.  Higgins' 
general  store  until  July,  same  year,  and  then 
returned  to  Rochester  and  worked  in  the  sa- 
loon business  for  John  Chute,  having1  charge 
of  a  branch  house  at  Eyota,  Minn.,  one  year. 
On  September  8,  1870,  he  began  work  for 
Charles  Ballweg,  at  Rochester.  Minn.,  from 
which  place  they  removed  .to  New  Ulm.  Minn., 


'in  1872,  and  remained  until  May.  1873,  when 
they  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  subject  remain- 
ing with  him  here  until  September,  1881,  ex- 
cept six  months  (from  March  to  September, 
1878),  when  he  acted  as  Deputy  County 
Treasurer  in  Hillsboro,  and  another  period  of 
three  months  (in  the  winter  of  1877-78),  dur- 
ing which  time  he  was  on  a  Western  tour. 
In  September,  1881,  he  leased  a  building  on 
the  corner  of  State  and  Ryder  streets,  where 
he  opened  a  retail  liquor  and  tobacco  store, 
which  employs  three  persons. 

RICHARD  McMAHON,  Roadmaster,  In- 
dianapolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  County  Kerry,  Ireland,  in  No- 
vember. 1845.  He  received  a  good  academic 
education  in  his  native  country,  and,  in  1864, 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  came  to  the 
United  States,  locating  in  Elmira,  N.  Y.. 
where  he  worked  two  years  on  repairs  of  the 
Now  York  &  Erie  Railroad.  He  moved  to 
Mattoon,  111.,  in  1866,  and  there  worked  two 
years  as  laborer  on  the  track  of  the  Indian- 
apolis &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  From  1868  to 
1871,  he  was  Road  Clerk  in  the  General 
Roadmaster's  office  at  Mattoon;  the  following 
year,  he  acted  as  section  foreman  on  the  track 
of  the  same  road,  at  Sunnyside,  Ind.  From 
1872  to  1876,  he  was  again  Clerk  in  the  Gen- 
eral Roadmaster's  office  at  Mattoon,  and,  din- 
ing that  time,  was  Roadmaster  of  a  branch 
road  called  the  Sullivan  &  Decatur  Railroad. 
In  August,  1876,  he  was  promoted  to  the  po- 
sition of  Roadmaster  of  the  Middle  Division 
of  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  his 
division  consisting  of  seventy -five  miles.  He 
presided  over  this  until  1880,  when  the  Road- 
master of  the  East  Division  resigned,  and  our 
subject  was  transferred  to  it.  He  had  this 
division,  which  consisted  of  110  miles,  until 
July  14,  1881,  when  the  road  was  redistricted 
in  two  divisions,  and  he  was  transferred  to 
the  West  Division,  extending   from  Mattoon 


ICO 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


to  East  St.  Louis,  a  distance  of  137  miles. 
He  has  since  tilled  that  position,  having  head- 
quarters at  Litchfield.  November  28,  1872, 
he  married  Honora,  daughter  of  D.  O'Sulli- 
van,  of  Mattobn,  111.  The  names  of  their 
children  are  as  follows:  Mary  Ann,  Denis 
Joseph,  Brian  Augustin,  Terrence  Patrick, 
Margaret  Teresa. 

BENJAMIN  McHUGH,  merchant.  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  the  town  of  Cornwallis, 
Nova  Scotia,  on  March  1,  1833,  and  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1845,  settling  forty  miles 
west  of  Milwaukee,  Wis  His  father,  James 
McHugh,  died  just  before  the  son's  emigra- 
tion, in  which  he  was  accompanied  by  his 
mother  and  grandfather.  After  living  four 
years  on  the  farm  on  which  they  first  settled, 
our  subject  returned  to  Nova  Scotia  on  a 
visit;  he  then  sailed  on  a  schooner  from  Corn- 
wallis to  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  with 
his  brother-in-law,  continuing  one  season. 
The  following  season,  he  worked  his  brother 
in-law's  farm  on  shares,  and  went  to  New 
York  as  supercargo  to  sell  his  farm  products, 
returning  to  Wisconsin.  In  the  spring  of 
1853,  he  started  across  the  plains  to  Oregon, 
with  Dr.  Knight,  of  Dogtown,  Mo.,  traveling 
seven  months  by  ox  team.  His  destination 
was  Chahalam  Valley,  Ore.,  where  lived  a 
cousin,  with  whom  he  stopped  about  two 
months,  and  then,  via  steamer,  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, landing  at  San  Francisco,  from  which 
point  he  went  north  to  Port  Orford  and  en- 
tered the  Rogue  River  Mines  at  Gold  Beach, 
where  he  entered  the  diggings  and  worked 
about  two  months,  when  his  employer  was 
killed.  He  had  located  about  fifty  claims,  and 
sold  over  $700  worth  in  the  next  two  months. 
He  next  became  the  proprietor  of  the  Elk 
River  Ferry,  north  of  Port  Orford  a  distance 
of  five  miles,  by  agreement  with  the  Indians, 
and  conducted  it  with  an  eating  house  and 
provision  trade,  for  three  months,  with  good 


success.  During  this  time,  the  Coquel  In- 
dians had  an  outbreak,  and  Mr.  McHugh  was 
cook  for  the  garrison  two  weeks,  when  they 
subsided.  Mr.  McHugh  then  left  the  ferry 
and  returned  to  Portland,  Ore  ,  where  he  took 
up  a  land  claim  and  improved  it  to  some  ex- 
tent, then  removed  to  Jacksonville,  Ore.,  and 
worked  in  the  mines  for  a  short  time.  He 
went  thence  to  Yreka,  Cal.,  and  mined  during 
the  winter  of  1854-55.  Then  he  joined  Li- 
brother  at  Kelsey's  Diggings,  in  El  Dorado 
County,  Cal.,  remaining  about  a  year,  after 
which  he  worked  six  months  in  a  tunnel 
at  Goodyear's  Bar,  which  place  he  left, 
next  locating  at  Cold  Springs,  in  El  Dorado 
County,  until  the  fall  of  1857,  working  in  the 
diggings.  He  returned  via  steamer  Central 
America,  Panama  route,  reaching  New  York 
City  and  going  thence,  via  Niagara  Falls,  to 
Walworth  County,  Wis.,  where  he  worked  at 
farming  oue  year,  and  then  came  to  Pike 
County,  111.,  where  he  took  a  contract  to  chop 
500  cords  of  wood,  for  the  accomplishing  of 
which  he  employed  men  during  the  winter  of 
1858-59.  In  the  spring,  he  took  a  trip 
through  Kansas,  and.  on  his  return,  came, 
via  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  to  Bond  County,  111. 
Here  he  taught  a  four-months'  summer  school 
at  Millersburg,  and,  during  the  winter  of 
1859-60,  taught  near  Ripley.  In  the  spring 
of  1S60.  he  married  Miss  Emily  C.  Bilyew, 
of  Pocahontas,  111.  For  ten  years  after  Lis 
marriage,  he  fanned  in  the  summers  and 
taught  school  in  the  winters,  in  Bond  County. 
After  the  war,  he  bought  a  farm  of  173  acres 
near  Pocahontas,  and  conducted  it  about  ten 
years,  when  he  traded  it  for  town  property  in 
a  stock  of  goods  in  Millersburg,  where  he 
merchandized  about  one  year,  and  then  traded 
it  for  land  near  Irving,  Montgomery  County. 
This  farm  he  conducted  for  about  two  years, 
and  then  traded  it  for  a  stock  of  goods  at  East 
Fork,  where   he  conducted  a  store  and  post 


LITCHFIELD. 


161 


office  for  two  years.  He  then  returned  to 
Irving  with  his  stock  of  goods,  and  contin- 
ued merchandising  one  and  a  half  years.  He 
moved  to  Litchfield  in  September,  1881,  and 
has  been  engaged  since  in  merchandising  on 
Jackson  street,  carrying  on  a  good  trade.  In 
April,  1882,  Mr.  McHugh  was  elected  Town 
Clerk  of  South  Litchfield  Township.  The 
names  of  his  children  are  as  follows:  Frank 
M.,  Mary  F.,  Annie  E.,  Cresada  A.,  Charles 
W.,  Thomas  N.,  Nellie  B. ,  Lewis  A.,  Daisy 
M.  and  Cora  E. 

RICHARD  W.  O'BANNON,  the  first  set- 
tler in  the  city  of  Litchfield,  is  the  great- 
grandson  of  a  Mr.  O'Bannon  who  came  to 
this  country  from  Ireland  before  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  and  eventually  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  father  of  our  subject,  Isham 
O'Bannon,  a  native  of  Fauquier  County,  Va., 
whose  wife,  Mary  Winn,  was  also  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  connected  with  the  family  of 
Stonewall  Jackson,  being  an  aunt  of  that  fa- 
mous Confederate  General.  Isham  O'Bannon 
was  Captain  of  a  company  of  Virginia  mili- 
tia, and  in  that  capacity  served  his  country 
in  the  war  of  1812.  Their  youngest  child 
but  two  was  Richard  W.  O'Bannon,  who  was 
born  on  November  1,  1808,  in  Fauquier 
County,  Va.,  near  the  town  of  Salem.  There 
he  passed  the  early  years  of  his  life,  and  there 
he  lost  his  mother,  who  died  when  he  was 
but  four  years  old.  In  the  year  1816,  he  re- 
moved with  his  father  to  Shelby  County,  Ky. 
Here  his  father  became  a  successful  farmer, 
working  twenty -five  hands  and  owning  thirty- 
five  servants,  and  here  our  subject  grew  to 
manhood.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  began 
his  life-long  employment  of  merchant,  in  the 
store  of  Graliam&  Standford.  of  Shelby vi lie, 
Ky.,  where  he  remained  three  years.  July 
29,  1830,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Matilda 
Dorsey,  of  Jefferson  County,  Ky.  Subse- 
quent to  his  marriage,  he  engaged  in  mer- 


cantile pursuits  on  his  own  account,  in  Old- 
ham County,  Ky.  Those  were  the  days  of 
the  stage  coach,  when  Louisville  and  Cincin 
nati  were  not  as  great  marts  of  trade,  and 
when  the  merchants  of  Kentucky  went  to 
Philadelphia  and  cities  farther  east  for  their 
supplies — journeys  involving  more  of  time 
and  money  than  journeys  to  Europe  at  this 
day.  Mr.  O'Bannon  made  many  such  jour- 
neys, adding  to  his  stock  of  knowledge  and 
experience  in  the  ways  of  men.  About  the 
1st  of  September,  1842,  he  came  to  Illinois, 
having  left  Kentucky  some  time  previously, 
and  living  in  the  meantime  in  the  State  of 
Missouri.  There  fortune  had  not  favored 
him,  and  he  came  to  Illinois  to  begin  anew 
the  battle  of  life.  Settling  upon  a  quarter- 
section  of  uncultivated  prairie,  near  to  the 
present  hamlet  of  Ridgely,  in  Madison  County, 
they  proceeded  to  transform  it  into  the  most 
highly  cultivated  farm  in  all  that  region. 
Mr.  O'Bannon  proved  himself  as  good  a 
farmer  as  merchant,  which  avocation  he  also 
found  time  to  pursue.  Here  he  lived  and 
prospered  for  twelve  years,  gathering  about 
him  hosts  of  friends,  and  here  Mrs.  O'Ban- 
non organized  a  Christian  Church  and  built 
for  it  a  house  of  worship.  In  January, 
1854,  he  came  to  Montgomery  County  on  a 
tour  of  inspection.  It  cannot  be  said  that  he 
came  to  Litchfield,  for  then  Litchfield  was 
not.  But  he  visited  the  site  of  the  future 
town,  then  bristling  with  the  remains  of  the 
last  year's  corn  crop,  and,  with  good  judg 
ment,  selected  and  bought  of  Maj.  P.  C. 
Huggins,  for  $120,  the  east  half  of  Block  No. 
21,  which  now  includes  the  principal  business 
houses  of  the  city.  The  ground  to-day,  ex- 
clusive of  all  buildings  on  it,  is  worth  $30,- 
000.  During  the  winter,  on  this  purchase  he 
built  a  one-story  frame  store,  22x36  feet,  the 
site  of  which,  still  owned  by  him,  is  covered 
by  the  banking  house  of  Beach,  Davis  &  Co. 


162 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


This  was  the  first  house  built  in  the  place, 
and,   at  the  time  of  its  erection,  the  Terre 
Haute  &  Alton  Railroad  had  not  reached  the 
site  of  the  town,  and  all  building  material,  as 
well  as  goods,  had  to  be  delivered  in  wagons. 
In  March  of  the  same  year,  he  placed  in  this 
store  $6,000  worth  of  a  general  assortment  of 
merchandise,  and  commenced  business,  with 
William  T.  Elliott  as.   his  partner.     In  the 
year   1854,  the  firm   sold   $4'2,000  worth  of 
goods.      During  this  year,  the  Ridgely  Col- 
ony moved  to  Litchfield.     It  consisted  of  R. 
W.  O'Bannon,  his  wife,  two  sons,  Samuel  and 
Joshua;  Miss  SueElsberry:  John  P.  Bayless 
and  wife   and   two  daughters,  Matilda  and 
Martha;  W.   S.   Palmer;   W.    T.    Elliott  and 
wife  and  son,  William,  and  daughter,  Maria; 
Henry  E.  Appleton  and  wife:  James  W.  Jef- 
feris  and  wife,  and  Charles  M.  Davis.     Soon 
after  coming    to  Litchfield.   Mr.    O'Bannon 
bought   the   property    where    he    now    lives, 
building  the  house  the  first  sunimer.     In  the 
history  of  our  country,    1854  was  a  fateful 
year — the  year  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  strug- 
gle.    Mr.  O'  Bannon  had  been  a  Whig  of  the 
Henry  Clay  school,  but,  in  the  issue  of  1854. 
he  arrayeddiimself  with  the  Democracy,  with 
which  party  he  has  ever  since  affiliated.     He 
was  a  Douglas  Democrat,  and,  in  1861,  pre- 
sided over  the  first  Union  meeting  held  in 
this  city  after  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
He  also  subscribed  liberally  in  aid  of  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  volunteer  soldiers.      Mr.  O'Bannon 
continued  in  active  business  with  W.  T.  El- 
liott for  twelve  years,  doing  a  very  large  and 
profitable  business.     In  1859,    they  erected 
the  store  now  occupied  by  Frank  R.  Milnor, 
and   which  continues    the   property   of    Mr. 
O'Bannon,  to  which  they  removed  their  bus- 
iness, and  where  they  continued  until  1866, 
when  Mr.  Elliott  retired  from  the  firm,  the 
business  being  conducted  by  Mi-.  O'Bannon 
and  sons   till  the  completion  of  the  Decatur 


&  East  St,  Louis  Railroad,  to  the  construc- 
tion of  which  Mr.  O'Bannon  largely  contrib- 
uted, when  it  was  transferred  to  the  new  town 
of  Raymond.  This  town  is  on  the  Wabash 
&  Pacific  Railroad,  then  known  as  the  Deca- 
tur &  East  St.  Louis  Railroad.  In  Raymond 
Mi-.  O'Bannon  had  large  interests,  being  one 
of  the  company  by  whom  the  town  was  laid 
out;  consequently,  he  moved  to  it,  and  resided 
there  one  year,  with  his  son  Joshua,  who  car- 
ried on  the  business.  After  that,  he  moved 
to  his  large  farm  in  Zanesville  Township, 
about  nine  miles  from  this  city,  where  he 
lived  with  his  son  Samuel.  This  was  in  the 
years  1872  and  1873.  About  this  time,  a 
friend  for  whom  he  was  bound,  failed  in  busi- 
ness, and  by  unanimous  consent  he  was  put 
forward  as  the  assignee  of  the  unfortunate 
merchant.  Mr.  O'Bannon  was  himself  a  large 
creditor,  and,  to  recover  in  a  measure  what 
he  had  lost,  he  took  the  stock  and  once  more 
engaged  in  business.  In  this  he  associated 
with  himself  his  oldest  son,  and  for  seven 
years  O'Bannon  &  Son  have  held  a  front 
place  among  the  business  men  of  Litchfield, 
with  eminent  success.  The  churches,  the 
railroads,  the  coal  mines,  the  car-shops  and 
the  great  mill  have  all  been  helped  forward 
by  him.  His  familiar  form  is  identified  with 
every  stage  in  the  history  of  the  town. 

JOHN  MILTON  PADEN,  contractor  and 
builder,  Litchfield,  son  of  James  and  Mar- 
garet (McElvain)  Paden,  was  born  in  Todd 
County,  Ky.,  August  31,  1821.  He  was  in 
his  fifteenth  year  when  he  came  to  this  county, 
in  1835,  with  his  parents.  He  received  a 
part  of  his  education  in  the  private  schools 
of  Kentucky,  and  finished  his  schooling  in  the 
old  Hillsboro  Academy,  which  he  left  in  1840. 
He  learned  carpentering  with  Hamilton  High, 
of  Hillsboro,  serving  two  years,  when  he  be- 
gan taking  contracts,  which  wore  principally 
in  the  neighborhood   of  his  old  home.     He 


LITCHFIELD. 


169 


continued  at  this  until  1852,  when  he  bought 
a  saw-mill,  which  he  conducted  two  years, 
one  mile  east  of  Litchfield.  In  1854,  he  pur- 
chased, in  South  Litchfield  Township,  a  farm 
of  175  acres,  on  which  he  lived  until  the 
spring  of  1882,  when  he  moved  to  Litchfield. 
He  engaged  in  contracting  and  building  in 
the  vicinity  <>f  Litchfield,  in  addition  to  his 
agricultural  pursuits,  for  twenty-five  years. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Litchfield  since  its  organization, 
and  helped  to  erect  that  church  building. 
He  has  been  Trustee  and  Deacon  for  many 
years.  In  politics,  Mr.  Paden  is  a  Democrat. 
He  served  as  Deputy  Sheriff*  of  this  part  of 
the  county  four  years,  and  also  one  term  as 
Deputy  Assessor  for  the  western  part  of  the 
county.  In  April,  1843,  he  married  Miss 
Martha  Street,  daughter  of  James  Street,  and 
raised  a  family  of  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, one  son  dying  at  the  age  of  twenty-six 
years. 

ROBERT  N.  PADEN  was  born  in  Todd 
County,  Ky. .  in  1830.  James  Paden,  the 
father  of  subject,  was  born  near  Charleston, 
S.  C.,in  October.  1777,  and  lived  on  his  native 
place  till  he  attained  his  majority.  His  fa- 
ther died  when  a  young  man.  His  mother 
was  a  lady  of  Celtic  descent.  James,  when 
he  reached  the  years  of  manhood,  moved  to 
Virginia,  where,  in  Adair  County,  he  mar- 
ried Margaret  McElvain,  and,  about  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  moved  to  Todd 
County,  Ky.,  where  he  farmed  till  1835.  He 
then  came  to  Montgomery  County,  111. ,  bought 
1  '20,  and  entered  eighty,  acres  of  prairie  and 
timber  land,  four  miles  southwest  of  Hillsboro, 
where  a  few  families  had  previously  settled; 
here  he  resided  until  his  death,  in  1845;  he 
was  a  Deacon  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  assisted  in  the  erection  of  the  first  church 
at  Hillsboro.  The  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
is  the  seventh  son  of  a  family  of  ten  children, 


came  to  Montgomery  County  with  his  parents 
in  1835.  He  received  his  rudimentary  edu- 
cation iu  the  Clear  Springs  Baptist  Church, 
a  log  structure  covered  with  clapboards,  and 
having  puncheon  floors  and  seats;  he  com- 
pleted his  studies  at  the  Lutheran  College, 
then  at  Hillsboro,  now  of  Springfield.  In 
1851,  he  engaged  as  clerk  in  Hillsboro,  and 
continued  in  that  occupation  until  1855,  when 
he  opened  a  furniture  store  there,  in  which 
business  he  remained  one  year.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1856,  he  came  to  Litchfield  and  opened 
a  general  store  in  partnership  with  J.  M.  Mc- 
Williams,  but  after  a  year  sold  out  his  inter- 
est in  the  business  and  returned  to  Hillsboro, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  till 
1860.  In  that  year,  he  became  Deputy  Cir- 
cuit Clerk  under  Benjamin  Sammons,  which 
office  he  held  for  two  years,  then  returned  to 
Litchfield,  and  was  appointed  Deputy  United 
States  Collector  and  Assessor  of  Internal 
Revenue  iu  District  10,  which  position  he 
held  till  1868.  He  then  removed  to  Southern 
Minnesota  and  engaged  in  general  merchan- 
dising and  drug  business  in  Rochester  and 
Austin,  that  State,  until  1878,  then  returned 
to  Litchfield,  where  he  has  since  resided,  en- 
gaged in  real  estate  business.  He  married, 
October  17,  1855,  Illinois  E.  Blackwell,  who 
died  May  16,  18S1 ;  she  was  a  daughter  of 
Col.  Robert  Blackwell,  of  Vandalia,  111.  Mr. 
Paden  is  Director,  Secretary  and  Superintend- 
ent of  the  McWilliams  Oil  and  Mining  Com- 
pany, which  began  operations  in  January, 
18S2 ;  was  elected  Mayor  of  Litchfield  with- 
out opposition  in  1S65,  and,  during  his  ad- 
ministration, built  the  City  Hall,  and  con- 
tracted for  the  first  public  schoolhouse.  He 
was  appointed  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Illi- 
nois Industrial  University  of  Champaign  for 
six  years,  by  Gov.  Cullom,  in  1881.  He  was 
formerly  a  Whig,  and  is  now  a  Republican. 
AH  ARTE  PIERCE,  deceased,  was  born  in 


164 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Wythe  County,  Va.,  on  May  22,  1808,  and 
removed  with  his  parents  to  Johnson  County, 
Ind.,  when  a  young  man.  About  18-42,  he 
came  to  Illinois,  and  first  settled  in  Macoupin 
County.  In  1848,  he  entered  160  acres  of 
land,  with  another  party,  on  which  the  city 
of  Litchfield  now  stands.  In  September, 
same  year,  he  reuted  a  house  on  the  mound 
where  Mr.  W.  S.  Palmer  now  lives.  In  the 
fall  of  1849,  he  built  a  small  log  house  on 
the  site  where  W.  H.  Fisher  now  resides,  and, 
when  the  town  was  laid  out,  the  east  side  of 
the  house  extended  into  Madison  street.  He 
farmed  his  land,  which  was  all  raw  prairie, 
until  the  laying-out  of  the  town,  by  which 
time  he  had  it  all  under  cultivation,  and  stood 
above  debt,  for  it  and  its  improvements.  He 
sold  fifteen  acres,  to  be  platted  at  that  time,  to 
Wesley  Andrews  and  Benjamin  Hargraves. 
The  remainder  was  laid  out  by  Mr.  Pierce 
himself,  and  it  reached  five  additions;  it  is 
now  all  included  in  the  corporation  limits, 
and  the  lots,  excepting  two,  on  which  his  son 
Granville  resides,  are  all  sold.  Before  the 
war,  he  purchased  another  farm  of  eighty 
acres  near  the  city,  and  lived  on  it  three  years 
during  the  war  excitement.  He  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  days  near  his  first  settlement, 
and  lived  a  retired  life  in  his  latter  years. 
His  first  marriage  was  in  Indiana,  to  Polly 
Brown,  who  bore  him  one  child.  His  wife 
died  in  Macoupin  County,  111.  In  1847,  Mr. 
Pierce  married  Mrs.  Brown,  daughter  of 
David  Jones,  a  Virginian,  who  settled  in  what 
is  now  South  Litchfield  in  about  1833.  The 
first  coal-shaft  of  this  city  was  sunk  on  a  part 
of  his  original  purchase.  Mr.  Pierce  gave 
several  lots  to  various  benevolent  enterprises 
of  the  city,  including  schoolhouse  and  va- 
rious church  lots.  Politically,  he  was  a 
Democrat,  and  was  the  first  Assessor  elected 
after  the  city's  organization.  He  died  June 
15.  1878;    his  widow  has   three  children  by 


her  last  marriage.  One  son,  Granville  F. 
Pierce,  was  born  in  Macoupin  County.  III., 
October  27,  1845;  he  received  an  education 
in  the  Litchfield  schools,  and  in  1862  left  the 
farm  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  clothing  house, 
continuing  for  some  years;  he  afterward  en- 
gaged in  the  grocery  business  for  about  four 
years;  he  then  began  clerking,  and  has  been 
for  nine  years  with  the  present  grocery  house 
of  G.  A.  Stoddard,  as  salesman.  In  January, 
31,  1877,  he  married  Miss  Dora  A.  Ware,  of 
this  county,  and  has  two  children — Essie  May 
and  Gracie  A. 

CHARLES  PAULLIS,  Jr.,  foreman  paint- 
er, Litchfield,  was  born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in 
October,  1853,  and  lived  there  five  years,  after 
which  he  lived  in  Dunkirk,  same  State, 
seven  years,  and  then  moved  with  his  parents 
to  Zaleski,  Ohio,  where  he  began  learning  his 
trade.  He  was  fourteen  years  of  age  when 
the  family  came  to  Litchfield,  and  he  at  once 

began  the  furtherance  of  his  mechanical  stud- 
io 

ies  in  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 
shops,  then  the  St.  Louis,  Alton  &  Terre 
Haute  Railroad  shops,  where  he  worked  at 
painting  four  years.  When  the  Litchfield 
Car  Manufacturing  Company  organized,  he 
entered  their  employ  as  journeyman,  and  for 
the  last  six  years  has  been  foreman  of  the 
paint  department  of  the  shops,  the  company 
chancfino-,  in  the  meanwhile,  to  the  Litchfield 
Car  and  Machine  Company.  His  department 
employs  from  fifteen  to  twenty -five  men.  Mr. 
Paullis  has  been  an  earnest  worker,  and  has 
made  steady  and  rapid  progress  since  he  be- 
gan his  trade.  He  was  married,  in  June, 
1878,  to  Miss  Fannie,  daughter  of  B.  W.  Ar- 
nold. The  father  of  our  subject,  Charles 
Paullis,  Sr. ,  was  born  in  Prussia,  and  came 
to  the  United  States  when  a  child,  his  par- 
ents settling  in  New  York,  where  he  followed 
the  trade  of  painting.  He  is  engaged  in  the 
same  occupation,  as  contractor,  in  Litchfield. 


LITCHFIELD. 


165 


W.  H.  PHILLIPS,  Litchfield,  only  child 
of  Samuel  and  Mary  B.  (Webster)  Phillips, 
was  born  in  Jersey  County,  111.,  March  11, 
1856;  lived  in  Macoupin  County  four  years, 
and  came  to  Montgomery  County  with  his 
stepfather,  Samuel  Stratton,  in  1860.  In  the 
Litchfield  Public  Schools  he  secured  an  edu- 
cation, which  he  furthered  at  McKenclree  Col- 
lege, and  at  the  Industrial  University  at 
Champaign,  111.  In  1876,  he  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  at  Miles'  Station,  remain- 
ing almost  a  year;  he  then,  in  the  spring  of 
1877,  came  to  Litchfield  and  engaged  in  the 
same  business  hern  two  years.  In  January, 
1880,  he  became  agent  of  the  Pacific  Express 
Company,  and,  a  year  later,  became  also 
agent  for  the  United  States  Express  Com- 
pany, both  of  which  agencies  he  has  since 
conducted  with  great  care  and  ability.  On 
December  20,  1877,  he  married  Amanda  B., 
daughter  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Hillis,  of  Hillsboro; 
they  have  two  children — Claude  and  Stanley 
H.  The  father  of  our  subject  was  born  near 
Lebanon,  St.  Clair  Co.,  111.,  March  28,  1821; 
he  was  a  farmer,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
successful  land-tillers  of  Macoupin  and  Jer- 
sey Counties,  in  both  of  which  he  left  large 
landed  estates;  he  died  in  1859.  The  Web- 
sters  were  originally  from  Tennessee. 

LOUGHLIN  QUEALY,  foreman  molder, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  County  Kilkenny, 
Ireland,  in  July,  1880,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  in  June,  1845,  his  parents  having  died 
in  his  native  country.  He  served  three  years' 
apprenticeship  in  the  foundry  of  Edwin 
Davis,  at  Andover,  Mass.,  learning  molding. 
He  moved  farther  west  in  1848,  and  lived  in 
Columbus,  also  Zanesville,  Ohio,  plying  his 
trade  as  journeyman.  In  1855,  he  went  to 
Chicago,  111.,  where  he  followed  his  trade  for 
two  years.  His  brother,  "William  J.  Quealy, 
was  a  heavy  railroad  contractor,  and  our  sub- 
ject had  charge  of  his  works  at  Sheboygan, 


Wis. ,  for  a  time ;  he  was  afterward  contractor 
on  the  Fox  River  Railroad,  in  Kenosha 
County,  Wis.  In  1858,  he  returned  to  Zanes- 
ville, Ohio,  where,  two  years  later,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Anna  E.  Coyle.  In  November, 
1S60,  he  moved  to  Clay  County,  near  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  rail- 
road contractor,  but  the  breaking- out  of  the 
war  put  a  stop  to  the  business;  he  therefore 
entered  a  large  foundry  of  his  brother's  at 
Hanover.  Mo.,  remaining  from  1861  to  1876, 
being  Superintendent  of  it  except  the  first  two 
years.  He  took  charge  of  the  Ohio  Falls  Car 
Company's  foundry,  in  Jefi'ersonville,  Ind., 
in  1877,  continuing  two  years.  In  August, 
1881,  he  came  to  Litchfield,  where  he  since 
has  been  foreman  of  the  Litchfield  Car  and 
Machine  Company's  foundry,  which  melts 
thirty-six  tons  of  iron  per  day,  and  employs 
in  this  department  from  sixty  to  sixty-five 
men. 

JAMES  ROGERS,  miller,  proprietor  Eu- 
reka Mills,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Decatur 
County,  Ind.,  April  5,  1835,  where  he  lived 
until  1857,  receiving  his  education  in  the 
public  schools.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
apprenticed  to  the  carpenter's  trade,  which 
he  followed  until  1858.  In  March,  1857,  he 
came  to  Walshville,  this  county,  and,  the 
following  year,  engaged  at  merchandising, 
continuing  until  1861,  when  he  came  to 
Litchfield  and  kept  a  grocery  eighteen  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  associated  in  mer- 
cantile business  with  Mr.  F.  M.  Miles  and 
Mr.  J.  F.  Setzer.  Miles  &  Co.  added  to  their 
interests  the  milling  business,  and  ran  the 
present  mill  two  years,  when  Mr.  Lewis  Whit- 
taker  and  our  subject  bought  it,  in  1877,  the 
firm  name  becoming  Whittaker  &  Rogers: 
this  continued  two  years,  when  Mr.  Rogers 
became  sole  proprietor,  previously  having 
sold  his  interest  in  his  store;  he  has  run  the 
mill  since,  doing  a  large  custom  business,  with 

K 


1G6 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


a  capacity  of  twenty  barrels  per  twelve  hours; 
he  retains  the  old  process;  has  two  run  of 
bnhrs  and  employs  three  men;  his  mills  are 
called  Eureka  Mills.  Mr.  Rogers  has  been 
Township  Collector,  and  has  served  as  a 
member  of  the  Litchfield  School  Board ;  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a 
charter  member  of  the  St.  Omar  Commandery, 
No.  30;  he  has  been  Recorder  of  the  Com- 
mandery ever  since  its  organization.  Mr. 
Rogers  was  married,  October  8,  1857,  in 
Walshville,  to  Martha  J.  Deshane,  born  in 
Montgomery  County  January  15, 183S,  daugh- 
ter of  Eli  Deshane;  they  have  had  the  fol- 
lowing children :  Lama  I. ,  Charlie  and  Ma- 
bel— Laura  and  Mabel  being  deceased. 

FREDERICK  W.  REESE,  deceased,  was 
born  in  Hanover,   Germany,    on  August    1, 
1824;  his  home  was  in  the  country,  and,  at 
the  age  of  five  years  he  was  an  orphan ;  he 
learned  the  trade  of  cabinet-making  in  his 
native  town,  and  afterward  traveled  as  jour- 
neyman  cabinet-maker,    working   but  a   few 
years  in  any  one  place;  he  occupied  his  time 
in  this  manner  until  he  was  twenty-eight  years 
old.     In  1854,  he  came  to  the  "United  States; 
his  boat  freezing  in  the   Mississippi    River 
necessitated  his  walking  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  found  employment,  but,  when  the  summer 
came  on,  he  left  the  city  on  account  of  the 
cholera  epidemic,    and    located    at    Redbud, 
Randolph  Co.,  111.,  where  he  married,  in  Jan- 
uary of  the  following  year,  Miss  Christiana 
Geyer,   a  native  of  Saxony.    Germany,  who 
proved  a  helpmeet  by  working  industriously, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  with  him,  almost  day 
and  night,  at  first,  in  order  to  help  him  get  a 
good  start  in  life,  her  part  of  the  work  being 
the  varnishing  and  sand-papering  of  the  fur- 
niture  he   made.      After    his    marriage,    he 
worked  at  carpentering,  and  in  the  winter  at 
cabinet-making.     He  came  to  Litchfield  in 
1860,  and  worked  for  awhile  for  Mr.  Whit- 


taker  at  cabinet-making,  managing  his  busi- 
ness while  that  gentleman  was  absent.  In 
about  186'2,  he  opened  a  shop  of  his  own  for 
the  manufacture  of  furniture,  engaging  in  the 
sale  of  it  and  in  the  undertaking  business;  he 
at  first  started  on  Ryder  street,  but  the  rapid 
and  steady  increase  of  his  business  caused 
him  to  move  to  State  street,  where  he  built  a 
large  brick  store,  occupying  it  until  his  death, 
on  July  24,  1880;  he  had  no  capital  when  he 
came,  and,  in  twenty  years,  made,  by  his  own 
labor  and  careful  management,  a  handsome 
competency.  He  was  a  Master  Mason;  in 
politics,  he  was  a  Republican;  he  had  six 
children,  who  are  living.  When  he  died, 
Litchfield  lost  a  worthy  citizen. 

JOHN  W.  RITCHIE,  Litchfield,  was  born 
in  Cabarrus  County.  N.  O,  August  14,  1834, 
son  of  John  and  Sela  (Blackwelder)  Ritchie, 
natives  of  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C. ,  he  born  in 
1798,  died  September  25,  1854;  she  born  in 
1808,  died  October  23,  1854.  Subject  came 
to  Hillsboro,  111.,  in  December,  1855,  where 
he  and  his  brother,  Martin  A. ,  bought  a  quar- 
ter-section of  land,  which  they  farmed  to- 
gether till  after  the  war;  on  this  place  Mar- 
tin A.  still  resides.  John  W.  married,  May 
20,  1856,  Rachel  S.  Cress,  a  native  of  Cabar- 
rus County,  N.  O,  born  January  23,  1833, 
daughter  of  G.  Henry  and  Ebzabeth  (Fogle- 
man)  Cress,  both  natives  of  Cabarrus  County, 
N.  C,  he  born  April  11,  1811,  died  in  March, 
1844;  she  born  July  26, 1813.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ritchie  are  the  parents  of  eleven  children, 
viz.:  George  A.,  James  M. ,  Laura  J.,  Mary 
E.,  Sarah  E.,  Joel  E.,  Charles  A.,  Flora  R., 
Alice  A.,  Prestin  and  Albert  L.  In  1861, he 
returned  to.  North  Carolina,  and  remained 
there  till  1 864,  then  returned  to  Montgomery 
County  and  bought  150  acres  of  land,  on 
which  he  has  since  resided,  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising;  he  at  present  owns  260 
acres  of  land,  of  which  230  is  prairie,  and 


LITCHFIELD. 


107 


thirty  timber  land.  Mr.  Ritchie  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  is  a  member  of  the  Evangelical  Lu- 
theran Church. 

MARTIN  A.  RITCHIE  was  born  in  Cab- 
arrus County,  N.  O,  August  11,  IS'29;  he 
worked  in  his  father's  mill  for  two  years,  but 
left  that  and  began  farming  for  himself  in 

1853,  and,  the  same  year,  married  his  first 
wife,  who  died  in  1S54.  On  December  24, 
1855,  he  arrived  at  Hillsboro,  111.,  and,  Feb- 
ruary 13  following,  he  bought  217i  acres  of 
land,  where  he  now  resides,  and  moved  onto 
it  in  the  latter  part  of  same  month;  he  has 
ever  since  lived  on  the  place;  raises  grain 
principally,  and  for  many  years  raised  and 
handled  a  goodly  number  of  horses  and  cattle. 
His  second  wife  is  Martha  Cress,  whom  he 
married  in  North  Carolina;  of  his  twelve 
children,  only  four  are  living.  He  has  held 
the  office  of  Township  Assessor  three  years — 
1879-81  ;  been  Township  Treasurer  since 
1872;  served  as  Collector  of  this  township 
during  1874  and  1S75;  is  an  Elder  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  at  Litchfield;  has  been  a 
member  of  that  church  since  he  was  eighteen 
years  of  age;  he  is  an  adherent  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party;  he  now  owns  320  acres  of  prai- 
rie and  twenty -five  of  timber  land. 

JACOB  RAUSCH,  grocer,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Province  Coblenz,  Prussia,  on  the 
River  Rhine,  in  September,  1832.  At  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  he  began  to  learn  the 
hardware  and  grocery  business,  and  served 
five   years'    apprenticeship.      In    November, 

1854,  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  first 
located  in  Philadelphia,  Penn.,  whore  for  five 
years  he  clerked  in  a  wholesale  French  con- 
fectionery store;  the  next  five  years  he  spent 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  acting  as  clerk  in 
hardware  stores  of  Lockport  and  Buffalo. 
He  went  to  California  in  1802,  by  the  way  of 
New  York,  Aspinwall  and  San  Francisco,  and 
lived  in  Marysville,  doing  hardware  business 


one  year,  after  which,  for  a  period  of  four 
years,  he  engaged  in  the  drug  business  in  San 
Francisco.  He  returned  to  New  York  by 
water  in  1807,  and  located  in  Oswego,  where 
he  remained  until  1872,  acting  as  clerk  in  a 
book  store.  In  May,  1872,  he  came  to  Litch- 
field, 111.,  and  was  at  that  time  broken  down 
in  health;  in  July  of  the  same  year,  he  pur- 
chased his  present  site  and  erected  storeroom 
and  dwelling,  and  opened  a  grocery  and  pro- 
vision store  on  Jackson  and  Martin  streets, 
where  he  has  since  done  a  prosperous  busi- 
ness. In  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  he  married  Miss 
Marian  Collys,  a  native  of  Alsace,  France, 
their  union  occurring  in  1 807 ;  they  have  two 
daughters. 

WILLIAM  SIMPSON  was  born  in  Lincoln 
County,  N.  C. ,  September  21,  1812,  son  of 
Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Brown)  Simpson. 
Samuel,  subject's  father,  came  to  Illinois 
with  his  family  in  1831,  and  lived,  during 
their  first  srunmer  in  the  State,  near  where 
Staunton,  in  Macoupin  County,  now  stands; 
he  settled  on  the  land  where  subject  now  re- 
sides, earning  the  money  to  enter  the  first 
forty  acres  by  hauling  sand  for  the  building 
of  the  first  frame  court  house  in  Montgomery 
County;  at  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
March.  1848,  he  owned  100  acres  of  land, 
which  he  had  accumulated  by  his  own  labor 
and  industry;  his  wife  survived  him  about 
twelve  years,  and  was  about  eighty- four  years 
of  age  when  she  died.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  began  working  by  the  month,  about  a 
year  at  brick-making  for  Judge  Hiram  Rouii- 
tree,  and  at  farm  labor  for  $13  per  month, 
which  at  that  time  was  considered  high  wages. 
In  1S35.  he  began  leai-ning  the  blacksmith's 
trade  with  Thomas  Tarrantine,  of  Hillsboro. 
with  whom  he  worked  about  twenty  months. 
He  married,  November  17,  1830,  Elizabeth 
A.  Beck,  daughter  of  Paul  Beck,  of  Fayette 
County,  111.,  and  from  this  union  six  children 


168 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


have  been  born,  still  living,  viz. :  Elizabeth 
J.,  wife  of  Fletcher  Gamble,  died  in  1802, 
leaving  two  children;  William  M. ,  a  farmer 
in  Montgomery  County;  Eveline,  wife  of 
James  C.  Holloway,  of  Litchfield;  Emily, 
wife  of  Robert  Ferguson,  of  Montgomery 
County;  John  W. .  of  Montgomery  County; 
Alonzo  Douglas,  a  farmer,  also  of  Montgom- 
ery County;  and  Laiu-a,  at  tome.  After  his 
marriage,  Mr.  Simpson  purchased  forty  acres 
near  his  father's  place,  which  he  farmed  until 
his  father's  death,  when  he'  took  charge  of 
the  homestead  and  managed  it  for  his  mother 
until  her  death,  when  he  bought  the  claims 
of  the  other  heirs  and  became  sole  owner  of 
the  homestead,  on  which  he  has  since  lived, 
engaged  in  farming;  he  now  owns  about  four 
hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land.  In  1871, 
he  was  elected  Assessor  and  Treasurer  of 
Montgomery  County,  which  position  he  held 
for  two  years ;  he  has  also  filled  various  other 
positions  of  trust;  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the 
Jackson  school. 

DAVID  O.  SETTLEMIRE,  President  of 
Car  and  Machine  Company,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  Mo.,  in 
1827,  and  the  year  following  his  parents 
emigrated  to  Greene  County,  111.,  settling  ten 
miles  from  Alton.  Mr.  Settlemire  was  raised 
at  Brighton,  111.,  on  a  farm,  and  his  educa- 
tion was  limited  to  six  months'  attendance  at 
a  log  schoolhouse  of  the  primitive  kind,  hav- 
ing slab  seats,  and  the  marked  lack  of  school 
comforts  characteristic  of  the  school  build- 
ings of  the  frontier.  In  his  seventeenth  year, 
he  left  home  to  serve  an  apprenticeship  to 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade  at  Carlinville,  111., 
where  he  worked  three  years;  he  then  gave 
up  that  trade  and  commenced  carpentering, 
at  which  he  continued  until  1858,  at  Brigh- 
ton, Bunker  Hill  and  Gillespie,  as  contractor; 
his  last  work  was  a  large  flouring- mi  11  at 
Gillespie,  111.,  and  he  ran  it  until  1861,  when 


he  sold  the  mill  to  J.  D.  Martin,  and  engaged 
in  the  grain  business,  in  connection  with 
merchandising,  at  that  place,  until  the  fall  of 
1800,  when  he  purchased  property  in  Litch- 
field, and,  the  following  year,  erected  his 
present  homestead,  and  the  grain  elevator  now 
known  as  the  O.  K.  Mills  and  Elevator,  it 
being  the  first  regular  grain  house  kept  in 
operation  here  throughout  the  year.  In  that 
year  he  brought  his  family  here,  and  has 
since  been  a  resident  of  this  city.  In  1870, 
he  closed  out  the  mills  to  J.  B.  L.  Keating. 
Mr.  Settlemire  built  the  Wabash  Elevator, 
and  furnished  it  with  a  "  dump  ' '  and  corre- 
sponding machinery  for  handling,  unloading, 
shelling  and  cleaning  corn,  it  being  the  first 
one  used  in  the  State;  consequently,  it  at- 
tracted much  attention  and  admiration,  and 
succeeded  in  revolutionizing  the  methods  of 
handling  grain.  In  1871,  he  built  the  Har- 
vel  Elevator,  and,  with  Maj.  R.  Mc Williams, 
laid  out  the  town.  In  1873,  he  rebuilt  the 
elevator  at  Mt.  Olive,  and,  six  years  later, 
bought  and  remodeled  the  elevator  at  Morri- 
sonville,  which  he  is  still  running.  On  March 
20,  1870,  Mr.  Settlemire  was  elected  Pres- 
ident of  the  Litchfield  Car  Manufacturing 
Company,  which  had  made  an  assignment,  on 
March  3,  to  Mr.  M.  M.  Martin,  as  assignee, 
for  whom  our  subject  ran  the  business  until 
August,  1877,  when  he  purchased  the  prop- 
erty of  the  car  manufacturing  company,  and 
then  organized  the  Litchfield  Car  and  Ma- 
chine Company,  of  which  H.  H.  Beach  was 
elected  first  President.  On  August  14,  1878, 
Mr.  Settlemire  was  elected  President  of  the 
company,  and  ever  since  has  been  annually 
re-elected  to  that  position.  By  careful  man- 
agement and  shrewd  judgment,  Mr.  Settle- 
mire has  greatly  increased  its  value,  and  the 
product  in  1881  was  about  $1,000,000.  Mr. 
Settlemire's  marriage  occurred  November  29, 
1849,  the  ladv  being  Sarah  J.  Adams,  daugh- 


LLTCHFIELI). 


169 


terof  John  Adams,  a  native  of  Massachusetts; 
their  children  are  George  L.,  Iola  E.,  the  son 
being  married. 

F.  W.  STAHL,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of 
Car  and  Machine  Company,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Prussia,  Germany,  in  the  province  of 
Posen,  on  August  3,  1833.  At  the  age  of 
fourteen  years,  he  began  learning  copper- 
smithing  in  his  native  town  of  Chodziesin, 
where  he  served  four  years'  apprenticeship, 
and,  in  1852,  sailed  for  the  United  States. 
landing  in  New  York  City;  he  worked  two 
years  in  Albany,  N.  Y. ,  then  one  year  in  New 
York  City,  after  which  he  went  to  Texas,  re- 
maining a  short  time.  After  this,  he  worked 
three  months  at  New  Orleans,  when  he  came 
to  Illinois,  via  St.  Louis,  and  settled  in 
Bloomington,  where  he  worked  five  years  in 
the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  shops.  In 
February,  I860,  he  went  to  Alabama  and  en- 
gaged in  the  stove  and  tinware  business,  but, 
the  war  coming  on,  he  returned  in  August  to 
Litchfield,  111.,  and  here  found  employment 
in  the  railroad  shops  for  eighteen  months, 
and,  at  the  expiration  of  that  period,  he 
bought  out  the  stove  and  tinware  business  of 
John  Fowler,  and  conducted  with  it  exten- 
sive trade  in  hardware  and  agricultural  im- 
plements, with  good  success,  until  1875;  he 
then  disposed  of  the  hardware  branch  of  his 
business,  and  for  two  years  dealt  in  agricult- 
ural implements  alone;  he  then  settled  up  his 
business,  and  became  a  stockholder  in  the 
Litchfield  Car  and  Machine  Company  in 
1879.  In  August,  1880,  he  became  a  Director 
of  the  company;  in  March,  1881,  was  made 
Treasurer;  and  in  August,  1881,  he  was 
elected  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  a  position 
he  still  holds.  Mr.  Stahl  is  also  a  stockholder 
in  the  McWilliams  Oil  and  Mining  Company. 
In  1857,  at  Bloomington,  111.,  he  married  Miss 
Margaret  J.  Waldron,  a  native  of  New  York 
State. 


HON.  ELIZUR  SOUTHWORTH,  lawyer, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  West  Fairlee,  Vt., 
September  22,  1826;  his  parents  were  also 
natives  of  the  same  State;  on  the  paternal 
side,  of  English  extraction,  and  on  the  ma- 
ternal side,  his  ancestry  was  of  Irish  birth. 
His  education  was  acquired  at  the  academy 
in  Bradford,  Vt.,  in  the  high  school  at  Post 
Mills,  and  in  the  Thelford  High  School,  at 
one  time  a  famous  educational  establishment. 
He  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  five,  and, 
at  a  very  early  age,  was  compelled  to  rely 
upon  his  own  exertions  to  secure  a  livelihood. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  commenced  teach- 
ing school,  a  calling  which  he  pursued  in 
Vermont,  Massachusetts  and  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, thus  securing,  while  instructing  his 
pupils,  a  fair  and  varied  education.  In 
1847,  he  removed  to  Illinois,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  teach  in  several  counties  during  the 
ensuing  three  years.  In  1850,  he  went  to 
California,  crossing  the  plains  on  foot,  and 
driving  an  ox  team  from  St.  Joe  to  Sacra- 
mento. Upon  arriving  at  his  destination, 
having  experienced  many  hardships  on  the 
road  thither,  he  engaged  in  mining  for  about 
fifteen  months;  he  then  returned  to  the  East, 
to  Bradford,  Vt. ,  where  he  became  the  pro- 
prietor  by  purchase  of  a  newspaper  estab- 
lishment, which  he  conducted  one  year,  until 
his  business  was  destroyed  by  fire.  In  the 
spring  of  1851,  he  again  removed  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Montgomery  County,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  and  agricultural  pursuits, 
continuing  thus  employed  during  the  suc- 
ceeding four  years.  Having  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  law  while  teaching  school,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859.  and,  in  Jan- 
uary of  that  year,  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Litchfield,  where  he  has 
since  permanently  resided,  engrossed  in  pro- 
fessional labors,  his  practice  being  very  ex- 
tensive and    lucrative.      Politically,    he   was 


170 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


originally  a  Democrat,  but  in  1856  he  cast 
his  vote  for  John  C.  Fremont,  and  was  event- 
ually one  of  the  original  Republicans  of  the 
State;  after  that  time,  he  voted  with  the  Re- 
publican party  until  1872,  when  he  cast  his 
vote  in  favor  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  has  since 
acted  with  the  Democrats;  in  1869,  he  was 
nominated  by  his  party  for  County  Judge, 
but  failed  to  secure  an  election,  the  county 
having  been  always  governed  by  Democratic 
views,  although  on  this  occasion  he  reduced 
a  600  majority  to  thirty-six.  Starting  out  in 
life  young,  poor  and  friendless,  he  has  been 
truly  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  and 
has  won  his  present  enviable  position  as  a 
legal  practitioner  and  as  an  esteemed  citizen 
solely  through  his  own  abilities  and  tireless 
energy.  In  1876  and  1878,  he  was  elected  to 
the  State  Legislature  from  Montgomery  and 
Christian  Counties,  and  served  four  years;  he 
was  elected  Mayor  of  Litchfield  in  1881,  and 
served  one  term;  he  served  in  the  State  Sen- 
ate from  1878  to  1880. 

JAMES  A.  SMITH,  ice-dealer,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  was  born  in  London,  England,  in  1823, 
and  was  a  lighterman  on  the  River  Thames. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1857,  and 
first  located  in  Chicago,  111.,  where  he  dealt 
in  grain  three  years,  and  went  thence  to  St. 
Louis,  Mo. ,  where  he  began  dealing  in  ice  in 
a  wholesale  and  retail  way,  the  trade  at  that 
time  being  but  small  everywhere.  In  con- 
nection with  ice,  he  was  engaged  in  wrecking 
on  the  Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi  River 
during  the  war,  his  work  being  the  raising 
of  sunken  boats.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  he 
began  extending  the  ice  business  from  year  to 
year,  until  he  has  now  thirty  houses  scattered 
through  the  States  of  Illinois,  Missouri,  Iowa 
and  Minnesota,  which  have  an  aggregate  ca- 
pacity of  150,000  tons,  which  is  shipped  by 
barge  and  railroad  to  the  Mississippi  Valley 
aa  far  south  as  Texas ,  during  the  cutting  sea- 


son, he  employs  from  five  hunched  to  seven 
hundred  men,  and  in  the  shipping  season  has 
from  fifty  to  eighty  men.  In  the  spring  of 
1880,  James  A.  Smith  &  Son  purchased  five 
acres  of  land,  lying  between  the  Wabash,  St. 
Louis  &  Pacific  Railroad  and  the  Litchfield 
reservoir,  and  leased  the  ice  privilege  of 
about  three-fourths  of  the  reservoir  for  twenty 
years,  and,  in  November,  1880,  they  began 
the  construction  of  an  ice-house  which  cost 
$28,000,  being  160x160  feet,  thirty-six  feet 
high,  with  a  self-supporting  roof,  and  three- 
feet  walls  filled  with  saw-dust,  the  whole  hav- 
ing a  capacity  of  21,500  tons;  this  house  is 
filled  by  the  Knickerbocker  endless  chain 
hoisting  machinery,  which  has  a  capacity  of 
1,200  tons  per  day;  the  present  firm  is  James 
A.,  Sr.,  and  James  A.,  Jr.  The  Litchfield 
building  was  erected  under  the  supervision  of 
Mr.  Arthur  Smith,  who  is  the  youngest  son  of 
our  subject,  and  who  has  had  charge  of  this 
and  the  Oakland,  Iowa,  department,  which 
latter  consists  of  three  houses.  Mr.  Smith's 
o-eneral  office  is  at  No.  817  North  Seventh 
street,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

WILLIAM  S.  LEA,  grocer,  Litchfield, 
was  born  iii  Yorkshire,  England,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1830,  and  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1848;  he  learned  the  trade  of  stone-cutter  and 
mason  at  Spofforth,  England,  beginning  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  years  and  serving  nearly 
six  years'  apprenticeship.  In  the  United 
States  he  was  contractor  and  bridge-builder 
on  several  railroads  until  1859,  first  working 
on  the  Des  Moines  Canal,  in  Iowa  and  Mis- 
souri, and  afterward  on  the  Alton  &  Chicago 
Railroad  with  his  two  brothers,  building  the 
masonry  from  Alton  to  Carlinville;  on  the 
Pacific  Railroad  he  constructed  the  bridge 
across  the  Des  Pres  River;  he  was  employed 
on  the  masonry  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road bridge  spanning  the  Little  Wabash,  and 
the  Iron  Mountain  bridge  across  the  Merri- 


LITCHFIELD. 


171 


mac    River;  in   1857,  be    took    contract   for 
grading  and  masonry  of   five   miles   on  the 
West  Branch  of  the  Pacific  Railroad,  at  the 
completion  of  which,  in  1859.  he  settled  on 
a   farm  in  Macoupin  County,   111.,  which  he 
operated  until   1866,   when  he   removed   to 
Litchfield.  111.,  and  for  two  years  was  a  con- 
tractor on  the  North  Missouri  Railroad.     In 
1868,  he  embarked  in  the  grocery  business  in 
Litchfield,  continuing  until  1876,  when  a  fire 
destroyed  the  entire  stock  and  building,  cov- 
ered by  only  partial  insurance;  from  that  pe- 
riod until   1881,  he  managed  his  farm  and 
other  interests,  and  in  the  latter  year   again 
opened  a  grocery  on  State  street,  in  which  he 
is  still  r'oing  a  good  business.     Samuel  Lea, 
the  father  of  William  S.,  was  a  surveyor  and 
civil  engineer,  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1850, 
and  for  two  years  resided  in  Alton,  then  re- 
moved to  Centralia,  where  both  parents  died 
in  1857,  of  milk  sickness.     Our  subject  mar- 
ried, April  30,  185'2,  Miss  Caroline  Barrett, 
youngest  daughter  of  Elisha  Barrett,  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Greene  County,  111.    Eli- 
sha Barrett  was  born  in  the  State  of  Virginia, 
of  Scotch-Irish  parentage,  somewhere  about 
the  year   177'J;  he  came  to  Kentucky  when 
small,  with  his  parents,  who  settled  near  Lex- 
ington, where,  on  reaching  manhood,  he  mar- 
ried Mary  Jenkins,  an  English  lady,  by  whom 
he  had  twelve  children,  five  of  whom  are  still 
living;  he  became  the  owner  of  a  large  landed 
estate  in  Oldham  County,  Ky. ,  on  which  he 
farmed  until   about  1836,  when  he  was  dis- 
possessed of  his  property  by  a  prior  French 
claim,  and  sought  a  home  in  the  West,  set- 
tling in  Greene  County,  this  State,  where  he 
resided  until  his   death,  in   January,   1845; 
his  widow,  left  with   a   large   family,  subse- 
quently removed  to  Alton,  111.,  where  she  died 
in  1851.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lea  are  the  parents 
of  eioht  children,  three  of  whom  died  in  in- 
fancy,  and  four  are  living — Edwin,  a  farmer 


of  this  county;  Charlie;  Harry,  who  died  at 
the  age  of  seventeen;  Jennie  and  Sammy. 

PRESTON    SHEPHERD,   farmer,  P.   O. 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Kentucky  on  Novem- 
ber 7, 1832.     When  an  infant,  he  was  brought 
to  Illinois  by  his  parents,  who  settled  east  of 
Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County,  but,  after  a 
few   years,   removed     to   Section    15,    North 
Litchfield  Township;  his  father  owned   120 
acres  of  timber  land  there,  and  died  on  the 
farm  where  Bluford  Bandy  now  lives,  leaving 
a  wife  and  four  children,  two  of  whom  are 
deceased.     Hiram  Shepherd,  the  only  brother 
of  our  subject,  lives  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Montgomery  County.     The  widowed  mother, 
Mrs.  Anna  (Brown)  Shepherd,  died  in  1846, 
leaving  our  subject  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  an 
orphan   without  means:    she  had   been  pre- 
viously married  to  Mr.  Henry  Hill,  and  had 
two  children  of  that  marriage.     When  thrown 
upon  his  own  resources  at  so  early  an  age, 
I  Mr.  Shepherd  worked   by  the   month,  doing 
different  kinds  of  work;  he  was  frugal,  and, 
with  his  savings,  purchased  his  brothers'  and 
sisters'  interests  in  their  father's  estate;  hav- 
ing gotten  that  in  his  possession,  he  farmed 
it  until  1862,  when  he  exchanged   it  for  his 
present  farm  in  Section  16,  of  120  acres,  to 
which  he  since  has  added  largely.      Mr.  Shep- 
herd has  lived  here  just  twenty  years,  during 
which  period  he  has  been  very  successful  rais- 
ing cram;  he  has  now  330  acres  of  land,  all 
earned  by  his   own  labor  and  perseverance, 
except  the  one-fourth  interest  bequeathed  him 
of  his  father's  farm  of  120  acres.     In  1857,  he 
married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Thompson,  daughter 
of  Peter  Thompson,  a  fanner  of  this  county; 
he  is  the  father  of  eight  children,  three  of 
whom  are  deceased. 

JOSEPH  STREHLE,  retired,  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Aeffingen,  Wurteui- 
berg,  Germany,  on  June  10, 1S35;  he  attended 
school   until   he  attained  the  age  of  fourteen 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


years,  and  then  served  three  years'  apprentice- 
ship to  the  trade  of  wood-turning.  In  1854, 
he  came  to  the  United  States,  locating  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  entered  a  bakery,  re- 
maining one  year;  the  following  year,  he 
came  to  Alton,  111.,  and  conducted  a  confec- 
tionery and  restaurant  business  there  until 
1866,  when  he  came  to  Litchfield,  111. ;  here 
he  established  a  bakery,  which  he  conducted 
until  1880  with  fair  success,  and  then  sold 
out  on  account  of  feeble  health.  At  Alton, 
in  1S60,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Eiter,  who 
died  five  years  later,  leaving  two  daughters. 
He  married  Miss  Minnie  Weipert,  of  Litch- 
field, in  1868,  which  union  has  been  blessed 
with  one  son.  His  father,  John  Strehle,  was 
a  farmer  and  baker,  and  died  when  our  sub- 
ject was  but  nine  years  old;  his  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Barbara  Menne:  he  has  two 
brothers  living  in  Wurtemberg. 

EDWARD  SUMMERFIELD,  merchant 
tailor  and  clothier,  Litchfield,  was  born  in 
Posen,  Prussia,  on  August  5,  1829;  his  an- 
cestors for  several  generations  were  mer- 
chants. He  received  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Posen,  and  from  private 
instruction  in  his  father's  home,  which,  at  the 
ace  of  sixteen  years,  he  left,  and  traveled  in 
England,  selling  merchandise  until  1856, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  States,  landing 
in  New  York  in  September.  From  there  by 
ocean  route  he  went  to  New  Orleans,  thence 
to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  which  place  he  reached  in 
March,  1857,  with  small  means;  he  traveled 
thence  into  Illinois  for  one  year,  with  mer- 
chandise, and,  during  that  period,  decided  to 
locate  here,  which  he  did  on  March  13.  1S5S; 
he  opened  a  stock  of  clothing,  and  was  the 
first  regular  clothier  to  locate  here;  his  first 
stock  cost  $850,  and  his  business  has  grown 
steadily  from  year  to  year;  by  close  attention 
to  buisness,  he  has  built  up  a  large  trade; 
for  several  years  he  conducted  the  business 


personally,  until  it  largely  increased,  and, 
since  1870,  has  admitted  some  of  his  employes 
into  partnership,  and  at  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter,  in  1880,  the  present  firm,  Summer- 
field  &  Co.,  consisting  of  Mr.  Summerfield 
and  his  son-in-law,  I.  L.  Mossier,  formerly  of 
Indianapolis,  Ind.,  was  formed.  During  his 
twenty- four  years'  experience  here,  he  has 
educated  a  goodly  number  of  young  men  in 
the  clothing  trade,  many  of  whom  are  now 
very  successful  business  men;  in  LSliT.  he 
added  a  merchant  tailoring  department,  and 
now  occupies  two  large  business  rooms;  in  his 
business  and  manufacturing  department,  he 
employs  twenty  men.  In  1880,  Mr.  Sum- 
merfield began  the  manufacture  of  gas  for  the 
purpose  of  lighting  his  business  rocrns,  which 
are  illuminated  by  fifty-four  jets;  his  stock 
has  grown  with  consecutive  years  of  active 
labor  and  constantly  increasing  sales,  from 
$850  to  $50,000  per  year. 

C.  R.  STEVENSON,  passenger  and  freight 
agent  of  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pacific 
Railroad,  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Lawrence- 
burg,  Ind.,  July  6,  1856;  when  quite  young, 
he  went  with  his  parents  to  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
where  he  lived  until  he  was  nine  years  old; 
the  family  then  removed  to  New  York  City, 
where  they  lived  until  1878.  Mr.  Stevenson 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  New 
York  City,  and  in  private  schools  in  New  En- 
gland. In  the  spring  of  1871,  he  went  to 
Europe,  where  he  attended  a  preparatory 
school  at  Dresden  one  year,  and  another  at 
Munich,  Bavaria,  for  the  same  length  of  time, 
after  which  he  spent  three  years  there  in  the 
study  of  engineering  in  the  Polytechnic  In- 
stitute. In  July,  1876,  he  returned,  and 
worked  on  the  architecture  of  the  Coney  Isl- 
and and  Manhattan  Beach  Hotel,  where  for 
a  time  he  remained  as  clerk.  In  January, 
1878,  he  was  made  a  clerk  in  the  general  freight 
office  of    the    Wabash    Railroad   at   Toledo, 


LITCHFIELD. 


173 


Ohio,  remaining  one  and  a  half  years.  He 
then  came  to  Litchfield,  in  July,  1  S7(J,  where 
he  since  has  been  passenger  and  freight  agent 
of  the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  &  Pacific  Railroad. 
His  father,  Columbus  S.  Stevenson,  was  born 
in  New  Orleans,  La.,  in  1817,  but  moved  to 
Kentucky  when  young,  and  lived  in  that 
State  and  in  Indiana  until  after  the  late  war, 
in  which  he  served,  being  Paymaster;  later, 
he  was  Cashier  of  the  State  National  Bank  of 
Indiana,  at  Indianapolis;  he  is  now  Inspector 
of  the  Manhattan  Elevated  Railroad.  He 
married,  in  New  York  City,  Miss  Julia  Ellis, 
a  native  of  that  city. 

F.  M.  STRATTON,  physician  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Jefferson  County,  Ind.,  Septem- 
ber 22,  1821),  and,  being  left  an  orphan  at  an 
early  age,  he  began,  when  nine  years  old,  to 
earn  a  living  and  secure  an  education  for 
himself;  he  was  employed  in  a  drug  store  at 
that  place  for  a  period  of  one  and  a  half 
years;  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  he  removed  to 
Jefferson  County,  Ivy.,  thence  to  Henry 
County,  Ky. .  where,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
he  began  to  learn  the  trade  of  carpentering, 
at  which  he  hoped  to  earn  means  to  pay  for 
an  education;  he  served  as  apprentice  three 
years,  and  then  began  taking  contracts.  In 
the  evening,  after  his  work  by  the  fire- 
light he  studied  medicine,  being  without 
a  tutor;  his  early  education  was  obtained 
through  many  difficulties,  and  all  his  spare 
hours  were  devoted  to  earnest  study  of  the 
profession  he  has  since  adopted  and  now 
practices  with  marked  success.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-two  years,  he  married,  in  Kentucky, 
and  in  1832,  removed  to  Morgan  County,  Ind. , 
taking  some  large  contracts  at  Morgan  town, 
which  he  completed  with  good  success.  In 
August  of  the  following  year,  he  returned  to 
Kentucky,  and  there  his  wife  died  in  June, 
1854.  In  the  fall  of  that  year,  he  entered 
the  Medical  Department  of  Michigan  Univer- 


sity at  Ann  Arbor,  taking  a  six-months' 
course,  at  the  close  of  which  he  entered  the 
office  of  Dr.  O.  B.  Payne,  at  Columbus,  Adams 
Co.,  111.  In  the  fall  of  1855,  he  entered  the 
Iowa  University  at  Keokuk,  and  graduated  in 
medicine  in  March,  1856.  He  located  at 
Ashland,  Iowa,  where  he  practiced  a  short 
time;  he  then  removed  to  Mill  River,  Mass., 
and  practiced  among  the  old  Berkshire  hiHs 
eighteen  months,  and  again,  in  1858,  removed 
to  Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  where  he  practiced 
three  years,  leaving,  in  May,  1861,  for  Louis- 
ville. Ky,  where,  with  his  brother,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business.  The  war  coming 
on  and  cutting  off  Southern  trade  made  it 
expedient  for  them  to  sell  out  their  stock  cf 
drugs,  which  they  did  in  less  than  a  year, 
and  the  following  winter,  he  took  a  partial 
course  of  lectures  in  the  University  of  Louis- 
ville. In  May,  1862,  he  landed  in  Hillsboro, 
111.,  and  there  became  the  medical  partner  of 
Dr.  Owen;  here  he  continued  two  years,  and, 
in  April,  1864,  he  started  overland  for  Mon- 
tana Territory,  in  search  of  adventure,  gold 
and  health;  he  spent  nearly  two  years  in  the 
mines,  and  returned  to  Illinois  in  July,  1866, 
locating  permanently  in  Litchfield,  where  he 
has  practiced  ever  since,  except  during  a  por- 
tion of  the  years  1877  and  1878,  which  he 
spent  in  Kentucky  and  Texas.  Mr.  Stratton'  s 
children  are  John  A.,  Owen  T.  and  Francis 
M.  Dr.  Owen  was  for  over  seventeen  years 
in  the  same  office  with  our  subject. 

MOSES  B.  SAVAGE,  merchant,  Litchfield,, 
was  born  in  Granville,  Washington  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  on  June  8,  1803,  and,  at  the  age  of  one 
year,  was  removed  by  his  parents  to  Onon- 
daga County;  he  received  a  good  common- 
school  education,  and  remained  with  his  fa- 
ther until  he  was  thirty  years  of  age,  assist- 
ing him  on  the  farm  and  in  his  mills  and 
shops.  He  was  married,  at  Delphi,  N.  Y.,  in 
February,   1828,  to  a  Miss  Clark,  who  died 


174 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


March  12,  1830.     October  23,  1835,  he  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Sophia  Cobb,  a  native  of  Greenville, 
N.  Y. ,  daughter  of  Aaron  and  Eebecca  (Tut 
tie)  Lake.      Mr.    Savage  had    the   following 
children:     Lucia  M.,  deceased.  Marcia  Ade- 
line, Sophia  Lake  and  Moses.      In  1833,  he 
went  to  Michigan,  and  lived  in  Monroe  eleven 
years,    engaged  in  mercantile  business;    he 
then  went  back  to  New  York,  and  was  two 
years  in  Onondaga  County ;  he  hoped  thus  to 
regain  his  health,  which  became  impaired  in 
Michigan.      In    1847,  he  went  to  New   York 
City;  residing  in  Brooklyn,  he  was  Superin- 
tendent of   a   large  manufacturing  establish- 
ment for  a  period  of  ten  years.     He  came  to 
Litchfield    in   March,    1857,    and   formed   a 
part  ership   with    E.    E.    Litchfield    iu    the 
hardware  business,  continuing  two  years;  he 
next  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business,  and 
continued  two  years,  after  which  he  was   a 
partner  in  mercantile  business  with  Mr.  Pal- 
mer,  with   whom,   under    the    firm    name  of 
Palmer  &  Co.,  he  was  connected  from  1869  to 
1879,  since  which  time  he  has  been  salesman 
for  Mr.  Towey.     Mr.  Savage  has  been  in  ac- 
tive business  for  nearly  fifty  years;  he  was 
the  third  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Litchfield:  po 
litically.  he  was  a  Whig,  and  is  a  Eepublican. 
WILLIAM  B.  SCHOEN,  merchant,  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  on  Oc- 
tober   13,  1843.     He  was   in  his  fifth  year 
when  he  came  with  his  parents  to  the  United 
States;  they  settled  in  Franklin  County,  Mo., 
and  his  father  carried  on  a  shoe-shop  there 
until  1853,  when  they  removed  to  Baltimore, 
Md. ;  there  our  subject  lived  with  them  until 
1857,  when  he  came  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and 
lived  with   an  uncle,  entering  his  employ  in 
a  gun  and  jewelry  store,  and  continuing  until 
the  war  broke  out,  when  his  uncle  became  a 
Sutler,  attached  to  the  Fifteenth  Army  Corps, 
and   Mr.  Schoen  became  its  manager,  acting 
as  such  until  1804,  when  he  was  employed  in 


Little  Bock,  Ark.,  for  a  year,  as  clerk;  he  next 
opened  a  dry  goods  and  clothing  house  in 
Mattoon,  111.,  and  conducted  business  therein 
until  March,  I860,  when  he  engaged  in  the 
clothing  and  gents'  furnishing  business  in 
Kansas  City,  Mo.,  until  October,  1868,  when 
he  went  to  Omaha,  Neb.,  remaining  until 
1870,  in  the  clothing  trade.  In  February, 
1870,  he  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  and  here 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  Levy  &  Schoen, 
J.  Levy  being  the  senior  partner  in  the  house 
until  September  1,  1875,  when  he  sold  to  his 
brother,  S.  Levy,  and  the  new  firm  continued 
under  the  same  name  until  February  18, 
1878,  when  it  was  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Schoen 
has  since  continued  the  business  in  his  own 
name.  He  located  at  No.  45  State  street,  and 
there  does  a  prosperous  business  in  dry  goods, 
millinery  and  fancy  goods;  he  employs  six 
persons,  exclusive  of  the  dress-niaking  depart- 
ment, which  employs  from  ten  to  fifteen  la- 
dies. Mr.  Schoen  was  married,  in  Baltimore, 
Md.,  December  4, 1873,  to  Rose  Mandelbaum, 
a  native  of  Winchester,  Ya.,  born  February 
4,  1856;.  they  have  one  child,  Ira  D. 

EZRA  TYLER,  deceased,  was  born  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  in  1793,  and  lived  near  his  birth- 
place during  his  youth,  receiving  a  good 
common-school  education,  after  which  he  en- 
gaged his  services  as  clerk  until  he  reached 
manhood,  when  he  came  West  to  Indiana  and 
settled  on  a  farm  near  Michigan  City,  where 
he  married  Miss  Maria  Connaway;  in  a  few 
years,  he  removed  to  Aiu-ora,  Ind. ,  and  there 
conducted  a  farm  until  1846,  when  he  sold 
out  and  came  to  Montgomery  County,  111., 
where  he  bought  a  farm  of  about  five  hundred 
acres  in  different  sections  in  South  Litchfield 
Township,  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  which  comprised  that  part  of  Litchfield 
City  south  of  the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad.  This  portion  of  the  county  was 
but  sparsely  settled  when  he  came,  and  he 


LITCHFIELD. 


175 


was  obliged  to  tiud  market  and  trading  points 
at  Hillsboro,  Carlinville  and  St.  Louis.  He 
erected  a  log  cabin  near  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  city  limits,  now  known  as  Tyler's  Third 
Addition,  where  he  lived  five  years,  and  then 
built  the  house  now  occupied  by  his  son, 
Larkin.  whose  sketch  is  hereunto  appended. 
Until  the  completion  of  the  Indianapolis  & 
St.  Louis  Railroad,  he  devoted  his  attention 
to  farming,  and  afterward,  in  addition  to  his 
farming  interests,  he  bought  and  enlarged  a 
steam  flouring-mill,  located  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Planet  Mills,  and  ran  it  several  years; 
he  then  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brick, 
and  sold  to  different  parties  tracts  of  land, 
out  of  which  three  additions  were  made  to  the 
city.  In  politics,  he  was  a  Whig,  and  subse- 
quently a  Republican,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  public  affairs.  He  died  in  the  fall  of  1872. 
He  was  the  father  of  twelve  children,  all  but 
one  born  in  Indiana;  but  three  are  deceased; 
those  living  are,  viz. :  Mrs.  James  Parmlee, 
now  near  Los  Angelos,  Gal. ;  Jesse,  John  and 
Shelby,  residents  of  Kansas;  Mrs.  Ed  C. 
Thorpe  and  Mrs.  James  Thalls.  Those  who 
reside  in  this  county  are  Miss  Almira  Tyler, 
William  and  Larkin  G.  Larkin  Gr.  Tyler  was 
born  near  Aurora,  Ind. ,  in  October,  L845,  and 
was  but  one  year  old  when  his  parents  moved 
to  this  county,  where  he  has  since  resided, 
receiving  his  education  here  in  the  public 
schools.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  he  en- 
gaged his  services  as  clerk  in  the  clothing 
house  of  A.  R.  Monforte,  continuing  his  serv- 
ices one  year,  when  the  firm  of  Ludden  & 
Forrester  came  here,  and  he  engaged  his  serv- 
ices  to  them;  the  firm  afterward  became  Lud- 
den &  Taylor;  he  remained  in  that  house 
some  three  years.  In  1866,  he  engaged  in 
the  grocery  business  on  Jackson  street,  and 
for  eight  years  conducted  business  there.  In 
June,  1877,  he  became  Assistant  Postmaster, 
serving  for  a  short  time,   when  he  became 


agent  for  the  American  and  the  United  States 
Express  Companies,  which  agencies  he  re- 
tained until  the  latter  was  superseded  by  the 
Pacific  Express  Company,  since  which  time 
he  has  conducted  the  agency  of  the  American 
Express  Company  exclusively.  He  represents 
several  fire  insurance  companies.  He  is  a 
stanch  Republican,  and  served  as  Alderman 
of  Litchfield.  In  1873,  he  married  Miss 
Lytle,  of  Carlinville. 

LUKE  TERRY  was  born  in  1833,  in  Har  - 
rison  County,  Old  Virginia  (now  West  Vir 
ginia).  He  received  a  fair  education  in  the 
schools  of  his  native  State,  which  he  im- 
proved by  his  own  personal  efforts.  On  at- 
taining his  majority,  he  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising, and  speculating  in  various  enterprises. 
In  the  fall  of  1865,  he  came  to  Illinois,  and 
purchased  190  acres  of  land  in  North  Litch- 
field Township  where  he  has  since  resided, 
engaged  in  farming  and  the  raising  of  stock 
of  a  fine  grade;  he  has  a  fine  orchard  on  his 
farm.  In  1857,  lie  married  Ann  Eliza  Mc- 
Kiuney,  a  native  of  West  Virginia,  who  bore 
him  seven  sons,  of  whom  five  are  living. 
Mr.  Terry  lived  near  the  West  Virginia  oil 
region,  and,  previous  to  and  during  the  war, 
operated  in  oil  and  oil  lands;  he  also  dealt 
in  horses. 

J.  W.  THYNNE  was  born  iu  Dublin,  Ire- 
land, in  1842;  his  parents  were  of  Scotch  de- 
scent. He  received  his  education  in  a  paro- 
chial school  about  seventeen  miles  south  of 
Dublin,  having  moved  from  the  city  when 
nine  years  old;  left  school  at  the  age  of  fif 
teen  and  worked  at  farming;  clerked  in  a 
store  for  a  time,  and  also  followed  the  occu- 
pation of  a  fisherman.  In  1 862,  he  emigrated 
to  the  United  States,  and  came  to  St  Louis, 
Mo,  in  November  of  that  year,  where  he 
lived  with  his  step-father,  a  merchant  tailor 
of  that  city,  until  August  3,  1863,  when  he 
enlisted  in  Company  K,  Eleventh  Missouri 


176 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Cavalry,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  in  Third  Brigade,  Second  Division  of 
the  Seventh  Corps,  which  operated  in  Arkan- 
sas until  they  were  ordered  to  New  Orleans, 
La.,  where  they  were  mustered  out  in  1865; 
he  first  served  as  private;  was  promoted  to  a 
Sergeancy,  and  afterward  commissioned  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant  of  his  company.  At  the  close 
of  the  war,  he  returned  to  St.  Louis  and  en- 
gaged in  tailoring  with  his  step-father  until 
1868,  studying,  meanwhile,  in  his  spare 
hours,  at  the  Rohrer  Commercial  College  of 
St.  Louis,  from  which  he  graduated;  he  held 
the  position  of  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Chief 
Commissary  of  the  Military  Division  of  Mis- 
souri for  thirteen  months;  was  engaged  as 
clerk  and  book-keeper  in  Alton,  111.,  and 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  for  twenty  months;  he  was 
employed  as  book-keeper  with  George  S. 
Shryock  &  Co. ,  tobacco  manufacturers,  three 
years,  and  afterward  at  Victoria,  Ark.,  as 
clerk,  for  nearly  a  year;  he  then  returned  to 
St.  Louis,  where  he  held  the  position  of  book- 
keeper for  the  Home  Bitters  Company  six 
years;  afterward,  book-keeper  in  the  office  of 
the  Atlantic  Milling  Company  from  Febru- 
ary, 1881,  until  August  of  the  same  year, 
when  he  came  to  Litchfield  and  bought  the 
B.  B.  B.  Mills,  which  he  has  since  conducted 
under  the  firm  name  of  J.  W.  Thynne  &  Co. 
Mr.  Thynne  married,  in  Litchfield,  in  1878, 
Emma,  daughter  of  Peter  Boxberger,  of 
Litchfield;  the  mills  (old  process)  are  situat- 
ed on  the  Bee  Line;  they  have  a  capacity  of 
about  eighty  barrels  a  day,  and  do  a  good 
custom  and  merchant  business. 

CHARLES  T.  TOBIN  was  born  in  New 
Orleans,  La.,  August  25,  1849.  His  father, 
who  was  a  grocer,  moved  to  St.  Louis  when 
subject  was  two  years  old,  and  remained  there 
three  years,  during  which  time  four  of  subject's 
brothers  died  of  cholera.  The  family  then 
removed   to   Peoria    County,    111.,    in    1854, 


where  the  father  died  about  four  years  after- 
ward, leaving  five  small  children.  Charles  T. 
being  the  second  son  living.  The  mother 
then  moved  with  her  family  to  Brimfield, 
Peoria  County,  where  the  boys  worked  at 
anything  they  could  find  to  do  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  family.  Charles  T.  worked  on  a 
farm  in  summer  and  attended  the  town  school 
in  winter.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  en- 
tered the  office  of  the  Carlinville  Democrat. 
where  he  remained  four  years,  and  thoroughly 
mastered  the  business  in  its  various  branches; 
he  then  obtained  a  position  as  foreman  on  the 
Cape  Girardeau  News;  stayed  about  a  year, 
and  came  to  Hillsboro,  111.,  in  March.  1870; 
became  foreman  of  the  Hillsboro  Neics  Letter, 
working  half  time  in  the  office,  attending  the 
remainder  of  the  day  the  Hillsboro  Academy, 
and  pursuing  his  studies  at  night;  he  pur- 
chased the  News  Letter  September  11,  1874, 
and.  in  partnership  with  James  L.  Slack, 
published  the  Hillsboro  Journal,  the  succes- 
sor of  the  News  Letter.  After  six  months, 
he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  Mr. 
Slack,  and  became  foreman  of  the  Illinois 
Sentinel,  of  Jacksonville,  remaining  in  that 
position  three  months.  He  then  went  to 
Springfield,  Mo.,  where  he  had  been  engaged 
as  foreman  in  the  office  of  the  Springfield 
Leader.  There  he  remained  six  months;  was 
afterward  foreman  of  the  Shelbyville  Leader 
for  a  short  time.  and.  July  30,  1875,  pur- 
chased the  Hillsboro  Journal,  changed  the 
name  to  that  of  the  Montgomery  News,  and, 
after  eight  months,  sold  a  half  interest  in  the 
paper  to  Ben  A.  Johnson.  After  this  firm  had 
published  the  paper  a  year,  George  W.  Pais- 
ley, on  August  11,  1876,  bought  out  Johnson's 
interest  in  the  business;  this  new  firm  then 
managed  the  paper  till  February  23,  1882, 
when  they  sold  out  to  Col.  Johnson.  Pais- 
ley &  Tobin  then  purchased  the  Litchfield 
Democrat,  changed  the  name  to  the  Litchfield 


LITCHFIELD. 


177 


Advocate,  and  have  since  conducted  it  under 
that  name. 

JAMES  TOBIN,  foreman  machinery  de- 
partment car  and  machine  shops,  Litchfield, 
a  native  of  County  Clare,  Ireland,  was  born 
in  1S3S.  Coming  alone  to  America  in  1850, 
he  was  for  a  year  a  student  in  Burr  Semi- 
nary, Vermont,  and  then  went  to  sea,  sailing 
to  Cadiz  via  New  Orleans,  and  then  making 
several  voyages  between  New  York  and  Liv- 
erpool, going  next  around  the  Horn  to  San 
Francisco;  on  the  return  voyage,  he  visited 
Callao  and  Lima,  and  then  the  Chincha  Isl- 
ands; doubling  Cape  Horn,  he  sailed  to  En- 
gland, and  then  on  order  to  New  York.  After 
six  years  of  seafaring,  and  reaching  the  posi- 
tion of  Second  Mate,  he  abandoned  nautical 
life  and  entered  a  machine  shop  under  in- 
struction. In  December,  1857,  he  began 
work  here  for  the  Terre  Haute  &  Alton  Kail- 
road,  first  as  a  fireman,  then  as  clerk  in  the 
storeroom,  and  then  for  ten  years  as  time- 
taker  in  the  shops,  until,  in  1870,  they  were 
removed  to  Mattoon.  When  the  Litchfield 
Car  Works  were  opened,  in  1872,  he  entered 
their  service,  and,  in  March,  1881,  was  fore- 
man of  the  machinery  department.  He  mar- 
ried, in  May,  18*59,  Miss  Eliza  Moon,  a 
daughter  of  his  native  isle. 

JOHN  H.  TILDEN,  M.  D.,  Litchfield. 
Joseph  G.  Tilden  was  born  in  Norwich, 
Windsor  Co.,  Vt.,  on  May  19,  1810;  he  was 
the  son  of  John  Tilden,  a  New  Hampshire 
farmer;  his  mother's  maiden  name  was  Grace 
Goodrich,  of  Vermont,  where  John  Tilden 
ultimately  settled  and  raised  his  family,  con- 
sisting of  five  boys  and  one  girl.  Joseph  G. 
began  his  education  in  the  common  schools 
of  Vermont,  and,  in  that  State  and  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, he  taught  school,  at  the  same  time 
pursuing  his  medical  studies;  he  attended 
lectures  in  the  medical  schools  of  Castleton 
and  Woodstock,  graduating  at  the  University 


of  Norwich.     Following  this,  he  pursued  his 
post    graduate   studies,    in   connection    with 
school-teaching,  for  eight  years.     At  High- 
land, 111.,  he  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  for  two  years  taught  the  schools 
of  that  place.     He  removed  to  Van  Burens- 
burg,    Montgomery    County,    in    1843.    that 
place  being  then  one  of  the  best   business 
points  in  the  county;  he  practiced  his  profes- 
sion there,  in  conjunction  with  the  drug  aud 
general    merchandise    business,    until    1871, 
when  he  removed  to  Raymond,  111.,  where  he 
now  lives.      He  was  one  of  the  first  practi- 
tioners of  this  county;  when  he  located  here, 
he  found  Drs.  Hillis  and  Herrick  practicing 
in  Hillsboro,  and  Dr.  Lane  at  Fillmore;  they 
were  the  only  regular  doctors  here,  he  thinks, 
and  there  may  have  been   a  few  irregular. 
In  that  early  day,  the  country  was  rough  and 
wild,    the    doctors    being    obliged    to   travel 
mostly    on    horseback,    and,    owing    to    the 
sparsely  settled  country,  their  rides  were  long 
and  tiresome;  he  rode  twenty  miles, his  prac- 
tice extending  to  near  where  Ramsey,  Noko- 
mis  and  Irving  are  now  located,  and  also  into 
Fayette  and  Bond  Counties ;  to-day,  he  is  the 
only  surviving   physician   who  practiced    in 
Montgomery  County  when  he   settled    here. 
Joseph    G.    was   married    to   Ann  W.   Hill, 
daughter  of    John  and  Sarah  (Casey)   Hill, 
who  was  born  in  this  county   in    1 N 1 9,   her 
parents   being    among    the    early   emigrants 
here  from    Kentucky.      From  that  marriage 
have    been  born  nine  children:    three  daugh- 
ters   died    in    early    infancy;    the    six    re- 
maining are   Joseph,  a  locomotive  engineer, 
living  in  Mississippi;  John  H.,  subject;  Scott 
S.,    druggist,    of    Raymond;     Seth    H.,  now 
studying  medicine  with  his  father;  Ruth  E., 
wife  of  H.  C.  Coleman,  commission  merchant 
of    St.   Louis;    and   George  A.,  who  is  drug 
clerk  for  his  brother  Scott.      Dr.    John   H. 
Tilden,  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 


178 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Montgomery  County,  111.,  on  January  21, 
1851,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Litchfield.  He  left  home  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  to  labor  for  his  own  support  and 
education.  He  began  the  &tudy  of  medicine 
with  his  father,  and,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
had  finished  reading  several  works  on  medi- 
cine. In  September,  1869,  he  entered  the 
office  of  Dr.  J.  Fellows, of  Nokomis,  111.,  and 
read  two  years,  when  he  entered  the  Eclectic 
Medical  Institute  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  attend- 
ing lectures  there  two  sessions,  and  graduat- 
ing on  May.  21,  1872.  He  began  practice  in 
Nokomis.  111.,  continuing  eight  years;  in  the 
meantime,  during  the  spring  of  1877,  taking 
a  post  graduate  course  in  the  American  Med- 
ical College  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.  In  August. 
1879,  he  left  Nokomis.  and  for  two  sessions 
was  connected  with  the  American  Medical 
College  as  lecturer  in  anatomy  and  physiol- 
ogy, residing  in  St.  Louis  until  June,  1881, 
when  he  came  to  Litchfield  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Dr.  R.  F.  Bennett,  with 
whom,  under  the  firm  name  of  Bennett  &  Til- 
den,  he  enjoys  a  large  and  lucrative  practice; 
he  is  a  member  of  the  State  and  county  med- 
ical societies,  and  was  elected  Adjunct  Pro- 
fessor of  Anatomy  in  the  American  Medical 
College  in  June,  1872.  In  September.  1873, 
he  married  Miss  Rebecca  Maddux,  of  Hi  11s- 
boro,  111.,  and  by  their  union  there  are  two 
children  living,  namely,  Edna  and  Elsie. 

EDWIN  C.  THORP,  grocer,  Litchfield, 
was  born  at  Upper  Alton,  111.,  May  21,  1843. 
At  the  age  of  five  years,  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Springfield,  and,  after  living  there 
three  years,  moved  to  Woodburn,  111.,  where 
he  remained  until  1862,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Capt. 
Carr's  company  at  Upper  Alton,  and  served 
two  years;  he  was  ten  months  in  the  Eight- 
ieth Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  assigned 
to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland;  his  regiment 


passed  through  twenty-three  hard  fought  en- 
gagements, besides  skirmishes;  he  was  in  all 
the  active  engagements  of  his  regiment,  and 
was  onlv  off  duty  three  days  from  sickness; 
he  was  taken  pr'soner  on  Sand  Mounta'n  in 
1863.  while  on  a  raid  in  Georgia;  Col. 
Streights'  brigade  were  all  captured,  and 
were  only  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  fourteen 
days,  when  they  were  paroled.  Mr.  Thorp 
was  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
came  to  Litchfield  in  July,  1865;  here  he 
engaged  in  the  fruit  and  grocery  business  on 
State  street,  continuing  for  a  period  of  five 
months;  after  selling  off  his  stock,  he  was 
successively  an  employe  in  the  business  houses 
of  Smith  &  Tuttle,  J.  Levy,  L.  Ltvy  and  Val- 
entine Hoffman;  Mr.  Hoffman  sold  his  inter- 
est to  Ezra  Tyler,  and  our  subject  continued 
for  a  time  with  the  new  firm;  he  afterward 
entered  the  employ  of  Mr.  Stetson,  continuing 
eighteen  months,  when  he  went  into  business 
for  himself,  buying  out  William  Edwards  in 
December,  1872,  but  in  a  few  months  sold 
his  stock  at  auction.  After  spending  five 
months  as  shipping  clerk  in  a  sash  and  blind 
factory  in  Chicago,  111.,  he  returned  to  Litch- 
field and  engaged  his  services  to  Mr.  Hoffman 
again;  after  continuing  five  years,  he  became 
the  partner  of  Mr.  Leach,  and  established  a 
grocery  and  boot  and  shoe  business  on  Jack- 
son street,  near  the  Catholic  Church;  here 
they  have  built  up  a  large  and  flourishing 
trade;  in  1881,  they  enlarged  and  improved 
their  store.  Mr.  Thorp  was  married,  on  May 
23,  1867,  to  Miss  Rachel  L.  Tyler,  daughter 
of  Ezra  Tyler,  of  Litchfield;  they  have  six 
children — Addison  O,  William  T,  Frances, 
.Edwin,  an  infant  child  which  died  unnamed, 
and  Bertha. 

JAMES  THALLS.  undertaker,  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Preble  County,  Ohio,  near 
Eaton,  on  June  27,  1825.  and  lived  there 
until   1852.     At  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he 


LITCHFIELD. 


179 


learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  he  fol- 
lowed, in  connection  with  farming,  in  Ohio, 
and  moved  to  this  (Montgomery)  county  in 
the  fall  of  1S52,  settling  on  a  farm  of  eight} 
acres,  which  now  is  included  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  city  of  Litchfield.  In 
1853,  he  sold  his  farm,  and  until  I860  de- 
voted his  attention  to  his  trade,  putting  up 
many  of  the  early  buildings  of  this  city, 
among  others  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
also  took  several  contracts  in  the  county.  In 
1860,  he  bought  another  farm,  west  of  the 
city,  and  conducted  it,  at  the  same  time  ply- 
ing his  trade:  this  farm  he  owned  twenty 
years.  Mr.  Thalls  has  been  a  contractor 
here  for  almost  thirty  years.  In  1882,  he 
engaged  in  the  undertaking  business  on 
Barnes  street,  with  Edward  Greene.  In 
1848,  he  married  Miss  Hester  D.  Whitlock, 
in  Eaton,  Ohio;  she  died  in  1868,  leaving  six 
children,  all  of  whom  are  now  living.  In 
1870,  he  married  Mrs.  Maria  Shore,  daughter 
of  Ezra  Tyler;  he  has  one  son  by  the  last 
marriage.  Mr.  Thalls  is  a  consistent  mem- 
ber  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  - 

D.  A.  TINKLEPAUGH.  engineer,  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  in 
1839,  and  came  "West  in  1856  with  his  par- 
ents, who  settled  in  Livingston  County,  111., 
removing  thence  to  Iroquois  County,  where 
Lis  father  died  in  1864.  Five  years  after  that 
event,  oiu  subject  went  to  Chicago,  111.,  and 
there  entered  upon  an  apprenticeship  in  the 
machine  shop  of  Mason  &  McArthur.  serving 
three  years,  after  which  he  worked  for  a  short 
time  as  journeyman  in  that  city.  He  soon 
began  running  an  engine,  and,  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  went  to  Milwaukee.  Wis.,  where  he 
acted  as  engineer  for  Hunter  &  Bros,  in  their 
large  mills  for  a  period  of  about  four  years, 
at  the  expiration  of  which  he  went  to  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.,  where  for  ten  years  he  was 
chief  engineer  in  the  large  lumber  mills  of 


William  H.  Eldred;  he  went  thence  to  Sauk 
Center,  Minn.,  as  engineer  in  the  flouring- 
mills  of  Harmon  "Holmes  &  Co.,  continuing 
until  February,  1882,  on  the  20th  of  which 
month  he  came  to  Litchfield  and  became  chief 
engineer  in  the  Planet  Mills  of  D.  L.  Wing 
&  Co.,  which  responsible  position  he  holds  , 
still.  His  parents  were  natives  of  Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  his  father  was  a  farmer. 
MOTHER  URSULA,  Superior  of  Ursuline 
Community  at  Litchfield,  was  born  in  Elber- 
field,  Prussia,  where  she  lived  until  she  was 
twelve  years  of  age.  when  she  came  with  her 
parents  to  the  United  States,  in  1848.  They 
located  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  she  con- 
tinued her  education  with  the  Sisters  of  Notre 
Dame  for  a  period  of  two  years.  They  then 
removed  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  she  was 
further  educated  by  the  Sisters  of  "the  Sacred 
Heart,  until  1852.  Two  years  later,  she  en- 
tered the  community  of  the  Ursulines  at  St. 
Louis.  Mo.,  and,  in  1856,  took  the  vows  of 
that  order.  She  was  assigned  to  the  work  of 
teaching,  and  taught  in  St.  Louis  until  1859, 
when  they  established  a  community  of  Ursu- 
lines at  Alton,  111.,  and  she  was  one  of  the 
seven  sisters  who  took  charge  of  the  work  of 
teaching  there,  continuing  until  1880,  in  Sep- 
tember of  which  year  she  was  sent  to  preside 
as  Superior  of  the  community  of  Ursulines  at 
Litchfield.  111.:  she  at  present  has  charge  of 
the  academy. 

COL.  DELOS  VAN  DEUSEN.  Litchfield, 
banker,  was  born  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  in  De- 
cember, 1823,  and  there  received  a  good  aca- 
demic education.  He  came  West  in  1846,  and 
located  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  until  1857,  being 
connected  with  the  boot,  shoe  and  leather 
business,  and  moved  thence  to  Illinois,  locat- 
ing in  Litchfield  in  July,  1858.  After  the 
war  broke  out,  he  raised  a  company  of  vol- 
unteer infantry  for  three  years,  and  was 
elected  its  Captain;  this  company  was  the  first 


180 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


raised  in  this  section  of  the  country  for  three 
years,  as  the  call  for  three-year  volunteers 
had  but  recently  been  made;  he  raised  this 
company  at  that  time  when  Missouri  was  in 
danger  of  being  taken  by  the  Confederate  sol- 
diers, and  when  even  her  Governor  was  fa- 
voring the  rebellion;  this  made  the  demand 
for  Union  soldiers  in  Missouri  greater  thau 
the  supply,  and  our  subject,  with  his  com- 
pany, through  a  desire  to  enlist  their  services 
where  there  was  greatest  need,  went  imme- 
diately, June  16,  1862,  and  joined  the  Sixth 
Missouri  Infantry  in  defense  of  the  United 
States  Arsenal  at  St.  Louis;  their  company, 
with  the  regiment,  served  as  guard  to  Pilot 
Knob  and  Iron  Mountain,  and  in  November, 
went  to  join  Fremont  in  the  march  on  Spring- 
held;  returning,  they  went  into  camp  at  Ot 
terville  during  the  winter.  In  May,  1862, 
they  joined  Gen.  Grant  at  Pittsburg  Landing, 
becoming  a  part  of  the  First  Brigade,  Sec- 
ond Division,  Fifteenth  Army  Corps,  under 
command  of  Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman,  and  served 
with  his  army  until  the  close  of  the  war,  par- 
ticipating in  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Mission 
Ridge,  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  the  march 
to  the  sea,  through  Georgia  and  the  Caroli- 
nas.  Our  subject  commanded  his  company 
(H)  in  the  Sixth  Missouri  Regiment  until 
March,  1864,  when,  the  regiment  having  re- 
enlisted,  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the 
regiment,  and  advanced  to  the  rank  of  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel,  and  commanded  the  Veteran 
Sixth  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  being  mustered  out  of  serv- 
ice at  St.  Louis,  with  his  regiment,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1865  After  his  return  to  Litchfield, 
the  Colonel  served  four  years  as  City  Magis- 
trate, and,  at  the  expiration  of  that  period,  be- 
came Cashier  of  the  bank  of  Beach,  Davis  & 
Co  ,  which  position  he  still  creditably  tills; 
he  is  at  present  City  Treasurer,  which  office 
he  has  held  six  years. 


DANIEL  P  WOODMAN,  lumber-dealer, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Newbury,  Essex  Co., 
Mass.,  September  11,  1834,  and  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  went  to  St.  Louis  and 
became  a  clerk  in  a  wholesale  fancy  dry 
goods  house  on  Main  street ;  here  he  remained 
four  years,  when  he  removed  to  Louisville, 
Ky.  there  pursuing  the  same  vocation  for 
another  period  of  four  years.  In  July,  1861, 
he  came  to  Litchfield,  where,  ivith  his  uncle, 
he  was  engaged  for  over  a  year  in  the  cattle 
business.  In  June,  1863,  he  became  a  part- 
ner in  the  firm  Perley  &  Woodman,  at  Alton 
and  at  Litchfield,  the  business  being  lumber- 
dealing,  in  which  he  engaged  until  the 
death  of  Mr.  Perley,  in  1879,  since  which  time 
Mr.  Woodman  has  conducted  the  business  in 
his  own  name,  being  recognized  by  all  as  a 
prompt  and  efficient  business  man.  Mr. 
Woodman  was  married,  at  Bunker  Hill,  111., 
to  Miss  Knowlton,  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Elizabeth  (Woodward)  Knowlton,  both  na- 
tives of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Woodman  had  one 
child  who  died  August  17,  1872,  and  has  one 
living,  Mary  Perley,  born  December  6,  1879. 

JOHN  WIEGERS,  grocer,  Litchfield,  son 
of  Bernard  and  Elizabeth  (Konnig)  Wiegers, 
was  born  in  town  of  Lugde,  Prussia,  on  Au- 
gust 10,  1831.  He  left  school  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  years  and  entered  upon  an  appren- 
ticeship to  the  blacksmith's  trade  in  the  town 
of  Pirmont,  continuing  three  years,  after 
which  he  worked  three  and  a  half  years  in 
Hanover.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1853,  leaving  the  seaport  of  Bracke,  Wurtem- 
berg,  on  May  27,  and  sailing  seven  weeks, 
landing  at  New  York,  stopping  three  days  in 
the  city;  on  his  arrival,  he  had  $600.  Leav- 
ing New  York  City,  he  came  direct  to  Chica- 
go, 111.,  remaining  two  days;  thence  to  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  remaining  four  days,  going  thence 
to  Edwardsville,  111.,  where  he  worked  at  his 
trade  a  year,  his  remuneration  being  $14  per 


LITCHFIELD. 


181 


month;  after  this,  be  went  to  Alton,  where  he 
stayed  four  months,  during  which  time  he 
acted  as  waiter  in  the  Franklin  House.  He 
next  moved  to  Manchester,  Mo.,  where  he 
worked  nine  months  at  blacksmithing,  going 
thence  to  Iowa,  where  he  worked  four 
months  at  farming;  here  he  met  with  an  ac- 
cident with  a  threshing  machine;  resulting  in 
a  broken  leg,  which  disabled  him  for  thirty- 
three  weeks,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was 
in  debt  for  §37.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to 
do  so,  he  commenced  as  waiter  in  a  hotel, 
continuing  eight  months,  and  then  returned  to 
Edwardsville,  111.,  where  he  drove  a  mill  team 
two  months,  and  subsequently,  in  his  twenty - 
seventh  year,  entered  a  cooper-shop  there  for 
the  purpose  of  learning  the  trade;  he  served 
eight  months'  apprenticeship,  during  which 
time  he  gained  the  ability  to  do  good  work 
;md  receive  full  wages.  He  next  removed  to 
Staunton.  111.,  and  pursued  the  practice  of 
this  trade  for  fourteen  months.  In  the  spring 
of  I860,  he  came  to  Walshville,  Montgomery 
County,  with  a  capital  of  $24p,  which  enabled 
him  to  open  the  first  cooper-shop  for  himself, 
which  he  conducted  about  a  year,  when  he 
returned  to  Staunton,  being  in  the  cooper 
business  for  himself  until  March,  1N64,  when 
he  came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  on  the  27th  day 
of  the  month,  having  accumulated  a  capital 
of  $900.  On  coming  to  this  city,  he  pur- 
chased, for  8400,  a  barn,  of  Perley  &  Co., 
which  he  turned  into  a  cooper-shop  on  the 
site  of  his  present  store  and  lesidence;  the 
first  year  he  employed  fourteen  men,  and 
afterward  as  many  as  twenty-six  men;  from 
the  first,  he  had  the  confidence  of  all,  and  his 
credit  was  always  good.  He  continued  with 
good  success  until  1S73,  when  his  shop  and 
stock  burned,  with  a  loss  of  $4,000;  the  prop- 
erty was  insured  for  $1,600,  but  $1,000  being 
paid.  He  immediately  began  to  rebuild  the 
shops,  and  continued  in  the  cooper  business 


until  1881,  when  he  gave  his  entire  attention, 
instead,  to  mercantile  pursuits.  In  the  spring 
of  1879,  he  changed  into  storerooms  his  two- 
story  brick  building,  which  had  been  used  as 
his  cooper-shop,  and,  with  Mr.  Joseph  Bart- 
man,  under  the  firm  name  of  Wiegers  &  Co., 
he  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  liquor  busi- 
ness, at  which  he  still  continues,  with  good 
success.  Mr.  Wiegers  was  married,  in 
Staunton,  111.,  on  August  28.  1862,  to  Miss 
Spovleder,  of  that  place;  they  have  five  chil- 
dren living,  namely,  John,  Frederick,  Lisse, 
Christ  and  Anna. 

REV.  M.  WEIS.  priest,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Bavaria,  in  Franconia,  on  June  8, 1838, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  in  1852,  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  years,  with  his  parents, 
who  settled  in  Montgomery  County,  N.  Y.,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Amsterdam,  and  remained 
there  five  years.  He  came  to  Illinois  in 
1857,  settling  in  Effingham  County,  in  Teu- 
topolis  (called  German  City),  and  two  years 
later  began  teaching  in  a  primary  school,  con- 
tinuing one  year,  when  he  came  to  Edwards- 
ville, 111.,  and  there  for  two  years  taught  a 
parochial  school.  During  that  time  he 
studied,  preparatory  to  entering  St.  Joseph's 
College  at  Teutopolis,  which  he  did  in  the 
fall  of  1862.  He  studied  there  three  years, 
completing  classics  and  philosophy,  and  in 
the  summer  of  1865,  he  started  for  Montreal, 
Canada,  where  he  entered  upon  the  study  of 
theology,  in  the  Grand  Seminary  there,  in 
charge  of  the  Sulpician  Fathers,  where  he 
received  holy  orders.  He  was  ordained  to 
priesthood  at  the  Alton,  111.,  Cathedral,  by 
the  late  Bishop  Younger,  in  the  spring  of 
1868.  He  began  his  pastoral  work  by  taking 
charge  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  Vandalia, 
111 ,  having  also  missions  at  Ramsey,  Oconee, 
Sandoval  and  at  Vandalia.  After  a  year  and 
a  half  he  was  transferred  to  Marine,  Madison 
Co.,  111.,  where  he  remained  two  years.     In 

L 


182 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


September,  1871,  he  was  removed  to  Effing- 
ham, and  was  pastor  there  live  years,  during 
which  time  he  built  a  large  church,  costing 
over  $36,000,  and  a  hospital  for  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Francis.  Being  broken  down  in  health, 
he  started  in  the  spring  of  1876  for  California, 
and  returned  to  Minnesota  in  June,  where  he 
took  charge  of  two  congregations  in  the  dio- 
cese of  St.  Paul,  called  respectively  Hoka  and 
La  Crescent,  near  La  Crosse,  continuing 
three  months.  He  was  then  recalled  to  the 
diocese  of  Alton  and  appointed  Secretary  and 
Chancellor  to  the  Bishop,  which  important 
and  laborsome  position  he  held  until  1880. 
He  was  sent  thence  to  Saline,  Madison  Co., 
111. ,  where  he  enlarged  and  finished  a  church 
and  built  a  schoolhouse,  filling  that  pastorate 
until  he  came  to  Litchfield  in  October,  1881, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Church  of 
the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
at  Litchfield,  111. 

EDWARD  WHITMER,  tile  manufacturer, 
Litchfield.  Henry  M.  Whitmer  was  bom  in 
Juniata  County,  Penn,  in  1833,  and  was 
raised  among  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  on  a 
farm.  He  came  to  Peoria,  111.,  just  before 
the  war,  and  there  engaged  in  the  carpenter 
trade  for  a  year,  then  removed  to  Decatur, 
111.,  where  he  became  a  large  contractor  and 
builder.  For  the  past  eighteen  years  he  has 
been  a  large  manufacturer  of  brick,  and  of 
late  years  has  manufactured  tile.  He  mar- 
ried in  Snyder  Count}',  Penn.,  Miss  Anna  A. 
App,  by  whom  he  has  five  children  living. 
He  started  in  life  with  limited  means,  and 
by  hard  work  has  gained  for  himself  a  hand- 
some competency.  He  established  the  Litch- 
field Tile  Works  in  May,  1881,  for  which  pur- 
pose he  purchased  eight  acres  at  the  eastern 
limits  of  Litchfield,  on  the  Indianopolis  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad,  choosing  that  locality  because 
of  the  superior  quality  of  the  clay  which 
stands  every   test  necessary  to    make  drain 


tiling.  He  erected  two  dry  sheds  200x20 
feet,  with  two  round,  down-draft  kilns,  and  a 
Tiffany  improved  auger  machine,  with  an 
average  capacity  of  5,000  feet  per  day  of  ten 
hours.  The  tile  works  employ  about  twelve 
bands,  the  products  of  the  works  (consisting 
of  tile  of  all  the  various  sizes),  supplying  a 
large  local  demand,  and  there  are  shipments 
made  by  railroad  to  other  points  in  the  State. 
Edward  Whitmer,  the  oldest  son  of  H.  M. 
Whitmer,  and  the  subject  of  these  lines,  is  Su- 
perintendent and  Manager.  They  have  on 
the  same  premises  a  jTard  for  the  manuf acture 
of  brick,  which  was  established  the  same  year 
of  the  tile  works.  The  yard  employs  about 
fifteen  hands. 

DANIEL  WALLWORK  (deceased),  was 
born  in  Newtown,  Lancashire,  England,  Jan- 
uary 9,  1829.  At  the  early  age  of  eight 
years,  he  went  into  the  mines  of  Pendlebury, 
in  Lancashire,  and  worked  there  as  a  miner 
until  1856,  whenhe  came  to  the  United  States, 
where,  for  a  period  of  about  eight  months,  he 
worked  in  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania.  In 
1857,  he  came  to  Alton,  111.,  thence  to 
Brighton,  and  thence  to  Moro,  where  he 
was  Superintendent  of  the  mines,  and  in 
the  latter  part  of  1869  he  came  to  Litch- 
field and  here  became  Superintendent  of 
the  mines  of  the  Litchfield  Coal  Company, 
a  position  which  he  held  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  on  February  14,  1881.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  industry,  a  successful 
miner,  and  was  loved  by  his  employes.  He 
was  a  practical  engineer  and  surveyor,  and 
drew  all  the  maps  of  the  mines,  etc.  In  May, 
1847,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Greenhalgh, 
and  ten  children  were  born  to  them,  but  two 
of  whom  are  living — John  Wallwork,  now 
Superintendent  of  the  mines,  and  a  daughter. 
John  Wallwork  was  born  in  Newtown,  En- 
gland, in  1847,  and  came  to  the  United  States 
with  his  parents  in    1856.      His  first  mining 


LITCHFIELD. 


183 


was  done  at  Alton.  111.,  when  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age.  He  was  Assistant  Superintend- 
ent of  the  mines  of  Litchfield  under  his 
father,  and  still  holds  that  position  under  Mr. 
Amsden.  On  April  4,  1882,  he  married  Miss 
Violet  Tinnell,  of  Litchfield. 

M.  C.  WHIPPLE,  druggist.  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Canton,  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  in  1833. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  he  entered  a 
drug  store  at  Massillon,  Ohio,  and  learned 
the  business.  He  afterward  clerked  in  a  drug 
store  at  Wooster,  Ohio.  In  1856.  he  engaged 
in  the  wholesale  grocery  business  at  Massil- 
lon, Ohio,  continuing  three  years.  In  April, 
1861,  at  the  first  call  for  volunteers,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Thirteenth  Ohio  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  until  December,  under 
Gen.  Rosecrans,  in  West  Virginia,  and  after 
that  in  the  Army  of  the  Ohio  and  Army  of 
the  Cumberland,  under  Gens.  Buell,  Rosecrans 
and  Thomas.  He  was  mostly  on  detached 
duty  in  the  medical  department  of  the  army. 
His  time  having  expired,  he  was  mustered 
out  June  26,  186  4.  After  the  war,  he  went 
to  Tennessee,  where  he  engaged  in  various 
pursuits,  among  which  were  the  drug  busi- 
ness and  real  estate,  until  1873,  when  he 
came  here  and  opened  a  drug  store,  and  is 
yet  in  the  same  business,  and  also  manages 
a  farm  near  the  city.  In  March,  1881,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Joseph  Buerger, 
his  former  clerk  for  eight  yeai-s.  Mr.  Whip- 
ple was  married  in  October,  1873,  to  Miss 
Julia  I.,  second  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Thomas 
Cummings,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Jersey 
County,  111. 

WILLIAM  WIEGREFFE,  lumber  dealer, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
on  February  13, 1828.  His  father  was  a  mil- 
ler, and  taught  him  the  trade  when  a  boy. 
This  he  followed  until  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  in  1850.  He  landed  in  New  Orleans 
in  the  spring  of  1851,  and  worked  four  years 


on  a  farm  in  Jersey  County,  111.  He  then 
came  to  Montgomery  County,  and  bought  a  ■ 
farm  of  160  acres  of  raw  prairie  land  near 
Zanesville.  He  still  owns  it,  and  lived  on 
the  place  until  1868,  when  he  came  to  Litch- 
field, 111.,  and  started  in  the  lumber  business. 
The  same  year  he  built  a  planing-mill,  which 
he  ran  until  1877.  Until  1872,  he  was  as- 
sociated with  Mr.  A.  Perley,  the  firm  name 
being  Perley,  Wiegrefle  &  Co.,  and  after- 
ward with  his  brother;  but  since  1877,  Mr. 
YViegreffe  has  conducted  the  business  in  his 
own  name.  He  came  to  this  country  without 
capital,  and  has  gained  all  he  possesses 
through  the  merits  of  his  own  efforts.  In 
1861,  he  married  Miss  Eva  Sen,  at  Carlin- 
ville,  111.  They  have  six  children.  From 
1874  to  1876,  he  was  Alderman  from  the 
Second  Ward.  His  business  includes  lum- 
ber and  building  material,  sash,  doors,  etc. 
He  employs  from  two  to  five  hands. 

FREDERICK  WEBER,  manufacturer  of 
soda  and  mineral  waters,  Litchfield,  was  born 
in  Bavaria,  Germany,  near  the  River  Rhine, 
in  that  portion  called  Pfalz,  in  the  town  of 
Zeiskam,  on  January  1, 1838.  Until  fourteen 
years  old,  he  attended  school,  and  then  spent 
two  years'  apprenticeship  in  a  bakery  in  his 
native  town.  In  1856,  ho  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  located  first  in  St.  Louis,  where 
he  worked  at  his  trade  until  the  breaking-out 
of  the  war,  when  he  enlisted,  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Convalescent  Corps,  acting  as 
pastry  cook.  He  served  eighteen  months  in 
the  Good  Samaritan  Hospital,  at  St.  Louis, 
and,  being  then  discharged,  he  joined  the 
Forty-seventh  Indiana  Infantry,  being  pastry 
cook  for  them  for  six  months,  at  Helena,  Ark. 
July  9,  I860,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Enders,  in  St.  Louis,  a  native  of  Germany. 
and  located  in  Cairo,  111.,  where  he  conducted 
a  bakery  one  year.  He  then  returned  to  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  and  in  November,    1.864,  visited 


184 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  old  country,  returning  in  April  of  the 
following  year,  after  which  he  farmed  for  a 
short  time  near  St.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1865,  discontinued  it  in  order  to 
establish  a  bakery  in  St.  Louis.  This  he  did, 
but  at  the  end  of  one  year  sold  his  bakery 
and  moved  to  Litchfield,  111.,  where  he  worked 
for  Mr.  William  Roth,  in  a  bakery,  for  eight 
months.  In  June,  1867,  he  started  a  factory 
for  the  manufacture  of  soda  and  seltzer 
waters,  to  which  he  still  devotes  his  atten- 
tion. In  1881,  he  manufactured  during  the 
season  an  average  of  one  hundred  dozen  of 
bottles  per  day,  and  these  were  shipped  to 
various  points  in  the  State.  These  waters 
have  become  very  popular  as  a  healthful  bev- 
erage, and,  in  consequence,  the  demand  has 
steadily  increased  from  year  to  year.  For 
the  past  two  years,  Mr.  Weber  has  run  a 
steam  cider  press  with  good  success.  During 
the  busy  season,  his  business  requires  the 
services  of  eight  active  men.  The  following 
children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  Weber:  Lizzie, 
Louise,  Anne,  Rosa,  Kate,  Mary  and  Fred- 
erick William. 

WILLIAM  G.  WARDEN,  carpenter, 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Allen  County,  Ky. , 
on  May  2,  1832.  He  lived  on  a  farm  in  his 
native  State  until  October,  1850,  when  he 
came  to  Illinois.  His  father  died  when  he  j 
was  small,  and  he  came  to  this  State  unac- 
companied, arriving  on  a  foggy  Sunday,  be- 
ing obliged  to  climb  the  sign-posts  to  see  the 
directions.  He  first  stopped  with  his  sister. 
Mrs.  Young,  with  whom  he  lived,  south  of 
Hillsboro,  and  worked  until  the  summer  of 
1ST)].  Then  he  returned  to  Kentucky,  but 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  came  back  to  this 
State  with  a  brother,  with  whom  he  lived 
two  years,  helping  on  the  farm.  He  again 
returned  to  Kentucky,  and  in  the  fall  of  1853 
brought  his  mother  to  this  State.  She  set- 
tled here   permanently   in  1854,  the  memor- 


able "  famine  year."  Our  subject  lived  with 
her  four  years.  Previous  to  this  time  he  had 
learned  carpentering  with  his  brother,  and  in 
1855-56,  he  worked  with  Robert  Frame  on 
contracts  in  the  northern  part  of  Montgomery 
County.  In  1857,  Mr.  Warden  began  taking 
contracts  alone,  working  in  the  southern  part 
of  this  county  until  1865,  when  he  moved  to 
Litchfield,  where  he  has  been  engaged  in 
carpentering-  ever  since.  During  1S66-67, 
he  also  ran  a  wagon  shop.  For  a  period  of 
one  year  he  worked  on  the  bridge  work  of  the 
Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad.  When 
the  Wabash  Railroad  was  built,  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  begin  work,  and  after  working 
on  the  bridges,  he  superintended  a  company 
of  men  in  the  construction  of  the  depot  and 
freight  building,  etc.,  from  Warder  to  De- 
catur. Since  then  he  has  engaged  in  carpen- 
tering and  building.  Mr.  "Warden  is  a  Dem- 
ocrat, and  has  taken  an  active  interest  in 
politics.  He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  for 
five  years,  beginning  at  the  time  the  town- 
ship system  was  adopted.  After  that  he  was 
Town  Clerk  four  years.  In  the  spring  of 
1882,  he  was  elected  Assessor  of  South  Litch- 
field Township.  He  acted  one  term  as  Alder- 
man of  the  First  Ward  of  Litchfield  City  in 
1877.  In  1860,  he  married  Miss  Anna  E., 
daughter  of  A.  C.  Atwood,  of  Allen  County, 
Ky.  Their  children  are  as  follows:  Alonzo 
\\\,  born  August  1,  1861,  and  died  October 
27,  1866;  William  J.,  bom  June  30,  1864; 
Ivy,  born  July  24,  1880;  and  all  born  in 
Montgomery  County. 

IRVING  WELLS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Litchfield, 
was  born  in  Rowan,  now  Davie  County,  N. 
C,  November  13,  1825,  and  with  his  parents 
came  to  Illinois  by  team,  in  the  fall  of  1830, 
the  joiu-ney  lasting  eight  weeks.  They 
stopped  in  Madison  County  until  the  spring 
of  1831,  when  they  went  to  Greene  County, 
where  his  parents  resided   until  their  death. 


LITCHFIELD. 


185 


His  father,  John  Wells,  Sr.,  was  born  on 
April  27,  1795,  in  North  Carolina,  and  died 
April  17,  1873.  He  was  the  father  of  seven 
children,  and  when  he  came  to  Greene  County 
his  means  were  limited  to  31J  cents.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  United  Baptist  Church. 
Our  subject  began  teaching  in  1847,  in  Greene 
County,  and  continued  until  1858,  in  the 
meantime  working  on  a  farm.  He  came  to 
Walshville  Township,  Montgomery  County, 
in  1858,  having  purchased  a  land  warrant, 
eight  years  previous,  for  eighty  acres.  On 
coming  here  he  engaged  in  farming,  and 
taught  school  five  winters,  living  upon  his 
original  purchase  until  1867,  when  he  re- 
moved to  his  present  place  of  160  acres, 
where  he  since  has  engaged  in  raising  grain 
and  stock.  February  6,  1860,  he  married 
Miss  Lucetta.  daughter  of  Edwin  Brown,  a 
Methodist  preacher  of  Walshville.  Twelve 
children  were  born  to  them,  but  seven  of 
whom  are  living — Julia,  deceased;  Oscar  A. 
deceased;  Washington  I.,  deceased;  JohnF. ; 
David  E. ;  Matta,  deceased;  Clara  J.,  Albert 
S..  Cora  O.,  Ollie  M.,  Myrtle,  ami  Effa,  de- 
ceased. Mr.  Wells  started  in  life  without 
capital,  and  worked  at  first  for  §8  a  month. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat.  His  mother's 
maiden  name  was  Matilda  Irwin;  she  was 
from  North  Carolina.  Although  the  father 
of  our  subject  met  many  discouragements,  he 
persevered  in  earnest,  faithful  labor,  and 
made  for  himself  an  estate  worth  about  $12,- 
000.  He  was  twice  married,  and  was  the 
father  of  thirteen  children,  eleven  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity,  and  ten  of  whom  still  live, 
nine  being  of  his  last  marriage. 

LEWIS  WHITAKER,  Litchfield,  was 
born  in  Deerfield  Township,  Cumberland 
County,  N.  J.,  September  2,  1S35,  and  ob- 
tained his  education  in  his  native  State.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen  years,  in  1852,  he  came 
to  Carlinville,  111.,  where  he  began  learning 


the  carpenter's  trade,  continuing  one  year, 
when  he  removed  to  Alton,  111.,  there  com- 
pleting his  trade.  He  spent  the  winter  of 
1854-55  in  Mississippi  and  Louisana.  He 
came  to  Litchfield,  111.,  on  October  8,  1855, 
and,  after  spending  six  weeks  at  his  trade 
here,  he  went  to  his  old  home  in  New  Jersey, 
where  he  spent  the  winter  of  1855-58.  In 
July,  1856,  he  returned  to  Litchfield,  and 
worked  as  contractor  and  builder  two  years, 
when  he  went  into  the  furniture  and  under- 
taking business,  at  which  he  continued  about 
fifteen  years,  meeting  with  and  meriting  ex- 
cellent success.  His  first  furniture  store  was 
located  where  Boepple's  bakery  now  is,  and 
he  afterward  did  business  on  the  lot  now  oc- 
cupied by  Mi-.  Enniger.  He  nexi,  built  the 
block  where  the  Regulator  is  at  present.  In 
January.  1N74,  he  retired  from  the  furniture 
business,  and  in  April  of  the  same  year  he 
was  elected  City  Marshal,  which  office  he  held 
one  year.  He  then  became  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Whitaker  &  Rogers,  in  the  milling 
business,  continuing  about  two  years.  He 
next  leased  the  Boxberger  Mill,  and  took  in 
as  a  partner  Mr.  Roth,  for  two  years  continu- 
ing in  the  milling  and  grain  business,  with 
very  excellent  success.  Mr.  Whitaker  is  a 
member  of  the  Mc Williams  Oil  and  Mining 
Company,'  which  began  operations  in  this 
county  in  January,  1882.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  City  Council.  On  December 
25,  1861,  he  married  Mary  E.  Shore,  sister 
of  Tilman  Shore.  Mi-.  Whitaker  is  at  pres- 
ent a  member  of  the  Litchfield  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation.    In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

GEORGE  L.  ZINK,  was  born  in  Steuben- 
ville,  Ohio,  September  1 9,  1841.  He  received 
an  academic  education  in  Jefferson  County, 
Ohio,  and  devoted  his  own  personal  efforts 
in  the  study  of  the  languages  after  leaving 
school.  He  began  the  study  of  law  at  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  with  J.  H.  S.  Trainer,  of 


180 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Steubenville,  Ohio,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Pomeroy,  Ohio,  in  18(34.  In  1862,  he 
enlisted  in  the  Fifty-second  Ohio  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Perryville,  Ky.,  and  went  as  far  South  as  Bowl- 
ing Green,  Ky. ,  where  he  lay  sick  until  De- 
cember, 1862,  and  afterward  in  the  hospital . 
at  Louisville;  went  out  on  duty  again  at  post 
headquarters  until  July,  1S63,  when  he  was 
discharged.  He  then  returned  home,  taught 
school  for  a  time,  and  completed  his  law 
studies.  In  May,  1864,  he  enlisted  for  100 
days,  and  was  stationed  at  Fort  Delaware 
until  the  expiration  of  his  time  of  service. 
He  came  to  Illinois   in  1865,  and  for  eight 


months  taught  school  at  Gillespie,  and  in 
May,  1866,  located  in  Litchfield,  where  he 
has  ever  since  practiced  his  profession  suc- 
cessfully, being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  this 
State  in  1866,  and  in  1867  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  Federal  Courts.  Mr.  Zink 
was  a  Republican  until  1872,  when  he  joined 
the  liberal  movement,  and  was  Presidential 
Elector  for  the  old  Sixteenth  District  on  the 
Greeley  ticket.  In  1878,  he  was  nominated 
and  elected  by  the  Democrats  as  Representa- 
tive to  the  Illinois  Legislature,  from  the 
Thirty-fourth  District,  composed  of  Mont- 
gomery and  Christian  Counties. 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


187 


WALSHVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


DR.  A.  BARCROFT,  physician,  Walshville, 

was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1829;  son  of  Am- 
brose and  Ann  (Wolverton)  Barcroft.  Am- 
brose Barcroft  was  born  in  1793.  He  was  for 
many  years  Captain  of  an  ocean  vessel,  but 
finally  quit  the  seafaring  life  and  became  a 
farmer.  He  died  in  York  County,  Penn.,  in 
L881.  His  wife  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in 
1795,  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Washington, 
D.  C.  Our  subject,  the  fourth  child  of  a 
family  of  six,  attended  school  at  Pennington, 
N.  J.,  from  1844  to  1847;  at  Baltimore  Col- 
lege from  1854  to  185(3,  and,  having  chosen 
the  medical  profession,  entered  the  National 
College,  at  Washington,  D.  C,,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1862.  He  first  began  life 
as  a  clerk  in  a  drug  store.  After  graduating 
at  Washington,  he  practiced  in  the  Armory 
Hospital,  in  that  city  from  1863  to  1864. 
He  is  now  practicing  his  prof  ession  in  Walsh- 
ville. In  Armstrong  County,  Penn.,  in  1853, 
he  married  Charlotte  D.  Woodward,  a  native 
of  that  county,  born  in  1835,  daughter  of 
John  S.  and  Caroline  (Barkley)  Woodward. 
From  this  union  there  have  been  born  to  them 
six  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy. 
The  four  living  are  Ellis  W-,  Victor  B., 
Anna  C.  and  Ambrose.  Dr.  Barcroft  is  a 
Republican,    and  a   member  of   the  A.,  F.  & 

A.  k. 

V.  B.  BARCROFT,  physician,  Walshville, 
was  born  in  Armstrong  County,  Penn.,  in 
1855;  son  of  Dr.  A.  and  Charlotte  (Wood- 
ward) Barcroft.  The  Doctor,  whose  sketch 
also  appears  in  this  work,  was  born  in  New 
Jersey  in  1829,  and  has  successfully  followed 
the  practice  of  his  profession  for  many  years. 


His  wife  was  born  in  Armstrong  County, 
Penn.,  in  1835.  Our  subject,  the  second  of 
a  family  of  six  children,  began  his  education 
at  Lincoln,  Logan  Co.,  111.,  and,  having  cho- 
sen his  father's  profession,  entered  the  Mis- 
souri Medical  College  at  St.  Louis,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1879.  He  is  now 
practicing  medicine  with  his  father  in  Walsh- 
ville. He  formerly  taught  school  in  Bond 
and  Montgomery  Counties. 

JESSE  BOYD,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walshville, 
was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Va.,  August 
22,  1810;  son  of  Henry  and  Ellender  (Woods) 
Boyd.  Henry  Boyd  was  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Va.,  in  1789,  and  died  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  111.,  March  25,  1877.  His  wife, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  was  born  in  1789,  and 
died  in  Montgomery  County  in  1872.  Our 
subject,  the  second  of  a  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, received  his  education  in  Warren  Coun- 
ty, Ky.  He  also  attended  school  at  Staun- 
ton, Macoupin  Co.,  111.  He  has  followed  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer  in  Macoupin  and 
Montgomery  Counties  for  the  last  fifty  years. 
In  Macoupin  Coitnty,  111.,  in  1832,  he  mar- 
ried Matilda  Voyles,  born  in  Pendleton 
County,  N.  O,  in  1811,  daughter  of  Robert 
and  Hester  (Morris)  Voyles.  From  this  union 
they  have  had  twelve  children,  six  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  Those  living  are  Hester 
R.,  William  J.,  Ellender  M.,  Martha  A., 
Robert  H.  and  Jessie  S.  Mr.  Boyd  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  He  is  a  Republican 
in  politics. 

WILLIAM  BURKE,  farmer,  P.  O,  Walsh 
ville,    was    born    in    Kentucky    February    6 


188 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


1817;  son  of  John  and  Catharine  (Barlow) 
Burke,  he  born  in  Virginia  in  1785,  and  died 
in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  1846;  she, 
burn  in  Virginia,  and  died  in  this  county  in 
1836.  Our  subject  is  the  seventh  child  of 
a  family  of  eleven,  and  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools  of  this  county 
In  1840,  he  married  Temperance  Holiday, 
born  in  this  county  in  1820,  and  died  here 
in  1860,  and  daughter  of  Elliott  Holiday. 
His  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Sarah  Brown,  born 
in  Kentucky,  and  died  in  this  county  in  1870, 
and  his  third  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Dukes,  was 
born  in  Livingston  County,  Ky.,  October  18, 
1823.  He  has  had  twelve  children,  +en  of 
whom  are  living — John  B..  Martha  J. ,  Joe  A. , 
Mary  E.,  William  R.,  Sina  L.,  Alice  E.,  Adda 
B. ,  Edna  C.  and  Katie  A.  Mr.  Burke  has 
always  been  a  farmer:  having  farmed  in  this 
county  for  fifty  years,  and  is  known  as  one  of 
the  leading  farmers  in  the  district.  He  is  a 
Presbyterian,  a  Democrat,  au  A. ,  F.  &  A.  M. . 
and  an  I.  O.  O.  F. 

ANTONY  BUERGER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mt. 
Olive,  Macoupin  County,  whose  parents,  John 
and  Mary  C.  (Fastlabend)  Buerger,  were  na- 
tives of  Germany,  was  born  in  that  country 
September  2,  1822.  John  Buerger,  who  was 
a  farmer,  died  in  Madison  County,  111.,  Oc- 
tober 18,  184(5.  His  wife  died  in  the  same 
county  in  1872.  Antony,  who  was  the  eldest 
of  a  family  of  ten,  received  his  education  in 
Germany,  and  engaged  in  farming,  which  oc- 
cupation he  has  always  followed.  He  mar- 
ried in  St.  Louis,  Mo..  May  13,  1853,  Louisa 
Bartman,  born  in  Germany  in  1830,  daughter 
of  John  Bartman.  From  this  union  seven 
children  have  been  born  to  them — Joseph, 
John  F.,  Mary,  Matilda,  Henry,  Louisa  and 
Leonora.  Mr.  Buerger  is  a  member  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  in  politics  a 
Democrat. 

MRS.   SARAH  D.  CURRY,  farmer,  P.  O. 


Walshville,  was  born  in  Morgan  County,  111., 
in  1834,  daughter  of  William  and  Tabitha 
(Bell)  Elledge,  he  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
died  in  Morgan  County,  111.,  in  1830 ;  she, 
born  in  Kentucky,  and  died  in  Pike  County, 
111.,  in  1874.  Subject  was  the  sixth  child 
of  a  family  of  seven,  and  was  educated  in 
Morgan  and  Pike  Counties,  111.  She  was 
married  in  Pike  County,  111.,  in  1845,  to  Ri- 
ley J.  Curry,  a  farmer  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
died  in  this  county  August  13  1876,  son  of 
Nicholas  Carry,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who 
came  to  this  country  in  an'  early  day,  and 
died  in  Morgan  County,  111.,  about  the  year 
1850.  Our  subject  is  the  mother  of  ten  chil- 
dren, namely:  James  A,  Tabitha  E.,  George 
F.,  William  R.,  Charles  B.,  John  F..  Wine- 
fred  L.,  Elbert  G..  Edwin  H,  Esther  B. 
Mrs.  Curry  is  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

DR.  MARTIN  S.  DAVENPORT,  son  of 
Jack  S.  and  Lucy  S.  (Lewis)  Davenport,  was 
born  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  Charlotte 
County,  November  1,  1818.  His  father  was 
born  in  Charlotte  County,  Va.,  in  1780.  His 
mother  was  also  a  native  of  Charlotte  County 
Va.,  was  born  in  1784.  and  died  in  October, 
1860.  The  family  moved  from  the  Old  Do- 
minion to  Kentucky,  where  his  father  died 
in  May,  1834.  Left  in  orphanage,  Mr.  Dav- 
enport, in  connection  with  a  younger  brothel-, 
undertook  the  support  of  the  widowed  mother 
and  family,  and  nobly  did  they  work  to  this 
end.  Naturally  of  an.  inquiring  and  literary 
cast  of  mind,  and  deprived  to  a  great  extent 
of  school  facilities,  he  commenced  when  quite 
young  the  work  of  his  own  education  by  the 
light  afforded  from  burning  fagots  and  pine 
knots.  In  this  manner  he  acquired  a  fair 
English  education.  In  Christian  County, 
Ky.,  in  April,  1841,  he  married  Miss  Lucy 
S.  Lewis,  born  in  Charlotte  County,  Va. ,  in 
December,    1813,  daughter  of  Edgecome  and 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


' 


Anna  ( Davenport)  Lewis,  both  natives  of  Char- 
lotte County,   Va.,   the   former  born  in  1780? 
and  died   in  March,    1843;   the    latter   born 
1793,  and  died  iu  July,  1847.      Immediately 
after  his  marriage,  he  commenced  the  study 
of  medicine,  to  which  profession  he  had  man- 
ifested a  proclivity  from  the  seventeenth  year 
of  his  age.     He  received  a  medical  diploma 
from   Dr.   Curtis   in    1848,  and  graduated  at 
the  Physio-Medical  College,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
in  1870.     Mr.   Davenport  moved  into  Mont- 
gomery in  1848,  and  located  in  the  town  of 
Walshville  in  1804.      He  has  had  a  constant 
practice  in  his  community  for  over  twenty-six 
years,  and  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
successful      practitioners      in     the      county. 
Though  now  in  his  fif ty-hfth  year,  he  is  hale, 
hearty  and   energetic,    and  in  physique  does 
not  appear  more  than  forty  years  old.     This 
may  be  accounted  for  in  part  from  his  strictly 
temperate  habits,  never  having  during  his  life 
been    under    the    influence    of    intoxicating 
liquor  in  the  least  degree.     The  Davenports 
are  English   in  descent,  and  were  among  the 
first  settlers  in  this  country.      Richard  Daven- 
port, the  Doctor's  grandfather,  held  the  office 
of  Captain  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  was 
present    and    participated    in  the   battle    of 
Yorktown.    At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  settled 
in  the  State  of  Virginia,  Charlotte   County. 
He  raised  quite  a  family — Glover  (deceased), 
of    Norfolk,    Va. ;  Martin    W.,    a    wholesale 
merchant  of   Lynchburg,  Va. ;    Ballard   (de- 
ceased), one  of  the   pioneers    of    Kentucky; 
Mary  (deceased),  wife   of  John  Franklin,  of 
Virginia,  and  grandson  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, illustrious  patriot,  statesman  and  philos- 
opher; Martha,  wife  of  Bamet  Edwards,  of 
Kentucky;  Mrs.  Sarah  (John)  Mathews;  and 
Mrs.  Catharine  (Putnam)  North,  both  of  Vir- 
ginia, are  some  of  the  names  handed   down. 
Jack  S.,  Dr.  Davenport's  father,  was  a  Lieu- 
tenant in  the  war  of  1812.      He  served  under 


Gen.  Jackson.  Glover  was  a  Colonel  in  the 
same  war.  The  Doctor  has  the  following 
children:  George  W.,  John  J.  and  Peter  W. 
druggists,  all  of  Walshville.  George  and 
Peter  served  as  soldiers  in  the  late  rebellion. 
We  believe  they  were  both  veterans  in  the 
Union  service.  Dr.  Davenport  has  good 
cause  to  feel  proud  in  the  contemplation  of 
his  family  record.  Not  one  of  the  numerous 
and  long  family  line  was  ever  arraigned  be- 
fore the  courts  under  a  criminal  charge,  and 
they  have  always  espoused  the  cause  of  pat- 
riotism, from  the  Revolution  against  English 
tyranny  to  the  suppression  of  treason  during 
the  late  war  of  the  Southern  States.  They 
are  a  family  noted  for  public  spirit,  literature 
and  Christian  morality. 

PETER  EGELHOFF,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walsh- 
ville, was  born  in  Germany  October  12,  1830; 
son  of  William  and  Maiy  (Schroth)  Egelhoff. 
William,  who  was  a  native  of  Germany,  was 
born  in  1806,  and  died  in  Jerseyville,  Jersey 
Co.,  111.,  September  19, 1879, where  his  wife, 
born  in  Germany,  in  1810,  also  died,  March 
23,  18P>f).  Peter,  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
seven  children,  received  his  education  in  Ger- 
many, and  worked  at  the  blacksmith's  trade 
for  some  time.  About  twenty  years  ago,  he 
moved  to  his  present  place,  which,  at  that 
time  was  rough  and  unimproved;  but,  by  in- 
cessant labor  and  economy,  he  has  made  it 
one  of  the  finest  f  arms  in  Montgomery  County. 
He  has  a  fine,  large  barn,  granary,  stock 
scales,  etc.  In  Montgomery  County,  in  1856, 
he  married  Mary  A.  Ostermeyer,  born  in  Ger- 
many September  22,  1830,  daughter  of  Fred- 
erick Ostermeyer,  a  native  of  that  country, 
and  there  have  been  born  to  them  nine  chil- 
dren—William F.,  John  C,  Louisa,  George, 
Otto,  Mary,  Peter  J.  and  two  others  who  died 
unnamed.  Mi-.  Egelhoff,  who  is  a  Democrat, 
is  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  Walshville 
Township. 


190 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


DICK  ENGELMANN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mt. 
Olive.  Macoupin  Comity,  was  born  in  Ger- 
many November  5,  1840.  His  parents,  Henry 
and  Tina  (Gosmann)  Engelmann,  are  natives 
of  Germany,  and  are  now  living  in  Ostfries- 
land,  Kingdom  of  Hanover.  Henry  was  born 
November  13,  1820.  Richard  is  the  eldest 
of  a  family  of  four  children,  and  received  his 
education  in  Germany.  He  has  always  been 
engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising.  He 
has  been  Highway  Commissioner  in  Walsh- 
ville  Township  for  some  time.  Mr.  Engel- 
mann has  been  twice  married.  First,  in  Mad- 
ison County,  111.,  November  8,  1878,  he  mar- 
ried Lizzie  E.  Engelmann,  born  in  Germany 
in  1844,  and  died  in  Montgomery  County 
March  5,  1879.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Minke  Engelmann.  His  second  wife,  whom 
he  married  at  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County, 
in  January,  1S80,  is  Gretchen  Arkebauer, 
born  in  Germany  in  1845.  Mr.  Engelmann 
has  four  children — Henry,  George,  Michael 
and  Tine.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  in  politics  is  a  Democrat. 

I.  P.  FOGELMAN,  farmer.  P.  O.  Walsh 
ville,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Kirkland) 
Fogelman.  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
August  29,  1844.  His  parents  were  both 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  and  still  reside 
there.  His  father  was  born  April  8,  1819; 
his  mother  was  born  in  1819  or  1820.  Our 
subject,  who  is  the  fourth  of  a  family  of  ten 
children,  received  his  education  in  the  schools 
of  Montgomery  County,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, which  occupation  he  has  always  followed. 
He  is  Assessor  of  Walshville  Township, 
which  office  he  has  held  for  six  years.  Dur- 
ing the  war,  he  served  in  Company  A,  Ninety- 
iirst  Illinois  Infantry;  was  captured  at  Eliza- 
beth town  in  1862,  by  John  Morgan,  and  re- 
leased on  parole.  Returning  to  service  in 
July,  1863,  he  took  part  in  the  engagements 
at  Vicksburg,  New  Orleans  and  Spanish  Fort, 


on  Mobile  Bay,  receiving  his  discharge  at  the 
latter  place  in  1865.  In  Montgomery  County, 
in  1865,  he  married  M.  M.  McPhail,  born  in 
Montgomery  County  October  12,  1841,  • 
daughter  of  Macon  and  Elizabeth  (Beedels) 
McPhail.  There  have  been  born  to  them  two 
children— Willis  M.  and  J.  W.  M.,  the  lat- 
ter dying  October  18,  1871.  Mr.  Fogleman 
is  in  politics  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  GRISHAM,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walsh- 
ville, was  born  in  Dixon  County,  Tenn,  Jan- 
uary 14,  1811,  son  of  Austin  and  Fanny 
(Powers)  Grisham.  he  born  in  Guilford 
County,  N.  C.  March  10,  1771,  and  died  in 
Montgomery  County  March  9,  1853;  she  born 
in  Virginia  October  10,  1775,  and  died  in 
Montgomery  County  May  10.  1851.  James, 
the  fourth  child  of  a  family  of  five,  finished 
his  education  in  Montgomery  County  in  1829, 
and  began  life  as  a  farmer,  which  occupation 
he  has  ever  since  followed.  He  is  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Montgomery  County,  having 
entered  the  land  he  now  lives  on  in  1820. 
He  took  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  in  1832. 
In  Montgomery  County,  January  8,  1830,  he 
married  Martha  R.  Garrison,  born  December 
22,  1813,  and  died  September  29,  1843.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  John  Garrison,  who  died 
in  Tennessee.  In  Montgomery  County,  No- 
vember 30,  1845,  he  married  his  second  wife, 
Pamelia  Cannon,  born  in  Illinois  in  April, 
1828,  daughter  of  William  and  Catharine 
(Lovings)  Cannon,  he  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
died  in  1880;  she,  also  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
is  still  living.  Mr.  Grisham  has  a  family  of 
seventeen  children — John  A.,  William  S., 
Amanda  O,  Fanny  M„  Thomas  K,  Polly  P., 
Melissa  R.,  Martha  R,,  Mary  F..  Margaret 
M.,  Alfred  F„  Elias  E.,  Charles  S.,  Henry 
R.,  Baby.  Ulysses  C.  and  Allen  A.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church, 
and  a  supporter  of  the  Republican  party. 
MRS.   E.   R.   HODGES,   Walshville,  was 


WAL.SIIVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


101 


born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  1834,  the 
daughter  of  James  and  Mary  (Barlow)  Bostic, 
he  a  farmer,  who  died  in  this  county  in  1842; 
she,  born  in  Tennessee,  and  also  died  in  this 
county  in  1838.  Subject  is  the  third  child 
of  a  family  of  fom\  She  was  educated  in 
this  county,  and  married  in  1860  to  Mr. 
Hodges,  born  in  Tennessee  in  1814,  a  son  of 
Henry  Hodges,  a  Virginian  by  birth,  who 
moved  to  Tennessee  and  died  there.  Mrs. 
Hodges  has  had  six  children — Alice  G.,  Mary 
E.,  Lucy  F.,  Julia,  Jessie  C,  and  one  dead. 
The  late  Mr.  Hodges  was  engaged  in  farming 
in  his  early  life,  but  for  many  years  before 
his  death  was  a  prominent  merchant  of  Walsh- 
ville,  where  he  died  May  13,  187(5. 

JOHN  B.   JOHNSON,   farmer,  P.   O.  Mt. 
Olive,  Macoupin  County,    was  born  in  Ger 
many  January  1,  1830;  son  of  Bornu  Johnson, 
who  was  a  native  of  Germany,  and  a  fanner 
by  occupation,  died  in  Madison  County,  111., 
in  1856.      His  wife,  also  a  native  of  Germany, 
who  is   now  a  resident  of   this  county,   was 
born  in  1791).     Of  a  family  of  six  children,  our 
subject  was  the  third.      He  received  his  edu- 
cation in  Germany,    and  emigrated  to  this 
country  in  1851.      He  first  settled  in  Madison 
County,  111.,  for  a  short  time;  then  removed 
to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  where  he  remained 
eight  years,  after  which  he  removed  to  Mont- 
gomery County  and  permanently  settled  on 
his  present  place.      Mr.  Johnson  has  followed 
the  occupation  of  a  farmer  all  his  days,  and 
now    owns  a  fine  farm  near  Mt.  Olive.     In 
Macoupin  County,  111.,    in  March,    1S57,  he 
married  Miss  Bosmuller,   born  in   Germany 
in  1838,  daughter  of  Fried  Bosmuller.      From 
this  union  they  have  had  the  following  chil- 
dren :  John,  Mary,  Margaret,  Friede,  Ida  and 
Frude.     Mr.  Johnson  is  a  Republican,  and  a 
member  of  the  Lutherau  Church. 

H.  REISER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mt,  Olive,  Ma- 
coupin  County,  was  born  in  Germany  Octo- 


ber 8,  1839;  son  of  John  and  Gerke  (Heien) 
Reiser.     John  Reiser,  who  was  a  farmer,  was 
born  in  Germany  in  1816,    and  died  in  Ma- 
coupin County, 111.,  September  6,  1855.     His 
wife  also  a  native  of  Germany,  and  who  now 
resides  in  Montgomery  County,  was  born  in 
1810.     Our  subject,   the    eldest  of  six  chil- 
dren,  received   his    education    in    Germany, 
and,  having  emigrated  to  America  in  1854, 
settled  down  to   farming  with  his  father  in 
Macoupin  County,  111.      He  has  been  a  farm- 
er all  his    days.       From    Macoupin   County 
he  removed  to  his  present  place  in  Montgom- 
ery County.     In  1874,  he  was  elected  Secre- 
tary of  the  Mt.   Olive  Coal  Company,  which 
office  he  held  until  1881,  when  he  was  elected 
to  his  present  position  of  Superintendent  of 
the  company.     He  has  also  held  the  office  of 
Supervisor  of  Walshville  Township.      In  Ma- 
coupin County,  111.,  July   11,  1863,  he  mar- 
ried Mary  (Rerren)  Reiser,  born  in  Germany 
October  18,  1845,  daughter  of  John  and  Fol- 
kea  ("Vesser)  Rerren.      From  this  union  there 
have  been  born  to  them  nine  children —Annie 
G.,  John,  Henry  W.,  Hermann  J.,  Ratie  H, 
Sophia  W.,  Hannah  M.,  Lydia  E.,    Edward 
A.     Mr.  Reiser  is  widely  and  favorably  known 
as  a  worthy  citizen.     In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican.    He  is   a  member  of  the  German 
Methodist  Church. 

ANDREW  REISER,  miller,  Mt.  Olive, 
Macoupin  County,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, September  28,  1845;  son  of  John  H. 
and  Gerke  (Heien)  Reiser,  both  natives  of 
Germany.  John  H,  who  was  a  farmer,  was 
born  in  1816,  and  died  in  Macoupin  County, 
III,  September  6,  1855;  his  wife,  who  is  now 
a  resident  of  Montgomery  County,  was  born 
in  1810.  Our  subject,  who  is  the  third  of  a 
family  of  six  children,  received  his  education 
in  Germany,  and  has  followed  farming  and 
milling  since  he  came  to  this  country  with 
his   parents.      He   has  been    twice  married. 


192 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


His  first  wife,  Annie  Ross,  born  in  Madison 
County,  111.,  daughter  of  Gird  and  Mary 
(Arkabauer)  Ross,  and  died  in  Montgomery 
County  September  28.  1875,  leaving  three 
children — Annie  G.,  John  and  Mary.  In 
Macoupin  County,  March  29,  1879,  Mr.  Kei- 
ser  married  his  second  wife,  Frances  Ross, 
born  in  Madison  County,  111..  March  9,  1855, 
daughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Arkabauer) 
Ross.  Mr.  Keiser  has  held  the  offices  of  As- 
sessor and  Collector  in  Walshville  Township. 
He  is  a  Republican  in  jiolitics,  and  a  member 
of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

T.  C.  KIRKLAND,  tanner,  Walshville. 
was  born  in  St.  Louis  County,  Mo.,  July  26, 
1823;  son  of  Isaac  and  Melinda  (Mann)  Kirk- 
land,  he  born  in  Mercer  County,  Ky.,  Decem- 
ber 25,  1796,  a  tanner  by  trade,  and  after- 
ward a  farmer,  and  died  in  Litchfield.  Mont- 
gomery County,  April  5.  1881;  she,  also  a  na- 
tive of  Mercer  County,  Ky.,  born  November 
16,  1799,  and  died  in  Jersey  County,  111.,  Oc- 
tober 7,  1853.  Our  subject,  the  third  of  a 
family  of  four  children,  received  a  fair  edu- 
cation in  Jersey  County,  111.,  and  began  life 
as  a  farmer.  In  1865),  he  moved  to  his  pres- 
ent place,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  farms  in 
Montgomery  County.  He  is  a  prominent 
member  of  the  community,  and  has  held  the 
offices  of  Supervisor,  School  Director  and 
Trustee  for  a  number  of  years.  In  Jersey 
County,  February  18.  1S47,  he  married  Edith 
Irwin,  born  in  Iredell  County,  N.  O,  March 
1,  1823,  daughter  of  Abijah  and  Elizabeth 
(Eaton)  Irwin,  he  born  in  North  Carolina 
February  1,  1791,  and  died  May  15,  1863; 
she,  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born 
January  27,  1791,  and  died  September  8, 
1827.  Mr.  and  Mrs  Kirkland  are  the  par- 
ents of  five  children—  Matilda  Ellen.  Sarah 
Elizabeth,  Ann  Eliza,  John  Harden  and  Mary 
Melinda.     He  is  a  Methodist,  a  supporter  of 


the  Republican  party,  and  a  member  of  the 
A.  F.  &  A.  M. 

CHARLES  KELTNE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walsh- 
ville, was  born  in  Germany  July  7,  1837;  son 
of  Christine  and  Mary  (Kalthammer)  Keune, 
he  a  fanner,  born  in  Germany,  and  died  there 
in  1852;  she,  also  born  in  Germany,  and  died 
there  the  same  year.  Our  subject  was  the 
fifth  child  of  a  family  of  eight;  was  educated 
at  Brunswick,  Germany,  and  came  to  this 
country  in  1856,  located  at  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
and  came  to  this  county  in  1881.  He  mar- 
ried Minnie  Schueffe,  in  St.  Clair  County. 
111.,  in  1867.  born  in  Germany  in  1S44, 
daughter  of  William  and  Joanna  (Renhat) 
Schueffe.  Subject  has  six  children — Andrew 
W.,  Arnold  H,  Charles,  Emma  S.,  Amelia 
and  Minnie  S.  Mr.  Keune  is  independent 
in  politics. 

GEORGE  McPHERSON.  farmer.  P.  O. 
Walshville,  was^  born  in  Scott  County,  111. , 
in  1852;  son  of  James  H.  and  Elizabeth 
(Johnson)  McPherson.  James  H. ,  who  was 
a  farmer,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and 
died  in  Scott  County,  111.,  in  1879.  His 
wife,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  also  died 
in  Scott  County,  111.,  in  1846.  Subject,  who 
is  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children, 
received  his  edncation  in  the  common  schools 
of  Montgomery  County,  finishing  at  Litch- 
field. He  began  the  business  of  life  as  a 
farmer,  and  has  ever  since  been  in  the  same 
occupation,  and  is  Road  Commissioner  at 
present.  In  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County, 
in  1878,  he  married  Alice  Kirkwood,  born  in 
Jersey  County,  111.,  in  1850,  daughter  of 
David  and  Elizabeth  (Cowen)  Kirkwood. 
He  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

FRED  NIEMANN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Mt. 
Olive,  Macoupin  County,  was  born  in  Ger- 
many February   11,  1823,  son  of  Casper  and 


WALSHVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


103 


Anna  (Witte)  Niemann.  Casper  Niemann 
was  a  native  of  Germany,  and  a  farmer  by 
occupation.  He  died  in  Germany  in  Janu- 
ary, 1847.  His  wife,  Anna,  also  a  native  of 
Germany,  died  there  the  same  year  as  her 
husband,  leaving  eight  children,  of  whom 
our  subject  was  the  second.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  began  life  as  a  farmer  in  his  na- 
tive land.  In  1S47,  he  emigrated  to  America, 
and  located  in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  where 
he  lived  for  twelve  years;  thence  he  removed 
to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  purchased 
a  tract  of  land,  which,  by  push  and  industry, 
he  has  made  a  first-class  farm.  In  Germany, 
September  6,  1850,  he  married  Anna  Shrodar, 
a  native  of  that  country,  born  in  1833, 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Mary  Shrodar.  From 
this  union  there  have  been  born  to  them 
five  children —William  H.,  Julius  L.,  Fred- 
erick W.,  Hannah  H.  C.  and  Anna.  Mi-. 
Niemann  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.      In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

B.  C.  NEAL,  plasterer,  Walshville,  was 
born  in  Logan  County,  Ky.,  December  28, 
1824;  son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  (Hayden) 
Neal.  Benjamin  Neal,  who  was  a  farmer, 
was  born  in  Virginia,  and  died  in  Logan 
County,  Ky.,  September  22,  1850.  His  wife, 
who  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  was  born 
in  1792,  and  also  died  in  Logan  County,  Ky., 
in  1872.  Our  subject,  the  ninth  of  a  family 
of  ten  children,  received  his  education  iu  his 
native  county.  He  followed  the  occupation 
of  a  farmer  for  many  years,  but  since  learned 
the  plastering  trade,  which  business  he  now 
follows.  In  Allen  County,  Ky. ,  in  1 S47,  he 
married  Susan  F.  Warden,  a  native  of  that 
county,  born  August  17,  1820,  daughter  of 
James  and  Rebecca  (Kelley)  Warden.  She 
died  in  Montgomery  County  April  5,  1870, 
leaving  five  children — Virgil  S.,  Eloise,  Mar- 
tha P.,  EInora  C.  and  William  S.     Mr.  Neal 


is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church.     He  is 
in  politics  a  Greenbacker. 

ALBERT    SCHON,     farmer,     P.   O.    Mt. 
Olive,  Macoupin  County,  is  a  native  of  Han- 
over, Germany,  was  born  May  17,  1833.     His 
parents,    Hiram  and    Folka    (Tiden)    Schon, 
were  both  natives  of  Germany,  and  died  in 
that  country.      Hiram  Schon,  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation, was  born  in  1801,  and  died  in  1875. 
His    wife,    born    in     1804,    died    in    1870. 
Albert,    our  subject,  the  third  of  a  family  of 
eight  children,  emigrated  to  America  in  1851 , 
ami   located  in  Madison  County,  111. ,  where 
he  remained  for  about  ten  years.      He  then 
removed  t  >   Montgomery  County,   where  he 
purchased  his  present  property.     He  has  al 
ways  been  a  farmer,  and  is  one  of  the  influ- 
ential   men    of    Walshville   Township.       He 
married  in  Madison  County,  111.,  October  18, 
1854,  Miss  A.  Arkebauer,  born  in  Germany 
February   15,  1837,   daughter  of  Jordan  and 
Frances  (Wauhoff)  Arkebauer,  and  there  have 
been  born  to  them  eleven  children — Hiram, 
George,  Mary,  Frances,  John,  Willie,  Zena, 
M.    A.,  Annie,   Lida,  and  one  deceased  (un- 
named).     Mr.   Schon  is  a  Republican,  and  a 
member  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

T.  T.  SMITH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walshville, 
was  born  in  Madison  County,  111.,  April  20, 
1838,  son  of  Jonathan  Green  and  Elizabeth 
(Tindall)  Smith.  Jonathan  Green  Smith 
was  born  in  Pittsfield,  N.  H,  July  0,  1814, 
and  died  in  New  Mexico  February  26,  1848. 
His  wife  was  born  in  Madison  County,  111., 
December  11,  1820,  and  died  there  in  Sep- 
tember, 1844.  Our  subject,  the  eldest  of  a 
family  of  four,  received  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Madison  County,  111.  He 
married  in  Montgomery  County  February  2 1 , 
L861,  Susan  Sackett,  born  in  Madison  County. 
111.,  December  25,  1842,  daughter  of  Elisha 
and     Elizabeth     (Voyles)     Sackett.      Elisha 


194 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


Sackett,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  was  born 
about  the  year  1S12,  and  died  in  February, 
1849.  His  wife,  born  in  1816.  died  Sep. 
tember  24,  1854.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  are 
the  parents  of  four  children — Mary  Lorett, 
Edgar  Leighton,  John  Elvin  and  Bert  (de- 
ceased). Mr.  Smith  has  always  been  a  farm- 
er, and  is  one  of  the  substantial  men  of 
Walshville  Township.  He  has  held  the  offi- 
ces of  Supervisor,  School  Trustee  and  High- 
way Commissioner.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.      In  politics,  he  is  a  Republican. 

W.  J.  WHITESIDE,  retired  farmer,  P.  O. 
Walshville,  was  born  in  Chester  County,  S. 
C,  in  1801;  son  of  Abraham  and  Janet 
(Hannan)  Whiteside.  Abraham  was  born  in 
South  Carolina  July  4.  1775,  and  died  in 
Montgomery  County  August  '24.  1857.  His 
wife,  born  in  North  Carolina,  died  February 


6,  1829.  Our  subject,  the  eldest  of  a  family 
of  five  children,  received  a  fair  education  in 
Maury  County.  Tenn.,  and  learned  the  cabi- 
net-making trade,  which  he  engaged  in  for 
forty  years.  He  has  also  been  a  farmer  for 
many  years;  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Montgomery  County.  He  married  in  Ten- 
nessee, in  1824,  Mary  G.  Bingham,  born  in 
Guilford  County,  N.  C,  November  7,  1800, 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Martha  (Reed)  Bing- 
ham. From  this  union  there  have  been  born 
ten  children  —  Martha  J.,  Tennessee  C, 
Zianna,  John  M.,  Sarah  P.,  Thomas  D.,  Mary 
E.,  Margaret  A.,  Robert  L.  and  William 
Newton.  Mr.  Whiteside  is  a  Methodist  and  a 
Democrat.  Robert  L. ,  the  ninth  child  of  the 
family,  was  born  in  Hickman  County,  Tenn., 
in  1S42;  received  his  education  at  Walshville, 
and  engaged  in  farming,  which  occupation  he 
still  follows.      He  is  a  Democrat. 


» 


CIUSHAM    TOWNSHIP. 


195 


GRISHAM  TOWNSHIP. 


G.  R.  AYDELOTT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Donnell- 
son, was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in 
1844;  son  of  C.  C.  and  Leviua  (Young) 
Aydelott ;  he  born  in  Tennessee  in  1800,  died 
in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  18G5  ;  she,  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  moved  to  that  county 
in  1829.  The  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  is  the 
eleventh  child  of  a  family  of  thirteen,  received 
his  education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county, 
and  began  life  as  a  farmer,  his  father  having 
left  him  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  Montgomery 
County.  He  married  in  Montgomery  County  in 
1866,  Aurilla  Brooks,  born  in  Warren  County 
Tenn.,  daughter  of  Loyal  Brooks,  a  native  of 
Cheshire,  Conn.  Mr.  Aydelott  served  two  terms 
as  Tax  Collector  of  Grisham  Township  ;  has 
been  Supervisor  for  many  years,  and  was  re- 
elected to  that  office  in  the  spring  of  1882  ;  is 
a  Methodist,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity ;  has  always  beep  n  stanch  Democrat. 

CHRISTIAN  A.  NGERSTINE,  farmer, 
P.  0.  Donnellson,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, in  1825,  son  of  Henry  ami  Christina 
(Kalals)  Angerstine,  both  of  whom  were  natives 
of  Germany,  and  died  there,  he  in  1852,  she  in 
1879  ;  subject  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of 
five  children.  He  received  his  education  in  his 
native  land,  and  began  the  business  of  life  as  a 
farmhand.  Iu  1854,  he  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  and  has  been  living  in  Montgomery 
County  for  twenty-five  years,  during  which  time 
he  has  been  engaged  in  farming.  In  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  in  1855,  he  married  Wilhelmine  Bramer. 
a  native  of  Germany,  daughter  of  Hender 
Bramer.  also  a  native  of  that  country.  From 
this  union  three  children  have  been  born,  viz., 
Christian.  Alvina  and  Jane.     Mr.   Angerstine 


is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Hills- 
boro,  111.;  he  is  a  Republican. 

REV.  W.  P.  BAKER,  farmer,  P.  0.  Hills- 
boro  ;  born  in  Macon  County,  III,  in  1835  :  son 
of  W.  D.  and  Marilla  (Martin)  Baker,  who  at 
present  reside  in  Macon  Count}-,  111.  His  father 
W.  D.  Baker,  was  born  in  Lincoln  County.  N. 
C.,  in  1800,  and  follows  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  fifth 
child  of  a  family  of  seven.  He  received  his 
education  in  his  native  county,  and  engaged  in 
farming,  but  has  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  as  a  minister  of  the  Presbytarian  Church  ; 
has  preached  for  nineteen  years  in  Southern 
Illinois,  and  is  at  present  pastor  of  McDavid's 
Point  Church  in  East  Fork  Township.  Mr. 
Baker  has  been  married  twice  ;  first  in  Macon 
County,  111.,  in  1857,  and  the  last  time  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  111.,  in  1864.  The  maiden 
names  of  his  wives  were  Mary  Wilson  and  Mar- 
garet McLane.  His  children  are  Ora  P..  Jos- 
eph M.,  Mary  J.  and  William  C. 

R.  H.  BOYD,  framer,  P.  0.  Walshvillc:  Worn 
in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  in  1846  ;  son  of  Jessi 
and  Matilda  (Morris)  Boyd  ;  he  born  in  Frank- 
lin County,  Va.,  August  22,  1810  ;  subject  is 
the  eight  child  of  a  family  of  twelve  ;  he  re- 
ceived his  education  in  Montgomery  County. 
and  at  Staunton,  Macoupin  County.  In  Mont- 
gomery County  in  1866,  he  married  Amelia  F. 
Whiteside,  born  in  that  county  in  1851,  daughter 
of  Thomas  D.  and  Minerva  J.  Whiteside.  Sub- 
ject has  five  children — Thomas  D.,  Jennie  M., 
Jessie  J.,  Hattie  E.  and  Frederick  R.  He  is  a 
Republican  ;  is  a  Northern  Methodist,  and  has 
been  a  farmer  all  his  days. 

J.  B.  CARY,  physician,   Donnellson  ;   son  of 


196 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


Wilson  and  Mary  Ann  (Chilton)  Gary,  was 
born  in  Bond  County,  111.,  December  20,  1843  ; 
his  father  was  a  farmer,  born  in  Virginia  and 
died  in  Bond  Couuty,  111.;  his  mother  was  a 
native  of  East  Tennessee.  Our  subject  was 
the  sixth  of  a  family  of  twelve  children  ;  he 
graduated  from  the  Hillsboro  Academy  in 
1862  ;  he  was  married  in  Lee  County,  Iowa, 
June  4.  18G9,  to  Laura  M.  Donnell,  a  of  native 
Iowa,  born  February  25,  1848;  daughter  of 
William  A.  Donnell,  who  was  born  in  Guilford 
County,  N.  C,  and  of  Callista  (Hamilton)  Don- 
nell. a  native  of  New  York  State.  Our  subject 
has  been  blessed  with  the  following  children  : 
Flora  C,  Ada  J.,  deceased,  Alvin  P.  and  Katie 
A.  After  graduating  from  the  acadeury,  he 
read  medicine  under  Dr.  Hills,  and  has  prac- 
ticed in  this  county  for  eighteen  years.  Dur- 
ing the  late  war,  he  served  under  Gen.  J.  J. 
Phillips,  of  Hillsboro,  in  Company  H,  Ninth 
Illinois  Regiment.  The  family  are  Presbyte- 
rian, and  Mr.  Cary  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  Lodge  No.  55,  Donnellson. 

P.  L.  DAVENPORT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walsh- 
ville,  was  born  in  Charlotte  Count}-,  Va.,  son  of 
Jack  S.  and  Lucy  S.  (Lewis)  Davenport.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  born  in  the  same  county 
in  Virginia,  and  died  in  Logan  County,  Ky.,  in 
1836  ;  his  mother  was  also  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, died  in  Trigg  County,  Ky.,  in  1860. 
They  had  four  children,  of  whom  our  subject 
was  the  3'oungest ;  he  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  Virginia,  and  began 
life  as  a  carpenter  ;  he  has  worked  at  his  trade 
and  carried  on  farming  in  this  county  for  a 
period  of  thirty  years.  He  was  married  in 
Trigg  County.  Ky.,  in  1844,  to  Frances  Eliza- 
beth Roper,  a  native  of  that  county  ;  she  died 
in  this  county  in  1857.  Her  parents  were 
Henry  C.  and  Nancy  (Lewis)  Roper,  both  na- 
tives of  Campbell  County.  Va.  Mr.  Davenport 
it  at  present  Assessor  of  this  township,  and 
has  held  the  office  of  School  Director  for  many 
years.      He  has  been   three  times  married,  his 


second  wife  being  Mrs.  Martha  Brown,  a  native 
of  Fayette  Couuty,  111.,  and  the  third,  Mrs. 
Fiances  Bishop,  of  this  county.  He  has  been 
blessed  with  the  following  children  :  Eliza  C, 
Lucy  S.,  Ann  E.,  Louisa  F.,  Sarah  M.,  Ruth  J., 
Martin  8..  Ulysses  J..  John  J..  Essa  0..  Tipton 
C,  Thomas  11.  and  Francis  I.  His  religious 
connection  is  with  the  Christian  Church,  and 
his  political  sympathies  are  with  the  R-epublican 
party. 

CHARLES  H.  EDWARDS,  farmer.  P.  0. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
III.  August  20,  1835,  son  of  Thomas  and 
Nellie  (Brown)  Edwards,  natives  of  Iredell 
County,  N.  C.  Thomas  Edwards,  a  farmer  and 
also  a  miller,  moved  to  Montgomery  County,  111., 
in  1827,  where  he  died  in  1857,  and  where  his 
wife  also  died  in  February,  1837.  Charles  H., 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  the  tenth  of  a  fam- 
ily of  thirteen  children.  He  received  his  edu- 
cation in  Montgomery  County,  and  began  life 
as  a  farmer,  which  occupation  he  still  follows  ; 
has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  School 
Trustee  for  many  years.  In  1861,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  A,  Twenty-sixth  Missouri  Infan- 
try, and  was  discharged  in  1864.  He  married 
in  Montgomery  in  185S,  Nora  E.  Cannon,  a  na- 
tive of  that  county,  daughter  of  William  Can- 
non, born  in  Mercer  County,  Ky.,  in  1807,  died 
in  1878  ;  from  this  marriage  nine  children  have 
been  born,  viz.,  Mary  E.,  William  II..  Eddie  C, 
Clara  J.,  Thomas  C,  Charles  M.,  James  A., 
Jessie  F.  and  Minnie  B.  Mr.  Edwards  is  a 
Methodist  ;  has  always  been  a  Democrat  ;  is  a 
member  of  Grange  No.  917,  at  Mansfield. 

WALKER  F.  HICK-MAN.  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro.  the  fourth  of  a  famil}'  of  nine  chil- 
dren, was  born  in  Crittenden  Couuty,  Ky.,  in 
1838,  and  moved  to  this  county  in  1852.  His 
parents  were  William  and  Eliza  (Witherspoon) 
Hickman,  the  former  born  in  Bourbon  County 
Ky.,  in  1803,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died 
in  this  county  in  1857  ;  the  latter  born  in  Crit- 
tenden County,  Ky.,  and  died  in  this  countv  in 


GRISHAM    TOWNSHIP. 


107 


1S67.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Hillsboro 
Academy,  and  his  occupation  is  that  of  a 
farmer.  In  1862,  he  was  married  to  Melissa 
McClain,  who  was  born  in  this  county  in  1836, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Abigail  (Paisley)  Mc- 
Clain. the  former  born  in  Guilford  County,  N.  j 
C  in  1800,  and  the  latter  a  native  of  the 
same  county.  Mr.  Hickman  has  in  addition  to 
his  farm  labors,  filled  the  office  of  School  Hi- 
rector  for  many  years  ;  he  was  in  the  late  war, 
a  member  of  Company  B,  One  Hundred  and 
Seventeenth  Illinois  Regiment,  having  enlisted 
at  Hillsboro,  111.,  in  August,  1862.  His  chil- 
dren are  as  follows  :  Alma  M.,  Ellert  M., 
Frank  C,  Eva  0.,  Carl  C.  and  Ethel  E.  Mr. 
Hickman  is  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian,  and 
politically  a  Republican. 

FRED HELPERS,  farmer,  P.O.  Donnellson, 
was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  in  1S49,  son 
of  John  and  Louisa  Heifers,  both  natives  of 
Germany,  and  at  present  residents  of  Mont- 
gomery County,  he  born  in  1821,  and  she  in 
1825.  Fred  Heifers  is  the  eldest  child  of  a 
family  of  three  ;  he  was  educated  partly  in  Ger- 
many and  parti}'  in  the  common  schools  of  St. 
Clair  County,  111.;  he  is  a  farmer,  and  has 
by  his  industry  bought  his  present  home.  In 
St.  Clair  County,  111.,  he  married  Margaret 
Schaumleifel,  who  was  born  there  in  1817  ;  she 
is  the  daughter  of  Adam  Schaumlefl'el,  a  native 
of  Germany;  subject  has  two  children — Charles 
F.  and  Leonard. 

ROBERT  LOGSDON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Walsh- 
ville.  was  born  in  Hart  County,  Ky.,  in  1828, 
son  of  William  K.  and  Maria  (Remus)  Logs- 
don,  he  born  in  Hart  County,  Ky.,  where  he 
died  in  1832  ;  was  a  farmer  ;  she,  born  in  North 
Carlinia  in  1808,  died  in  Montgomery  County 
in  1879  ;  subject  is  the  second  child  of  a  fami- 
ly of  four;  his  education  was  obtained  in  Hart 
County,  Ky..  where,  in  18.">2,  he  married 
Mary  E.  Johnsey,  who  was  born  there  in 
1831  ;  she  is  the  daughter  of  George  B.   and 


Jane  (Simms)  Johnsey  ;  subject  has  the  fol- 
lowing children  :  John  W.,  George,  Marietta 
Martha  Ann,  Celesta,  Ida,  Lucy  M.,  Robert  E., 
Lee  and  Ervin.  Mr.  Logsdon  is  a  practical 
farmer,  and  has  one  of  the  most  highly  culti- 
vated farms  in  Montgomery  County.  He  is  one 
of  the  oldest  settlers  ;  himself  and  wife  are 
Methodists  ;  he  is  a  strong  Democrat. 

JOHN  W.  LOGSDON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Walsh- 
ville ;  born  in  Hart  County,  Ky.,  in  1853,  son 
of  Robert  and  Mary  E.  (Johnse}-)  Logsdon, 
both  natives  of  that  county,  he  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  born  in  1828  ;  she  in  1831.  John 
W.  is  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  twelve  children  ; 
he  received  his  education  in  the  schools  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  engaged  in  farming, 
which  occupation  he  still  pursues.  In  Howard 
County,  Ind.,  in  1876,  he  married  Amy  C. 
Beeler,  daughter  of  William  and  Margaret 
(Burk)  Beeler,  he  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1817, 
now  resides  in  Adams  County,  Ind.;  she  a  na- 
tive of  Ohio.  From  this  marriage  two  children 
have  been  born — Bertia  and  Hattie.  Mr.  Logs- 
don is  a  Democrat. 

J.  H.  McPHERSON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Walsh- 
ville,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was 
born  in  Muhlenburg  County,  Ky.,  December 
13,  1826,  and  was  raised  upon  a  farm.  He 
was  brought  to  St.  Clair  County,  111.,  by  his 
parents  when  he  was  but  an  infant,  where  they 
ramained  about  seven  years,  then  removed  to 
Morgan,  now  Scott  County,  111.,  near  Winches- 
ter. He  was  there  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  remaining  in  that  county  until  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  when  he  embarked  in  the  saw- 
mill business,  a  business  he  has  followed  a  good 
many  years.  He  commenced  business  without 
a  dollar,  and  has  had  many  trials  and  disap- 
pointments, but  by  energy  and  perseverance 
has  overcome  them,  and  now  owns  645  acres  of 
good  bottom  land,  well  improved  and  in  an  ex- 
cellent state  of  cultivation.  He  ami  his  brother 
built  the  first  flouring  mill  in  Litchfield,  where 

M 


198 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  noted  steam  mill  now  stands,  but  sold  it  in 
1856.  and  then  engaged  in  a  machine  shop  un- 
til 1863,  when  he  took  an  overland  trip  to  Cal- 
ifornia, but  believing  he  could  do  better  at 
home,  returned  within  six  months,  and  engaged 
in  his  old  business,  saw-milling.  This  he  fol- 
lowed until  December,  1878,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  engaged  in  farming.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  Scott  County,  November  19,  1851,  to 
.Miss  Rebecca  J.  Ash,  also  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  who  was  born  February  9,  1830. 
She  was  the  mother  of  six  children,  and  died 
May  13,  1870.  Jesse  Ash,  her  father,  was  born 
in  Kentucky,  also  her  mother.  His  second  wife, 
Margaret  Missmore,  was  born  in  Hillsboro,  111., 
February  3,  1833  ;  her  father  was  from  North 
Carolina,  and  her  mother  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see. James  McPherson,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  North  Carolina  January  28, 
1796,  and  was  a  farmer.  He  emigrated  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  from  that  State  to  Illinois  in  1827 
where  he  bought  land,  and  raised  a  large  fam- 
ily of  children,  who  grew  up  useful  men  and 
women.  He  was  in  the  war  of  1812,  though 
he  served  but  three  months  ;  he  was  in  the  bat- 
tle of  New  Orleans  ;  he  died  in  October,  1879. 
His  wife,  Elizabeth  Johnson,  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina;  was  born  January  29,  1799, 
and  was  the  mother  of  thirteen  children,  of 
whom  our  subject  was  the  fifth. 

MRS.  H.  E.  McCULLOCH,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Donnellson,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  in  1838,  daughter  of  William  and  Jane  E. 
(Paisley)  Young  ;  he  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
born  in  Tennessee  in  1810,  now  residing  near 
Hillsboro,  Moutgomeiy  Co.,  111.,  where  his  wife, 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  died  in  1852.  Sub- 
ject, who  is  the  fourth  child  of  a  family  of  nine, 
was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Montgomery 
County,  where,  in  1864,  she  was  married  to  W. 
J.  McCulloch,  a  native  of  that  count}',  who 
died  there  in  1876.  Their  children  are  Samnel 
R.   and  Jennie.     Her  husband  was  a  farmer, 


and  for  many  years  filled  the  office  of  Super- 
visor in  Montgomery  County  ;  he  was  a  Demo- 
crat. Mrs.  McCulloch  is  a  member  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbj'terian  Church. 

JOHN  PRICE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Hillsboro,  born- 
in  Wayne  County,  Ky..  in  1816,  son  of  Rich- 
ard and  Mary  (Johnson)  Price,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia. Richard  Price  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion ;  subject,  the  fifth  child  of  a  family  of  six, 
received  the  foundation  of  his  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Montgomery  County,  and 
finished  at  Hillsboro  in  that  county.  He  has 
always  been  a  farmer  ;  has  been  School  Direc- 
tor for  some  time.  In  Montgomery  County  in 
1841,  he  married  Ellen  Nora  Lovrin.  born  in 
Simpson  County,  Ky.,  in  1824,  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Keziah  (Morgan)  Lovrin,  natives  of 
Virginia.  From  this  union  there  have  been  born 
the  following  children,  viz.:  George  W..  John 
E.,  Thomas  J.,  Mary  C.,  Isaac  K,  James  E., 
Joseph  A.,  M.  C,  William   H,  Julia   A.,  Sarah 

E.  and  Harriet  L.  Mr.  Price  is  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  Grisham  Township  ;  has  been 
a  member  and  class  leader  in  the  Methodist 
Church  for  thirty  years,  his  membership  being 
at  Edwards'  Chapel,  in  the  above  township. 
He  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the  A., 

F.  &  A.  M. 

ASA  SWAIN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Walshville.  was 
born  in  Washington  County,  N.  C.,  December 
22.  1811,  son  of  Stephen  and  Priscilla  (Phelps) 
Swain,  both  natives  of  North  Caroliuia  ;  the 
former  died  in  Macoupin  County,  this  State,  in 
1846.  the  latter  also  dying  in  the  same  county. 
They  had  nine  children,  of  whom  Asa.  was  the 
fourth,  and  received  his  education  in  his  native 
county.  He  early  learned  the  cooper's  trade 
and  has  followed  farming  in  this  and  Madison 
County  for  half  a  century.  He  has  been  twice 
married,  ami  has  had  the  following  children — 
Maria  J.,  Stephen  H.,  Clarissa  E.,  Martha  C., 
Snowden  S.,  Sarah  M.,  Asa  F.,  and  three  who 
died  unnamed.     Mr.  Swain  is  a  leading  farmer 


GRISHAM    TOWNSHIP. 


199 


and  an  earl}'  settler,  and  highly-  respected  citi- 
zen. His  religious  connection  is  with  the  Chris- 
tian Church  ;  his  polities,  Democratic. 

MARTIN  VOGAL.  farmer,  P.  0.  Walshville, 
born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in  lS2t'>.  His  par- 
ents, Martin  and  Margaret  (Bower)  Yogal,  were 
both  natives  of  Germany  ;  his  father,  who  was 
a  farmer,  died  there  ;  subject,  the  third  child  of 
a  family  of  eight  children,  received  his  educa- 
tion in  his  native  town,  and  worked  out  for 
many  years  as  a  farm  hand,  and  has  been  farm- 
ing on  his  own  account  in  Montgomery  County 
for  a  long  period.  He  has  been  twice  married, 
at  Belleville,  St.  Clair  Co.,  III.,  and  at  St.  Louis, 
Mo.  Mrs.  Vogal,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Kala,  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany  ;  her  par- 
ents, Henry  and  Mary  (Myer)  Kala  were  na- 
tives of  that  country.  Mr.  Vogal  has  four 
children — Martin,  Mary,  Fred  and  George.    He 


is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church. 

JOSEPH  S.  WHITESIDE,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Walshville,  was  bom  Bond  County,  HI.,  in  1837, 
son  of  Thomas  D.  and  Eliza  (Bruce)  Whiteside. 
Thomas  D.,  a  native  of  North  Carolinia,  now 
resides  at  Litchfield,  Montgomery  County  ;  his 
wife  died  in  Bond  County,  111.;  subject  is  the 
third  child  of  a  family  of  thirteen.  He  received 
his  education  in  Bond  and  Montgomery  Coun- 
ties, and  began  life  as  a  farmer,  which  occupa- 
tion he  still  follows.  In  Montgomery  County 
in  1859,  he  married  Mary  J.  Barlow,  daughter 
of  Joseph  and  Harriet  (Smith)  Barlow,  natives 
of  Tennessee.  From  this  union  three  children 
have  been  born,  viz.,  Harriet  E.,  Laura  B.  and 
Eva  F.  Mr.  Whiteside  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  ;  he  is  a  Republican. 


200 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


BUTLER   GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  W.  BROWN,  Jr.,  grain  dealer, 
Butler,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
May  30,  1843;  son  of  George  W.  and  Sarah 
A.  (Jenkins)  Brown,  he  born  in  Ohio  July  9, 
1819,  a  farmer  by  occivpation,  and  coming  to 
Illinois  in  1836;  she,  a  native  of  South  Caro- 
lina, born  June  30,  1819.  They  were  the 
parents  of  six  children.  Our  subject  received 
his  education  in  Hillsboro  Academy.  He 
came  to  Butler  in  1865,  and  was  employed  as 
salesman  by  Joe  Bauin  &  Co.  for  two  years, 
and  in  April,  1867.  commenced  business  as 
a  grocer,  in  the  building  known  as  Haywood's 
old  stand.  In  a  few  months  he  and  his 
brother,  Charles  O.  Brown,  entered  into  part- 
nership), constituting  the  firm  of  Brown  & 
Bro.  In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1S69, 
they  purchased  the  Haywood  Building,  and 
continued  to  do  business  in  it  until  1873. 
In  1871,  they  added  to  their  stock  dry  goods 
and  boots  and  shoes.  In  May,  1873,  they 
purchased  the  McReynolds  property,  and 
moved  their  goods  to  this  building,  adding 
to  their  stock  ready-made  clothing,  where 
they  continued  until  April,  1881,  when 
they  sold  their  stock  of  goods  to  Hoes  & 
Bro.  In  July,  1S79,  they  commenced 
buying  grain,  to  which  business  they 
now  devote  their  entire  attention.  They 
have  increased  in  business,  and  prospered 
greatly  since  their  small  beginning,  until 
they  now  own  '280  acres  of  excellent  land, 
besides  houses  and  lots  in  Butler,  and  an  ele- 
vator at  Hillsboro.  They  do  a  very  extensive 
business,  having  handled  in  1880-81  over 
120,000  bushels  of  grain.  January  4,  1865, 
Mr.   Brown   was  married  to  Miss  Henrietta 


M.  Judson,  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  November 
15,  1844,  daughter  of  James  P.  and  Elizabeth 
F.  (Gale)  Judson,  natives  of  New  Jersey. 
Six  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  Brown — 
James  Park.  Winnie  Pauline,  Charles  Judson, 
Frank  Harold,  Louis  Sylvester  and  Roland 
Otis. 

GEORGE  W.  BURRIS,  farmer.  P.  O.  But- 
ler, was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 111.,  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1860.  He  received  his  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  the  county,  and  en- 
tered upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer,  and 
remained  upon  the  old  homestead  until  the 
death  of  his  father,  when  he  assumed  all  the 
cares  and  responsibilities  of  the  family  and 
farm.  He  was  married  in  Montgomery  County, 
November  3,  1881,  to  Miss  Fannie  V.  Harris, 
who  was  born  March  7,  1861,  to  John  and 
Elvira  Harris.  Dewitt  C.  Burris,  the  father 
of  George,  was  born  in  Jackson  County,  Ohio; 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Montgomery 
County.  He  was  an  energetic  and  enterpris- 
ing man,  and  a  practical  farmer,  and,  per- 
haps, no  man  has  done  more  for  public  im- 
provements and  for  the  advancement  of  agri- 
cultural interests  in  the  county  than  Mr. 
Burris.  His  death  occurred  January  4,  1879, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  He  was  a  man  of 
prominence  in  the  township,  and  his  loss  will 
long  be  felt.  His  wife,  Roseline  Mack,  was 
born  in  New  Hampshire.  She  is  still  liv- 
ing, and  is  the  mother  of  eight  children  — 
George,  Emma  J.,  wife  of  John  Wallace; 
Hattie  Ellen,  Carrie  A.,  Elzina,  William  O., 
Charles  D.  arid  Wesley  C. .  all  of  whom  are 
living  on  the  old  homestead,  except  Emma, 
who.  with  her  husband,    is  living  in   Butler 


BUTLER  GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


201 


Township.  George,  the  subject,  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party.  He  devotes  his 
time  to  growing  the  usual  crops  and  raising 
stock.  The  farm  consists  of  about  ni  ue  hun- 
dred acres  of  choice  farm  land,  which  he 
keeps  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 

JOHN  BURNAP,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  Octo- 
ber 2,  1854,  son  of  Joseph  S.  and  Sarah 
(Hugg)  Burnap,  he  born  in  Ohio  September 
21,  1821.  a  farmer  by  occupation;  she  born 
in  New  Jersey  December  25,  1833.  They 
had  five  children.  Joim  being  the  eldest  child. 
Our  subject,  after  attending  the  common 
schools  of  his  county,  began  farming,  which 
he  has  followed  through  life,  being  in  charge 
at  present  of  his  father's  fine  farm  of  340 
acres  of  choice  land,  his  father  having  re- 
moved to  Texas,  where  ho  owns  a  large  tract 
of  land,  and  upon  which  he  expects  to  locate 
permanently.  March  6,  1878,  he  married 
Rosa  Nail,  born  in  Montgomery  County  Sep- 
temper  21,  185(3,  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Su- 
san (Williams)  Nail,  he  born  in  Indiana  De- 
cember 22,  1833;  she  in  Montgomery  County 
December  7,  1834  Three  children  have 
blessed  the  household  of  Mr.  Burnap — Earle, 
Tessie  and  Ina.  They  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.      He  is  a  Republican. 

JACOB  CRESS,  fanner,  P.  O.  Hillsboro, 
was  born  in  Harrisburg,  Washington  Co., 
Ind.,  May  5,  1818,  son  of  Jacob  and  Catha- 
rine (Bost)  Cress,  natives  of  North  Carolina, 
he  born  December  26.  1779,  a  cabinet-maker 
by  occupation  and  dying  November  10,  1865; 
she,  born  August  28,  1786,  and  dying  Feb- 
ruary 1, 1859.  They  had  ten  children.  Our 
subject,  after  receiving  an  ordinary  educa- 
tion, began  life  as  a  farmer,  which  he  has 
continued  to  the  present  time.  When  but  a 
few  weeks  old,  the  parents  of  Mr.  Cress 
moved  to  Montgomery  County,  and  located  a 
mile  northwest,  of  Hillsboro,  on  what  is  known 


as  the  Cress  Mill  farm,  but  on  the  5th  of 
May,  1840,  Jacob  removed  to  the  farm  he 
now  owns,  and  upon  which  he  resides,  two 
miles  east  of  Butler.  It  contains  784  acres 
of  land,  and  is  highly  improved,  having  fine 
buildings,  etc.  He  also  owns  200  acres  in 
Kansas,  eighty  acres  in  Franklin  County, 
and  eighty  acres  in  Missouri.  December  23, 
L840,  he  married  Miss  Helena  Scherer,  born 
in  Pendleton  County,  Va.,  October  8,  1818, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Daniel  Scherer,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  eleven  children  have 
blessed  the  union — Alexander  A.,  John  M., 
Jacob  D.,  William  S.,  Samuel  E.,  Benjamin 
L.,  Sophia  Lucretia,  Joseph  E.,  James  H. 
(deceased),  Mary  Illinois  (deceased)  and 
Thomas  J.  Mr.  Cress  has  served  as  Road 
Commissioner  six  or  seven  years,  is  a  member 
of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  a  Democrat. 

MARY  BASSETT  CLINESMITH,  farmer, 
P.  O.  Butler,  was  born  in  Middlesex,  Yates 
Co.,  N  Y.,  September  18,  1828,  daughter 
of  Ira  and  Louisa  (Cleaveland)  Bassett,  he  an 
architect,  by  profession,  born  April  10,  1788, 
and  dying  July  29,  1844;  she,  born  August 
26,  1798,  and  dying  February  2,  1873,  being 
a  native  of  Massachusetts.  They  were  the 
parents  of  nine  children.  Mrs.  Clinesmith 
was  educated  in  Rushville,  Yates  Co.,  N.  Y., 
and  married  March  4,  1861,  in  Athens,  Mo., 
John  Clinesmith,  a  native  of  Pittsburgh, 
born  December  18,  1812,  and  died  January 
20,  1876,  leaving  one  child.  Orville  H.,  born 
May  27.  1862.  When  eighteen  years  of  age, 
Mrs.  Clinesmith,  then  Miss  Mary  Bassett. 
who  had  adopted  the  profession  of  school 
teaching,  and  which  she  followed  afterward  for 
sixteen  years,  went  to  Warren  County,  Penn., 
where  she  remained  one  year,  after  which 
she  spent  one  year  in  Geauga  County,  Ohio, 
when  she  removed  to  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis., 
where  she  resided  ten  years,  after  which  she 
removed  to  Lee  County,  Iowa,  and  remained 


202 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


there  two  years.  After  her  marriage  with 
Mr.  Clinesmith,  she  removed  with  her  hus- 
band to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  set- 
tled on  a  farm  in  Butler  Township,  and  where 
he  died. 

S.  F.  CRESS,  farmer.  P.  O.  Butler,  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County  November  8, 
1847.  son  of  Absalom  Cress,  who  was  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina,  and  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. He  had  eight  children  born  to 
him.  all  of  whom  are  living.  Our  subject, 
after  receiving  au  education  in  the  schools  of 
his  native  county,  began  the  life  of  a  farmer, 
and  in  connection  with  that  has  followed 
milling  about  eight  years.  He  has  a  tine 
farm  of  200  acres  of  land  in  Montgomery 
County,  and  fifteen  acres  in  Litchfield.  Mr. 
Cress  married,  in  January,  1868,  Miss  Jennie 
Clodfelter,  born  in  1847.  daughter  of  William 
and  Susan  (Sherer)  Clodfelter,  he  a  native 
of  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Cress  has  four  chil- 
dren living.      He  is  a  Democrat. 

ISAAC  DOYLE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler,  was 
born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  June  14,  1842; 
son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Coats)  Doyle,  both 
natives  of  Kentucky,  who  emigrated  to  Greene 
County  in  1832.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eight  children,  Isaac  being  the  sixth  in  order 
of  birth.  Our  subject  received  an  ordinary 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
county,  and  commenced  life  as  a  farmer,  in 
which  he  has  continued,  owning  at  the  pres- 
ent time  160  acres  of  well-improved  land, 
three  miles  northeast  of  Butler.  September 
1  5,  1 869,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Mitts,  born 
in  Sangamon  County,  111.,  March  15,  1845, 
daughter  of  Jesse  and  Zerilda  (Shelton)  Mitts. 
Two  children  have  been  born  to  them — John 
L.  and  Noah  E.  Mr.  Doyle  has  served  as 
School  Trustee,  is  a  Mason  and  a  Democrat. 
JOHN  C.  GRASSEL,  farmer,  P.  O.  But- 
ler, was  born  January  10,1853;  son  of  George 
C.  and  Kathrine  (Espert)  Grassel,    both  na- 


tives of  Bavaria.  They  had  ten  children,  our 
subject  being  the  second  child.  Shortly  after 
their  marriage,  the  parents  removed  to  this 
country,  first  settling  in  Ohio,  and  afterward 
in  this  State,  where,  in  Montgomery  County, 
he  owns  800  acres  of  land,  upon  which  the 
son,  our  subject,  has  a  fine  residence,  with 
all  suitable  outbuildings.  After  receiving 
an  ordinary  education,  he  adopetd  the  life  of 
a  farmer,  in  which  he  has  continued.  In 
April.  1879,  he  married  Miss  Mollie  Lewey, 
born  in  this  county  in  1853,  daughter  of  Oli- 
ver and  Jane  (Stevenson)  Lewey,  and  the 
union  has  been  productive  of  one  child,  Harry 
Lewey.  Mi-.  Grassel  has  served  as  School 
Director  two  years,  and  is  a  Republican. 
His  wife  is  a  Presbyterian. 

C.  H.  HOES,  merchant,  Butler,  was  born 
in  Washington  County,  Md. .  September  15. 
1845;  son  of  Hartman  and  Elizabeth  (Knoble) 
Hoes,  he  a  native  of  Germany,  a  tailor  by 
trade,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1837, 
dying  in  1864;  she,  a  native  of  Maryland, 
born  January  1.  1814.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  nine  children,  eight  boys  and  one 
girl.  Our  subject  received  his  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  his  county,  and  com- 
menced life  as  a  farmer,  which  he  followed 
for  eight  years.  In  1869,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  remained  two  years,  and  then 
returned  to  Butler,  and  went  into  merchandis- 
ing, in  which  he  is  still  engaged,  the  firm 
beinc  known  as  Hoes  Bros.  Mr.  Hoes  was  in 
the  late  war  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  having  been  a  member  of  an  Illinois 
regiment.  April  7.  1868,  he  was  married  in 
Montgomery  County,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Rush, 
born  in  Kentucky  in  1847,  daughter  of  Isaac 
Rush,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  Three  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  Mr.  Hoes — Lillian. 
Lucretia  and  George  E.      He  is  a  Republican. 

L.  SCOTT  HOES,  merchant.    Butler,  was 
born  in  Hancock,  Ind.,    September  6,    1853; 


BUTLER  GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


203 


son  of  Hartinan  and  Elizabeth  (Knoble)  Hoes, 
he  a  native  of  Germany,  a  tailor  by  trade, 
who  emigrated  to  America  in  1837,  dying  in 
1864;  she.  a  native  of  Maryland,  born  Janu- 
ary 1,  1814.  They  were  the  parents  of  nine 
children,  eight  boys  and  one  girl.  At  the 
a^e  of  three  years,  oar  subject  was  taken  to 
Freeport,  111,  and  at  four  years  to  a  farm 
near  Butler,  where  he  lived  until  1877,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  followed  threshing  for 
about  ten  years,  and  farming.  In  1877,  he 
took  a  trip  to  California  for  the  purpose  of 
going  into  mining  with  his  brother.  After 
working  several  mouths  without  turning  up 
a  dollar's  worth  of  the  shining  metal,  he  at 
last  "  struck  it  rich,"  and  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  justify  the  erection  of  a  ten-stamp  mill, 
which  proved  profitable,  paying  large  divi- 
dends. He  remained  in  California  until  the 
fall  of  1880,  when  he  returned  to  Butler,  leav- 
ing his  brothers  to  control  the  mining  inter- 
ests, and  in  the  spring  of  1881,  engaged  with 
his  brother  Charles  in  merchandising.  Sep- 
tembjr  14,  1881,  Mr.  Hoes  married  Miss  Ida 
E.  Wheelock,  born  June  21.  1861,  in  Deca- 
tur, 111.,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary 
Wheelock,  he  a  native  of  New  Hampshire, 
born  November  29,  1830;  she,  born  February 
10.  1830.     Mr.  Hoes  is  a  Republican. 

THOMAS  F.  HODGES,  farmer,  was  bom 
in  Jersey  County,  111.,  September  29,  1851, 
son  of  E.  M.  and  Nancy  (Davis)  Hodges,  he 
born  in  Missouri  in  1820,  and  died  in  1875; 
she  born  in  Kentucky  in  1821.  They  had 
nine  children,  Thomas  F.  being  the  fourth 
child  in  order  of  birth.  Our  subject  was 
raised  to  the  life  of  a  farmer,  and  attended  1  lie 
common  schools,  receiving  such  an  education 
as  they  afforded.  In  1872.  he  removed  from 
( rreene  County  to  his  present  place.  He  owns 
two  shares  in  370  acres  of  fine  land,  which 
belongs  to  the  heirs  of  his  father's  estate.  In 
September,     1875,    he    married   Miss    Mary 


Sherer,  born  in  1857.  daughter  of  John  and 
Nancy  (Peters)  Sherer,  all  natives  of  this 
State.  Three  children  have  been  born  to  them 
— Arthur,  Gracie  and  Walter.  His  wife  is 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  he  is  a  Democrat. 

MATTHEW  McMURTRY,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Butler,  was  born  in  Doagh,  County  Antrim, 
Ireland,  December  12,  1807;  son  of  Ezekiel 
Simm  and  Jane  (McAllister)  McMurtry,  of 
Thorndyke,  Ballyclose,  Antrim,  Ireland.  At 
the  age  of  fourteen,  our  subject  went  to  Bel- 
fast to  learn  the  trade  of  millwright,  and  the 
first  steam  fUyuring-mill  built  in  Belfast  was 
built  during  his  apprenticeship,  by  his  uncle. 
Matthew  was  afterward  employed  at  mill- 
writrhtine  in  this  mill  until  he  came  to  Amer- 
ica,  in  1831.  Arriving  at  New  Orleans,  he 
went  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  he  remained 
about  one  year:  then  went  to  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  and  from  there  to  Covington,  Ky. , 
where  he  lived  many  years.  In  1855,  he 
went  to  St.  Louis,  and  other  points,  prosecut- 
ing his  business,  and  in  1858  moved  with 
his  family  to  this  county,  and  settled  on  the 
farm  which  has  been  his  home  ever  since. 
He  has  dealt  in  grain,  also,  to  some  extent, 
in  Butler.  October  9,  IS'J7,  at  Strandtown, 
County  Down,  Ireland,  he  was  married  to 
Elizabeth  Smyth,  born  in  1804,  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Janet  (Laird)  Smyth,  resident  of 
County  Down,  Ireland,  and  by  this  union 
they  have  had  the  following  children:  Jane, 
born  July  24,  1828,  at  Belfast,  Ireland,  and 
died  November  2,  1837,  at  Covington,  Ky. ; 
Sarah,  wife  of  Robert  Bryce,  born  November 
;  9,  1830,  at  Belfast,  Ireland;  Elizabeth,  born 
|  February  22,  1833,  near  Nashville,  Tenn.. 
and  died  October  27, 1837,  at  Covington,  Ky. ; 
Mary  Ann,  born  December  26,  1834,  at  Cov- 
ington, Ky.,  and  died  August  2,  1855,  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo. ;  Ezekiel  James,  born  August  17, 
1837,  at  Covington,  Ky.,  and  died  November 


204 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


1,  1S37,  at  Covington,  Ky.:  Jane  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  James  S.  McMurtry,  of  St.  Louis.  Mo., 
born  November  13,  1838,  at  Covington,  Ky. ; 
Susanna  Esther,  born  February  10,  1841,  at 
Covington,  Ky. ;  James  Matthew,  born  April 
20,  1843,  at  Covington,  Ky.,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 17,  1877,  at  Davidson,  Colo. ;  Abigail 
Emma  Simm.  bom  March  12,  1847,  at  Cov- 
ington, Ky. ,  and  died  April  16,  1861,  near 
Butler,  111.  Mr.  McMurtry  is  a  member  of 
the  Seceder  Church. 

M.  L.  MOYER,  physician,  Butler,  was  born 
in  Iredell  County.  N.  C,  March  19,  1850, 
son  of  J.  M.  and  M.  A.  (Kimball)  Mover. 
he  a  farmer,  born  in  Cabarrus  County.  N.  C. 
April  7,  1820;  she,  also  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, April  7.  1825.  They  had  four  children, 
two  of  whom  are  dead.  Our  subject  received 
his  primary  education  in  the  schools  of  HiJIs- 
boro,  and  commenced  his  business  career  as 
a  carpenter,  afterward  trading  in  stock,  deal- 
ing principally  iD  the  far  South.  In  1876, 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine  and  attended 
the  Medical  College  at  Keokuk.  Iowa,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated  in  1S80.  He 
immediately  located  in  Butler,  where  he  has 
worked  into  a  fine  practice.  The  Doctor  is 
an  able  and  conscientious  practitioner,  having 
been  and  still  is  a  hard  student,  leaving  no 
modes  or  processes  untouched  that  may  in- 
crease his  skill  in  his  profession.  He  is  a 
genial  gentleman,  and  highly  respected  in 
the  community  where  he  has  made  his  home. 
He  has  been  for  sixteen  years  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  Church,  and  is  an  Odd  Fellow 
and  a  Democrat. 

FRANCIS  PHILLIPS,  farmer,  P.  O.  But- 
ler, was  born  in  Randolph  County,  111.,  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1827.  His  education  was  limited 
to  such  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  old  log 
cabin  schools  at  that  early  day.  He  com- 
menced his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer.  He 
purchased  his  first  land  in  Butler  Township, 


the  farm   containing   200  acres  of  land,  only 
a  part  of  which  was  improved,  and  on  which 
the  only   building  was   a  log  cabin.     He  re- 
mained on  the  property  for  about  seven  years, 
when  he  sold  it  and  bought  the  property  he 
now  resides  upon.     He  has  made  all  the  im- 
provements himself,  but  had  the  misfortune 
to  have  his  buildings  all  destroyed  by  tire  in 
1872;  but,  being  possessed  with  a  stout  heart 
and  an  energetic  spirit,  he  at  once  erected  a 
new  residence,  and  the  appearance  of  his  prop- 
erty denotes  Mr.  Phillips  to  be  a  practical 
farmer  and  a  man  who  labors  for  public  im- 
provements, and  for  the  advancement  of  the 
agricultural  interests  of  the  county.      He  has 
endured  the  hardships  of   a   trip  to  the  gold 
regions    of  California,    where   he   remained 
about  one  year,   and  returned  to  his  native 
State,  the  recollections  of  which  trip  are  still 
fresh   in  his  memory.      He   was  married  on 
February  1.  1826,  to  Miss  Sarah  Jane  Scherer, 
who  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and  brought 
to  this  State  while  yet  a  child.     She  is  the 
mother  of  two  children  living — Harriet  Vir- 
o-in:a  and  David.      The  father  of  Francis  was 
Burrell  Phillips,  a  native  of  one  of  the  South- 
ern States,   but  sought   a  home    in   the   far 
West,  and  settled  in  Randolph  County,  111. 
He  was  a  prominent  farmer  in  an  early  day. 
His  death  occurred  in  1832.     His  wife,  Har- 
riet Brown,  was  the  mother  of  four  children, 
of  whom  Francis  was  the  youngest.     Polit- 
ically, his  sympathies   are  with  the  Repub- 
lican party.     Religiously,   himself  and  wife 
are  connected  with  the  Lutheran  Church.    He 
has  been   a  prominent  member  of  the  Odd 
Fellows  order  for  a  number  of  years. 

MICHAEL  REMENSNIDER,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Butler,  was  bom  in  Germany  in  1826, 
son  of  Andrew  Remensnider,  he  a  native  of 
Germany,  and  a  farmer  by  occupation,  born 
in  1793,  and  died  about  the  year  1863.  Sub- 
ject, who  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  cf  four 


BUTLER  GROVE   TOWNSHIP.; 


205 


children,  received  a  fair  education  in  the 
common  schools  in  Germany,  and  began  life 
as  a  farmer.  When  he  was  twenty-six  years 
old,  he  emigrated  to  America;  landed  in  New 
York,  where  he  remained  ten  months;  removed 
to  Indiana,  and  lived  there  seventeen  years, 
and  in  1870  came  to  Sangamon  County,  111., 
where  he  stayed  sis  years,  and  finally  removed 
to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  now  resides 
on  a  farm  of  155  acres  of  fine,  improved  land. 
In  Indiana,  in  1856,  he  married  Miss  Recilla 
Shear,  born  in  Ohio  in  1839,  and  died  in 
1861,  leaving  two  children — Elizabeth  and 
Alain.  Her  father,  Christian  Shear,  was  a 
native  of  Germany;  her  mother  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr.  Remensnider's  second  wife,  Nor- 
etta  Reed,  born  in  Ohio  September  24,  1838, 
daughter  of  James  Reed,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  died  leaving  seven  children. 
His  third  wife  is  Eliza  Brown,  born  in  Illi- 
nois December  15,  1841,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Brown,  a  native  of  Kentucky;  she  is  the 
mother  of  one  child,  Henry.  Mr.  Remen- 
snider  is  a  Democrat  and  member  of  Charter 
Oak  Lodge.  No.  232,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  Litch- 
field, 111.  His  son.  Alain,  an  energetic  young 
man  who  has  just  begun  farming  on  his  own 
account,  owns  a  farm  adjoining  his  father's, 
and  bids  fare  to  be  one  of  the  leading  agri- 
culturists of  the  county 

JOSEPH  STICKEL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler, 
was  born  in  York  County,  Penn.,  August  26, 
1814;  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Benzly)  Stickel. 
he  a  farmer,  born  about  1791,  and  dying  in 
1869;  she.  born  about  1791,  and  dying  in 
1862;  both  natives  of  York  County,  Penn. 
They  were  the  parents  of  nine  children,  Jo- 
seph, our  subject,  being  the  eldest.  After 
receiving  the  education  obtainable  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county,  Joseph 
began  his  business  life  as  a  farmer  and  car- 
penter. After  following  for  three  years  the 
businesses  named,  he   entered  into  merchan- 


dising, after  which  he  went  into  milling  and 
farming,  in  which  he  has  continued  since,  in 
the  meantime  filling  the  position  of  School 
Trustee  and  Director  of  his  township.  He 
owns  a  fine  farm  of  308  acres  of  land,  which 
is  highly  improved.  Mr.  Stickel  has  been 
married  three  times;  first,  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  twice  in  Illinois.  The  first  wife  was 
named  Susanna  Shelly,  the  second,  Catha- 
rine Smith,  and  the  third,  who  is  living,  was 
Sarah  Scott,  born  in  Kentucky  October  9, 
1 828,  their  marriage  occurring  November  8, 
1855.  Mr.  Stickel  has  been  blessed  with 
eight  children,  three  deceased — Francis  M., 
Susanna  M.,  Fletcher  A.,  Nancy  A.,  John 
A.,  Alexander  W.,  James  H.  and  Ellie  C. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  he  is  a  Republican. 

JOHN  M.  TUMES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler, 
was  born  in  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  Co.,  111., 
April  27,  1S4S.  son  of  Thomas  and  Theresa 
(Allen)  Tumes,  he  a  native  of  Ireland,  she 
of  Illinois.  They  had  eight  children,  John 
M.  being  the  second  in  order  of  birth.  Our 
subject  received  his  education  in  the  Hills- 
boro Academy,  and  commenced  life  teaming 
and  farming,  in  which  latter  occupation  he 
has  been  engaged  to  the  present  time.  Oc- 
tober 26,  1876,  he  married  Mrs.  Fannie  M. 
(Chapell)  Harkey,  whose  husband,  Daniel 
Lee  Harkey,  died  in  1875,  leaving  two  chil- 
dren—Ida Sophia  and  Ella  Lee.  Mrs.  Tumes 
is  the  daughter  of  George  and  Rebecca  Chap- 
ell, the  latter  having  departed  this  life  in 
1862.  One  child,  Mattie  H,  has  been  born 
to  Mi-,  and  Mrs.  Tumes.  He  is  an  Odd  Fel- 
low and  a  Democrat. 

JUSTUS  H.  WARE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler, 
was  born  at  Ware' s  Grove,  near  Butler,  Mont- 
gomery Co.,  111.,  July  11,  1834;  son  of  Ben- 
jamin and  Sarah  (Slayback)  Ware,  he  born 
at  Gilsum,  Cheshire  Co.,  N.  H,  May  27, 
1796,    a    farmer  by    occupation,    and    dying 


206 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


July  31,  1N55;  she,  born  near  Lexington, 
Hy.,  September  13,  1805,  and  still  living. 
They  had  two  children  born  to  them,  our  sub- 
ject being  the  second.  Mr.  Ware,  after  at- 
tending the  schools  of  his  county,  began  life 
as  a  farmer,  and  at  present  owns  a  farm  of 
280  acres  of  excellent  land,  which  is  under  a 
high  state  of  cultivation,  and  with  good  im- 
provements thereon.  He  was  married  in  ! 
Keene,  N.  H.,  September  26,  1860,  to  Miss 
Luceba  A.  Brigham,  born  at  East  Alstead, 
N.  H.,  August  25,  1836,  daughter  of  Aaron 
and  Susan  (Proctor)  Brigham.  and  the  fol- 
lowing children  have  been  born  to  them: 
Mary  Flora,  born  November  29,  1862;  Carrie 
Susan,  born  May  5, 1864,  and  died  December 
1,  1866;  George  Vincent,  born  September  5, 
1867;  Amy  Lillian,  born  April  21,  1873. 
Mr.  Ware  has  served  as  School  Director  of 
his  township,  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  a  Republican. 

DR.  W.  A.  WTESNER,  druggist,  Butler, 
was  born  in  Indiana  February  27,  1851,  and 
emigrated  to  Montgomery  County  in  1N71. 
His  father  was  Jacob  Wesner,  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1800,  and  died  in  1860;  his 
mother,  Elizabeth  (Killian)  Wesner,  born  in 
L806,  and  dying  in  1857.  They  had  eleven 
children.  Our  subject,  after  his  education 
in  the  schools  of  his  county,  went  to  farming, 
and  then  in  the  restaurant  business.  In  1872- 
'73,  he  attended  medical  lectures  at  Indian- 
apolis, and,  after  finishing  his  course,  located 
first  at  Nokomis,  Montgomery  Co.,  111.,  and  re- 
mained one  year  practicing  medicine,  and  in 
drug  business.  He  moved  to  Butler  in  1878, 
where  he  has  a  large  and  remunerative  busi- 
ness in  the  drug  line,  it  being  the  only  estab- 
lishment of  its  kind  in  that  town.  March 
29,  187(3,  he  married  Mary  J.  Phillips,  born 
in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  1860,  and 
three  children  have  been  born  to  them — Glen 
Allen,  Donard  Clayton  andlva  Leena.      He  is 


a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  an  Odd 
Fellow  and  a  Democrat. 

HENRY  WARE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Butler,  was 
born  in  Butler  Grove  Township  May  4,  1845; 
son  of  Obadiah  and  Electa  (Post)  Ware,  he 
born  in  Gilsum.  Cheshire  Co.,  N.  H.,  Janu- 
ary 2,  1795,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  dy- 
ing September  24,  1876,  she  born  in  Addison 
County,  Vt.,  July  15,  1800,  and  dying  No- 
vember 15,  1859.  Our  subject  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  or  his  county,  and  be- 
gan life  as  a  farmer,  in  which  he  has  been 
and  still  is  engaged,  owning  at  the  present 
time  a  fine  farm  of  240  acres  of  well-improved 
land,  lying  on  the  cross  road  running  from 
Springfield  to  Hillsboro.  In  addition  to  gen- 
eral farming,  Mr.  Ware  makes  a  specialty  of 
raising  fine  sheep,  having  a  large  flock  always 
in  his  fields.  In  Lee  County,  Iowa,  January 
24,  18(37,  he  married  Miss  Louisa  H.  Morri- 
son, born  March  14, 1846,  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Miriam  (Baugh)  Morrison,  he  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  and  she  of  Kentucky. 

WILLIAM  WATSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hills- 
boro. Among  the  prominent  familiesof  But- 
ler Grove  Township  is  that  of  him  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  Mr.  Watson,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  volume,  was  born  in 
Machery  Knappen,  parish  of  Refo,  County 
Donegal,  Ireland,  January  14,  1800;  his  fa- 
ther, James  Watson,  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
and  was  born  about  the  year  1755;  he  mar- 
ried Margaret  McClary,  a  native  of  Ireland; 
they  had  four  children,  of  whom  the  subject 
was  the  eldest;  he  died  in  1S25.  Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  coun- 
try, and  emigrated  to  America,  arriving  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  of 
age;  he  went  from  there  to  Geneva,  N.  Y., 
where  he  remained  ten  years,  then  removed 
to  Genesee  County  and  lived  there  ten  years, 
when,  on  the  26th  of  November,  1839,  he 
came  to  Montgomery  County,  111.,  and  settled 


BUTLER.  GROVE  TOWNSHIP. 


207 


on  the  farm  whore  he  now  resides,  five  miles 
north  of  Hillsboro.  He  was  married,  August 
4,  1834,  in  New  York,  to  Miss  Mary  Taft, 
who  was  born  December  10,  1815,  and  is  a 
daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (David- 
son) Taft,  all  of  Ireland ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Watson 
have  had  born  to  them  the  following  children: 
William,  Aaron,  Margaret,  John  James,  an 
infaut  (died  without  name),  George  W.,  Anna, 
Augusta,  James,  Eliza  and  Isabella.  Mr. 
Watson  is  one  of  the  stanch  farmers  of  the 
county,  who  settled  in  it  more  than  forty 
years  ago;  has  grown  up  with  it,  advanced 
in  prosperity,  and  has  grown  in  wealth  and 
importance;  has  become  identified  with  it  in 
its  growth  and  development,  and  is  a  part  of 
its  history;  he  has  never  sought  office  nor 
political  preferment,  but  has  always  been  an 
energetic  friend  of  education,  and  a  deter- 
mined advocate  of  all  public  improvements 
calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his 
adopted  county.  Politically,  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  socially,  a  warm  friend  and  pleas- 
ing companion.  His  wife  is  a  woman  of  in- 
telligence, a  helpmeet  to  her  husband,  and  a 
zealous  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
William  Watson,  Jr.,  deceased,  the  eldest  son 
of  the  above,  died  from  the  accidental  dis- 
charge of  a  pistol  in  his  own  hand,  March  20, 
L882;  he  was  born  in  Genesee  County,  N.  Y., 
November  20,  1835,  and  came  with  his  par- 
ents to  Illinois  in  1839;  he  was  never  mar-, 
ried,  but  owned  a  fine  farm  some  five  miles 
north  of  Hillsboro,  and  his  brother  John, 
and  sister  Margaret  (likewise  unmarried), 
lived  with  him;  he  was  a  dutiful,  son,  and,  to 
the  day  of  his  untimely  death,  never  under- 
took any  enterprise  without  consulting  his 
parents,  whose  advice  and  more  mature  judg- 
ment he  always  heeded;  he  left  to  mourn  his 
sad  fate  his  aged  parents  and  his  brothers  and 
sisters — Aaron.  Margaret,  John.  George, 
James,    Eliza    and   Isabella;    though   not   a 


member  of  any  church,  he  was  a  moral  man 
and  a  constant  reader  of  the  Bible;  he  never 
swore  an  oath,  was  temperate  in  all  his  habits, 
and  a  firm  believer  in  Christianity:  he  lived 
nobly,  prospered  in  wealth,  won  the  confi- 
dence of  all,  and  died  an  houest  and  upright 
man.  Aaron  Watson,  the  second  son,  was 
born  also  in  New  York,  February  7,  1837, 
and  brought  by  his  parents  to  Illinois  in 
1S39;  he.  was  reared  on  the  farm,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  common  schools 
of  the  county,  and  began  life  for  himself  as  a 
farmer;  owns  forty  acres  of  excellent  land,  in 
a  fine  state  of  cultivation,  and  which  joins  the 
old  homestead;  politically,  he  is  a  Democrat, 
and  socially,  he  is — unmarried.  John  Wat- 
son, Jr.,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  January  28,  1810,  and  is  the  third  son  of 
William  Watson,  Sr. ;  he  was  brought  up  on 
the  farm,  and  received  such  educational  ad- 
vantages as  the  common  schools  afforded;  he 
began  life  as  a  farmer,  and  purchased  eighty 
acres  of  land,  to  which  he  has  added  since 
until  ho  now  owns  an  excellent  farm  in  But- 
ler Grove  Township;  he  is  an  energetic  and 
industrious  farmer,  and,  like  his  father,  is  a 
good  Democrat.  George  W.  W7atsou,  the 
fourth  son,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
July  8,  1842;  he  attended  the  common 
schools,  and  afterward  took  a  regular  com- 
mercial course  in  a  business  college  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1865;  he  then  entered  the  telegraph  office 
there,  in  the  employ  of  the  Hudson  River 
Railroad,  remaining  two  years,  when  his 
health  gave  way  and  he  was  obliged  to  return 
home,  since  which  time  he  has  engaged  in 
farming;  he  lives  in  Rountree  Township  (this 
county),  where  he  owns  a  farm  of  300  acres 
of  well-improved  land.  On  the  23d  of  De- 
cember, 1869,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy 
A.  Peck,  a  daughter  of  William  H  Peck,  of 
Montgomery   County;  they  have  three  chil- 


208 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


dren  living,  viz.,  Estella,  Lenna  and  Rolla; 
also  have  three  children  dead.  Mr.  Watson 
is  Treasurer  of  Eountree  Township  James 
Watson,  the  youngest  son,  was  born  on  the 
homestead,  in  Montgomery  County,  in  1849; 
he  was  brought  up  on  the  farm;  educated  in 
the  common  schools  of  the  neighborhood,  fin- 
ishing his  education  at  Hillsboro  Academy; 
he  commenced  his  business  career  as  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser,  which  business  he  has  suc- 
cessfully followed  to  the  present  time;  his 
first  purchase  of  land  was  twenty-three  acres, 
to  which  he  has  since  added  until  he  now 
owns  188  acres  of  as  tine  land  as  any  in  But- 
ler Grove  Township;  he  makes  a  specialty  of 
raising  and  handling  cattle,  but  gives  more 


or  less  attention  to  all  kinds  of  stock;  he  is 
liberal  in  his  views  upou  all  matters  of  public 
enterprise,  and  contributes  freely  of  his  means 
to  promote  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  his 
town  and  county;  he  has  always  been  identi- 
fied with  the  Democratic  party,  believing  its 
principles  to  be  the  foundation  stone  of  our 
free  institutions;  he  still  lives  with  his  par- 
ents, and  takes  care  of  them  in  their  old  age, 
thereby  winning  the  respect  and  approval  of 
his  neighbors  and  friends.  The  Watson  fam- 
ily own  about  two  thousand  acres  of  land, 
well  improved  and  well  cultivated;  they  are 
noted  far  and  wide  for  their  enterprise,  pub- 
lic spirit  and  generous  hospitality. 


^iSfe 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


201) 


RAYMOND   TOWNSHIP. 


DANIEL  E.  ADAMS,  baker  and  grocer, 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  Oc- 
tober 13,  1840.  His  early  childhood  was 
spent  in  attending  the  common  schools  of  his 
native  county,  and  in  assisting  his  father 
upon  the  homestead  farm.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  he  embarked  upon  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farmer,  in  Macoupin  County,  where 
he  remained  two  years,  and  then  removed  to 
Montgomery  County,  and  purchased  forty 
acres  of  wild  prairie  land,  which  he  improved 
and  eventually  sold.  He  then  moved  to 
Zanesville  Township  and  rented  a  farm,  upon 
which  he  remained  three  years.  He  then  re- 
turned to  the  same  section  where  his  last 
farm  was  located,  and  purchased  sixty  acres 
of  prairie  land,  which  was  partly  improved. 
Soon  after  he  sold  it,  and  purchased  110 
acres  near  by,  and  lived  upon  it  three  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  sold  out  again 
and  returned  to  Zanesville  Township,  and 
bought  eighty  acres.  He  continued  in  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer  until  1880,  when  he 
again  sold  out  and  removed  to  Raymond, 
where  he  purchased  twenty-eight  acres  of  vil- 
lage property,  and  entered  into  a  grocery,  at 
which  business  he  was  more  than  ordinarily 
successful,  and  by  his  energy,  business  habits, 
and  the  pleasing  manner  in  which  he  at- 
tended to  the  wants  of  his  customers,  he  built 
up  a  large  trade.  He  eventually  sold  his  in- 
terest and  entered  into  partnership  in  a  gen- 
eral mercantile  business  with  W.  H.  Wil- 
banks,  with  whom  he  continued  about  one 
year,  when  he  bought  his  partner's  interest 
and  continued  in  the  business  by  himself. 
In  January,   1882,  ho  sold  his  business,  and 


at  present  is  engaged  in  conducting  a  bakery, 
grocery  and  restaurant,  where,  for  the  short 
time  he  has  been  in  the  trade,  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  building  up  a  large  and  steadily 
increasing  trade.  He  was  married,  October 
24,  1800,  to  Elizabeth  Jane  Wagner,  who 
was  born  in  Washington  County,  111.,  No- 
vember 14,  1840.  She  is  the  mother  of 
eight  children — Emma  Elnora,  born  in  Ma- 
coupin  County,  August  19,  1861,  wife  of  P. 
B.  Bureo,  now  living  in  Nebraska;  Anna 
Nevada,  born  August  2,  1863;  Jacob  L.,  born 
January  20,  1867;  Charles  W.,  born  March 
16,  1871;  William  H.,  born  February  23, 
1874;  Viola  Jane,  born  March  16,  187'J,  and 
two  infants,  deceased.  Mrs.  Adams  is  a 
daughter  of  Jacob  D.  and  Lucinda  (McDon- 
ald) Adams,  he  born  in  Illinois,  and  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Macoupin  County,  and 
still  living;  she,  born  in  Tennessee,  deceased. 
William  C.  Adams,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  West  Virginia;  moved  from 
there  to  Tennessee,  but  eventually  to  Macou- 
pin County,  in  1827,  a  farmer  by  occupation. 
His  death  occurred  January  21,  1853.  His 
wife,  Margaret  Ward,  was  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee, and  is  still  living.  She  is  the  mother 
of  twelve  children,  of  whom  Daniel  was  the 
ninth  child.  He  was  elected  Constable  in 
1873,  and  served  one  year.  In  1874,  he  was 
elected  a  Highway  Commissioner  of  Zanesville 
Township,  and  served  three  years.  He  has 
been  an  active  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 
order  for  a  number  of  years.  Politically,  his 
sympathies  are  with  the  Democratic  part}-. 
Religiously,  himself  and  wife  are  connected 
with  the  Christian  Church 


210 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


PETER  BERRIE,  retired  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  is  a  son  of  Thomas  Berne,  who  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania,  of  English  descent.  He 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  His  wife,  Susan, 
Lark,  was  also  a  native  of  Pennsylvania;  she 
died  in  1823.  The  result  of  their  union  was 
twelve  children,  of  whom  Peter,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  the  seventh  child.  As 
educational  privileges  were  very  much  lim- 
ited at  that  early  day,  his  education  was  nec- 
essarily limited.  His  early  life  was  spent  in 
assisting  his  father  in  his  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  remained  at  home  until  he  reached 
the  ago  of  nineteen  years,  when  he  entered 
upon  the  battle  of  life  with  all  the  energy  of 
a  young  man  bound  to  make  his  way  in  the 
world.  He  engaged  as  a  farm  hand,  near 
home,  receiving  but,  a  small  compensation  for 
his  labor.  He  soon  tired  of  that  oocupation, 
and  tried  river  life  for  a  few  months,  but  soon 
concluded  that  a  farm  life  was  preferable, 
and  he  again  took  upon  himself  the  duties  of 
a  farm  life,  following  in  that  occupation  in 
different  localities,  and  eventually  came  to 
Montgomery  County,  111.,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  In  1841,  he  purchased  his  first  real 
estate,  consisting  of  eighty  acres  of  unim- 
proved prairie  land,  to  which  he  has  continu- 
ally added,  until  his  farm  now  consists  of 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres  of 
choice  farm  and  timber  land.  He  has  made 
all  the  improvements  necessary  for  comfort 
and  convenience,  and  has  placed  his  farm  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  it  will  com- 
pare with  any  of  the  best  improved  farms  in 
the  county,  and  he  is  proud  of  the  fact  that, 
having  started  upon  his  career  a  poor  boy, 
his  present  possessions  represent  the  dollars 
earned  by  himself.  He  was  married.  Decem- 
ber 15,  1811,  to  Mary  J.  Cass,  who  was  born 
January  27.  1821.  and  died  November  13, 
L865.  She  bore  him  eight  children,  viz.: 
Adolphus,  born  May  26,  1843,  and  died  July 


15,  1864;  Aurelms,  born  August  14,  1845, 
and  died  November  11,  1871;  Isabelle,  born 
July  7,  1848,  and  died  February  25.  L853; 
Clarence,  born  November  17,  1850,  and  is 
still  living;  Florence,  born  March  8.  1853, 
and  died  January  26,  L875;  Lockwood,  born 
September  23,  1855,  and  died  November  12. 
1868;  Mary,  born  May  14,  1859,  and  died  in 
infancy;  Chester,  born  December  17,  1861, 
and  is  still  living.  Mr.  Berrie  was  married 
again  June  22.  1869,  to  Mary  J.  Guthrie, 
who  was  born  in  Charleston,  Coles  Co.,  111.. 
November  16,  1843.  She  is  the  mother  of 
one  child,  Fannie,  born  November  11,  1870. 
and  died  July  4,  1871.  Mrs.  Berrie  was  a 
daughter  of  Green  J.  and  Mary  J.  (Van  De- 
ren")  Guthrie,  natives  of  Kentucky.  He  died 
in  1850;  was  a  prominent  merchant  of 
Charleston.  111.;  she  still  living,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-one.  She  is  the  mother  of  five 
children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Berrie  was  the  second 
child.  She  is  a  lady  possessing  all  the 
womanly  graces.  Mr.  Berrie  is  not  a  poli- 
tician, but  has  always  been  identified  with 
the  Republican  party.  Although  possessing 
all  the  energy  and  enterprise  that  has  char- 
acterized all  his  efforts,  he  has  retired  from 
farm  life,  and  is  now  enjoying  the  fruits  of 
a  well-spent  life. 

IRA  BARTON,  physician,  Raymond,  was 
l^jrn  in  Grant  County,  Wis.,  April  17,  1844, 
where  he  received  his  early  education,  the 
foundation  of  his  subsequent  learning.  The 
years  between  fourteen  and  twenty-one  were 
employed  in  assisting  his  father  in  his  agri- 
cultural pursuits.  He  then  entered  the  serv- 
ice in  Compauy  I,  One  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
second  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  Capt. 
J.  W.  Brown;  regiment  commanded  by  Col. 
Stephenson.  He  remained  in  the  service 
about  seven  months,  and  soon  after  his  dis- 
charge he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  read- 
ing with  Dr.  A.  B.   Penniman,  at  Woodburn, 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


211 


Macoupin  County.      He  attended  three  courses 
of  lectures  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  from  which  institu- 
tion he  graduated  in  1869,  receiving  his  diplo- 
ma as   an  M.  D.      He  did  not  enter  regularly 
upon  the  duties  of  his  profession   until  June 
of  the  following  year,   when  he   located  at 
Raymond,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged 
in  the  practiee  of  his  profession,   with  the 
exception  of  one  year,  when  he  took  the  place 
and  practice  of  his  old  preceptor,   at  "Wood- 
burn.     He  has,  by  his  thorough  knowledge 
of,  and  strict  attention  to.  the  duties  of  his 
calling,  succeeded  in  building  up  a  reasonably 
good  practice,  which   is   steadily  on  the  in- 
crease,  and  socially  has  gained   the  highest 
esteem  of  the  community.     He  was  married, 
December   17,    1871,  to  Miss  Mary  H.  Scott, 
who  was  born  in  Steuben  County,  Ind.,  Aug- 
ust  15,    1845.      She   is  the  mother  of   three 
children,  viz.:  John  H..   Sarah   and  infant, 
the  latter  dying  in  early  infancy.     Mrs.  Bar- 
ton was  a  daughter  of  Joseph  H.  and  Mercy 
(Kinsman)  Scott,   natives   of   New   York,   he 
living,  she  deceased.     John  H.    Barton,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Massachu- 
setts in  October,   1805,   and  is  still   living. 
At   the  age  of  twenty  one,  he  sought  a  heme 
in  the  then  far  "West,  and  located  near  Jack- 
sonville, 111.,  where  he  remained  several  years, 
but  eventually  resided  in  "Wisconsin  and  Min- 
nesota, and  has  engaged  in  several  occupations 
during  his  life,  such  as  lead  mining,  farming, 
merchandising,  etc.,  and  now,  at  an  advanced 
age,  he  is  enjoying  the  fruits  of  a  well-spent 
life.     His  wife,   Mary  N.  Beid,  was  born  in 
Lexington,    Ky.,  in  1812,  and  is  also  living. 
They  have  lived  together   as  man  and  wife 
fifty-three  years,  and  the  result  of  their  union 
was   seven   children,    three    of    whom    have 
reached    manhood     and    womanhood,    viz. : 
Sarah,  wife  of  A.  B.  Penniman;  Mary,  wife  of 
William  P.  Hamilton,  and  Ira,  the  subject  of 


this  sketch.  He  has  always  been  identified 
with  the  Republican  party.  Religiously,  he 
is  in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  was  one  of  the  six  members  who  organ- 
ized the  church  at  Raymond;  has  always 
taken  a  prominent  part  in  all  temperance 
movements. 

A.  BRYAN,  lumber  dealer,  Raymond,  was 
born  in   Arkansas  March  20,  1850;  received 
his    education    principally    in    the    common 
schools  of  that  State;  came  to  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  in   1864.     His  first   enterprise 
for  himself  was  school  teaching,  but  event- 
ually took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm 
life.      Since  1873.    he  has  been  working  at 
the  carpentering  and  joiner  trade,  and  in  Jan- 
uary. 1882,  bought  the  lumber  yard  and  bus- 
iness of  D.  J.  Parratt  &  Co.,  located  at  Ray- 
mond.    On  the  29th  of  March,  he  entered  in- 
to partnership  with  D.  C.  Kelley,  in  the  same 
business.     They  are   enterprising   and   ener- 
getic business  men,  and  have  built  up  a  large 
and  steadily    increasing  trade.     Mr.    Bryan 
has  just  completed  a  fine  frame  residence  on 
one  of  the  principal    streets   of    Raymond. 
He  has  done  most  of  the  work  himself,  and 
the  house  does  honor  to  the  to«ro  and  to  Mr. 
Bryan    as    a    competent  workman.     He  was 
married  in  Pulaski  County,    Ark.,   February 
18,  1872,  to  Miss   Matilda  Powers,  daughter 
of   Oliver    and   Margaret    (Hustin)    Powers. 
They  have  three  children  living,  viz.:  Letha, 
William  and  Claudie  May;  Ira  died  in  in- 
fancy.    The   father  of  the    subject,    Darius 
Bryan,   was   a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of    Arkansas. 
He   was  a  farmer  by    occupation;  his  death 
occurred  in  1876.     His  wife,    Susan    Eliza- 
beth Hamilton,  was  a   native  of  Illinois,  and 
died  on  the  same  day  as  her  husband,  and 
both  of  small-pox.      He  is  a  Democrat. 

WILLIAM   L.    BATEMAN,   lawyer,  Ray- 
mond,   was  born  in  Knox  County,  Ohio,  Oc- 


212 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tober  13,  1858;  son  of  Luther  and  Mary 
Jane  (Shurtliff)  Bateman.  Luther,  born  in 
the  same  house  in  which  his  son  William  L. 
was  born,  June  7,  1833;  is  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation. He  moved  to  Montgomery  County 
in  March,  1867,  and  located  on  a  farm  near 
Raymond,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring 
of  1870,  when  he  moved  to  Walshville,  and 
there  engaged  in  the  carriage  and  wagon 
painting  business.  In  the  spring  of  1873,  he 
left  Walshville  and  moved  to  Litchfield, 
where  he  continued  the  same  business;  also 
doing  house  painting  and  sign  writing;  left 
Litchfield  in  1877,  and  returned  to  Walsh- 
ville, where  he  remained  but  a  short  time; 
then  moved  to  Hillsboro,  where,  in  addition 
to  painting,  he  carried  on  the  manufacture 
of  carriages  and  wagons.  In  1880,  he  re- 
moved to  Raymond,  where  he  carried  on  bus- 
iness until  1882,  when  he  sold  out  to  Isaac 
Dudson,  and  is  now  engaged  as  traveling 
salesman  for  J.  S.  Culver,  Taylorvilie,  Chris 
tian  Co.,  111.  His  wife,  born  in  Hebron,  N. 
Y.,  October  20,  1835,  is  the  mother  of  two 
children — Nettie  and  William  L.  Subject 
attended  school  in  his  native  town,  in  Knox 
County,  Ohio,  and  finished  at  Litchfield,  111. 
After  the  completion  of  his  education,  he 
commenced  the  study  of  law  under  the  in- 
struction of  Judge  Jesse  J.  Phillips;  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  at  Mt.  Vernon,  111.,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1880,  and  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  Raymond.  He  is  a  sup- 
porter of  the  Republican  party,  and  is  cor- 
respondent for  a  number  of  newspapers. 

WINFIELD  P.  CARTER,  stock  dealer, 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Madison  County,  111., 
November  11,  1843.  His  father,  Henry  T. 
Carter,  was  born  at  Knoxvilla,  Tenn.,  in 
1811.  He  remained  in  his  native  State  until 
he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  entered 
upon  his  career  in  life,  and  sought  a  home  in 
the  then   far  West,   locating  at   Alton,   111., 


and  entered  320  acres  of  wild  prairie  land,  a 
large  portion  of  which  he  eventually  im- 
proved and  resided  upon  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  July  21,  1844.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1832,  in  Madison  County,  to  Miss 
Hannah  Davis,  who  was  born  at  Trenton,  N. 
J.,  July  12.  1815,  who  was  brought  to  Illi- 
nois by  her  parents  when  but  seven  years  of 
age.  She  was  the  mother  of  five  children, 
viz. :  Harriett,  wife  of  J.  H.  Stahl,  of  Madison 
County;  Louisa,  wife  of  Edward  Sanders,  of 
Macoupin  County;  Henry  D.,  now  living  on 
the  old  homestead ;  Julia  A.,  wife  of  M.  V. 
McKinney,  of  Madison  County,  and  Winfield, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  all  of  whom  were 
small  children  af  the  death  of  their  father. 
Mrs.  Carter  continued  upon  the  farm,  which 
was  managed  by  herself  until  the  children 
were  able  to  take  the  duties  upon  themselves, 
and  to  assist  in  the  support  of  the  family. 
She  is  still  living  and  resides  upon  the 
homestead  with  her  son  Henry.  Winfield 
remained  at  home  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  assisting  in  the  labor  of  the 
farm,  and  attending  the  common  schools,  to 
which  his  educational  privileges  were  limited. 
In  1S62,  when  he  left  home,  he  entered  into 
the  service  in  Company  B,  Eightieth  Illinois 
Volunteer  Infantry,  with  Capt.  A.  F.  Rogers, 
in  the  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Allen. 
He  remained  in  the  service  twenty-two  months, 
receiving  his  discharge  on  account  of  injuries 
received  from  a  bayonet,  and  being  otherwise 
injured  while  removing  a  battery;  was  taken 
a  prisoner  by  John  Morgan,  but  was  paroled 
soon  after.  Upon  his  return  home,  he  again 
took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life, 
remaining  at  home  about  one  year,  at  the 
end  of  which  time,  in  company  with  two 
others,  he  turned  his  face  westward,  to  try 
his  fortune  in  California,  where  he  engaged 
in  mining  and  farming.  At  the  expiration 
of  two  years,  he  returned  to  his  native  State, 


RAYMOND  TOWNSHIP. 


213 


and  continued  in  the  occupation  of  a  farmer. 
On  January  25, 186S,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Anna  H.    Mayhew,  who  was  born  at  Shiloh, 
N.    J..    September  26,  1849.     They  have  five 
children,   viz.:  Philip  Henry,    born  October 
2."),  1869;  Mary  Louisa,  born   June   1,  1871; 
Edward  B.,  born  September  20,  1872;  Maud 
E.,   born  August  1,   1874;  Ernest  M.,    born 
June  25,  1876,  and  died  June  3,  1877;  Clyde 
W.-,    born  August  6,  1878.     Mrs.  Carter  is  a 
daughter  of   James  and  Sarah  (Howe)  May- 
hew,  natives  of  New  Jersey.     He  was  a  farm- 
er by  occupation,    born  at  Shiloh,  N.  J.,  in 
1809,   and  died  in    1858;  she  born  in  1814, 
and  is  still   living.      Mr.  Carter  remained  in 
Madison  County,  upon  the  farm,  until  1870, 
when  he  removed  to  Raymond  and  opened  a 
lumber  yard,   which  was  the  first  enterprise 
of  the  kind   in  the  town.     He  continued  in 
the  business  until  the  fall  of   1872,  when  he 
sold  out  and  entered  into  partnership  with  C. 
31.    Davis  in   a  general  merchandising  store. 
Two  years  later,  he  purchased  his  partner's 
interest,  and  continued  in  the  business  until 
1878,    when  he  disposed  of   his  stock,  since 
which  time  he  has  been  engaged  more  or  less 
extensively  in  dealing  in   stock.     He  has  a 
small   tract  of  land   in  the  outskirts  of  the 
town  of  Raymond,  upon  which  he  has  erected 
a  fine  dwelling,  surrounded  by  a  fine  grove 
of  maple  trees,   planted   by   himself.       The 
prospects  for  Mr.  Carter's  residence  becoming 
the  finest  place   in  Raymond  are  very  flatter- 
ing.    Mr.   Carter  has  taken  a  great  interest 
in   the   growth  and  prosperity  of   the  town, 
and  to  him  is   ascribed  the  honor  of  having 
been  the  first  Treasurer.     He  has  also  served 
upon  the  Town  Board  two  years,   and  was 
Deputy  Postmaster  for  about  six  years,  at  an 
early  date  in  the  town  history.      Politically, 
Mr.    Carter  has  always  been  an  exponent  of 
the  Democratic  party.     He  is  an  energetic 
and  enterprising  business  man,  and  socially 


enjoys  the  highest  esteem  of  the  community. 
Upon  his  return  from  California,  his  trip  was 
any  thing  but  pleasant,  as  he  was  called  upon 
to  pass  through  several  perils.     He  purchased 
a  ticket  from  San  Francisco  to  New  York, 
upon  the  steamer  Daniel  Webster;  but,  be- 
fore sailing,  met   a  friend  about  to  sail  upon 
the  steamer  Moses  Taylor.      He  disposed  of 
his  ticket,  and  took  passage  upon  the  Moses 
Taylor.      Both  steamers   left   the  wharf  the 
same  day,   and  were  caught  in   a  storm    in 
which  the  Daniel  Webster  was  lost  with  all 
on    board.     The    Moses    Taylor,     however, 
reached  San  Juan  del  Norte,  although  badly 
damaged.     They  crossed  Lake  Nicaragua  in 
a  terrible  storm,   and,    while   passing   down 
Nicaragua  River,  ran  on  a  shoal.     The  steam- 
er  then  had  to  be  abandoned,  and,  after  be- 
ing exposed  eleven  days  to  storms  and  hard- 
ships,   with  a  scarcity  of  food,   part  of  the 
time  walking  and  part  of  the  time  in  skiffs, 
reached  Greytown,    on   the    Atlantic    shore, 
from    which    place   he    embarked   upon   the 
Santiago  de  Cuba,  for  New  York;  but  again 
they  were  doomed  to  pass  through  a  storm, 
which  disabled  the  steamer,  which  was  towed 
into   port    at    Charleston,    S.    C.       Having 
passed  safely  through  the  perils  of  the  deep, 
he  determined  to  finish  his  journey  by  rail, 
and  the  train   upon   which  he  was   carried, 
while  running  at  a  high  rate  of  speed,  was 
thrown   from  the  track,  killing  four  persons. 
Having  escaped  injury  in  all  of  these  misfort- 
unes, he   at   last  arrived  home  safely,  after 
forty-nine  days  dangerous   travel,  the  recol- 
lections  of  which  trip  are  still   fresh  in  his 
memory. 

ROBERT  CHISM,  proprietor  of  the  Ray- 
mond House,  Raymond,  was  born  in  Grayson 
County,  Kjr.,  June  24.  1831,  and  was  brought 
to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  when  one  and  a 
half  years  of  age,  and  his  education  was  re- 
ceived in  the  common  schools  of  that  county, 

N 


214 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  his  early  childhood  was  spent  upon  the 
homestead  farm,  assisting  his  father  in  his 
agricultural  pursuits.  When  he  attained  the 
age  of  twenty  years,  he  entered  upon  the  bat- 
tle of  life  for  himself,  continuing  in  the  same 
occupation  he  had  followed  at  home,  until 
1857,  when  he  opened  a  hotel  at  Litchfield, 
111.,  where  he  remained  one  year:  sold  out, 
and  again  took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a 
farm  life,  this  time  in  Greene  County,  where 
he  remained  two  years,  and  removed  to  Ma- 
coupin :  remained  there  two  years,  then  re- 
turned to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  re- 
mained three  years.  He  then  purchased  a 
farm  consisting  of  eighty  acres  of  prairie 
and  timber  land,  in  Macoupin  County,  part 
of  which  was  improved,  and  the  balance  of 
which  was  improved  by  himself.  He  re- 
mained upon  this  farm  about  twelve  years, 
when  he  sold  his  property,  and  followed  in 
the  stream  of  emigrants  westward,  and  event- 
ually located  in  Kansas,  where  he  located 
320  acres  of  land,  and  again  opened  a  hotel. 
He  remained  in  Kansas  only  two  years,  and 
then  removed  to  Missouri,  and  found  employ- 
ment in  a  machine  shop,  operated  by  the 
Missouri,  Kansas  &  Texas  Kailroad  Company. 
He  remained  in  the  employ  of  the  company 
two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  re- 
turned to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  and  again 
took  up  agricultural  pursuits,  Four  years 
Inter,  he  removed  to  Raymond,  and  entered 
a  hotel  upon  the  22d  day  of  August,  and  on 
the  same  night  the  building  was  destroyed 
by  fire  with  its  contents,  the  inmates  barely 
escaping.  However,  being  an  energetic  and 
enterprising  man.  and  possessing  a  stout 
heart,  he  did  not  give  up  to  despair,  but  ini- 
1  iately  commenced  the  erection  of  the 
building  he  now  occupies,  which  he  moved 
into  about  three  months  after  the  fire,  and 
whore  he  is  now  performing  the  duties  of 
mine  host  in  a  manner  pleasing  to   all  his 


guests  and  where  he  has  succeeded  in  build- 
ing up  a  large  and  steadily  increasing  trade. 
He  was  married  in  Macoupin  County,  Juno 
24,  1852,  to  Catharine  Skaggs,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  born  in  1830,  and  died  July  4. 
leaving  to  the  care  of  her  husband  six 
children,  viz. :  Lizzie.  Edward,  Sophronia, 
Mally,  Laura  and  Robert.  Mr.  Chism  was 
again  married  in  the  same  county,  March  21, 
1871,  to  Helen  (Eubank)  Reed,  widow  of  A. 
H.  Reed,  and  daughter  of  Stephen  G.  and 
Sarah  (Waggoner)  Eubank,  he  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  and  died  in  1S72;  she,  born  in 
Sangamon  County,  111.,  and  is  still  living. 
Mrs.  Chism  was  born  in  Menard  County,  111., 
August  31,  1846;  she  is  the  mother  of  three 
childreu.  viz.:  Alice  Beryl,  Bessie  May  and 
Sarah  Grace.  Although  Mr.  Chism  does  not 
take  much  interest  in  politics,  he  is  identified 
with  the  Democratic  party.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  A. ,  F.  &  A.  M.  for  a  number 
of  years. 

WILLIAM  CHAPMAN,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Raymond,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this 
work,  was  born  in  England  March  23,  1817. 
His  father,  Luke  Chapman,  was  a  native 
of  England,  born  in  1790,  and  was  a  me- 
chanic by  occupation.  Soon  after  the  birth 
of  William,  he  emigrated  with  his  family  to 
Virginia,  where  his  death  occurred  in  Janu- 
ary,  1833.  His  wife,  Grace  Reynolds,  was 
also  a  native  of  England,  born  May  28,  1  (96. 
Shi-  died  in  Greene  County,  111.,  August  20, 
1871.  She  was  the  mother  of  six  children, 
of  whom  William  was  the  oldest  child.  His 
early  life  was  spent  in  rendering  what  assis- 
tance he  could  to  his  parents,  and  attending 
school  in  the  neighboring  log  schoolhouse, 
common  at  that  early  day,  and  to  which  his 
early  educational  privileges  wore  limited. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  had  virtually 
reached  his  manhood,  possessed  with  all  the 
energy  and   enterprise  of    a  man  bound    to 


liAYMOXD   TOWNSHIP. 


215 


make  his  own  way  in  the  world,  and  he  de- 
termined to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  then  far 
West,  and  distant  wilds  of  Illinois.      He  lo- 

I  in  Morgan  County  in  1836,  and  du 
the  fol'"  r  went  to  Greene  Counti 

is  now  called  Roodhouse  Township, 
where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  18  >'-', 
when  he  removed  to  his  p]  ice  of  res- 

idence, one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Ray- 
mond, where  he  has  since  remained,  engaged 
mere  or  less  extensively  in  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  He  was  married  in  Greene  County, 
111.,  September   I  12,  to  Miss  Ann   Maria 

Alverson,  who  was  born  in  Kentucky  to  Ben- 
n  and  Mary  (Jeffries)  Alverson,  natives  of 
bruary25,  1826.    She  Las  borne 
him    eleven  children,  viz. :  Joseph    R.,    born 

armer 
living   near   the    horn 

Benjamin  H.,  born  October  28,  1846  gradu- 
ate of  Iowa  and  C  d  ities, 
practicing  law  at  Vandalia,  111.;  WilliamL., 
i  March  3,  1!  '  i  dilate 
of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich..  Law  College,  now  re- 
siding in  Houston.  Tex.;  Adam  M.,  born 
February  7.  1855,  now  engaged  in  dealii 

k    in  Washington  Territory;   Ulysses  G., 
born  January  20,  L864,  livi  Uary 

Ann,  born   Noi    mber    !".  dow  of  T. 

Berry,  living  with  her   parents;   Emma. 
March  27,   !  at  home;  Amand 

1  at  the  -  '>hon, 

born  October  13,  1844,  a  graduate  of  the  Chi- 
>  Medical  College,  died  in  Leadville,  Col., 
May    17,    1880;    two    infants    d  i     not 

named.  Realizing  from  his  own  meager  op- 
portunities the  value  of  a  good  education, 
Mr.  Chapman  has  spared  '     as  to  pro- 

vide his  children  with  advantages,  and  four 
of  whom  have  received  a  thorough  colle 
education.      During  the  rebellion  he  took  no 
active  part  other  than   to   assist    the  Union 
soldiers,  by  caring  for  their  families  at  home. 


He  has  served  the  people  of  the  county  as 
Associate  Judge  four  years,  the  duties  of 
which  office  he  performed  with  marked  zeal 
and  integrity.  He  has  also  been  Township 
Treasurer  over  twenty  years,  and  has  served 
as  one  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors.  Being 
a  progressive  man  himself,  Mr.  Chapman  is 
fully  alive  to  every  progressive  movement  fa- 
voring the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
v  and  for  the  advancement  of  religious 
i  ional  privileges.  The  state  of  cul- 
tivation under  which  Mr.  Chapman  keeps  his 
farm,  consisting  of  about  six  hundred  acres 
of  choice  farm  laud  near  Raymond,  denotes 
him  to  be  a  practical  far  I  one  of  those 

who  add  to  the  prosperity  of  the  county. 
NEEDHAM  CRANE,  farmer.  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Hamilton,  Butler  Co., 
Ohio.  November  14,  1829,  to  Norris  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Stanley)  Crane.  He  was  a  natb 
Xew  Jersey,  born  March  10,  1799,  and  dur- 
ing his  early  life  worked  at  the  trade  of  a, 
stone  mason,  and  later  followed  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  farmer.  His  death  occurred  in 
Mori'  County  August  19,  1852.      She 

was  born  at  Hamilton.    Ohio 

id  in  Montgomery  County  March 
10,    1854.      The  result  of  their    union    was 

tildren,  of  whom   N lham    was  the 

fourth  child.  He  was  educated  in  the  high 
schools  of  Hamilton,  Ohio,  and  when  fif  1 

■  was  bron  Jacksonville, 

Morgan  Co.,  111.,  by  his  parents,  where  he 
remained    two  and   then  was  rem 

to  Mi  i-y  County,  and  settled  in  Butler 

Grove  Township,  in  1846,  his  parents  being 
among  the  first  settlers  of  the  county.  He 
assis  :      -itil  the  death 

of  his  father,  when  he  took  upon  himself  the 
man;  of   the  farm,  and  remained  with 

his  mother  until  1856,    when   they  removed 
from  the  homestead,  and  he  joined  the  first 
'  surveying   party    of    Kansas,    where    he    re 


216 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


mained  six  months,  and  then  returned  to 
Montgomery  County,  and  followed  hunting 
until  1868,  when  he  married,  purchased  the 
farm  he  now  resides  upon,  and  spent  the 
winter  in  getting  out  rails  for  fencing,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1864,  moved  upon  the  farm 
where  he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  ag- 
ricultural pursuits.  He  is  now  the  owner  of 
120  acres  of  prairie  land,  under  cultivation, 
and  twenty  acres  of  timber  land.  November 
12,  1863,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Cordelia 
Cass,  a  native  of  Montgomery  County,  born 
December  25,  1832,  and  died  November  24, 
1868.  She  was  the  mother  of  three  children, 
one  of  whom  is  living,  viz.,  Abbie,  born  Sep- 
tember 22,  1864.  Politically,  Mr.  Crane  is 
a  Republican.  His  brother,  Norris,  was  the 
sixth  child  of  Norris  and  Elizabeth  Crane. 
and  was  born  at  Hamilton,  Ohio,  October  2, 
1834.  He  received  the  principal  part  of  his 
education  in  his  native  coimty.  His  early 
life  was  spent  in  assisting  his  father  upon 
the  farm,  and  his  first  business  for  himself 
was  teaming  upon  the  Quincy  &  St.  Louis 
Railroad,  where  he  remained  one  year.  He 
then  engaged  as  a  farm  hand  and  followed 
in  that  occupation  several  years.  He  was 
elected  by  the  people  as  Constable,  the  duties 
of  which  office  he  performed  about  fifteen 
years.  He  clerked  in  a  merchandising  store 
at  Butler  one  year,  and  was  the  first  person 
to  sell  goods  at  Raymond,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged with  Van  Ever  &  Van  Darren  as  clerk. 
He  remained  with  them  something  over  a 
year,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged 
in  farming,  in  connection  with  his  brother. 
He  has  served  the  people  as  Deputy  Sheriff 
one  term,  and  has  been  an  active  member  of 
the  I.  0.  O.  F.  order  for  a  number  of  years. 
Politically,  his  sympathies  are  with  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

MORGAN  COSTLEY.  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  July 


31,  1836,  and  received  his  education  in  his 
native  county,  where  his  early  life  was  spent 
upon  the  homestead  farm.  He  came  to  Mont- 
gomery County  in  1856,  and  purchased  144 
acres  of  wild  prairie  land,  which  he  improved, 
and  upou  which  he  remained  until  1873,  when 
he  removed  to  his  present  place  of  residence, 
where  he  has  200  acres  of  as  well  culti- 
vated land  as  can  be  found  in  Raymond  Town- 
ship. He  has  accumulated  a  large  amount 
of  this  world's  goods,  and  has  at  one  time 
had  in  his  possession  about  five  hundred  acres 
of  land.  The  high  state  of  cultivation  under 
which  he  keeps  his  farm  shows  him  to  be  a 
practical  farmer,  and  well  worthy  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  community. 
He  has  also  been  a  prominent  dealer  in  and 
feeder  of  stock,  chiefly  cattle  and  hogs.  Al- 
though he  grows  all  the  crops  usually  raised 
upon  a  well-regulated  farm,  he  makes  a  spe- 
cialty of  grain.  He  was  married  in  Mont- 
gomery County  in  1859,  to  Miss  Melvina  Mc- 
Gown,  who  was  born  in  Greene  County  to  Al- 
exander and  Louisa  (McNeal)  McGown. 
She  has  borne  him  six  children,  viz.,  William 
A.,  John  P.,  Delia,  Charles,  AltaL.  and  Perry. 
the  latter  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  William 
Costley,  the  father  of  Morgan,  was  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and 
died  in  1869.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Mathis. 
was  a  native  of  Illinois;  she  died  at  Raymond 
in  1875.  She  was  the  mother  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  Morgan  was  the  fifth  child. 
Politically,  he  is  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  His  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 

EDWIN  R.  CARTER,  grain  aud  coal 
dealer,  Raymond,  was  born  in  Tuscarawas 
County,  Ohio,  December  2,  1842;  son  of 
Daniel  W.  Carter,  a  native  of  Maryland,  born 
in  1811;  a  farmer;  died  in  the  spring  of 
1865.  Jane  Tinkler,  his  wife,  was  born  in 
New  York   in  1819,  and   is  still   living  with 


KAYM0X1)   TOWNSHIP. 


217 


subject,  who  left  Ohio  when  ten  years  of  age. 
and  lived  in  Indiana  uutil  the  fall  of  1869, 
when  he  removed  to  Pana,  111.,  and  event- 
ually to  Raymond.  His  first  enterprise  for 
himself  was  farming.  On  his  arrival  at  Ray- 
mond he  engaged  in  the  coal  and  grain  busi- 
ness, at  which  he  still  continues;  built  his 
elevator  in  the  fall  of  1879;  commenced  with- 
out any  available  means,  and  is  a  self-made 
man,  and  his  business  ability  and  enterprise 
have  added  largely  to  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  Raymond.  He  was  married  at 
Reynolds.  White  Co..  Ind.,  February  25, 
1866,  to  Miss  Mary  Cartmell,  who  was  born 
in  Clark  County,  Ohio,  April  3,  1845.  They 
have  four  boys  and  two  girls  living,  viz. : 
Bruce,  Charles,  Benjamin  F.,  Asbury  L., 
Ruth  and  Naomi;  two  boys  died  in  infancy. 
Ho  has  served  as  Township  Clerk,  Collector, 
Assessor,  and  Police  Justice,  or  Magistrate, 
for  several  years;  was  Sergeant  in  Company 
K,  Eighty-sixth  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry, 
with  Capt.  J.  Southard,  regiment  commanded 
by  Col.  Hamilton:  in  service  three  years;  is 
a  Republican;  has  been  a  member  of  I.  O.  O. 
F.  several  years.  Himself  and  family  are 
Methodists.  His  father's  family  consisted  of 
four  children,  viz. :  Jesse,  died  in  18(5 1,  aged 
twenty-eight  years:  William,  of  Logansport, 
Ind.;  Ferguson,  in  San  Francisco,  clerk  in 
State  House,  and  Edwin  R..  subject  of  sketch. 
PROF.  CHARLES  E.  COOK,  Principal  of 
schools,  Raymond,  was  born  in  Fillmore, 
Putnam  Co.,  Ind..  July  12.  1857:  son  of 
William  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Robinson)  Cook, 
he  born  in  Kentucky  March  27,  1833,  a  physi- 
cian by  profession,  and  practicing  at  East 
Fork,  Montgomery  County;  she,  born  in  Indi- 
ana October  1.  1S35.  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, still  living,  viz.:  Ella,  Melville  and 
Charles.  William  R.  having  died  in  infancy. 
The  education  of  our  subject  was  commenced 
in   the  common  schools,  from  which  he  ad- 


vanced to  the  academy  at  Hillsboro,  where  he 
remained  several  terms,  teaching  part  of  the 
time.  He  entered  the  Normal  School  at  Val- 
paraiso, Ind.,  in  the  fall  of  1878,  where  he 
graduated  the  following  year,  his  academic 
education  having  fitted  him  for  the  advanced 
classes,  which  he  entered.  After  receiving 
his  diploma,  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
his  profession  at  Fillmore,  but  eventually  be- 
came Principal  of  the  public  schools  of  Ray- 
mond, where  he  is  still  engaged,  and  in  con- 
nection with  those  duties  is  engaged  in  the 
study  of  the  law  with  the  intention  of  fitting 
himself  for  and  entering  upon  the  practice 
of  that  profession.  In  Hillsboro,  September 
14.  1881,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Jennie  B. 
Shimer,  born  April  10,  i860,  daughter  of 
Isaac  and  Jane  (Girnning)  Shimer,  natives  of 
Ohio.  Mr.  Cook  has  served  as  County  Asses- 
sor one  year,  and  is  a  Democrat. 

JOSEPH  R.  CHAPMAN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  August  1,  1843;  son  of 
William  Chapman  (see  history),  and  was 
raised  to  a  life  of  farming.  April  25,  1867, 
he  married  Miss  Catharine  Hendrickson,  born 
May  18,  1844,  who  died  July  22,  1878,  leav- 
ing three  children — Robert,  Gideon  P.  and 
Samuel  Byron.  July  29,  1880,  he  married 
Miss  Isabel  Rogers,  horn  April  18,  1856, 
daughter  of  William  Rogers,  of  Macoupin 
County.  By  this  union  Mr.  Chapman  has 
one  child,  Grace  Reynolds.  Mr.  Chapman 
served  during  the  late  war  as  a  member  of 
Company  H,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-third 
Illinois  Infantry,  under  Capt.  James  F.  Stew- 
art. He  is  a  Methodist,  and  a  Republican. 
His  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

ALBERT  ESTABROOK,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Madison  County,  111., 
September  13.  1S30.  The  father  of  this 
gentleman,  John  Estabrook,  was  born  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  in  March.  1799,  and  in  1818  set- 
tled in  MadisoJi  Countv,    where  he  engaged 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


iu  farming  up  to  the  time  of  liis  death,  which 
occurred  May  2,  18S1.  His  wife,  Nancy 
"White,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  August, 
1795,  and  died  in  December,  1881.  She 
was  the  mother  of  ten  children,  five  boys  and 
five  girls,  viz.:  John,  Edward,  Lucy,  dece; 
Emeline,  James  W.,  Albert,  Harriet,  William, 
Clara  and  Sarah  J.,  all  of  whom  grew  to  man 
and  lood,  and  all  of  whom,  with  one 

exception,    are   still  living,    and  at  the  death 
of  their  parents  the  3  1  was  forty-two 

The  subject  of  this  sketch 
spent  his  early  childhood  in  attending  the 
common  schools  of  the  county,  to  which  Ins 
educational  privileges  were  limited,  and  in 
assisting  his    parents    upon    the    homes 

'At  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  he  en- 
i  upon  his  carper  in  life  for  himself,  and 
concluded  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  gold 
regions  of  California,  where  he  remained 
about  four  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  returned  home  and  entered  a  grist-mill, 
owned  by  his  father,  at  which  occupation  he 
continued  until  the  sale  of  the  mill  required 
him  to  look  for  a  new  occupation,  and  caused 
him  to  engage  m  a  saw-mill,  in  Iowa.  He 
soon  tired  of  this  work,  ami  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising business  in  "Wisconsin,  where  he 
remained  about  ten  years,  and  then  took  a 
like  position  in  a  merchandising  store  in  Ne- 
braska. In  the  spring  of  1872,  he  turned 
his  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits,  and 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  Washington 
County,  Kan.,  where  he  remained  about  two 
years,  and  he  says  it  is  his  opinion  that  Kan- 
sas is  just  the  place  for  a  poor  man  to  live  if 
he  wishes  always  to  remain  poor  all  his  life; 
but,  if  lie  wishes  to  get  rich,  go  to  Illinois, 
to  which  State  he  returned  in  1S74,  and  set- 
tled upon  the  place  upon  which  he  now  re- 
sides, and  where  he  has  since  been  eng 
in  farming.  His  farm  consists  of  360  acres, 
which  may  be  termed  as  three  improved  farms. 


each  of  which  is  well  fitted  up  with  all  the 
buildings  and  other  improvements  necessary 
for  comfort  and  convenience.  Mr.  Estabrook 
is  considered  one  of  the  most  practical  farmers 
in  the  township,  and,  being  a  i>rogressive 
man  himself,  he  is  always  fully  alive  to  all 
enterprises  favoring  the  growth  and  prosperity 
of  the  county,  and  for  the  advancement  of  re- 
ligious and  educational  privileges.  He  was 
married  January  L5,  L857,  to  Sarah  Jane 
Bromley,  who  was  born  May  13,  L839,  and 
died  September  2.  1866.  She  was  the  mother 
of  two  children,  viz.:  Julia  Nannie,  born  Jan- 
uary 30,  1859,  wife  of  Henry  Newman,  liv- 
ing in  Madison  County:  Sarah  Minnie,  born 
April  20,  1  865.  Mr.  Estabrook' s  second  mar- 
riage occurred  November  25,  L869,  to  Miss 
Crara  King,  who  was  born  November  12,  1  851 1, 
to  Hilleary  T.  and  Louisa  (Dorsej  )  King,  na 
fives  of  Calvert  County,  Md.,  he  born  Novem- 
I  5,  and  is  still  living  in  Davis  County, 
Iowa,  a  farmer  by  occupation:  she,  born  June 
9,  1818,  and  died  Jimi  i  I.      Mr.  Esta- 

brook took   no   active  part   in   the  rebellion 
other  than  to  assist  the  Union  soldiers  by  car- 
ing for  their  families  at  home.      He  has  1 
a  member  of  the  order   of  I.  O.  O.  F.  i 
number  of   years.     He   has   been   termed    a 
black  Republican,  and  says  he  is  proud  of  the 

WILLIAM  FITZJARKELL,  retired  far- 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Warren  County. 
Ohio,  October  3,  1815.  He  received  a  limited 
education,  and  at  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was 
brought  to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  by  his 
parents,  but  permanently  located  in  Jersey 
County.  In  1849,  he  bought  land  and  moved 
where  Plainview  now  is,  in  Macoupin  County. 
where  he  remained  seven  years.  He  then 
id  to  Montgomery  County,  and  settled 
200  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  was  the  first 
settler.  He  erected  a  farm  residence,  and 
made  all  other  improvements,  and  by  his  on- 


RAYMOND   TOAVNSIIIP. 


219 


ergy  and  industry  he  soon  added  to  the  above 
■rty.  which  numbered  atone  time  nearly 
four  hundred  acres.  He  devoted  his  time  to 
growing  the  usual  farm  crops  and  raising 
stock,  and,  perhaps,  no  man  has  ever  done 
more  for  the  advancement,  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  agricultural  interests  of  Mont- 

iery  County.  He  was  noted  for  his  hos- 
pitality, and  his  house  was  made  the  stopping 

se  of  all  travelers.  Ho  was  regularly 
ordained  as  a  Baptist  minister  on  Christinas 
Day,  1842,  but  previous  to  this  had  received 
a  license  and  had  been  preaching  in  the 
neighboring  towns  and  villages.  For  some- 
thing over  twenty  tie  filled  the  pulpit 
at  Little  Flock  Church,  at  Honey  Bend;  has 
served  th  •  ninty  as  Associate 
Judge  Ei  iiir  years.  He  was  married  in  Greene 
County.  November  10,  1836,  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth   Courtney,    born     in    Madison    County 

ruary  20,  1817.  They  have  sis  children, 
viz.:  William  R.,  Tabitlia  A.,  Cyrus,  Naomi, 
Harriet  and  Meredith.  All  his  sons  are  farm- 
ers, and  his  daughters  are  all  married — Tab- 
itha,  wife  of  J.  W.  Ash;  Naomi,  wife  of 
Isaac  F.  Lawler;  Harriet  A.,  wife  of  James  F. 
Thomas.  Mrs.  Fitzjarrell  was  a  daughter  of 
William  Courtney,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois.  He  set- 
Jed  in  Madison  County  in  1809;  his  death 
occurred  in  May.  1835.  His  wife,  Margaret 
Barnett,  was  also  a  native  of   Kentucky;  she 

d  in  1845.  The  father  of  William,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Eli  Fitzjarrell,  was  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  and  one  of  the  early 
Macoupin  County;  was  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser  by  occupation  in  Warren 
County.  Ohio,  but  had  in  an  early  day  taught 

!  in    New  Jersey.     He  died  December 

IS.  L854.  The  mother  of  William,  Tabitha 
Kelsey,  was  also  a  native  of  New  Jersey. 
Shi'  was  the  mother  of  sixteen  children,  of 
whom   William    was   the  second.      She 


October  24,  L856.  In  early  life,  Mr-.  F.  was 
identified  with  the  old  Whig  party,  but  since 
its  day  his  sympathies  have  been  with  the 
Democratic  party.  He  has  always  been  an 
energetic  worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance. 
CYRUS  FITZJARRELL,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Raymond,  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Courtney)  Fitzjarrell,  he  1  >orn  in  Ohio  in  1815 ; 
she  born  in  Madison  County.  They  have  six 
children,  Cyrus  being  the  third  child.  Our 
subject  received  his  education  in  the  common 
schools  of  Macoupin  and  Montgomery  Coun- 
ties, and  came  to  Montgomery  County  in 
February,  1857;  remained  with  his  parents 
until  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  In 
September,  1867,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza 
A.  Greenwood,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  born  in 
moved  with  her  parents  to  Ma- 
coupin County  when  but  two  years  of 
In  1867,  he,  our  subject,  commenced  fariu 
on  his  own  account  by  renting  a  farm 
working  the  same,  and  continued  on  the  same 
farm  as  a  renter  until  1876,  when  he  bought 
acres,  and  in  1881  bought  eighty  acres 
more  and  added  to  it;  now  is  the  owner  of 
245  acres  of  choice  laud,  upon  which  he  m; 
the  raising  of  whi  ■■  i  nd  corn ;  also  stock 

of  good  grades — mules,  horses,  hogs  and 
tie.  Upon  his  farm  stands  a  fine  residence, 
erected  from  his  own  design  in  1878.  Upon 
his  place  he  has  a  wind-mill,  scales,  etc. 
Everything  about  his  farm  denotes  his  ability 
as  a  farmer.  His  farm  is  a  portion  of  the 
same  tract  settled  by  his  father  when  he  first 
came  mnty,  valued  at  that  time  i. 

or  $6  per  acre,  and  is  now  worth  $50  per 
acre.  When  our  subject's  father  came  to  the 
county  there  were  no  neighbors  inside  of  two 
miles,  and  now  houses  dot  the  county  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  see.  Plenty  of  deer,  wo] 
etc.,  were  here  when  his  father  came;  h 
is  inclosed  with  hedge  fence,  probably  five 
miles    of    hedging.       Five     children,    \i 


220 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


living — Etta,    Harry  and   William  Eoss;  all 
at  home.     He  is  a  Democrat. 

JOHN  GREENE.  1  mnker,  Raymond.  The 
grandfather  of  our  subject  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  In  1819,  he  sought  a  home  in  the 
then  far  West,  and  became  a  resident  of 
Greene  County,  111.  In  many  ways  he  will 
be  long  remembered  as  one  who  helped  ma- 
terially toward  making  Greene  County  one 
of  the  most  nourishing  counties  in  the  State, 
and  which  was  named  in  honor  of  himself 
and  his  brother  John.  His  death  occurred 
in  1828.  He  was  the  father  of  five  children, 
of  whom  Nelson,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  the  fourth  child.  He  was  born  in  the 
year  1822,  and  grew  up  to  be  a  stout  and 
vigorous  boy,  early  becoming  inured  to  the 
hard  work  of  a  farm.  He  was  married  in 
1847,  to  Ann  E.  Gano,  a  daughter  of  John 
S.  Gano.  a  Virginian.  In  his  own  language 
— "  I  borrowed  the  clothes  I  wore  to  the  mar- 
riage"— and  subsequently  borrowed  many  of 
the  household  utensils  that  formed  the  simple 
furniture  of  his  cabin;  but  he  worked  hard, 
and  thus  paved  the  way  for  future  success. 
He  is  the  owner  of  120  acres  of  land  in  one 
of  the  best  townships  of  Greene  County;  is  a 
whole-souled,  liberal  gentleman,  and  enjoys 
the  confidence  of  his  many  friends.  He  was 
twice  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  serving 
eight  years.  He  is  the  father  of  eight  chil- 
dren, namely:  Emily,  wife  of  N.  M.  Perry, 
Jr.,  at  Olathe,  Kan.;  Mary,  wife  of  Luther 
Snell,  of  Carlinville,  111. ;  Sarah,  wife  of  Scott 
Greene,  of  Tallula,  111.,  a  prominent  farmer 
and  stock-raiser ;  Lucy,  Herschel,  Robert, 
Clarence,  and  John,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
who  was  born  on  the  old  farm  homestead 
April  15,  1847,  receiving  a  liberal  education 
from  the  common  schools  of  his  native  place 
His  first  venture  in  business  was  made  with 
Mr.  N.  M.  Perry,  in  the  town  designated  as 
Old  Kane,  where  a    general   merchandising 


business  was  done.  Subsequently,  Mr.  Greene- 
purchased  the  interest  of  Mr.  Perry,  and  con- 
ducted a  successful  business  for  a  number  of 
years.  In  September,  1880,  he  opened  a  gen- 
eral banking  business  at  Raymond,  and,  in 
addition  to  the  duties  of  this  business,  he  is 
Township  Collector,  elected  by  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket.     He  was  married  August   31, 

1870,  to  Miss  Emma  E.  Perry,  who  was  born 
in  Greene  County  December  26,  1846.  They 
have  two  children — Mabel,  born  August  18,, 

1871,  and  Morrison,  born  December  26,  1877. 
Mrs.  Greene  was  a  daughter  of  Col.  N.  M. 
and  Eliza  (Hill)  Perry.  He  was  born  in 
Orange  County,  Va.,  November  30.  1806, 
and  was  the  sixth  child  of  James  and  Ann 
Perry,  who  were  of  English  descent.  In 
1864,  he  was  nominated  and  elected  as  a  can- 
didate of  the  Democratic  party  to  a  seat  in 
the  Legislature  of  Illinois,  and  in  that  re- 
sponsible position  acquitted  himself  with 
honor.  His  death  occurred  in  1875,  and  that 
of  his  wife  in  1861.  Mr.  Greene  is  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Blue 
Lodge,  Chapter  and  Commandery.  He  is  a 
man  of  unsullied  reputation,  and  well  worthy 
of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the 
community  at  large. 

GEORGE  W.  GREENAWALT.  farmer, 
P.  O.  Raymond,  was  born  in  Sangamon 
County,  111..  February  24,  1831.  As  educa- 
tional privileges  were  limited  in  the  county 
at  that  early  day,  his  education  was  also  lim- 
ited to  such  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  com- 
mon schools.  He  remained  upon  the  home- 
stead, assisting  his  father  upon  the  farm, 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
when  he  entered  on  the  battle  of  life  in 
reality,  rented  a  farm,  and  continued  in  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer;  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  he  had  accumulated  enough  funds  to 
enable  him  to  purchase  land,  which  he  did, 
in  his  native  county,  the  farm  consisting  of 


RAYMOND  TOWNSHIP. 


221 


148  acres  of  unimproved  prairie  land,  upon 
which  he  erected  a  residence  and  all  other 
buildings  necessary  for  comfort  and  conven- 
ience, and  also  placed  his  farm  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  At  the  end  of  sixteen 
years,  he  disposed  of  the  property  and  re- 
moved to  Macoupin  County,  where  he  re- 
mained five  or  six  years,  but,  during  two  years 
of  the  time,  carried  on  farming  in  Montgom- 
ery Comity.  In  March,  1874,  he  removed  to 
Raymond  and  retired   from  active  labor,  but, 

being  of   an  energetic  nature,  he   is  continu- 
es o 

ally  adding  improvements  to  his  already 
beautiful  place.  He  was  married,  at  Spring- 
field, 111.,  February  2.  1854,  to  Miss  Lemira 
Holloway,  who  was  born  in  Kentucky  Novem- 
ber 3,  1832,  to  George  W.  and  Harriet  (Tade) 
Holloway,  natives  of  Kentucky,  he  living,  sin' 
deceased.  Jacob  Greenawalt,  the  father  of 
George,  was  born  in  Kentucky;  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation;  he  died  February  24,  1863, 
aged  fifty-nine  years;  his  wife,  Mary  Brad- 
ner,  was  also  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  is 
;-, t i  1  i  living,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years; 
she  is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom 
George  was  the  third  child.  He  has  now  in  his 
possession  about  four  hundred  acres  of  choice 
prairie  land  in  Bois  d"Arc  Township,  which  is 
now  rented,  but  all  of  which  is  under  culti- 
vation. Mr.  Greenawalt  has  been  an  active 
member  of  the  order  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  about 
sixteen  years,  and  has  attained  the  degree  of 
Master  Mason.  Although  possessing  all  the 
energy  and  enterprise  of  a  thorough  business 
man.  his  health  has  been  impaired  for  a 
number  of  years,  necessitating  his  retirement 
from  active  life.  Politically,  his  sympathies 
are  with  the  Democratic  party. 

EDWARD  GRIMES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, born  in  Jersey  County,  HI,  May  24, 
1S43,  son  of  Jarratt  T.  and  Charity  (Brown) 
Rogers.  Jarratt,  a  native  of  Jersey  County, 
was  born  January  29,  1820;    he   is  a  promi- 


nent farmer  and  stock-raiser,  and  has  been 
identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
his  native  county;  his  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Joseph  Brown,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
and  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  St.  Charles, 
Mo.,  where  she  was  born  May  3,  1820;  she 
died  July  21,  1876,  leaving  nine  children, 
of  whom  subject  was  the  third.  His  educa- 
tion was  commenced  in  his  native  county, 
and  completed  at  Shurtleff  College,  Madison 
County,  111. ;  he  began  the  business  of  life  as 
a  farmer,  on  the  farm  where  he  now  lives. 
He  came  to  Montgomery  County  in  1S67. 
and,  at  Butler,  in  that  county,  October  7, 
1868,  married  Emma  E.  Sammons,  born  in 
Lewis  County,  N.  Y.,  January  4,  1850,  daugh- 
ter of  John  C.  and  Elizabeth  (Bedell)  Sam- 
mons, natives  of  Lewis  County,  N.  Y.,  he 
bornAugust  18, 1821,  follows  the  blacksmith's 
trade  at  Butler;  she,  born  September  1,  1827, 
died  January  19,  1882;  of  her  six  children, 
three  are  now  living,  viz. :  Emma  (Mrs. 
Grimes),  Estella  and  Leonard  E.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Grimes  are  the  parents  of  five  children 
—Eugene  E.,  born  August  18,  1869;  Charles 
E.,  bom  October  1-"'.  1871;  Frankie,  born 
May  16,  1873,  died  September  3,  1873;  Ern- 
est Robert,  born  August  17,  1874;  and  Leroy, 
born  January  5, 1878.  He  owns  280  acres  of 
fine  farm  land,  which  he  keeps  in  a  high  state 
of  cultivation;  his  house  was  built  in  the  year 
that  he  came  to  Montgomery  County ;  he  is  a 
Democrat;  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity  since  1868;  has  served  as 
Township  Supervisor  for  two  terms;  his  wife 
has  been  for  a  number  of  years  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Clnu-ch  at  Butler. 

JOHN  P.  HITCHINGS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Onondaga  County,  N. 
Y.,  May  20.  1810,  to  John  and  Lydia  (Rams- 
dell)  Hitchings.  J  ohn  Hitchings  was  born  at 
Maiden,  Mass.,  July  8,  1773;  he  was  a  farmer; 
he  removed  to  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  in  about 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


L800,  where  he  remained  six  years,  and  then 
removed  to  Onondaga   County.  N.  Y,  where 
he  remained  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1852;  he  was  married,  in  Onon- 
i.  N.  Y,  by  Jonathan  A.  Nicholas,  April 
1 8,  1  ^!  19,  to  Miss  Lydia  Ramsdell,  the  ni' 
of  our  subject;  she  was   born  in  Greenwich, 
Mass. ,  September  30,  1 783,  and  she  died  in 
Onondaga,    N.   Y.,    in    1854;    they  were  the 
parents  of  the  following  children:     John  P., 
out  subject,  May  20,  1810;  Horace  V.,  born 
Jul;.    8,   IS  12,  dead;    Daniel  E.,  February  3, 
».  dead:  Jane.  October  27.  1817,  now  of 
Syracuse,  N.    Y. ;    Francis,  August  8,    1819, 
dead;  Eliza,  June  6,  ]821,  now  in  Syr; 
N.  Y. :  James,  May   14,  L824,  Iowa;    Joseph 
O.,  August  2,  1826,  died  in  California;  Mary, 
December  17.  1828,  Memphis,  N.    Y.     John 
P.  Hitekings  received  his  education  at  a  select 
school,  Skaneateles,  N.  Y.;  he  remained  with 
his  parents,  receiving  an  education  and  as 
ing   in   tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm; 
on  June  13,  1831,  left  home  and  re: 
the   State  of  Vermont;  there  he  enj 
farming,  raising  stock  and  general  dairy  farm. 
In  1834,  he  returned  to  the  old  homestc: 
.,  York,  and  remained  two  years:  in 
lit   a  farm  of  lifty  acres  in  the  town  of 
Cicero,   N.   Y.  ;    remained  but  one   year:    in 
1837,  again  returned  to  the  old  homestead  for 
only  one  year;  in    1837,  went  to  Michigan, 
bought  farm  of  160  acres,  and  removed  there 
in  spring  of   1839;    here  he  remained  until 
1854,  and  removed  to  his  present  residence; 
he  there  bought  200  acres  of  wild   prairie, 
thirty-one    acres    of    limber;    here    he    has 
since  remained,  engaged  in  agricultural   pur- 
suits;   he   has    also    taught    school    wi] 
since     1S30,    and    every    winter,     with    the 
exception  of  three.     In  1833,  August   22,  in 
Vermont,  he  married  Miss  Eliza  Ann  Hough- 
ton; she  was   born  at  Rowe,  Mass.,  Jul 
1815,  and   died   in  .Montgomery  County,  111., 


in  December,    1858;    she  had  borne  him  the 

.••ing  children:  Lydia  M.  (dead),  Frances 
C,  Henry  H.,  Horace  E.,  Lydia  M.  C 
dead),  John  P.  (dead),  Ann  Eliza,  Lama  J. 
(dead),  James  O.  Charles  E..  Joseph  M  . 
Leon  L.  Mr.  Hitchings  was  elected  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  Michigan  in 
1851,  and  served  for  one  term,  and  in  his 
town  in  Michigan  held  the  following  offices: 
School  Inspector  and  Supervisor,  held  for  fif- 
teen years;  Justice  of  the  Peace,  eight  years: 
and  in  Montgomery  County,  was  first  Su- 
pervisor elected  to  the  Raymond  Township, 
and  held  only  term:  in  politics,  is  identified 
with  the  Greenback  party;  was  a  member  of 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel  ;  Grange 

Lodges.  In  1868,  he  married  his  second 
wife,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  E.  Kinser,  a  native  of 
Ohio,  wh  •  s.     He  is  a  mem- 

ber of  the  Universalist  Church.  She  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

HENRY  H.  HITCHINGS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Onondaga.  County.  N. 
Y.,  December  27,  1n:!7,  to  John  P.  and  Eliza 
Hitchings  (see  history);  at  the  age  of  eight 
years,  removed  to  Jackson  County.  Mich.,  with 
his  parents,  where  he  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  When  nineteen  years 
of  age,  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  111,  and,  two  years  later,  en- 
tered into  business  for  himself  as  a  farmer, 
which  occupation  he  still  follows;  his  first 
purchase  of  real  estate  was  a  small  tract  of 
land  near  Harvel,  where  he  eventually  accu- 
mulated 120  acres,  which  he  sold  in  1873;  he 
then  rented  a  farm  near  Raymond,  where  he 
remained  two  years,  and  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  purchased  his  present  farm,  consist- 
ing of  200  acres,  which  was  thou  unimproved 
prairie;    he   h:  ed  fine   buildings  and 

made  all  other  improvements  necessary  for 
comfort,  and  which  are  found  upon  all  well- 
regulated    farms,    and   everything   about   the 


UAYMOXD  TOWNSHIP 


328 


premises  denotos  his  energy  and  ability  as  a 
3  farmer.  In  1879,  he  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  laud  near  Han  el.  which  he  is 
now  renting.  In  November,  1859,  he  was 
ried,  in  Montgomery  County,  to  Miss 
Martha  E.  Welkerj  she  died  in  1871,  aged 
t  we ul;, -nix  years:  she  was  the  mother, of  four 
children,  of  whom  George  H.  and  Clara  are 
still  living;  John,  the  oldest  son,  and  an  in- 
fant, ed.  In  September,  1873,  Mr. 
Hitch  ed,  in  Montgomery 
County,  to  Miss  Jane  King,  daughter  of  John 
King  (see  history):  she  is  the  mother  of  Eour 
children,  viz. :  John  M. ,  Eliza  Ann,  William 
Catherine.  Mi-.  Hitchings  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  or!  c  i  Raymond.  Polit- 
ically, he  is  identified  with  the  Greenback 
party.  Mrs.  Hitchings  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church. 

WILLIAM  F.  HICKS,  physician,  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Henderson  County,  Tenn., 
July  31,  1842,  son  of  Butler  C.  and  Martha 
E.  (McPeak)  Hicks,  he.  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, a  farmer,  coming  to  Illinois  in  1843, 
settling  in  Montgomery  County  and  d;>  ':: 
1863,    aged   sixty  -he,  born   ^Ken- 

tucky, and  still  living,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  nine  chil- 
dren—  Eour  boys  and  five  girls— Isaan  J.,  died 
in  1870:  Susai  G.  died  in  1S69,  was  the 
wife  <>f  John  T.  Donaldson;  Emarcntha  C, 
wife  of  W.  F.  Davidson,  of  Eureka  Springs, 
Ark.;  Hiram  B.,  of  Missouri;  Elizabeth,  wife 
of  Jackson  Donaldson;  Elvina  L.,  wife  of 
Sike  Barbee,  of  Oak  Grove,  Kan. ;  one  who 
dieJ  in  infancy:  James  F.,  living  on  the  old 
homestead;  and  William  F.,  our  subject. 
The  education  of  our  subject  was  limited  un- 
til he  was  sixteen  years  old,  when  he  be 
studying  by  himself  and  teaching,  which  he 
continued  eight  years;  in  connection  with  his 
other  duties,  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr. 
.  of  Litchfield,  and  attended  lectures  at 


the  medical  coll  i     St.  Louis,  graduating 

from  that  institution  in  March,  1871,  and 
immediately  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Raymond,  where  he  has  built 
up  a  very  successful  business;  he  is  connei 
with  the  Library  Association  and  Reading 
Club  of  Raymond;  was  also  honored  with  the. 
(i  degree  at  Chicago  Medical  College 
being  one  of  two  who  passed  examination 
for  the  degree;  he  is  crop  reporter  for  the 
■tmentof  agriculture  at  Springfield;  also 
serves  in  same  capacity  for  the  crop  buri 
at  Dwight,  111. ;  the  Doctor  h  I  also  as 

Township  Collector.  November  9,  1871,  he 
i  Miss  Mary  S.  Seward,  born  at 
rd's  Point  February  6,  1856,  daughter 
of  Oscar  and  Mary  (Cass)  Seward,  all  of 
Montgomery  County:  himself  and  wife  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

U.  H.  HA.RTWICK,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser,  P.  0.  Raymond,  was  born  in  Jer- 
111.,  November  2,  1845,  to 
James  and  Eliza.  (Skillman)  Hartwick.  He 
remained  with  his  parents  until  twenty-one 
rears  of  age,  receiving  such  an  education  as 
the  common  schools  afforded,  and  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
army,  in  Company  D,  Ninth  Illinois  Cavalry, 
with  Cap't.  Pat  Kelley,  under  the  comm  I 
of  Col.  Harper,  and  remained  in  th€  se] 
twelve  months.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
he  left  home,  and  embarked  on  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farmer,  h       I  County,  where  he 

remained    for    a  period  of    four   years.     In 
1872,   he   rem  ent  residence, 

where  he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  ag- 
ricultural pursuits.  He  was  married,  in  Jer- 
Februar  68,  to  Miss  Mary 
E.  Grimes,  who  was  born  in  Jersey  County  in 
May.  1848  (see  history  of  E.  Grimes);  she 
has  borne  him  six  children,  four  of  whom  are 


224 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


living,  viz. :  James  F.,  William  Henry,  Belle 
and  Frederick.  Politically,  Mr.  Hartwick  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party;  is  an 
active  member  of  the  order  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 
at  Ra^  mond.  His  father  was  born  in  New 
Jersey  in  1811;  is  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  resides  in  Macoupin  County,  his  mother 
was  also  born  in  New  Jersey,  in  1810,  and  is 
still  living.  They  are  the  parents  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  our  subject  is  the  fourth 
child.  He  is  the  owner  of  one  of  the  finest 
horses  in  Montgomery  County,  called  ' '  In- 
dependence, Jr.."  and  is  of  St.  Lawrence  and 
Eagle  stock;  Mr.  Hartwick  is  also  a  breeder  of 
Short-Horn  stock. 

JACOB  HAUSER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Raymond, 
was  born  in  Germany  August  11,  1842.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  he  emigrated  to 
America  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  but  soon 
after  joined  a  German  army  corps  and  en- 
tered the  service,  where  he  remained  six 
months,  and  then  went  to  Greene  County,  111., 
where  he  remained  ten  years,  and  came  to 
Montgomery  County,  and  soon  after  pur- 
chased the  farm  he  now  lives  upon;  he  has 
made  nearly  all  the  improvements  himself, 
and  his  surroundings  show  Mr.  Hauser  to  be 
an  energetic  and  enterprising  man;  his  farm 
consists  of  eighty  acres  of  choice  farm  land, 
situated  near  Raymond,  and  which,  as  a 
practical  farmer,  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  and  which  denotes  his  interest  in 
public  improvements  and  advancement  of  ag- 
ricultural interests  in  the  county.  He  re- 
ceived a  very  good  education  in  Germany, 
and  has  always  performed  the  duties  of  a 
farm  life.  He  was  married,  in  Montgomery 
County,  July  4,  1875,  to  Dora  Reeser,  who 
was  born  in  Germany,  and  came  to  America 
when  twenty-one  years  of  age;  she  is  the 
mother  of  two  children,  viz. :  Mena  and 
Anna.  Politically,  Mr.  Hauser  is  independ- 
ent;   devotes  his  time  to  cn-owing  the  usual 


farm  crops  and  raising  stock.  Socially,  he 
enjoys  the  highest  esteem  of  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

GEORGE  HENRY  HOOSER,  miller,  Ray- 
mond; first  business  for  himself  was  that  of 
carpenter  and  joiner,  which  he  followed  six- 
teen years,  when  he  turned  his  attention  to 
farming,  and  which  he  followed  ten  years; 
he  then  built  a  grist-mill  at  Raymond  and 
engaged  in  a  general  milling  business,  in 
which  he  has  been  successful  and  built  up  a 
large  trade;  had  nothing  but  his  hands  with 
which  to  enter  upon  the  battle  of  life,  but, 
being  possessed  with  an  energetic  spirit,  de- 
termined to  make  his  way  in  the  world.  His 
education  was  limited  to  the  common  schools. 
He  was  born  in  Todd  County,  Ky..  August 
27,  1827;  his  father,  William  Hooser,  was  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  taken  by 
his  parents  to  Kentucky  at  a  very  early  day. 
and  when  there  were  but  a  few  settlers  in  that 
State;  he  was  a  farmer,  miller  and  distiller 
by  occupation;  his  death  occurred  in  March, 
1880.  His  wife  was  Purety  F:iulk,  also  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  ami  grew  to  matur- 
ity in.Tennessee;  her  death  occurred  in  1879; 
she  was  the  mother  of  seven  children,  of 
whom  George  was  the  third.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  St.  Louis,  in  1858,  to  Lucy  Cheney, 
who  was  born  in  New  York,  daughter  of  Louis 
Cheney;  by  her  he  had  two  children;  she  died 
in  1862,  and  he  was  again  married,  in  1864, 
to  Martha  Pettyjohn,  of  North  Carolina,  by 
whom  he  has  six  children;  his  children  are 
William,  Dora,  Ralph,  Mary,  Margaret,  James, 
Frank  and  Lewis.  Mr.  Hooser  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order. 

CORDER  JONES,  Police  Magistrate,  real 
estate  and  collecting  agent,  Raymond,  was 
born  in  Macoupin  County,  111. ,  July  12,  1848; 
his  education  was  limited  to  such  as  could  be 
obtained  in  the  common  schools.      When  sev- 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


jog 


enteen  years  of   age,  he  came  to  Montgomery 
County  and  engaged  in  farming  in  Litchfield 
Township.      In  1878,  he  located  at  Raymond, 
and    worked    at   the    carpenter  and    joiner's 
trade,  but  eventually  took  up  the   trade  of  a 
painter,  which  he  still  follows.      In  1880,  he 
was  elected  on  the  people's  ticket  to  fill  the 
office  of  Police  Magistrate,  the  duties  of  which 
he  has  filled  with  marked  zeal  and  integrity. 
and  to  the   full  satisfaction  of  the  citizens  of 
the  village.      In  addition  to  his  other  duties, 
he   is   engaged  in  dealing  iD  real   estate  and 
as    collecting    agent.     He   was    married,    in 
Montgomery   County,    December    20,    1872, 
to  Leonora  A.    Gore,    who  was  born  in  St. 
Louis,    Mo.,    August    -4,    1856;    she    is    the 
mother  of  two  children,  viz. :     Olive  W.,  born 
August  20,  1S74;  aud  Orion  N.,  born  August 
8.   1S78.     Mrs.  Jones  was  a  daughter  of  John 
P.  and  Martha  (Hardy)  Gore,  he  born  in  Illi- 
nois, she  in  Kentucky.       The   father  of  the 
subject,  Isaac  N.  Jones,  was  born  in  Illinois, 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  is  also  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  North  Litchfield  Township; 
his  wife,  Keturah  Stone,  is  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee; she  is  the  mother  of  six  children,  of 
whom  Corder.  our  subject,  is  the  third.       Po- 
litically, he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party;  he  is  also  a  prominent  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F.  order  at  Raymond.      Religiously, 
himself  and  wife  are  connected  with  the  Bap- 
tist denomination  at  Honey  Bend;  is  an  ad- 
vocate for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of 
temperance. 

JOEL  JONES,  farmer.  P.  O.  Raymond, 
born  near  Bunker  Hill,  Macoupin  Co.,  Ill,, 
April  11,  1836,  son  of  Simeon  and  Dorothy 
(Starkey)  Jones.  Simeon,  a  farmer,  and 
Treasurer  of  Bunker  Hill  Township,  Macou- 
pin County,  for  fifteen  years,  was  born  in 
Madison  County,  111.,  February  2,  1811,  and 
was  identified  with  the  growth  of  the  county 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 


December  30,  1850;  his  wife,  also  a  native  of 
Madison  County,  born  June  27,  1812,  is  now 
living  with  her  son  Joel,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch;  of  her  ten  children,  of  whom  Joel 
was  the  third,  six  are  living.  Subject  received 
such  education  as  the  country  schools  of  that 
day  afforded,  and  entered  upon  the  business 
of  life  as  a  farmer,  and  has,  by  his  energy 
and  industry,  accumulated  180  acres  of  fine 
land  near  Raymond,  which  he,  as  a  practical 
farmer,  keeps  highly  cultivated;  he  has  lately 
erected  a  large  and  commodious  frame  resi- 
dence He  married,  in  Montgomery  County, 
April  13,  1871,  Mary  C.  Blackwelder,  born  in 
Cabarrus  County,  N  G,  September  5,  1843. 
daughter  of  Martin  aud  Malinda  (Ovenshine) 
Blackwelder,  both  natives  of  Cabarrus  County, 
N.  C.  and  both  deceased.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jones  are  the  parents  of  five  children — Alva 
W.,  Jesse  V.,  Charles  E.,  Eugene  D.  and 
Emily  A.  He  formerly  was  a  Democrat,  but 
is  now  a  Greenbacker;  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church. 

JOHN  KING,  farmer,  P.  O.  Raymond,  was 
born  in  Bourbon  County,  Ky.,  September  10, 
1826;  his  education  was  limited  to  such  as 
could  be  obtained  in  the  old  log  schoolhouses 
of  that  early  day;  however,  by  observation 
and  encounters  with  the  world,  he  has  attained 
a  very  good  practical  education.  At  the  age 
of  fifteen,  he  went  with  his  parents  to  In- 
diana, and  located  in  Shelby  County,  where 
he  remained  fourteen  years,  employed  on  a 
farm  as  farm  hand.  He  entered  upon  the 
battle  of  life  a  poor  boy,  but,  being  possessed 
with  a  stout  heart  and  an  energetic  spirit,  he 
determined  to  make  his  way  in  the  world. 
He  came  to  Illinois  in  1854,  and  permanently 
located  in  Montgomery  County  in  October, 
1859,  and  rented  the  property  he  now  owns; 
by  his  industry  and  economy,  he  soon  was 
able  to  purchase  eighty  acres  of  land,  which 
'  he  has  continued  to  increase   until    it  now 


226 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


amounts  to  210  acres  of  choice  farm  and  tim- 
ber land,  which  he  has  improved,  and  which, 
.  i  otical  farmer,  he  keeps  i-n  a  high  state 
of  cultivation.  Mr.  King  is  one  of  the  most 
prominent  farmers  in  the  township,  and  has 
ys   taken  an   i  .  in  all   public  im- 

provements, and  in  the  general  growth  and 
prosperity  of  Montgomery  County;  he  makes 
no  specialty  of  crops,  although  he  has  always 
been  a  large  grower  of  corn  and  wheat,  and 
handles  no  stock  in  particular  but  what  he 
raises  on  his  farm.  He  was  married,  in 
Shelby  County,  Ind.,  September  26, 
Mary  Hacker,  who  was  born  in  Virginia 
27;  she  has  borne  him  three  eli  il 
dren — Margaret  J..  Thomas  E.  and  Marshall 
E.,  the  latter  dying  at  the  age  of  se 
Margaret  is  the  wife  of  H.  H.  Hitchings,  a 
prominent  young  farmer  of  Raymond  Town- 
ship. Mr.  King  :  I  indent  in  politics, 
and,  as  he  says,  votes  for  men  and  principles; 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  has  been  I 
married:  his  first  wil'  September  29, 
'.  and  his  second  marriage  occurred  June 
-..7,  to  Catharine  Hacker,  who  wa  born 
May  15.  1821,  and  is  a  sister  to  his  first  wife. 
Mr.  King  has  always  been  identified  with  the 
temperance  workers,  and  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Christian  Church  since  he  was  sixteen 

ISAAC  F.  LAWLER,  retired  farmer,  Ray- 
mond, born    in  White  County.   111..  Ma; 
1836.     His  grandfather,  John  Lawler,  v 
native  of  Tennessee,  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and,  during  the  war  of  1812,   Captain  of  a 

k- horse  company.  John  T.,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  the  third  son  of  a  family  of 

it  children  ;  was  born  in  Talladega 
County,  Ala..  March  22,  1805;  a  ifarmer, 
and,  in  his  younger  days,  a  pilot  on  the  Wa- 
bash and  Lower  Mississippi  Rivers;  came  to 
Fayette  County,  111.,  in   1831;  remained  one 


year;  removed  to  White  County,  where  he 
lived  several  years;  thence  to  Greene  County; 
stayed  one  year,  and  subsequently  moved  to 
Montgomery  County,  where  he  died  August 
15,  1803.  During  his  life,  he  represented 
the  Democratic  party  of  White  County  in  the 
Legislature  for  two  terms;  had  previously 
been  a  magistrate,  and,  for  eighteen  years. 
Colonel  of  the  State  militia;  during  the  Mexi- 
can war,  he  raised  and  equipped  a  company  of 
soldiers,  of  which  he  was  Captain,  but  which 
was  not  called  out,  though  held  in  readiness 
till  the  close  of  the  war.  His  wife.  Susan 
Bradbury,  born  in  Kentucky  May  15.  Is!  •  1. 
died  December    1.  '       '     ac,  the  subject 

of  this  sketch,  and  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
four  children  received  a  fair  education,  and 
began  lifi  -chant  at  Butler,  wher 

built  the  third  building  used  for  business 
oses  in  that  town:  there  he  remained  one 
■_  and  then,  giving  up  mercantile  busi- 
ness, turned  his  attention  to  farming,  which 
occupation  he  followed  till  1865;  in  that 
year,  he  removed  to  Kansas  City.  Mo.,  where 
he  followed  the  business  of  supplying  con- 
tractors with  sand  for  building  purposes  for 
twelve  years;  then,  returning  to  Raymond, 
111.,  he  purchased  a  farm,  which  ho  worked 
for  a  time.  Im;!  eventually  retired  from  farm 
life,  rented   hi  :    aoved    to  Ray- 

mond with  his  family.  He  has  bei  □  twice 
married:  his  first  wife.  Nancy  C.  Cayce. 
whom  he  married  in  Montgomery  County  June 
31,  1855,  was  born  in  Sangamon  County,  111., 
February  22,  1838,  and  died  April  27,  1871; 
she  was  the  mother  of  five  children — Juliet, 
Jehu  Henry.  John  A.,  Abigail  A.  and  James 
Franklin;  her  father,  Elijah  Cayce.  was  born 
in  Kentucky:  her  mother,  Dorcas  A.  Williams, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  born  May  18,  It 
He  was  married  the  second  time,  February 
'25,  1874.  to  Mrs.  Naomi  McGown,  born  in 
Macoupin  County,  111.,  June  L5,  1849,  daugh- 


RAYMOND  TOWNSHIP. 


227 


ter  of  Rev.  William  and  Elizabeth  (Courtney) 
Fitzjarrell;  from  this  second  union  one  child 
has  been  born — Cyrus  Floyd.  Mr.  Lawler 
has  been  Constable  and  Commissioner  for 
several  years.  In  politics,  he  is  independent; 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  of 
the  I.  O.  O.  F. 

ELIAS  W.  MILLER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, is  descended  from  the  Knickerboc 
of  New  York  and  the  Huguenots  of  South  Car- 
olina, and  the  f  a  family  of  ten  chil- 
dren, and  was  born  December  Hi.  1S27,  a  mile 
If  west  of   Eaton,  Preble  Co.,  Ohio, 
nunient   on  an  Indian   mound, 
which   marks  the  site  of  one  of  thi 
lights  preceding  St.  Clair's  defeat.     In  1! 
his    father   removed     to   Somervillo,    l'< 
County,  and,    in  the  summer  of  1840,  Elias 
W.    enlisted,  at  Newport,  Ky. ,  as   a   private 
in   Company    D,    Eighth    Regiment    United 
ea  Infantry,  for  five  years,  or  during-  the 
ican  war.     Landing,  under   Gen.    Scott, 
at  Vera   Cruz,  his  regiment  bor  art  in 
\hat   fortress:  it  rendered  con- 
spicuous service  in  the  affairs  of  the  march 
i.  and  distinguished  itseif  in  the 
les  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico. 
In  July.  1848,  he  was  honorably  discharged 
at  New  Orleans,  and  returned  to  his  home  in 
Prel           i  mty.     Marr      i         iss  Eminoh  C. 

!        , 
parted   in  the  fall   for  the  West:    reaching 
Alton    1'.    the  river,  he  walked  to  Hillsl 

I  in  May,  located  his  land  warrant  for  a 
quarter  of  a  section  in  Butler  Grove  Town- 
ship, about  two  miles  north  of  Butler,  on  the 
-  iat  road  from  Hillsboro  to  Springfield. 
Youth,  health,  courage,  hopefulness,  in- 
dustry, land  and  a  prudenl  wife,  are  the 
thresholds  to  wealth;  while  not  neglecti;i 
farm,  Mr.  Miller  cut  cord-wood  and  worked 
on  the  railroad,  ami  for  two  years  was  Road- 
master  of  the  Western   Division  of  the  Alton 


&  Terre  Haute  Railway,  he  tilled  his  land 

well,  and  was  fully  rewarded;    several    til 

he  sold  his  farm,  only  to  buy  another  in  the 

borhood,  and  in  1  S<  V,  l>,..-;uae  the  owner 

of  the  extensive  domain  near  Raymond  widely 

known  as  Seward's  Point.     In  the  modernized 

aspect  of  his  home,  the  traveler  will  see  little 

to  remind  him  of   the  brick  house  which,  in 

.  was  the  best  residence  in  the  county, 

and  had   its  neareat  neighbor  to  the  north  a 

distant.     During  his  minority, 

he   attended   school  only  six  months,  going 

only  on  ti  when  it  rained  too  hard  to 

work  on  the  farm;  yet  he  is  well  educate 

whatever  helps  a  man  to  succeed  in  his  sphere 

of   life;    his  home  abounds  with  books   and 

irs,   and   he  was   a  keen  politician; 

mathematically,  he  is  a  plus  man.  and  is  I 

ibed  by  positive  qualities;  when  a  poli- 
party  in  this  State  formally  denounced, 
in  1863,  the  further    l;offensive   prosecution 
of  the  war."  Mr.  Miller  penetrated  the  order 
of  the  Golden  Circle— which,  in  its  sympathy 
with   the   South,   aimed   to    precipitate   the 
county  into  armed  resistance  to  the  Govern- 
ment—  compelled  its   lead  row  their 
mes  and   purposes,  and  refused  their  fa- 
d          ered.  their   plans   came  to 
naught,  and  at  last  were  publicly  abandoned. 
He  was  conspicuous  intheGrang  ement; 
no  man  in  the  county  was  more  industrious  or 
valuable  in  the  local  canvass  which,  in   ISTo. 
ated  the  dominant  party  am  I  1 1  the 
normal  relation  between  the  office-holder  and 
ax-payer.      Thrice  elected    Supervisor  of 
Raymond,  he  was  seeking  a  seat  in  the  Leg- 
;    !  i  !ure,  when  the  death  of  his  wife,  in  1876, 
led  him  to  give  over  these   labors  and  quit 
the  political  arena.     In  April.    1877,  he  mar- 
Miss  Lucy  J.  Lamson,  of  Ipswich.  Mass., 
I  farm  life  now  bound  his  ambi- 
tion; he  has   thriven   in  fortune,  and  is  hos- 
pitable and  prudent. 


228 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ISHMAEL  McGOWN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Johnson  County,  111.,  June 
1-4,  1821.     He  was  removed  by  his  parents  to 
Greene  County  in  1830,  where  he  received  his 
education,  and  where  he  remained  with   his 
parents,  assisting   in  tilling  che  soil  of  his 
father' s   farm.     At  the  age  of  twenty  years, 
he  left  the  homestead  and  entered  upon  his 
career  in  life  as  a  farmer;  in  1850,  he  entered 
eighty  acres  of  wild  prairie  land  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  and,  in  the  year  following,  re- 
moved with  his  family  to  their  new  home,  and 
where  he  still  resides;  he  made  all  the  im- 
provements himself,  such  as  building  fences, 
orchards  and  all  other  improvements  neces- 
sary for  comfort,  and  which  are  found  upon 
all  well-regulated  farms;    by  his  energy  and 
economy,  he  continued  to  add  to  his  original 
purchase,  and  at  one  time  had   in  his  posses- 
sion 200  acres,  and  at  the  present  owns  160 
acres  of  fine  farm  land,  which,  as  a  practical 
farmer,  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion, which  denotes  him  to  be  one  of  the  suc- 
cessful farmers  of  the  county.     He  was  mar- 
ried, in   Greene  County,   August  4.  1840,  to 
Clarinda   Jackson,   who  was  born  in  Greene 
County  March  10,  1823;  she  is  the  mother  of 
eight   children,    three  of  whom   are    living, 
viz.:     Shadrach,    William    A.  and  Anderson 
Monroe.     Mrs.   McGowu  was   a  daughter  of 
Shadrach,  Jackson   a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  one  of  the  early  settlers  of   Greene 
County;  his  death  occurred  in  Texas,  in  May, 
1879;  his  wife,  Prudence   Finley,  was  born 
in  Madison  County;  she  died  December  31, 
1855;    the  result  of    their  union  was  eight 
children,  of  whom  only  three  are  now  living. 
Samuel  McGown,  the  father  of  our-  subject, 
was  born  in  Tennessee,  and  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Greene  County,  where  he  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  farmer  for  a  num- 
ber  of  years;    his  death  occurred   in   1861. 
The  mother  of  oar  subject,  Nancy  Westbrooks, 


was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but  raised  in 
West  Virginia;  she  died  in  the  spring  of 
1852;  they  were  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  are  still  living,  and  of 
whom  Ishmael  is  the  third  child.  Politically, 
he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 
Religiously,  himself  and  wife  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  Christian  Church  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  Although  Mr.  McGown  grows 
all  of  the  usual  farm  crops,  he  makes  grain 
his  principal  crop.  He  is  a  public-spirited 
man,  and  has  always  taken  an  interest  in  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  county,  and, 
when  Raymond  was  first  laid  out.  furnished 
a  large  portion  of  the  land  now  covered  by 
the  village,  and  perhaps  no  man  has  taken 
more  interest  and  done  more  for  the  prosperity 
of  the  town  than  Mr.  McGown. 

WILLIAM  A.  MAXEY,  merchant,  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Maxey  &  Starr,  gro- 
cers, Raymond,  was  born  in  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  August  27,  1856,  and  received 
a  common-school  education;  he  remained 
upon  the  homestead  until  he  attained  the  age 
of  twenty  years,  when  he  entered  into  the 
mercantile  business  as  clerk  at  Hillsboro;  he 
followed  in  that  occupation  at  different  places 
until  November,  1S80,  when  he  entered  into 
business  for  himself  at  Raymond;  he  was  very 
successful  in  his  new  enterprise,  but,  at  the 
time  Raymond  was  destroyed  by  fire,  he  was 
one  of  the  sufferers,  his  stock  being  nearly 
all  destroyed;  he  did  not,  despair,  however, 
but  immediately  secured  a  new  room  and 
continued  the  business,  which  gradually  as- 
sumed larger  proportions,  and  now,  in  con- 
nection with  his  partner.  Mr.  Starr,  has  the 
satisfaction  of  conducting  a  large  and  steadily 
increasing  trade,  the  result  of  a  thorough 
business  knowledge,  energy  and  enterprise; 
their  store  is  centrally  located  on  the  princi- 
pal street  of  Raymond,  and  any  one  may  feel 
sure  of   a  welcome  and  receiving  kind  atten- 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


229 


tions  from  the  gentlemanly  proprietors.  AVil- 
son  M.  Maxey,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  and  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Montgomery  County;  is  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  still  living  upon  the  place 
of  his  original  purchase;  his  wife,  Eliza  New- 
comb,  was  a  native  of  Virginia;  she  died  in 
about  1804;  was  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  William  was  the  third  child.  Po- 
litically, his  sympathies  are  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party;  he  was  elected  by  the  people  of 
Raymond,  in  the  spring  of  1882,  to  fill  the 
office  of  City  Clerk,  which  office  he  still  holds; 
he  also  holds  the  office  of  Secretary  in  the  I. 
O.  O.  F.  order  at  Raymond,  of  which  he  has 
been  an  active  member  for  about  two  years. 

J.  G.  MOORE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Raymond, 
was  born  in  Holmes  County,  Ohio,  in  1828, 
the  son  of  a  farmer,  who  moved  to  Missouri 
in  an  early  day  (1842),  when  there  were  no 
railroads,  but  when  land  could  be  bought  for 
$1.25  per  acre;  they  settled  in  Gasconade 
County,  and  began  operations  in  true  pioneer 
style,  making  their  own  plows  and  living  in 
the  simplest  manner;  they  broke  the  land  up, 
however,  burned  timber  out  for  a  clearing, 
and  finally  had  excellent  farms;  the  neces- 
saries of  life  were  hard  to  get  hold  of,  and 
all  groceries  had  to  be  obtained  in  St.  Louis, 
a  hundred  miles  away.  Mr.  Moore  married  in 
1  852.  During  the  war,  he  was  engaged  buy- 
ing horses  and  mules  for  the  Government, 
but  lost  a  good  deal  of  property  in  conse- 
quence of  military  raids  through  the  section 
where  he  resided.  In  1865,  he  moved  to 
Montgomery,  where  he  has  since  followed 
farming;  he  has  had  quite  an  eventful  life; 
has  seen  many  ups  and  downs;  has  made  and 
lost  a  great  deal  of  money,  but,  thanks  to  his 
energy  and  economy,  is  now  comfortable  in 
this  world's  goods. 

HEZEKIAH  MOORE,  fanner,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, born  in  Holmes  County,  Ohio,  Novem- 


ber 7,  1833;  son  of  Thomas  Moore,  born  in 
Ohio,  a  stone-mason  by  trade,  who  moved  to 
Missouri  in  1840,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Gasconade  County;  his  death  oc- 
curred in  July,  1852.  Catharine  Best,  wife 
of  Thomas  and  mother  of  subject,  born  in 
Ohio,  died  in  March,  1872;  she  was  the  moth- 
er of  twelve  children,  of  whom  Hezekiah 
was  the  sixth.  His  education  was  limited  to 
such  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  common 
schools  in  the  country  at  that  day.  He  com- 
menced his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer,  remain- 
ing in  Missouri  until  1868,  when  he  removed 
to  Montgomery  County  and  purchased  the 
fann  on  which  he  now  lives,  and  made  all  the 
improvements;  the  surroundings  and  state  of 
cultivation  show  Mr.  Moore  to  be  a  practical 
farmer;  since  his  advent  into  the  county,  he 
has  been  identified  with  its  growth  and  pros- 
perity, particularly  with  its  agricultural  in- 
terests. He  was  married,  in  Missouri,  May 
'.),  IMiO,  to  Rose  Ann  Coleman,  who  was  born 
in  Missouri  January  9,  1841;  they  have  four 
children,  viz. :  John,  Emma,  Thomas  and 
Lillie;  and  have  lost  three,  viz.:  Hattie, 
Nettie  and  Wrillie,  all  of  whom  died  in  in- 
fancy. Mrs.  Moore  is  a  daughter  of  Eph- 
raim  Coleman,  a  native  of  Ohio,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  now  living  with  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  Nancy  Best,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
died  in  December,  187'J.  Mr.  Moore  has 
served  the  people  as  Road  Commissioner  sev- 
eral years;  entered  the  service  in  Company 
M,  Fifty  Iowa  Cavalry,  with  Capt.  D.  A. 
Waters,  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  W.  W. 
Lowe;  remained  in  the  service  three  years. 
Politically,  his  sympathies  are  with  the  Re- 
publican party;  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  for  several  years;  before 
the  war,  he  was  connected  with  the  I.  O.  O. 
F.  at  Linn,  Mo.,  but,  during  the  war,  the  or- 
der gave  up  its  charter.  He  owns  280  acres 
of  choice  farm  land,  on  which  he  raises  con- 


230 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


siderable  stock,  besides  the  usual  crops;  has 
also  150  acres  of  land  southeast  of  Raymond, 
and  twenty-eight  acres  of  improved  town 
property  in  Raymond.  He  and  his  wife  are 
connected  with  the  Methodist  Church. 

MILLARD  F.  MAY,  Clerk  of  township 
and  village,  and  carpenter  and  joiner  by  oc- 
cupation, Raymond,  was  born  at  Girard, 
Macoupin  Co.,  111.,  March  15,  1860,  son  of 
Jesse  W.  and  Mary  (Kitzmiller)  May,  he  a 
prominent  stock-dealer,  born  in  Tennessee  in 
1830,  who  came  to  Illinois  in  1855;  she,  also 
of  Tennessee,  born  in  1835;  they  had  five 
children — Florence,  wife  of  J.  A.  Bradley; 
Millard  F.,  Mary,  Dora  and  Jessie;  the  lat- 
ter died  when  four  years  of  age.  Our  sub- 
ject, after  receiving  an  education  in  the 
schools  of  his  native  county,  learned  the  car- 
penter and  joiner's  trade,  and  has  assisted  in 
building  some  of  the  principal  business  blocks 
of  Raymond;  he  is  at  present  (1882)  engaged 
in  building  a  residence  for  himself  on  one  of 
the  principal  streets  of  Raymond  October 
31,  1881,  he  married  Miss  Belle  Miller,  born 
in  Montgomery  County  April  21, 1862,  daugh- 
ter of  Lemuel  G.  and  Lucinda  (Lee)  Miller, 
both  of  Greene  County,  111.  Mr.  May  is  a 
Freemason  and  a  Democrat. 

JOSEPH  W.  POTTS.  Joseph  W.  Potts, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  on  a  farm 
near  Chapman's  Point,  in  the  north  part  of 
Macoupin  County,  111.,  on  the  19th  of  Sep- 
tember, A.  D.  1841,  where  his  parents  re- 
mained until  the  year  1852,  when  they  moved 
to  near  the  head  of  Bear  Creek,  in  same 
county,  where  they  carried  on  the  bnsiness  of 
agriculture  for  five  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  his  father  purchased  a  large  tract  of 
land  at  and  near  Pleasant  Hill,  Montgomery 
Co.,  111.,  to  which  place  they  moved  in  the 
fall  of  1857.  Joseph  W.  remained  on  the 
farm  working  with  his  parents  until  his  mar- 
riage, on  the  12th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1862, 


with  Miss  Mary  J.  Miller,  daughter  of  Lem- 
uel G.  Miller,  one  of  the  then  leading  farm- 
ers and  stock-raisers  of  Montgomery  County, 
111.  William  B.  Potts,  father  of  Joseph  W. 
Potts,  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Ky. ,  on  the  22d 
day  of  February,  A.  D.  1814,  where  he  re- 
sided until  the  year  A.  D.  1829,  when  he  em- 
igrated to  Illinois  with  his  father,  Richard 
F-  Potts,  and  his  brother  and  sister.  Jessie 
Potts  and  Millie  Potts,  and  settled  in  Mor- 
gan County,  near  Old  Berlin.  After  his  fa- 
ther was  comfortably  situated,  he  hired  him- 
self as  a  farm  hand  to  Jacob  Strawn,  the 
great  cattle  king  uf  Illinois,  for  whom  he 
worked  constantly  until  his  marriage  with 
Miss  Rhoda  A  Richards,  of  Macoupin 
County,  111. ;  the  issue  of  this  marriage  was 
twelve  children — six  boys  and  six  girls.  Jo- 
seph W.,  the  subject  of  this  article,  was  the 
fifth  in  order  of  birth.  Richard  F.  Potts,  . 
grandfather  of  Joseph  W.,  was  born  on  the 
4th  day  of  July,  1776,  near  the  present  site 
of  Bentonville,  N.  C,  where  he  resided  until 
he  was  four  years  old,  when  his  father, 
Washington  A.  Potts,  moved  to  Kentucky, 
near  Munfordsville,  where  he  erected  a  wa- 
ter-mill on  one  of  the  tributaries  of  Green 
River;  after  many  days  of  arduous  labor  and 
great  privation,  having  to  work  by  day  and 
watch  the  prowling  red  man  by  night,  the 
mill  was  built;  but  the  thinly  settled  country 
necessarily  brought  him  poor  returns  for  the 
money  and  labor  invested;  finally,  on  Christ- 
mas night,  in  the  year  1786,  a  prowling  band 
of  Indians  burned  the  mill  and  tomahawked 
the  whole  family,  consisting  of  sixteen,  with 
the  exception  of  Richard  F.,  who  made  his 
escape  across  the  hills  to  the  celebrated  Mam- 
moth Cave,  where  he  subsisted  for  several 
days  on  the  blind  fish  that  inhabit  its  waters; 
he  was  finally  rescued  by  a  party  of  hunters, 
consisting  of  Daniel  Boone  and  others,  and 
taken  to  Boonesboro,  where  he  was   kindly 


RAYMOND   TOWNSHIP. 


231 


carod   for  in  the  family  of  Boone  until  his 
uncle,  Christopher  A.  Potts,  commander  of  a 
British  man-of-war  cruising  off  the  coast  of 
South  Carolina,  was  notified  of  his  safety  and 
whereabouts,    ordered    him    to    be    sent    to 
Charleston,  S.  O,  where  he  met  him  and  took 
him  on   board  his  ship,  where  he  served   in 
the  capacity  of  midshipman  for  several  years 
in  Her    Majesty's   service.      At   the    age   of 
eighteen,    he   returned    to    Owensboro,    Ky., 
where  he  resided  until  his  marriage  with  Miss 
Elizabeth  Cummings,  when  he   located  on  a 
farm  near  what  is  known  as  the  Yellow  Banks, 
on  the  Kentucky  Biver,  where  he  remained 
until  he  emigrated  to  Illinois.      Washington 
A.  Potts,  commander  of  the  British  man-of- 
war,   as  before    mentioned,    received   orders 
from  Commodore  Downie,  commander  of  the 
British  fleet  near  Quebec,  to  proceed  to  Que- 
bec,  near   the   mouth  of    the    St.   Lawrence 
River;  his  ship  was  caught  in  a   storm  and 
wrecked,  with  the  loss  of  the  entire  crew,  and 
among  them  Washington  A.  Potts  perished, 
in  the  year  A.    D.  1814     Ezekiel  E.  Potts, 
brother  of  the  deceased,  ordered  the  remains 
to  be  returned  to  North  Hampton,  England, 
the  home  of   the  family,   where  they   were 
sepultured  in  the  family  cemetery;  a  beauti- 
ful monument  marks  the  family  resting-place; 
he  who  passes  that  way  can  read  the  monu- 
mental  inscription;  it  is  as  follows:     "Here 
resteth  Solomon   Q.  Potts,  father  of  Ezekiel 
and  Washington  A.  Potts;  also  his  son  Eze- 
kiel, who  lost  his  life  in  Her  Majesty's  serv- 
ice (Queen   Anne)    in    foreign    lands.     May 
they  rest   in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrec- 
tion."    We  will  deal   no  more  with  the  an- 
cestors of  the  subject  of  our  sketch;  suffice  it 
to  say  they  are  of  pure  Norman  origin.     Y\  e 
will   now  return  to  Joseph  WT.  Potts.     After 
his  marriage,  in  1862,  he  settled  on  a  farm 
near  Pleasant  Hill,  in  Montgomery  County. 
where  he  resided  for  eleven  years,  at  the  ex- 


piration of  which  time,  he,  becoming  wearied 
with  farm  life,  entered  into  the  mercantile 
business  in  Raymond,  111.,  a  town  which 
sprang  up  as  if  by  magic  on  the  Wabash 
Railroad  in  the  year  1871,  where  he  has  since 
constantly  resided.  During  his  residence  m 
Raymond,  111.,  he  has  been  engaged  in  var- 
ious pursuits  of  life,  filling  many  offices  of 
trust,  and  is  now  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Raymond  Independent,  a  weekly  newspaper 
of  large  circulation  and  unlimited  influence 
wherever  circulated.  Joseph  W.  Potts  is  now 
forty- one  years  old,  hale  and  hearty,  and  bids 
fair  to  live  long  and  enjoy  the  rewards  of  a 
well-regulated  life,  and  the  blessings  of  his 
wife  and  their  two  sons,  Lemuel  L.  Potts  and 
Roy  A.  Potts. 

JOHN  C.  REBHAN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Germany  December  6, 
1S43,  and  brought  to  New  Orleans  by  his 
parents  when  he  was  quite  young;  his  father 
is  living  in  St.  Clair  County,  this  State,  where 
he  owns  and  cultivates  a  fine  farm.  Our  sub- 
ject was  educated  partly  in  New  Orleans  and 
partly  in  St.  Clair  County,  and,  when,  a 
youth,  learned  the  saddle  and  harness  mak- 
ing business,  but  eventually  became  a  farmer. 
May  10.  1870,  in  St.  Clair  County,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Emma  E.  Sandick,  a  native  of  that 
county,  born  April  '2,  1847,  and  from  which 
union  has  resulted  four  children — James  L. , 
William  Charles,  Edward  A.  and  Emma  Vir- 
ginia. Mr.  Rebhan  held  a  position  in  the 
railway  postal  service  for  ten  years,  after 
which  he  came  to  Raymond  and  purchased 
the  farm  on  which  he  now  lives,  a  fine  tract, 
highly  improved,  of  160  acres  of  land;  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  Blue  Lodge, 
Chapter  and  Cominandery,  and  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

WILLIAM  SCHMIDT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Germany  August  21,  L834, 
where  he  received  his  education  in  his  mother 


232 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tongue,  and  assisted  his  father  upon  the  old 
homestead  farm  until  he  was  fifteen  years  of 
age,  when  he  engaged  as  a  farm  hand,  receiv- 
ing but  a  very  small  compensation  for  his  la- 
bor; he  followed  this  occupation  for  about 
three  years,  when  he  concluded  to  try  his  fort- 
unes in  the  New  World,  and  emigrated  to 
America,  where  he  found  himself  a  stranger 
in  a  strange  land;  but,  being  possessed  with 
a  stout  heart  and  the  energy  necessary  to 
make  his  own  way  in  a  strange  country,  he 
set  to  work  with  a  will,  and  rented  a  farm  in 
Morgan  County,  111.,  where  he  remained  eight 
years,  and.  by  his  energy  and  industry,  suc- 
ceeded in  laying  up  enough  funds  to  enable 
him  to  make  a  purchase  of  land  for  himself; 
he  purchased  a  part  of  the  property  he  now 
owns,  and  removed  with  his  family  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  has  continued  to 
add  to  his  possessions  until  he  now  owns  200 
acres  of  as  fine  land  as  can  be  found  in  Ray- 
mond Township,  and  which  he  has  improved 
by  way  of  buildings,  orchards,  fences,  etc., 
until  it  will  compare  with  any  of  the  well- 
improved  farms  of  the  county,  and  places  Mr. 
Schmidt  in  the  list  of  practical  farmers.  His 
father,  Henrick  Schmidt,  was  a  nativo  of  Ger- 
many,  and  was  a  farmer  by  occupation;  he 
died  in  1862,  leaving,  his  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren to  mourn  his  loss;  his  wife,  Louisa  Pas- 
cher,  survived  him  two  years.  "William  was 
the  youngest  child.  He  was  married,  in  Mor- 
gan County,  March  15,  1858,  to  Hannah 
Schelp,  who  was  born  in  Germany  in  Novem- 
ber, 1843,  and  brought  to  America  when  but 
eleven  years  of  age;  she  is  the  mother  of  six 
boys  and  sis  girls,  viz. :  Jennettie,  wife  of 
Henry  Weber;  Christ  William,  George  Henry, 
Louisa  Rachel,  wife  of  Aug  Beder;  Emma 
Anna,  Carolina  Louisa,  John  Henry,  Harmon, 
Minnie  Anua,  Dora  Gusta,  Edward  Martin, 
Henry  Phillip  —all  of  whom  are  still  living. 
Mrs.  Schmidt  is  a  daughter  of  Philip  Schelp, 


a  native  of  Germany  and  a  prominent  farmer 
of  Morgan  County,  where  his  death  occurred 
November  29,  1863;  his  wife,  Rachael  Lak- 
ers, was  also  a  native  of  Germany,  and  is  still 
living  in  Morgan  County,  and  is  the  mother 
of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  still  liv- 
ing, viz. :  William,  a  wagon-maker  in  Mor- 
gan County;  George,  a  farmer  in  same  county; 
and  Hannah,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Schmidt.  Mr. 
Schmidt  has  a  brother  and  sister  living  in 
this  county,  viz. :  Chris,  and  Henrietta,  widow 
of  W.  Ganoeft.  Politically,  Mr.  Schmidt  is 
a  Democrat,  and  religiously,  himself  and  wife 
are  connected  with  the  Lutheran  Church. 

D.  WILL  STARR,  merchant,  Raymond, 
of  the  firm  of  Maxey  &  Starr,  was  born  in 
Greensboro,  Guilford  Co.,  N.  C,  November 
17,  1853,  where  his  early  childhood  was  spent 
in  assisting  his  father  upon  the  homestead 
farm  and  in  attending  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  county.  At  the  age  of  ten  years, 
he  left  home  and  attended  an  academic  school 
two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  began 
learning  the  painter's  trade,  and  followed  in 
that  occupation  about  fourteen  years  in  differ- 
ent localities;  he  then  purchased  a  livery  sta- 
ble at  Raymond,  111.,  but  sold  his  interest  in 
a  few  months,  and,  on  March  15,  18S2,  be- 
came one  of  the  firm  of  Maxey  &  Starr,  deal- 
ers in  groceries,  at  which  business  they  have 
become  more  than  ordinarily  successful,  ow- 
ing to  their  strict  attention  to  business  and 
the  pleasing  manner  in  which  they  attend  to 
the  wants  of  their  many  customers;  in  busi- 
ness, they  are  energetic  and  enterprising, 
and  socially,  enjoy  the  highest  esteem  of  the 
community  at  large.  Mi'.  Starr,  the  junior 
member  of  the  firm,  sought  a  home  in  the 
North  when  he  was  about  twenty-two  years  of 
age,  and  eventually  located  at  Raymond. 
He  was  married,  at  Palmer,  Christian  County, 
December  25,  1881,  to  Miss  Maggie  Lee,  who 
was  born   December  25,    1S57,   daughter  of 


RAYMOND    TOWNSHIP. 


233 


Capt.  E.  T.  and  Mary  A.  (Hill)  Lee,  lie  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Bear  Creek,  Christian  County,  a  very  promi- 
nent farmer  and  stock-dealer,  at  which  busi- 
ness he  has  become  very  wealthy;  his  wife, 
Mary,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  still  liv- 
ing. Daniel  M.  Starr,  the  father  of  our  sub- 
ject, is  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  still 
living  in  his  native  State,  .engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  fruit-raising;  his  wife,  Sarah  M. 
Low,  is  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
is  still  living;  she  is  the  mother  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  D.  Will  is  the  fourth  child. 
Although  he  does  not  take  much  interest  in 
politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

DAVID  Y.  SCHERER,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Montgomery  CouDty 
February  3,  1842;  received  a  common-school 
education  and  entered  upon  his  career  as  a 
farmer,  and  the  land  he  first  owned  is  still  in 
the  possession  of  the  family;  purchased  his 
present  property  in  1869.  and  has  made  all 
of  the  improvements  himself,  and  the  sur- 
roundings show  him  to  be  an  energetic  and 
enterprising  man  and  a  practical  fai'mer;  his 
farm  consists  of  160  acres  of  choice  farm  land, 
which  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation; 
he  devotes  his  time  to  growing  the  usual  farm 
crops  and  raising  stock  of  all  kinds;  he  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  public  improvements, 
and  in  the  advancement  of  agricultural  in- 
terests in  his  neighborhood,  and  in  the  edu- 
cational privileges  he  also  takes  a  leading 
part.  He  was  married,  in  Montgomery 
County,  December  11,  1862,  to  Louisa  Mor- 
rell,  who  whs  born  in  Ohio;  they  have  six 
children,  viz. :  Mary  E. ,  "William  J.,  Robert 
A.,  Oliver  F.,  Alice  R.  and  May  L.  Mrs. 
Scherer  was  a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Re- 
becca (Spangler )  Morrell.  David  Scherer,  the 
father  of  the  subject,  was  a  native  of  Ninth 
Carolina,  a  farmer  by  occupation;  he  died  in 


1860;  his  wife,  Mary  Elizabeth  Waggoner, 
is  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  still  liv- 
ing, in  Butler  Township;  she  was  the  mother 
of  fourteen  children,  of  whom  David  is  the 
eleventh;  has  been  School  Director;  is  a  Re- 
publican; himself  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  Lutheran  Church. 

SCOTT  S.  TILDEN,  druggist,  Raymond, 
was  bom  in  Montgomeiy  County,  111.,  Octo- 
ber 18,  1853,  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  G.  and  Ann 
W.  (Hill)  Tilden;  he  born  in  Vermont  and 
came  to  Illinois  in  1837,  settling  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  and  still  living,  in  Baymond; 
she  born  in  Kentucky,  still  living,  and  the 
mother  of  nine  children;  those  living  are 
Joseph,  Jr.,  living  in  Alabama;  John  H , 
physician  at  Litchfield;  Scott  S.,  our  subject; 
Emeline,  wife  of  H.  C.  Coleman,  of  St  Louis; 
Seth  H..  living  in  Raymond;  and  George  A., 
at  home.  Our  subject,  after  receiving  an 
education  in  the  common  schools,  entered  a 
drug  store  at  Nokomis  as  clerk,  where  he  re- 
mained one  and  a  half  years,  then  moved  to 
Kansas  City,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
and  then  returned  to  Raymond  and  worked 
for  his  father  eight  years,  and  entered  into 
business  for  himself  in  September,  1880,  in 
Raymond,  where  he  conducts  the  drug,  oil, 
paint,  lead,  wall  paper  and  fancy  goods  bus- 
iness; he  has  lately  moved  into  a  new  and 
commodious  room,  fitted  up  especially  for  his 
business.  In  Montgomery  County,  January 
1,  1879,  he  married  Mary  A.  Neal,  born 
March  4,  1862,  and  one  child  has  blessed  the 
union,  Anna  May,  born  March  4,  1881 ;  his 
wife  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

GILBERT  H.  WHITEHEAD,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Raymond,  is  a  native  of  Louisiana,  hav- 
ing been  born  in  that  State  December  18, 
18  16,  and  came  to  Illinois  in  1867,  first  set- 
tling in  Jersey  County,  whence  he  came  to 
Montgomery  County  one  year  later.  His  fa- 
ther, Wyatt  J.  Whitehead,    was  a  native  of 


234 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


South  Carolina,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  who 
married  Miss  Adeline  Zeigler,  of  Mississippi, 
and  who  was  the  mother  of  five  children, 
Gilbert  H.  being  the  second;  the  father  died 
in  1873,  and  the  mother  followed  her  hus- 
band the  next  year.  Mr.  Whitehead,  our 
subject,  married,  in  Montgomery  County,  in 
1875,  March  11,  Miss  Fanny  Devasier,  a  na- 
tive of  Montgomery  County,  born  March  26, 
L853;  four  children  have  been  born  of  this 
marriage — Rosa  Lee,  Samuel,  Nancy  and 
Zenora.  He  owns  131  acres  of  choice  land, 
and  affiliates  with  the  Democratic  party. 

SAMUEL  H.  YOUNG,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Clermont  County,  Ohio, 
December   12,  1852,  son  of  Orson  and   Sarah 


(Hall)  Young,  he  a  farmer  and  mechanic, 
born  in  New  York  State;  she  a  native  of  Ire- 
land— both  of  whom  are  living,  in  the  town- 
ship of  Harvel,  Montgomery  County,  this 
State:  they  are  the  parents  of  six  children, 
Samuel  H.  being  the  second,  who,  like  his 
father,  is  a  farmer.  Our  subject  married,  in 
Montgomery  County,  December  31,  1871, 
Mary  Amanda  Grummon,  born  in  Madison 
County  May  29,  1857,  daughter  of  John  L. 
Grummon.  of  St.  Clair  County,  111. ,  from 
which  union  have  been  born  four  children — 
John  O.,  Samuel  L.,  S.  Catharine  and  Irene; 
Minnie  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Young  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  he  is  a  Greenbacker  in  politics. 


ZANESVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


235 


ZANESVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


WILLIAM  A.  BEATTY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  born  in  Grayson  County,  Ky.,  Jan- 
uary 2U.  1847;  received  his  education  from 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  county. 
He  remained  with  his  parents  in  Kentucky 
until  1804,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
army,  Twenty-sixth  Kentucky  Volunteers, 
commanded  by  Burbridge,  afterward  by  Max- 
well, last  by  Col.  Farley;  served  about  thir- 
teen months;  mustered  out  in  July,  1865;  in 
1866,  removed  to  Montgomery  County,  where 
he  commenced  by  working  as  a  farm  hand, 
continuing  the  same  until  1872,  when  he 
rented  a  farm  of  160  acres  and  worked  it  un- 
til L876,  when  he  bought  100  acres,  and  has 
since  added  100  to  it,  now  having  200  acres. 
In  1876,  January  27,  in  Montgomery  County, 
he  married  Sarah  A.  Bowles,  a  native  of 
Greene  County,  111.,  born  in  1857.  When  he 
commenced  on  his  farm,  there  were  no  im- 
provements: upon  his  farm  he  has  a  good 
residence;  wheat,  corn,  oats,  cattle  and  hogs 
of  good  stock  ;  father  was  Joseph  Beatty, 
born  in  Grayson  County,  Ky.,  in  1823;  now 
lives  near  Raymond;  mother,  Sarah  Akres, 
born  in  Kentucky;  she  died  in  1847,  aged 
about  twenty-one  years;  parents  had  one 
child,  our  subject.  Subject  has  had  four 
children,  three  living — Oliver  M.,  William 
A.  (dead),  Orrie,  Bessie.  Politically,  Re- 
publican. 

R.  B.  BOWSHER,  farming  and  livery  sta- 
ble, P.  O.  Barrett.  Jesse,  the  father  of  this 
gentleman,  was  born  in  Wyandot  County, 
Ohio,  in  1812:  during  his  life,  followed  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer,  and  died  February 
20,  1856.     His  wife,  and  mother  of  our  sub- 


ject; was  Elizabeth  Clayton;  she  was  born  in 
Wyandot  County  in  1814,  and  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1850;  they  were  blessed  with  five  chil- 
dren, R.  B.  Bowsher  being  the  second  child. 
He  was  born  in  Upper  Sandusky,  W'yandot 
Co.,  Ohio,  May  19,  1837;  his  early  life  was 
spent  in  receiving  such  an  education  as  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county  afforded, 
and  assisted  his  father  in  tilling  the  soil  of 
his  farm  until  1856,  when  he  removed  to  Ma- 
coupin County,  111.,  where  he  engaged  in  ag- 
ricultural pursuits  on  his  own  account;  he 
remained  in  Macoupin  County  until  the  spring 
of  1882,  when  he  removed  to  Montgomery 
County,  where,  in  connection  with  his  farm- 
ing, he  is  engaged  in  the  livery  business,  and 
has  a  good  stable,  well  stocked  with  fine 
horses,  buggies,  etc.,  and,  in  fact,  everything 
to  complete  a  first-class  livery  stable.  He 
was  married,  in  Macoupin  County,  in  1861, 
to  Miss  Mary  Range,  a  native  of  Macoupin 
County,  111.,  and  the  daughter  of  Allen  and 
Agnes  (Crouch)  Range;  they  have  five  chil- 
dren— Columbus,  Baker,  Leon,  Nellie  and 
Maud.  Mr.  Bowsher  is  a  progressive  and 
energetic  business  man,  a  kind  neighbor  and 
a  good  citizen;  he  is  one  of  those  men  who 
add  to  the  prosperity  of  the  county;  he  is  an 
active  member  of  the  order  of  A..  F.  &  A.  M., 
Lodge  No.  171,  at  Girard;  in  politics,  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

JAMES  W.  CLINE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Montgomery  County  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1837,  to  Reuben  H.  and  Nellie 
(Smith)  Cline.  Mr.  Cline's  early  days  were 
spent  in  receiving  an  education  and  assisting 
in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm;  he  re- 


2  10 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


mained  with  his  father  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  and  for  a  few  years  previous  to  his 
death,  took  the  entire  management  of  the 
same;  in  1859,  removed  to  Bond  County  and 
hired  out  as  a  farm  hand,  and  continued 
working  by  the  month  until  1862,  and  mar- 
ried and  removed  to  the  southwest  corner  of 
Montgomery  County,  where  he  rented  a  farm 
of  eighty  acres,  and,  in  1863,  returned  to 
Bond  County,  and  in  1865  removed  to  Mad- 
ison County,  where  he  bought  a  farm,  in  1 867, 
of  120  acres,  and  remained  until  1869,  when 
he  sold  it  and  moved  to  the  Bluffs,  near  St. 
Louis,  and  again  rented,  and  in  1870  again 
removed  to  Madison  County,  and  bought  a 
farm  in  Kountree  Township  of  165  acres,  and 
continued  on  that  farm  and  added  to  it  until 
he  had  220  acres;  he  remained  there  until 
the  fall  of  1879,  when  he  removed  to  his  pres- 
ent residence,  and  has  now  410  acres  of  land, 
and  one  of  the  best  farms  of  Montgomery 
County,  upon  which  he  has  a  line  residence, 
barns,  with  wind-mill  and  everything  for  use 
on  a  good  farm;  makes  stock  raising  and  trad- 
ing in  stock  a  specialty.  In  October,  1862, 
in  Montgomery  County,  he  married  Miss 
Mary  E.  Thompson,  a  native  of  Licking 
County,  Ohio,  born  in  1844;  they  have  had 
four  children,  all  of  whom  are  living — Leigh- 
ton  W.,  Susan  C,  AlexC,  James  S.  In  1861, 
he  enlisted  in  the  Federal  army,  under  Col. 
Marshall,  and  was  taken  prisoner  by  Gen. 
Price,  and  was  discharged  in  October,  and  was 
again  discharged  in  July,  1862.  Himself 
and  family  are  members  of  M.  E.  Church; 
Republican  in  politics;  member  of  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  No.  692,  at  Raymond.  Commenced 
life  a  poor  man:  has  now  a  good  property; 
parents  had  eleven  children,  subject  being  the 
oldest  child. 

WILLIAM  COLEMAN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Crawford  County,  Mo., 
August  25,  1842,  to  Ephraim  Coleman  and 


Nancy  (Best);  father  was  born  in  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio,  in  1812:  during  his  life,  fol- 
lowed farming,  and  now  resides  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  111.,  with  his  children;  mother 
was  born  in  Muskingum  County,  Ohio,  in 
1813;  she  died  in  1877,  in  Missouri;  parents 
had  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  living 
— four  boys  and  four  girls;  subject  was  third 
child.  He  received  his  education  from  the 
neighborhood  schools  of  Fayette  County,  Ind., 
at  the  time  living  with  his  uncle,  Thomas 
Coleman;  commenced  life  by  trading  in  stock 
in  Missouri  in  1863,  and  continued  until 
1870 ;  shipped  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  engaged 
as  brakeman  on  the  Missouri  &  Pacific,  and, 
at  the  end  of  a  year,  was  given  a  train,  and 
acted  as  conductor  until  1875,  when  he  com- 
menced farming  in  Osage  County.  Mo.,  by 
renting;  in  1877,  he  bought  a  farm  of  105 
acres  in  same  county,  where  he  continued 
until  1881,  when  he  sold  out  and  removed  to 
his  present  residence,  and  is  now  the  owner 
of  eighty  acres  of  well-improved  land,  upon 
which  he  has  a  good  residence,  good  barns, 
etc. ;  he  intends  to  make  stock-raising  a  spe- 
cialty. In  1878,  he  married,  in  Missouri, 
Miss  Susan  Phelps,  a  native  of  Osage 
County,  Mo.,  born  in  1842,  daughter  of 
Charles  Phelps,  of  Missovu-i;  they  have  no 
children;  wife  is  a  member  of  Christian 
Church;  in  politics,  is  a  Democrat;  he  gave 
up  railroading  because  he  disliked  it. 

JOHN  J.  CLARKSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  At- 
water,  was  born  in  Walker  County,  Ga.,  June 
30,  1845,  to  J.  P.  and  Lavina  (Massa)  Clark- 
son;  father  was  born  in  Georgia  October  9, 
1S22,  and  died  December  24.  1814,  in  Geor- 
gia; his  life  was  spent  in  Georgia,  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits;  mother  was  born  in 
Lawrence  County,  S.  C,  February  25,  1826, 
and  now  lives  with  her  only  child,  our  sub- 
ject. Mr.  Oarkson  came  to  Montgomery 
County  in  1850  with  his  mother,  and,  in  the 


ZAXESYILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


237 


fall  of  1851,  removed  to  Macoupin  County, 
where  he  received  his  education  in  the  Union 
School;  in  18(37,  began  farming  on  his  own 
account,  and  continued  the  same  in  Macoupin 
County  until  the  spring  of  1881,  when  he  re- 
moved to  his  present  residence,  where  he  has 
a  farm  of  ninety-two  acres;  wheat,  oats  and 
corn;  some  stock.  In  1867,  in  Macoupin 
County,  he  married  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Bevers.  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  daughter  of  T.  W.  and 
Elizabeth  Whitfield,  by  whom  he  has  had  two 
children — Charley  and  an  infant  girl;  in  pol- 
itics, unites  with  the  Democratic  party.  The 
father  of  Mr.  Clarkson  died  when  John  J. 
was  an  infant. 

JAMES  DEULEN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Atwater, 
was  born  in  Greene  County.  111.,  October  80, 
18  L9,  to  Kelen  and  Sarah  (Dawson)  Deulen; 
father  was  born  in  Greene  County;  was  a 
farmer,  and  died  in  January,  1873,  aged  about 
fifty-five  years;  mother  was  born  in  Hamilton 
County,  Ohio,  and  now  lives  in  Iowa;  she 
had  nine  children,  subject  being  the  second 
child:  received  his  education  from  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Greene  County,  and,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  with  his  parents,  removed  to  Wayne 
County,  Iowa,  where  he  also  attended  school. 
In  1869,  he  returned  to  Greene  County  and 
began  business  for  himself  as  a  farm  hand; 
in  1870,  returned  to  Iowa,  and  in  1871,  re- 
turned again  to  Greene,  where  he  rented  a 
farm  for  one  year,  and  again  hired  out  as  a 
farm  hand  for  four  years.  In  1874,  he  mar- 
ried and  removed  to  Montgomery  County, 
and  rented  a  farm,  and  in  1873  bought  the 
farm  upon  which  he  now  resides,  having 
ninety  acres  of  land,  and  is  also  renting 
about  sixty  acres.  In  1874,  he  was  married, 
in  Montgomery  County,  to  Lucy  Rummons. 
a  native  of  Warren  County,  Mo.,  and  the 
daughter  of  John  and  Juliett  Rummons;  they 
have  two  children — Charley  and  Edna.  In 
politics,  he  votes  with  the  Republican  party. 


WILLIAM  FOOKS,  deceased,  was  born  in 
London,  England,  in  1815;  he  was  educated 
in  London;  married  and  came  to  Bunker 
Hill,  Macoupin  Co.,  111.,  in  about  1845;  his 
wife  died  soon  after  he  settled  in  Illinois. 
In  1860,  at  Bunker  Hill,  he  married  Jane 
Taggart,  his  second  wife.  In  1864,  he,  with 
his  family,  removed  to  her  present  residence, 
and,  during  his  life,  accumulated  in  Mont- 
gomery Count)'  about  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  acres;  was  a  very  successful  farmer,  and 
also  very  industrious :  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church;  he  was  a  Republican; 
a  man  who  believed  in  doing  right  in  every 
respect;  he  died  in  1875;  his  children  by  his 
first  wife  were  three,  all  now  dead:  his  chil- 
dren by  his  last  marriage  were  four,  three 
living — George,  Fanny  and  Jane — all  at 
home,  George  being  the  one  who  carries  on 
the  farm;  family  are  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Mr.  Fooks  took  great  inter- 
est in  making  his  home  comfortable  and  car- 
ing for  the  happiness  of  his  family. 

W.  C.  GALBRAITH,  farmer.  P.  O.  Atwater, 
was  born  in  Wayne  County,  Tenn. ,  June  14, 
1834,  to  Alexander  and  Margaret  (Snodgrass) 
Galbraith;  father  was  born  in  Shelby  County, 
Tenn.,  in  1808;  was  a  farmer;  he  died  in 
December,  1871,  in  Johnson  County,  111., 
where  he  had  resided  for  ten  years  previous 
to  his  death.  In  an  early  day,  he  took  great 
interest  in  politics;  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 
of  Wayne  County,  Tenn. ,  for  a  term  of  twelve 
years;  was  an  Old-Time  Whig;  he  was  son  of 
Thomas  Galbraith.  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, son  of  John  Galbraith,  a  native  of  Scot- 
laud.  Subject's  mother  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1800.  and  died  in  1854,  in  Ma- 
coupin County,  111.  Parents  had  one  girl 
and  four  boys,  subject  being  third  child. 
Subject  lived  in  Wayne  County,  Tenn..  until 
he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  there  at- 
tended school;  in  1848,  with  his  parents,  re- 


238 


niOCUAl'IIICAL: 


moved  to  Henderson  County,  111.;  in  1850,  re- 
moved to  Macoupin  County,  where  he  received 
the  most  of  his  education  from  the  neighbor- 
hood schools.  In  1855,  he  hired  out  as  farm 
hand;  in  1856,  rented  a  piece  of  land  until 
1859,  when  he  bought  land  in  Montgomery 
County  and  removed  to  this  county  and  set- 
tled in  what  is  now  known  as  Pitman  Town- 
ship, where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of 
1864,  when  he  sold  out  and  bought  land  in 
Zanesville  Township,  and  in  sis  months,  sold 
out  and  bought  another  farm  adjoining  the 
land  he  now  owns;  in  1867,  bought  his  pres- 
ent residence  and  farm,  and  has  made  all  the 
improvements  on  it,  there  was  not  even  a 
house  there;  he  built  a  comfortable  farm  res- 
idence, and  upon  his  place  has  a  pair  of  stock 
scales,  and  everything  for  a  first-class  farmer, 
and  now  is  the  owner  of  120  acres,  making 
wheat  a  specialty,  and  trades  some  in  stock. 
In  1857,  in  Macoupin  County,  he  married 
Miss  Lydia  Ann  Gray,  a  native  of  Macoupin 
County,  born  in  1837,  a  daughter  of  John 
Gray,  a  native  of  Tennessee;  four  children — 
Alzirah,  Antoinette,  William  J.  and  Anna  J., 
at  home;  Alzirah  is  now  the  wife  of  A.  C. 
McPherson,  and  now  lives  in  Kansas.  Mem- 
ber of  order  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  No.  692,  at 
Raymond;  self  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church  for  about  twenty-five  years; 
politically,  a  Republican;  was  nominated  and 
elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1878;  held 
office  for  three  years,  filling  vacancy;  in  1881, 
was  re-elected  for  same  office  for  a  term  of 
four  years.  Mr.  Galbraith  commenced  life  a 
poor  man ;  when  he  left  his  parental  home, 
he  had  only  25  cents  in  his  possession,  and, 
by  his  honesty,  industry  and  economy,  has 
succeeded  in  gaining  a  good  property,  and  a 
name  and  reputation  which  is  beyond  re- 
I  ir<  iach. 

FRANCIS  McGOWN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Johnson  County,  111. ,  July 


10,  1830,  to  Samuel  and  Nancy  (Westbrook) 
McGown;  father  was  born  in  Warren  County, 
Ky. ;  he  was  a  farmer;  came  to  Johnson 
County,  111.,  being  among  the  early  settlers; 
and,  in  the  fall  of  1830,  removed  to  Greene 
County,  and  in  the  spring  of  1851  removed 
to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  died  in 
1861,  aged  seventy-seven  years.  Mother  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  and  died  in  Montgomery 
County  in  1852,  aged  sixty-three.  They  had 
six  children,  subject  being  the  youngest.  He 
was  taken  to  Greene  County  when  an  infant, 
by  his  parents,  where  he  received  his  educa- 
tion from  the  common  schools ;  he  remained 
with  his  father  to  the  time  of  his  death,  as- 
sisting him  in  farming,  and,  for  years  pre- 
vious to  his  death,  took  the  management  of 
the  farm.  In  the  fall  of  1850,  he  removed 
to  Montgomery  County ;  settled  on  same  farm 
he  now  occupies;  bought  ninety-five  acres, 
and  is  now  the  owner  of  120  acres,  and  con- 
tinued to  till  the  soil  of  the  same  until  1875, 
wheu  he  was  compelled  to  give  up  work  on 
account  of  rheumatic  affliction;  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  is  unable  to  do  any  work;  the  farm 
is  now  carried  on  by  his  son  and  son-in-law. 
In  1854,  in  Greene  County,  he  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Banning,  a  native  of  Greene 
County,  born  in  1835;  they  have  had  thirteen 
children,  and  now  have  three  living — Edward 
A.,  Nancy  E.,  Julia;  self  and  wife  are  members 
of  the  United  Baptist  Church;  Democrat. 

GEORGE  A.  NORVELL,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond,  was  born  in  Sumner  County,  Tenn. , 
November  28,  1813,  to  William  and  Mary 
(Payne)  Norvell;  father  was  born  in  Frede- 
rick County,  Va.,  August  4,  1771;  he  was  a 
farmer;  was  in  the  war  of  1812;  removed 
from  Virginia  to  Tennessee  in  1800;  in  1S28, 
remosed  to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  where  he 
died  January  24,  1833;  mother,  born  in  Bo- 
tetourt County,  Va.,  March  10, 1775,  and  died 
May   10,    1872,   in  her  ninety-eighth  year; 


ZANESVILLE  TOWNSHIP. 


239 


they  were  married  in  1800;  they  had  twelve 
children — sis  boys  and  six  girls — George  A. 
being  the  seventh  child.  Subject  received 
some  of  his  education  in  Tennessee  and  some 
in  Macoupin  County,  111.  He  came  to  Ma- 
coupin County  with  his  parents  in  1828.  He 
began  life  by  farming  upon  his  father's  farm, 
and  continued  until  1853,  when  he  removed 
to  his  present  residence,  where  he  has  since 
remained,  engaged  in  farming  and  is  now  the 
owner  of  a  large  tract  of  laad.  In  1852,  in 
Macoupin  County,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
Ann  King,  a  native  of  Jefferson  County,  Ky. , 
born  October  10,  1834;  they  have  eleven  chil- 
dren living — William  J.,  James  F.,  John  S. , 
Charles  H,  Mary  A.,  Edward  E.,  Jennie  B., 
Nathaniel  F.,  Erastus  W.,  Effie  S.  and  Helen 
E. ;  and  two  dead — George  A.  and  Ruth  S. 
Mr.  Norvell  has  held  the  position  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  Macoupin  County,  and  was 
formerly  an  Old-Line  Whig,  but  is  now  a 
Greenbacker;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
A.,  F.  &.  A,  M..  at  Girard,Ill.  Mr.  Norvell 
is  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Macoupin  County, 
and  was  there  before  it  was  organized  as  a 
county. 

DANIEL  P.  ROGERS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Litchfield.  That  there  is  no  "  royal  road  to 
success  "  is  well  illustrated  in  the  history  of 
Mi-.  Rogers.  In  1861,  he  entered  100  acres 
of  land  near  where  Butler  now  stands;  this 
land  was  entered  with  the  proceeds  of  an  in- 
terest in  a  wheat  crop  raised  on  his  fathei's 
farm.  April  12,  1854,  he  married  Miss  La- 
vina  C,  daughter  of  James  and  Rebecca 
(Parks)  Sinclair.  In  1855,  he  sold  out  his 
land  near  Butler  and  bought  120  acres  of  fine 
land  in  Zanesville  Township,  where  he  now 
resides;  the  same  season,  he  "broke  out" 
forty  acres;  when  this  land  was  broken,  the 
prairie  grass,  then  several  feet  in  height,  ap- 
peared as  a  wall  surrounding  it  on  every  side; 


the  next  season,  a  small  frame  house  was 
erected,  into  which  he  moved.  He  has  con- 
tinued to  improve  and  add  to  his  farm  until 
it  now  amounts  to  about  three  hundred  and 
eighty  acres  of  good  land — 320  in  cultivation; 
this  land  is  very  rich  and  well  drained.  The 
Rogers  family  descended  from  German  ances- 
try, who  came  to  the  United  States  when  they 
were  dependent  colonies.  Capt.  Henry  Rog- 
ers, Mr.  Rogers'  grandfather,  won  his  epau- 
lets as  a  Revolutionary  soldier;  he  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  battle  of  Trenton,  and 
the  sword  which  he  took  from  a  Hessian  offi- 
cer is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  grandson, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Henry  Rogers, 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  settled  in  New  Jer- 
sey, where  William  H,  Mr.  Rogers,  father, 
was  born.  William  raised  the  following  fam- 
ily by  his  wife,  formerly  Miss  Catharine  Per- 
rine:  Henry,  of  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.; 
Robert,  who  died  in  California;  Daniel  P. 
and  Charles  A,  of  Montgomery  County;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Wood,  deceased;  Mrs.  Catherine 
(Cornelius)  Dey,  of  Macoupin  County;  Mrs. 
Sarah  (Edward)  Atkinson,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.; 
Mrs.  Margaret  (Capt.  Charles)  Borden,  de- 
ceased, of  Fall  River,  Mass. ;  and  Mrs.  Jane 
(William)  Pitman,  of  Jerseyville,  111.  Mr. 
Rogers  is  not  only  represented  in  the  war 
giving  birth  and  being  to  our  liberties, 
through  his  immediate  paternal  ancestry,  but 
also  can  boast  of  another  grandfather,  Robert 
Perrine,  his  mother's  father,  who  served  in 
the  Revolutionary  war  as  a  Captain;  his  sword 
is  also  handed  down,  and  is  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Charles  Rogers,  of  Zanesville 
Township.  Mrs.  Rogers  also  had  two  grand- 
fathers who  were  Revolutionary  soldiers — 
Grandfather  Sinclair,  on  her  father's  side, 
and  John  Parks,  of  her  mother's  lineage. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  have  the  following  chil- 
dren: William  Pitman,  Robert  P.,  and 
Misses   Lizzie  A.   and  Jennie  A. ;    one  son, 


no 


ISIOfiltAPIIICAL: 


Tolbert  A.,  died  September  12,  1858.  Mr. 
Rogers'  chances  of  an  education  were  rather 
poor,  never  getting  the  opportunity  to  attend 
school  during  his  school  days  more  than  two 
months  in  a  year;  he  has  nevertheless  secured 
a  fair  business  education;  he  certainly  has  a 
strong  intellect  and  keen  discrimination.  He 
forms  a  part  of  the  County  Court  as  Supervisor 
for  his  township,  and  well  does  he  fill  the  posi- 
tion; and  many  of  his  friends  expect  him  to 
fill  still  higher  positions  in  the  gift  of  the 
people.  Mrs.  Rogers  is  one  of  those  whole- 
souled,  excellent  Christian  women  whom  we 
think  it  would  be  hard  to  praise  too  much. 
Mr.  Rogers  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  and  enjoy  the  friendship,  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  all  good  people  where 
they  are  known.  With  the  greatest  of  pleas- 
ure we  introduce  them  to  the  good  people  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  shall  ever  regard 
the  privilege  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
duties  connected  with  a  long,  and,  we  hope, 
a  lasting  friendship. 

OSCAR  RUMMONS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Atwa- 
ter,  was  born  in  Warren  Count}-,  Mo.,  July 
6,  1849,  to  John  and  Juliett  (Pringle)  Runi- 
mons;  father  born  in  Madison.  Ky.,  in  1810; 
during  his  life,  was  a  farmer,  and  died  in 
Montgomery  County.  111.,  in  1874,  where  he 
had  resided,  engaged  in  farming,  since  1868; 
mother 'born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  in  1811, 
and  died  in  18(55;  parents  had  three  children 
who  grew  to  maturity — one  daughter  and  two 
boys;  subject  youngest  child.  Subject  re- 
ceived his  education  in  Warren  County,  Mo., 
and  came  to  Montgomery  County  with  par- 
ents in  1868,  and  remained  with  parents  to 
the  time  of  their  death.  He  now  has  a  farm 
of  140  acres  of  well-improved  land,  making 
wheat  and  corn  a  specialty,  also  stock.  In 
1876,  he  was  married,  in  Montgomery 
County,  to  Julia  B.  Mitchell,  a  native  of 
Cooper  County.  Mo.,  born  in  1857,  daughter 


of  Thomas  C.  Mitchell;  two  children— Hattie 
May,  Maggie  Laura;  member  of  order  of  A., 
F.  &  A.  M..  No.  692,  at  Raymond;  politi- 
cally, Democrat. 

J.  C.  SINCLAIR,  farmer.  P  O.  Litch- 
field, was  born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  in 
1837,  to  James  and  Rebecca  (Parks)  Sinclair; 
father  was  born  in  Tennessee;  was  a  farmer, 
and  died  in  IS 50;  mother  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  died  in  1850;  parents  had  uine 
children,  subject  being  the  fifth  child;  at  the 
age  of  thirteen,  left  Greene  County  with  his 
parents,  and  settled  in  Macoupin  County, 
where  he  principally  received  his  education; 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  left  Macoupin  County 
and  removed  to  Montgomery  County,  and 
settled  upon  the  place  where  he  now  resides, 
and  where  he  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  beautiful  farm  of  1,300 
acres;  he  rents  the  largest  portion  of  the 
farm,  having  retired  from  active  labor  in 
1881.  In  September.  1863.  he  married  Eliz- 
abeth Jones,  a  native  of  Macoupin  County, 
111.,  and  the  daughter  of  Lodowick  Jones, 
from  which  union  there  have  been  born  four 
children — James  C,  C.  A.,  Eva  M.  and  Vesta; 
in  politics,  unites  with  the  Democratic  party; 
subject's  father  was  in  the  war  of  1812. 

EZRA  STARKEY.  farmer,  was  born  in 
Madison  County,  111.,  March  21,  1833, 
to  David  and  Mary  (Jones)  Starkey;  father 
was  born  in  Virginia  in  1802;  was  taken 
to  Madison  County  by  his  parents  when 
epiiteachild;  he  remained  in  Madison  County 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1869;  he  was  a  farmer;  he  was  the  son  of 
Russell  Starkey,  a  native  of  Virginia;  mother 
was  born  in  Madison  County  in  1S09,  and 
died  in  June.  1877;  she  was  the  daughter  of 
William  Jones,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  who 
was  a  Baptist  preacher;  parents  had  eleven 
children,  our  subject  being  the  third  child. 
He     remained    with     his     parents,     receiv- 


ZANESVILLE   TOWNSHIP. 


2-41 


ing  an  education,  and  assisted  in  tilling  the 
soil  of  his  father's  farm  until  1861,  when 
he  bought  the  farm  upon  which  he  now  re- 
sides. In  1861,  in  Madison  County,  he  mar- 
ried Mary  S.  Deck,  a  native  of  Madison  Coun- 
ty, born  January  7,  1S36,  daughter  of  Nich- 
olas and  Elizabeth  (Dugger)  Deck,  first  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  and  the  latter  of  Tennessee 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Starkey  have  had  eight  chil- 
dren, five  of  whom  are  living — Eliza  J..  Vir- 
ginia, Charles,  Forest  and  Tilden.  He  is  a 
Democrat.  Mrs.  Starkey' s  grandfather,  Mi- 
chael Deck,  was  in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

JOSEPH  VIGNOS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  the  eastern  part  of 
France,  December  1,  1817,  to  Claud  and  Mar- 
garet (Barquin)  Vignos:  his  father  was  born 
in  France,  where  he  followed  the  occu- 
pation of  farming  diuing  his  life;  he  died  in 
1858,  aged  sixty-two  years.  His  mother  was 
also  a  native  of  France;  she  died  in  1862, 
aged  seventy-two  years.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  nine  children,  Joseph  Vignos  being 
the  oldest  child.  His  early  life  was  spent  in 
receiving  such  an  education  as  the  common 
schools  of  France  afforded,  and  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm,  and,  for 
two  years  previous  to  his  departure  from 
home,  taught  school.  In  December,  1835,  he 
bade  his  parents  and  native  place  fai-ewell, 
and  emigrated  to  America,  where  he  followed 
the  dyeing  business  in  New  York  City  for 
nearly  two  years,  and  then  traveled  through 
Pennsylvania,  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  New 
Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  and,  when  he  first 
came  to  Montgomery  County,  was  a  peddler 
of  notions.  While  staying  overnight  at 
Zanesville,  the  citizens  persuaded  him  to  em- 
bark in  the  mercantile  business  at  that  place, 
at  which  he  was  successful  until  1857,  when 
he  bought  the  same  farm  that  he  is  now  re- 
siding on  and  commenced  giving  his  attention 
to  agricultural  pursuits;  he  is  now  one  of  the 


representative  farmers  of  Zanesville  Town 
ship,  and  is  the  owner  of  a  large  tract  of 
land.  In  1846,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  J. 
Allen,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Allen;  she  died 
in  May,  1852.  In  1853,  on  January  6,  he 
married  a  second  time,  Miss  Harriet  E.  Bay 
dy.  By  his  first  marriage  he  has  two  chil- 
dren— Agnes,  who  is  married  and  living  in 
Kansas;  and  Francis  A. ,  who  is  now  in  Texas. 
By  his  second  marriage  he  has  six  children, 
viz.:  Joseph,  Claud  M. ,  Jerome,  Josephine, 
Mary  and  Susan.  He  and  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Church.  As  a  business 
man,  no  man  stands  higher  than  Mr.  Vignos; 
his  word  is  regarded  in  everything  equal  to 
his  bond;  hence  he  has  the  esteem  and  con- 
fidence of  all  well-disposed  citizens. 

WILLIAM  WHITE,  farmer,  was  born 
in  Italy,  near  Venice,  April  24,  1816,  to 
John  and  Ellen  (Murry)  White,  who  were 
also  natives  of  Italy;  was  educated  as  a 
seaman,  and  was  on  the  ocean  from  the  time 
he  was  five  years  old,  and  made  his  last  trip 
in  1837,  when  he  followed  steamboating  on 
the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers.  In  1846, 
he  came  to  Jefferson  County,  111.;  farmed  in 
summer,  and  was  on  the  river  in  winter;  in 
1851,  he  removed  to  Morgan  County,  where 
he  followed  only  farming — being  compelled  to 
give  up  navigation  on  accouut  of  an  accident 
in  dislocating  his  shoulder — where  he  re- 
mained until  tho  spring  of  1865,  when  he 
came  to  his  present  residence,  where  he  has 
since  remained,  engaged  in  farming;  when 
he  came  here,  he  bought  100  acres  of  land; 
there  were  but  few  improvements,  and  only  a 
small  house;  he  now  has  a  large  house,  which 
shows  that  he  is  as  well  adapted  to  farming 
as  he  was  to  navigation.  He  was  married,  in 
1835,  in  Arkansas,  to  Delia  Thompson,  a  na- 
tive of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  born  in  1S2S;  she 
died  in  1881 ;  she  bore  him  four  daughters 
and  three  sons;  his  son,  John  H.  White,  was 


242 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


in  the  Federal  army,  under  Gen.  Sherman, 
as  a  member  of  a  regiment  from  this  State; 
he  was  wounded,  and  died  sixteen  months  aE- 
ter  he  returned  home.  Mr.  White  has  been 
selected  for  office  at  different  times,  but  has 
uniformly  declined  all  such  honors;  self  and 
family  are  members  of  the  Methodist.  Church, 
he  having  held  connection  with  that,  church 
since  1850;  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  and  helped  to 
get  a  charter  for  the  lodge  located  at  Mt. 
Vernon;  is  a  Republican. 

FREDERICK  WIEGREFFE.  farmer,  P. 
O.  Atwater,  was  born  in  the  Kingdom  of  Han- 
over, Germany,  April  26,  1835,  to  Frederick 
and  Henrietta  (Percel)  Wiegreffe;  father  was 
born  in  Germany  in  1797;  was  a  miller;  em- 
igrated to  America  and  settled  in  Jersey 
County.  111.,  in  1$.V>.  and  in  1855  removed  to 
Montgomery  County,  where  he  died  in  the 
same  year — fall  of  1855;  mother  was  German, 
born  in  1799,  and  now  resides  in  Litchfield, 
111.,  with  her  son  William;  parents  had  six 
children ;  subject  fourth  child.  He  was  edu- 
chted  from  the  common  schools  of  Germany, 
and.  in  185'2,  emigrated  to  America  and  set- 
tled in  Jersey  County,  and  commenced  farm- 
ing with  his  brothers;  in  1855,  removed  to 
Montgomery  County  with  his  parents,  where 
he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  farming, 
having  accumulated  a  large  tract  of  land  of 
240  acre;  makes  wheat  and  corn  a  sj>ecialty. 
In  1S69,  in  Montgomery  County,  he  married 
Mary  Kuhne,  a  native  of  Germany,  born  in 
1848;  they  have  had  four  children — George, 
Anna,'  Flora  and  Bessie;  self  and  family  are 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  he  is 
a  Republican;  commenced  life  a  poor  man. 
and  made  all  his  property  by  hard  work. 

E.  F.  WOODMAN  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  near  Carrollton,  111.,  Jan- 
uary 8,  1841,  son  of  Nelson  and  Zerelda 
(Boiles)  Woodman,  he  born  in  Vermont  July 
12,  1815,  she  born   near   Lexington,  Ky. ,  in 


1825.  Nelson  Woodman  came  to  Greene 
County  in  1821,  being  one  of  the  earliest  set- 
tlers of  that  section,  and  where  he  now  lives; 
he  had  twelve  children — eight  boys  and  four 
girls,  E.  F.  being  the  second.  Our  subject 
came  to  Montgomery  County  in  the  fall  of 
1843  with  his  parents,  and  remained  with 
them  till  seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he 
commenced  as  teamster  and  breaking  prairie, 
going  to  school  between  times,  receiving  the 
education  that  he  has  after  leav;ng  home.      In 

1859.  he  rented  a  farm  of  forty  acres,  and  in 

1860,  bought  forty  acres,  and  is  now  the  own- 
er of  700  acres,  principally  located  in  Mont- 
gomery and  Macoupin  Counties,  this  State, 
and  in  Nebraska.  December  28,  1871".  in 
Litchfield,  111.,  he  married  Miss  Annie  Shaw, 
born  in  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  February  15.  1854, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Betty  M.  (Woodruff ) 
Shaw,  both  of  New  York  State;  two  children, 
both  boys,  have  blessed  the  household  of  Mr. 
Woodman — Loy  Legrand  Woodman  and 
Commodore  Beach er  Woodman.  In  1864, 
Mr.  Woodman  went,  across  the  plains  and  re- 
mained in  Colorado  about  four  years,  accu- 
mulating considerable  property,  merchandis- 
ing, contracting,  etc.  He  is  a  Blue  Lodge 
Mason,  a  Royal  Arch  and  a  Knight  Templar, 
always  "governing  himself  accordingly:'' 
also  a  Democrat. 

DEXTER  WADSWORTH.  farmer.  P.  O. 
Litchfield,  was  born  in  Westboro  County, 
Mass.,  December  27,  1822,  to  John  and  Percis 
(Kimbrough)  Wadsworth.  He  was  born  in 
Grafton,  Mass. ;  during  his  life,  followed  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer,  and  died  in  his  na- 
tive State.  She  was  born  in  Massachusetts, 
and  died  in  Scott  County,  111.  They  were  the 
parents  of  nine  children,  Dexter  Wadsworth, 
our  subject,  being  the  eighth  child.  He  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
State,  and.  at  an  early  age,  apprenticed  him- 
self  at  the  shoemaker's  trade,  at  which  he 


ZANESVILLE    TOWNSHIP. 


243 


continued  to  work  until  1857,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Scott  County,  111.,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and  continued  the  same 
until  1859,  when  he  removed  to  Montgomery 
County,  where  he  has  since  remained,  en- 
gaged in  farming.  He  served  in  the  Federal 
army  for  about  one  year,  in  the  Twentieth 
Illinois  Kegiment,  Company  A.      In  1881,  he 


erected,  by  his  own  design,  a  handsome  res- 
idence upon  his  farm.  In  Massachusetts,  in 
1843,  he  married  Miss  Mary  J.  Miller,  a  na- 
tive of  Massachusetts,  born  in  1825,  and  died 
in  185S.  Mi-.  Wadsworth  has  three  children, 
viz. :  Ellen,  Mary  E.  (wife  of  F.  C.  Web- 
ster) and  Warren  W.  In  politics,  he  is 
identified  with  the  Republican  party. 


244 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


HAEVEL  TOWNSHIP. 


W.  W.  ADAMS,  retired  farmer,  P.  O. 
Harvel,  was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  111., 
September  28,  1836,  to  Giles  M.  and  Eliza- 
beth (Taylor)  Adams.  His  early  life  was 
spent  in  receiving  sucli  an  education  as  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county  afforded, 
and  assisting  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's 
farm.  He  embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as 
a  farmer  in  his  native  county,  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  spring  of  1861,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Montgomery  County,  where  he 
bought  240  acres  of  wild  prairie,  which  he 
improved:  also  160  acres  more  which  he 
bought  soon  afterward.  By  business  ability 
and  energy  he  succeeded  in  accumulating  a 
good  property,  and  the  social  esteem  of  all 
well-disposed  citizens.  He  has  been  a  prom- 
inent farmer  and  stock-raiser.  In  1880,  he 
rented  his  farms,  it  being  his  desire  to  retire 
from  active  labor.  Father  was  born  in  Hali- 
fax County,  Va.,  in  the  year  180] ;  removed 
to  Tennessee,  and  subsequently  settled  in 
Illinois,  where  he  became  one  of  the  success- 
ful farmers  of  the  State.  He  died  in  1870, 
in  Montgomery  County.  His  wife,  and 
mother  of  onr  subject,  was  born  in  Greenville, 
S.  C,  in  1809,  and  is  now  residing  with  her 
s<ju,  our  subject,  and  enjoying  good  health. 
She  is  the  mother  of  five  children,  three  of 
whom  are  living — our  subject,  F.  M  Adams 
and  Nancy  A.  Dilliard,  residents  of  Macoupin 
County.  Of  the  five  children  born  to  his  par- 
ents, W.  W.  Adams  was  the  fourth  child. 
He  has  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  of  the 
township.  In  politics,  he  is  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party. 

CLAYTON   H.  ADAMS,  lumber,  coal  and 


agricultural  implement  dealer,  Harvel,  was 
born  April  19,  1839,  in  Summit  County, 
Ohio,  to  John  and  Sarah  (Kelsey)  Adams. 
He  was  brought  to  near  Brighton,  Macoupin 
County,  in  1845,  by  his  parents,  when  but  six 
years  of  age,  and  from  there  removed  to 
Gillespie,  of  the  same  county,  in  1849,  where 
they  located  permanently.  He  received  his 
education  from  McKendree  College,  Lebanon, 
111.,  and  high  school  at  Hillsboro,  and  re- 
mained with  his  parents  to  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  and  then  made  a  trip  West  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  for 
two  years,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time 
returned  home  to  Macoupin  County,  111., 
where  he  engaged  in  farming,  and  continued 
the  same  until  1866,  when  he  engaged  in 
grain  and  agricultural  implement  business  at 
Gillespie,  and  in  1868  a  milling  business  in 
connection  with  his  other  business.  He 
continued  the  same  until  the  spring  of 
1870,  when  he  removed  to  Oregon,  and  there 
again  resumed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer, 
and  on  January  1,  187"),  removed  to  Harvel, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber,  coal  and  ag- 
ricultural business,  and  by  his  energy  and 
attentive  business  qualities,  soon  procured  a 
good  trade,  and  has  since  been  steadily  in- 
creasing until  it  extends  far  into  Christian 
and  Montgomery  Counties.  He  has  also  a 
branch  business  at  Morrisonville,  under  the 
management  of  S.  S.  Whitner,  being  under 
the  firm  name  of  Adams  &  Nelson.  His  part- 
ner is  Mr.  R.  S.  Nelson.  On  January  22, 
1878,  in  Litchfield,  he  married  Miss  Mary  E. 
Willis,  a  native  of  Carmi,  111.,  but  raised 
in  Missouri,  born  November  20, 1846,  daughter 


HARVEL    TOWNSHIP. 


245 


of   Jarnes   E.    Willis,  a  native  of   Kentucky, 
born  July  '23,  1820,  came  to  White  County, 
111.,   with  his  parents  when  a  boy.      In  1841, 
he  went  to  Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 18-45,  was  married  to  Miss  J.  Rosanna 
Short,   a  native   of  North  Carolina.      Father 
of  our  subject  was  born  in  New  Hampshire, 
in   1802,  and  died  in  November,  1867.     He 
was  a  prominent   farmer  and  stock  raiser  of 
Macoupin  County.      He  was    a  Republican, 
and  a  very  resolute  man   in  all  of   his  busi- 
ness   undertakings.       Mother    was    born    in 
1805,  in  New  Hampshire,  and  is  now  enjoying 
good  health   in   Sheldon,  Iowa.      She  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,   four  daughters  and 
two  boys,  subject  being  the  fifth  child.      He 
is  an  active  member  of  the  A.,   F   &  A.  M. 
order;  has  been  a  member  since  1863.     Polit- 
ically, he  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party.     Mr.    and  Mrs.   Adams  have  had  two 
children,  one  of   whom   is  living.      Charley 
Willis  died  in  infancy;  Florence  Rosana  was 
born  April  5,  1881. 

HENRY  AULL,  retired  farmer,  Har- 
vel,  was  born  in  St.  Clair  County,  111.,  Decem- 
ber 2,  1838,  to  Frederick  and  Elizabeth 
(Schvag)  Aull.  His  education  was  limited 
to  such  as  the  common  schools  afforded.  He 
remained  at  home  to  the  age  of  twenty,  when 
he  left  his  home,  at  that  time  in  Bond  County, 
and  returned  to  his  iiative  county,  where  he 
embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a  farm  hand, 
but  eventually  settled  in  Montgomery  County 
in  May,  1862,  and  settled  in  Pittman  Town- 
ship. By  his  industry  and  business  habits, 
he  succeeded  in  gaining  a  good  property. 
His  first  purchase  of  land  in  Montgomery 
County  was  forty  acres,  and  has  at  the  pres- 
ent time  about  three  hundred  acres.  Father 
was  born  in  Germany  in  1813,  and  during 
his  life  followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer; 
he  died  in  1858.  His  wife,  and  mother  of 
subject,   was  born  in  Germany  in  18PJ,  and 


died  in  1S57.  She  was  the  mother  of  eleven 
children,  subject  being  the  second  child. 
Politically,  independent. 

FRANCIS  M.   COX,   M.   D.,  Harvel,  was 
born  in  Montgomery   County,  111.,  November 
18,  1853.     His  father,  Tipton  Cox,  was  born 
in  Monroe   County,   Tenn.,    April    24,  1825. 
He  was   a    farmer  by   occupation;    came   to 
Montgomery  County  in  1852,  and  settled  near 
Donnellson,  where  his  death  occurred  Febru- 
ary 12,  1880.     He  was  in  the  Mexican  war, 
and  held   a  prominent    position    among  the 
practical  farmers   of  the  county.     His  wife. 
Eliza  Wilson,  was  also  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
born  in    L827,    and  died  in  1869.     She  was 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  Fran- 
cis was  the   second  child.      His  early  educa- 
tion was  received  in  the  common  schools  of 
the  county,    and  while  out  of   school,  he  as- 
sisted hig-  father  upon  the  farm,  where  he  re- 
mained until  of  age,  when  he  began  farming 
for    himself,    following   in   that   occupation 
about  five  years,   and  two  years  of  which,  in 
addition  to  the  duties    of   farming,  he  read 
medicine,    and  at  the  end  of   which   time  he 
entered  the  American  Medical  College,  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  graduated  June  2,  188 Land 
received  his  degree  as  M.  D.     He  located  at 
Walshville,   where   he    immediately    entered 
upon    the    practice    of    his    profession,    and 
where  he  was  very  successful,  and  had  a  large 
ride.     Six  months  later,  he  disposed  of  his 
practice,  and  located  at  Harvel,  where  he  is 
successor  to  Dr.  Matney.    and   where   he    is 
highly  respected,  not  on   account  of  his  pro- 
fessional abilities  alone,  but  owing  to  social 
qualities.     He   was    mai-ried    in    his    native 
county,  January   28,    1875,    to  Miss  Malissa 
Buzan,  who  was  born  in  the  same  county  De- 
cember 4,  1854.    She  has  borne  him  two  chil- 
dren,  viz.:  Norma  D.    and  Walter  E.     Mrs. 
Cox  is   a  daughter  of  Thomas   and  Mary  A 

(Moss)  Buzan;  he  deceased  in  1S54;  she  liv- 

p 


246 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


ing.  The  Doctor  lias  held  the  office  of  Town- 
ship Clerk  of  Grisham  Township.  Polit- 
ically, he  is  identified  with  the  Eepublican 
party. 

HENRY  HAUPTMANN,  hotel  keeper  and 
merchant,    Harvel,     was    born    in  .Germany 
April   3,    1833.     He   remained    in    Germany 
with  his  parents,  receiving  such   an  educa- 
tion  as  the  common    schools    afforded,    and 
learned  the  trade  of   a  tailor  with  his  father. 
In  1854,  he  emigrated  to  America  and  settled 
in  New  Orleans  for  a  period  of  eight  months; 
worked  at  his  trade,  and  then  removed  to  St. 
Louis,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade  for  one 
year  and  a  half,  and  then  removed  to  Morgan 
County,    111.,     at     Jacksonville,     and    there 
worked  as  a  farm  hand  for  three  years,  and 
then  rented   a   farm  and  gave  his  attention 
to  agricultural  pursuits  on  his  own  account, 
and  after  renting  there  for  seven  years  re- 
moved to  Montgomery  County  in  1S04.  where 
he    bought   a  farm  of   eighty    acres  of  wild 
prairie,    and    by    his    energy    and    business 
habits,  succeeded  in  accumulating  over  three 
hundred  acres,  and  has  been  the  owner  of  five 
different  large  tracts  of  land,  being  one  of 
the  men  who  has  done  much  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  county.     In  the  fall  of  1878,  he 
started  a  hotel  at  Harvel.  which  he  still  con- 
tinues in  connection  with  his  grain  dealing, 
merchandising  and  meat  market.     In  1880, 
he  sold  out  his  land,  his  business  in  Harvel 
increasing  to  such  proportions  that  he  was 
compelled  to  retire  from  farming.     In  1880, 
he  built  the  large  and  commodious  hotel  he 
now   occupies.     In    1853,    in    Germany,    he 
married  Louisa  Hilgenbaeumer;  she  died  in 
1873,    aged  fifty-six  years.      She    bore   him 
four    children — Mary,    Henry,    George    and 
Lizzie.      In   March.    1870,    in   Montgomery 
County,  he  married  Mrs.  Sophia  Kalkhorst, 
born  November  12,  1845;  she  has  borne  him 
three  children — Lena,    Charlie    and   Nettie. 


Father  was  Henry  Hauptmann,  born  in  Ger- 
many in  1812,  and  during  his  life  followed 
tailoring,  and  died  about  1864.  Mother  died 
when  he  was  only  two  weeks  old.  They  were 
the  parents  of  two  children;  subject  the 
youngest  child.  Self  and  wife  are  religious- 
ly connected  with  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat. 

WILLIAM  F.  JORDAN,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Harvel,  was  born  in  Maryland  September  1, 
1825,  and  when  ten  years  of  age  his  parents 
went  to  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  where  he 
received  his  education,  and  assisted  his  father 
upon  the  homestead  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  when  he  came  to  Greene  County, 
and  eight  years  later  removed  to  Montgomery 
County,  and  settled  upon  the  farm  where  he 
now  resides,  and  which  was  at  that  time  un- 
broken prairie,  and  the  house  built  at  that 
time  was  the  first  in  that  portion  of  the 
county.  He  has  since  made  all  the  improve- 
ments necessary  for  comfort,  and  which  are 
usually  found  upon  a  well-regulated  farm. 
His  father.  William  Jordan,  was  born  in 
Maryland  April  11,  1796,  and  died  May  23, 
1870.  His  wife,  Catharine  Rummel,  was  also 
a  native  of  Maryland,  born  April  6, 1 797,  and  is 
still  living.  She  is  the  mother  of  ten  children, 
viz. :  William  F.,  our  subject;  Hiram  W.,  born 
February  3.  1827,  and  died  August  5.  1831; 
Mary  A., born  December  9,  1828;  Elizabeth  J., 
born  February  1.  1830,  and  died  November  8, 
1854;  Cyrus  H,  born  August  3,  1831;  Lewis 
W.,  born  April  28,  1833;  Catharine  E.,  born 
June  28,  1834;  Montgomery  P.,  born  October 
11,  1836,  and  died  November  15.  1838;  Al- 
pheus  C,  born  January  10,  1841;  Emily  A., 
born  November  20,  1842,  and  died  August  3, 
1S64.  William,  the  eldest  son,  was  married 
May  24,  I860,  to  Weltha  Winn,  who  was  born 
in  Greene  County.  111.,  in  1840,  in  April. 
She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children  living, 
viz.:    Josephine,    Henry,    William,    Charlesr 


HARVEL   TOWNSHIP. 


247 


Marion,  Cora,  Birdie,  George  and  Hardan. 
Politically,  Mr.  J.  lias  been  identified  with 
the  Republican  party,  but  now  his  sympa- 
thies are  with  the  Greenback  party.  Although 
he  grows  all  the  crops  usually  raised  upon  a 
farm,  he  makes  a  specialty  of  grain. 

JOHN  R.  LEIGH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Raymond, 
was  born  in  Hunterdon  County.  N.  J. ,  Jan- 
nary  28,  1840,  to  Samuel  and  Annie  (Case) 
Leigh.  He  received  his  education  from  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county.  His 
early  days  were  spent  upon  the  homestead 
farm.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  left  his 
home  and  removed  to  Jersey  County,  111., 
where  he  embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a 
farm  hand,  and  continued  the  same  in  that 
county  for  a  period  of  seven  years.  In  1872, 
he  bought  160  acres  of  unimproved  land  in 
Montgomery  County,  and  removed  to  the 
same  in  the  spring  of  1873,  where  he  has 
since  remained  engaged  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  has,  by  his  studied  economy  and 
business  habits,  succeeded  in  accumulating 
240  acres  of  land,  all  of  which  are  under  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  Mr.  Leigh  com- 
menced his  life  very  poor,  and,  by  his  hard 
work,  succeeded  in  accumulating  a  good 
property,  and  a  name  and  reputation  which  is 
beyond  reproach.  He  was  married  in  1869, 
in  Jersey  County,  to  Miss  Carrie  M.  Davis, 
a  daughter  of  Wilson  Davis,  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  among  the  first  settlers  of  Jer- 
sey County.  Mrs.  Leigh  was  born  in  Jersey 
County,  111.,  June  5,  1849.  Subject* s  father 
was  born  in  Hunterdon  County,  N.  J.,  in 
1804,  and  is  now  residing  in  New  Jersey 
where  he  has  always  been  engaged  as  farmer 
and  drover.  His  wife,  and  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1800,  and 
died  April  16,  1882.  She  was  the  mother  of 
sis  children,  subject  being  the  youngest  child. 
He  has  held  the  offices  of  Road  Commissioner 
and  School  Trustee.      Politically,   he  is  like 


his  father,  his  sympathies  being  with  the 
Democratic  party.  His  wife  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Church.  Mr.  Leigh  is  worthy 
of  much  credit  for  the  interest  he  takes  in 
all  public  improvements.  He  has  met  all 
the  ups  and  downs  of  a  business  career,  and 
now  stands  high  in  the  estimation  of  his 
friends.  Upon  his  farm  he  makes  raising 
grain  and  hogs  a  specialty. 

WILLIAM  D.  MATNEY,  M.  D..  Harvel, 
was  born  in  Shelby  County,  111.,  January  20, 
1S40.  His  early  life  was  spent  in  assisting 
upon  the  homestead  farm  in  the  summer, 
and  in  winter  attending  the  common  schools  of 
the  county,  where  he  received  the  foundation  of 
his  subsequent  learning.  He  remained  at 
home  until  twenty-one  years  of  age,  when  he 
entered  the  service  at  the  commencement  of 
the  rebellion,  in  Company  K,  Fifty-fourth 
Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  Capt.  T.  C. 
Rodrig:  regiment  commanded  bv  Col.  Harris. 
He  remained  in  the  service  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  he  again  took  upon  himself 
the  duties  of  a  farm  life,  following  in  that 
occupation  about  two  years,  when  he  began 
the  study  of  medicine,  and  shortly  after  en- 
tered a  drug  store  at  Oconee  Shelby  County, 
where,  in  addition  to  the  duties  of  the  store, 
he  continued  the  .study  of  his  profession. 
He  remained  in  the  drug  business  about  five 
years,  practicing  a  portion  of  th«  time.  In 
August,  187.3,  he  located  at  Harvel.  Mont- 
gomery County;  went  before  the  State  Board 
of  Health,  where  he  successful  y  passed  ex- 
amination and  received  a  license.  Owing  to 
his  perfect  knowledge  of  and  the  thorough 
manner  in  which  he  attended  to  his  calling, 
he  has  been  very  successful  and  built  up  a 
large  practice,  the  duties  of  which  would  fall 
heavily  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  man  many 
years  hissenior.  He  has  been  twice  married. 
His  first  marriage  occurred  in  1807,  in  Shel- 
by County,  to  Sarah  E.  Lowe,  who  was  born 


248 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


in  Johnson  County,  Ind, ,  January  28,  1840. 
Her  death  occurred  October  16,  1876,  at 
Harvel.  She  was  the  mother  of  six  children, 
all  deceased  except  the  oldest  child,  viz., 
Mary  Ellen,  born  August  2,  1867.  The  Doctor 
was  again  married  September  30,  1878,  to 
Miss  Drueilla  C.  Scott,  who  was  born  at 
Portsmouth,  Ohio,  Aj)ril  23,  1854,  to  Jere- 
miah and  Sarah  (Davis)  Scott,  he  deceased, 
she  still  living.  The  father  of  William  D. , 
our  subject,  Leonard  Matney,  was  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  born  in  1811,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, and  was  in  the  Mexican  war.  He 
died  in  September,  1847.  His  wife,  Mary 
Burris,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  born  in 
March.  1821,  and  still  living,  and  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  of  whom  William  D. 
was  the  second  and  the  oldest  living.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  Postmaster  at  Oconee 
for  five  years,  and  is  the  present  Clerk  of 
Harvel.  Politically,  his  sympathies  are  with 
the  Republican  party;  has  been  an  active 
member  of  the  Masonic  order  at  Oconee  for 
a  number  of  years.  The  Doctor  has  also  be- 
come a  successful  inventor,  and  at  present 
holds  a  patent  upon  a  burglar  alarm,  which 
is  operated  by  means  of  electricity. 

H.  C.  MILLOT,  grain  dealer,  Harvel,  was 
born  in  France  September  13,  1850.  to  Peter 
F.  and  Justine  (Cary)  Millot.  He  was 
brought  to  this  country  by  his  parents  when 
but  about  four  years  of  age.  His  parents 
first  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  New  York, 
in  Jefferson  County,  where  he  received  his 
common  school  education.  In  1864,  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  Montgomery  County. 
Here  he  attended  the  Blackburn  University, 
at  Carlinville,  and  afterward  the  Illinois  In- 
dustrial University,  at  Champaign,  and  Fort 
Edward  Collegiate  Institute,  at  Fort  Edward, 
N.  Y.  Hero  he  graduated  in  1872,  and  then 
returned  to  the  Blackburn  University,  where 
he  attended  for  two  terms,  and  left  in  1874. 


In  the  fall  of  1875,  he  entered  upon  his  ca- 
reer in  life  by  embarking  in  the  grain  busi- 
ness, in  partnership  with  Mr.  Henry  Niehaus, 
and  conducted  a  successful  business  in  the 
copartnership  until  1879,  when  he  bought 
out  the  interest  of  his  partner,  and  has  since 
conducted  it  alone.  Although  large  at  first, 
his  business  has  steadily  increased  until  the 
present  time.  It  assumed  large  proportions, 
extending  far  into  Christian  and  Montgomery 
Counties.  They  found  markets  at  St.  Louis 
and  Toledo,  and  for  the  last  few  years  at  the 
latter  place.  In  1876,  in  Montgomery  County, 
he  married  Miss  Margaret  Martindale,  born 
March  1,  1858,  a  native  of  Indiana.  They 
have  two  children — Henry  F.  and  Roy.  In 
politics,  he  is  independent.  His  father  was 
born  in  France,  in  1809,  and  is  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Harvel.  He  has  during  his  life  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  His  wife, 
also,  was  a  native  of  France,  born  in  1815, 
and  is  the  mother  of  three  children,  two  of 
whom  are  living.  Stephen  is  a  prominent  far- 
mer of  Christian  County,  and  Augustus,  who 
was  murdered  in  1866  by  the  Indians;  served 
through  the  last  rebellion,  and  entered  as  a 
volunteer  soldier,  and  was  mustered  out  as 
Second  Lieutenant  at  the  close  of  and  in  the 
year  of  1866  removed  to  Kansas,  where  he 
was  murdered  by  the  Indians,  in  the  same 
year.  Our  subject  expects  to  remodel  his 
large  elevator,  and  embark  in  the  milling 
business.  Subject's  father  came  first  to 
America  in  1830,  and  settled  in  Northern  New 
York  for  two  years,  and  then  returned  to 
France;  married  and  came  back  to  America 
in  1854. 

ANDREW  J.  NASH,  farmer  and  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  was  born  in  Edmonson  County, 
Ky.,  February  29,  1832,  to  Lewis  C.  and  Mil- 
le  (Oiler)  Nash.  He  was  born  in  Pulaski 
County,  Ky. ,  in  April,  1S07,  and  died  in 
Harvel,  111.,  February  17,  1881.     He  was  by 


HARVEL   TOWNSHIP. 


249 


occivpation  a  blacksmith.  She  was  born  in 
Illinois  in  1814,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
Harvel.  They  were  the  parents  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  Andrew  J.  was  the  second 
child.  His  early  life  was  spent  in  receiving 
an  education  and  assisting  his  father  in  the 
blacksmith  shop.  In  1S48,  with  his  parents, 
removed  to  Grayson  County,  Ky.  In  1849, 
he  embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer. 
In  the  fall  of  1851,  removed  to  Wayne 
County,  111.;  in  June,  1854,  removed  to  Ma- 
coupin County,  111.  ;  in  1809,  removed  to 
Christian  County,  and  there  remained  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuits  until  Febru- 
ary. 1879,  when  he  removed  to  his  present 
residence,  where  he  has  since  remained  en- 
gaged in  farming  in  connection  with  his 
official  duties.  In  Christian  County,  in  May, 
1877,  he  was  elected  Constable,  and  at  the 
same  time  was  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff, 
which  offices  he  held  for  two  years.  In  Har- 
vel he  is  now  holding  the  office  of  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  in  connection  with  several  minor 
offices.  In  Grayson  County,  Ky.,  April  4, 
1849,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Haynes,  a  na- 
tive of  the  same  county,  born  March  1,  1880. 
They  are  the  parents  of  nine  children,  three 
of  whom  are  now  living — George  W. ,  born 
July  22,  1851,  and  died  August  18,  1874; 
Paradioe,  now  the  wife  of  John  A.  Tosh,  and 
residing  near  Grayville,  111.;  Lucinda,  now 
the  wife  of  Charles  A.  Varner.  and  residing 
in  the  county;  Franklin  E.,  at  home;  and 
Millie  J.,  James  M..  Mary  E.,  Arthur  B.  and 
Herchel,  who  are  dead.  Mr.  Mash  is  an  ac 
tive  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  at  Har- 
vel Lodge,  No.  607.  In  politics,  he  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Democrat  patty.  Mr.  Nash  is 
regarded  as  an  honest,  fair-minded,  liberal  in 
his  views,  genial  and  gentlemanly  in  his  so- 
cial relations  and  an  industrious,  public 
spirited  citizen. 

ROBERT  S.  NELSON,  grain  and  produce 


dealer,  Harvel,  was  born  near  Brighton,  Ma- 
coupin Co.,  111.,  March  9,  1837,  to  Robert  S. 
and  E.  (Kelsey)  Nelson.  He  was  a  native 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Macoupin  County,  having  settled 
there  long  before  a  railroad  intersected  that 
part  of  the  State.  His  death  occurred  in 
1857.  She  was  also  a  native  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. Her  death  occurred  in  1857.  She 
was  the  mother  of  six  children,  of  whom 
Robert  S.,  our  subject,  was  the  youngest  child. 
He  spent  his  boyhood  days  in  assisting  his 
father  in  farming,  and  receiving  such  an  ed- 
ucation as  the  common  schools  of  the  neigh- 
borhood afforded.  His  first  enterprise  for 
himself  was  at  Irving,  111.,  where  he  entered 
upon  his  business  career  in  the  grain  and  ag- 
ricultural business.  He  remained  there  two 
years,  and  then  sold  his  interest  to  William 
Chamberlin  and  removed  to  Litchfield,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  same  business,  but  re- 
mained only  one  year,  when  he  removed  to 
Harvel  and  erected  a  large  grain  elevator,  and 
continued  as  a  grain  and  produce  dealer. 
His  business,  although  large  at  the  start,  has 
been  steadily  increasing  until  now  it  has  as- 
sumed very  large  proportions,  and  his  custom 
extends  far  into  Montgomery  and  Christian 
Counties.  In  1879,  he  entered  into  partner- 
ship in  the  agricultural  implement  business 
with  Mr.  C.  H.  Adams,  which  he  continues 
in  connection  with  his  other  business.  Mr. 
Nelson  was  married  in  Litchfield,  111.,  April 
4,  1872,  to  Miss  Harriet  A.  Jones,  who  was 
born  in  Carrollton,  Greene  Co.,  111.,  May  23, 
L850.  They  have  but  one  child,  R.  S.  Kent 
Nelson.  Mr.  Nelson  in  social  life  is  one  of 
the  most  genial  of  men,  liberal  in  his  views, 
and  gentlemanly  in  his  social  relations.  As 
a  citizen,  he  is  enterprising  and  public- 
spirited,  and  has  overtaken  a  leading  part  in 
all  matters  calculated  to  advance  the  material 
interests  of  his  town  and  county. 


250 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


HENRY  NIEHAUS,  retired  farmer,  P. 
O.  Harvel,  was  born  in  Germany  iu  April, 
1814.  Henry  Niehaus,  the  father  of  this 
gentleman,  was  also  born  in  Germany,  in 
1776,  and  died  in  1836.  During  his  life,  he 
followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  His 
wife,  and  mother  of  Henry,  was  named 
Miss  Slater.  She  was  born  in  Germany  in 
1799,  and  died  in  1854.  They  were  the 
parents  of  ten  children,  of  whom  Henry 
Niehaus  was  the  second  child.  He  received 
his  education  from  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  country,  and  began  life  by  working 
as  a  farm  hand  in  Germany,  which  he  there 
continued  until  1855,  when  he  emigrated  to 
America,  and  first  settled  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. , 
for  a  period  of  three  months,  and  then  re- 
moved to  Morgan  County,  111. ,  rented  a  farm, 
and  began  farming  on  his  own  account,  and 
continued  the  same  for  eight  years.  In  1863, 
he  removed  to  Montgomery  County,  where  he 
bought  a  small  farm.  By  his  energy  and 
business  habits,  he  succeeded  in  accumulating 
over  seven  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land, 
upon  which  he  made  all  necessary  improve- 
ments. In  1877,  in  connection  with  his  farm 
duties,  built  a  large  elevator  at  Harvel,  and 
embarked  in  the  grain  business  in  partnership 
with  Mr.  Millot,  but  in  the  year  1879  sold 
out  to  his  partner  and  retired  from  active 
labor,  he  having  disposed  of  all  his  real  es- 
tate at  that  time.  In  1839,  in  Germany,  he 
married  Miss  Katharine  Hieselman.  She  died 
in  1868,  aged  sixty  years.  The  result  of 
this  union  was  three  children,  of  whom  Mena 
and  Katharine  are  living,  and  residents  of 
Montgomery  County.  Mr.  Niehaus  has  lived 
a  blameless  life,  and,  as  he  sits  down  at 
nightfall,  around  the  domestic  hearth,  he  has 
the  proud  consciousness  of  knowing  that  he 
has  wronged  no  one  (at  least  intentionally), 
and  that  his  peace  is  made  with  the  Great 
King  of   kings  beyond  the  shores  of  time. 


Thus  does  he  live,  and  thus  he  awaits  the 
last  great  change,  which  his  locks,  now 
whitened  by  the  frosts  of  nearly  seventy 
winters,  indicate  is  not  far  distant. 

JOHN  W.  PETRIE,  M.  D.,  Harvel,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  November  7,  1832. 
His  early  life  was  spent  upon  his  father's 
farm  and  in  receiving  his  early  education, 
the  foundation  of  his  subsecpuent  learning. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two  years,  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine,  but  soon  after  entered 
upon  an  extended  tour  through  Central 
America,  Great  Britain,  New  Mexico,  and 
eventually  located  in  California,  where  he  re- 
mained about  live  years,  engaged  at  different 
times  in  mining,  surveying,  and  upon  a 
ranch  In  the  fall  of  I860,  he  came  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  111.,  near  Hillsboro,  where  he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession 
four  years  later,  having  spent  most  of  the 
time  in  study  at  the  Eclectic  Medical  College, 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  graduated  in 
1866  and  received  his  diploma.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1866,  he  went  to  Taylorville,  remained 
two  years,  and  then  removed  to  Palmer,  where 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  remained  twelve  years,  and  during 
the  time  was  very  successful,  having  built  up 
a  large  practice,  the  result  of  his  knowledge 
of  and  his  close  attention  to  his  calling.  In 
the  fall  of  1881,  ho  removed  to  Harvel,  where 
his  success  has  followed  him,  and  where  he 
has  gained  the  highest  esteem,  socially,  of 
the  people,  and  professionally  the  good- will 
of  all.  His  father,  John  Petrie,  was  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  born  in  the 
year  1778,  and  where  he  followed  the  occu- 
pation of  blacksmithing  and  farming  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  April  4, 
1872.  His  wife,  Elizabeth  Jordan,  was  also 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born  May  1,  1792, 
and  died  in  1864.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eight   children,    of   whom  John  W.   was  the 


HARVEL    TOWNSHIP. 


251 


seventh  child.  He  was  married  in  Montgom- 
ery County  June  16,  1S61,  to  Miss  Mournen 
Franklin,  who  died  in  1863.  She  was  the 
mother  of  one  child,  whe  died  in  infancy. 
The  Doctor  was  married  again  in  October, 
1869,  to  Anna  O'Rourke,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
and  who  has  borne  him  seven  children,  viz., 
Ulysses  S.,  David  A.,  Henderson  C,  Scott  T., 
Elery  E.,  Margaret  E.  and  Albert  E ,  all  of 
whom  are  living.  The  Doctor  has  been  a 
member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  the  Encamp- 
ment and  Grand  Lodge. 

HERMAN  POGGENPOHL,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Harvel,  was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany,  March 
T.  L833,  where  his  early  life  was  spent  in  at- 
tending the  common  schools  of  his  native 
country  and  assisting  his  father  upon  the 
farm.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  his  father  sent 
him  to  America  to  view  the  New  World. 
His  expectations  were  more  than  realized, 
and  two  years  later  his  parents  followed  him 
and  entered  160  acres  of  land  in  Montgomery 
County,  where  they  were  among  the  first  to 
break  and  improve  the  wild  prairie.  Francis 
Poggenpohl,  the  father  of  Harmon,  was  born 
in  Prussia,  Germany,  and  died  soon  after  his 
arrival  in  America.  His  wife,  Maggie  Gurka, 
was  also  a  native  of  Germany,  and  died  in 
1  ^74.  She  was  the  mother  of  six  children, 
of  whom  Herman  was  the  oldest  child.  After 
the  death  of  his  father,  he  bought  the  in- 
terests of  the  balance  of  the  family,  and  en- 
tered upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer,  at 
which  he  has  since  continued,  and  at  which 
he  has  been  more  than  ordinarily  successful, 
making  all  the  improvements  himself,  and 
has  by  his  energy  and  industry  accumulated 
about  -.even  hundred  acres  of  land,  nearly  all 
under  cultivation.  All  the  surroundings  on 
Mr.  Poggenpohl' s  property  show  him  to  be  a 
practical  farmer,  and  well  worthy  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  community 
socially.     In  1873,  he  returned  to  his  native 


country  upon  a  visit,  remaining  there  two 
months.  In  1855,  he  was  married  to  Dena 
Brokamp,  who  was  born  in  Germany  and 
brought  to  America  when  a  child.  She  died 
in  1872.  leaving  to  his  care  six  children,  viz.. 
Henry,  deceased  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years ; 
Mary,  wife  of  L.  Young;  John,  at  home; 
Lizzie,  at  home;  Tony,  at  home;  Maggie,  at 
home.  Mr.  P.  was  again  married  in  1871  to 
Ilagena  Musshafer,  also  a  native  of  Germany, 
born  June  7,  1852.  She  has  borne  him  six 
children,  viz.,  Frankie,  Christina,  Lena, 
Anna,  Kattie  and  Charles.  Politically.  Mr. 
P.  is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 
Himself  and  family  are  connected  with  the 
Catholic  Church. 

GEORGE  J.  RAMSEY,  druggist  and  hard- 
ware, Harvel.  William  Hamilton  Ramsey, 
the  father  of  this  gentleman,  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania.  During  his  life  has  been 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits;  is  now  a 
resident  of  Milroy,  Penn.  His  wife,  and 
mother  of  George  J. ,  was  Mary  Rarer,  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania ;  she  is  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  of  whom  George  J.  Ramsey  is 
the  f  ourth  child.  He  was  bom  in  Pennsylvania 
September  17,  184'J.  He  was  raised  upon  a 
farm,  and  remained  upon  the  old  homestead 
with  his  parents  during  his  school  days.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  entered  a  drug  store 
at  Irving,  III,  as  clerk,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  and  then  removed  to  Harvel  and 
engaged  in  the  same  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and  has  by  his  energy  and  close  atten- 
tion to  business  succeeded  in  building  up  a 
large  and  increasing  trade.  In  18S0,  he 
added  to  his  business  a  full  line  of  hardware 
and  agricultural  implements,  taking  into 
partnership  a  year  later  Mr.  Clisby  Sims,  in 
the  agricultural  department.  Mr.  Ramsey- 
has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  business,  and 
possesses  the  faculty  of  making  himself  agree- 
able to  the  public,    and  socially  enjoys  the 


252 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


highest  esteem  of  the  community  at  large. 
He  was  married  in  Montgomery  County  No- 
vember 5,  1878.  to  Miss  Laura  T.  Austin,  a 
native  of  Mississippi,  born  July  22,  1856. 
They  have  one  child  living,  Charles  Earle 
Ramsey,  who  was  born  January  19,  1881, 
and  one  dead.  Politically.  Mr.  Ramsey  is 
identified  with  the  Republican  party.  He 
has  served  as  Township  Clerk  for  a  term  of 
three  years,  and  was  appointed  Postmaster  in 
1877,  which  position  he  still  holds.  He  is 
identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
the  town  by  way  of  public  improvements  and 
educational  privileges. 

CLISBY  SIMS,  farmer  and  agricultural 
implement  dealer,  Harvel,  was  born  in  Madi- 
son County,  111.,  February  10,  1824.  His 
early  life  was  spent  in  attending  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  county,  and  in  as- 
sisting his  father  upon  the  homestead  farm. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  left  home  and  be- 
gan his  career  in  life  in  a  saw-mill,  in  Mis- 
souri, where  he  remained  eighteen  months, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  purchased  a  farm 
in  Missouri,  consisting  of  eighty  acres  of  un- 
broken prairie  and  ten  acres  of  timber  land, 
upon  which  he  made  all  improvements.  He 
remained  in  Missouri  eight  years,  and  then 
removed  to  Macoupin  County,  111.,  and  rented 
a  farm  and  continued  in  that  occupation  there 
about  three  years.  He  then  moved  to  Shaw's 
Point,  same  county,  where  he  remained  six 
years,  and  then  removed  to  Montgomery 
County,  where  he  has  improved  three  farms. 
and  in  addition  to  attending  to  the  duties  of 
his  farming  interests,  he  has  been  engaged 
about  four  years  in  mercantile  business, 
three  years  of  the  time  at  Harvel.  At  pres- 
ent he  owns  a  fann  of  100  acres  of  well-im- 
proved land  in  Missouri,  and  town  property 
at  Harvel.  In  January,  1882,  he  entered  in- 
to partnership  with  George  J.  Ramsey,  in 
dealing  in   agricultural  implements,  at  Har- 


vel, and  where  they  have  succeeded  in  build- 
ing up  a  fair  trade  for  the  time  they  have 
been  engaged  in  the  business.  Mr.  Sims  is 
a  thorough  business  man  and  a  practical  farm- 
er, and  socially  enjoys  the  highest  esteem 
of  the  entire  community.  His  marriage  oc- 
curred in  1813,  in  Morgan  County,  to  Eliza- 
beth J.  Masters,  who  was  born  in  Morgan 
March  9,  1824.  She  has  borne  him  eight 
children,  viz.,  Thomas  Q.,  Nancy  Ellen.  Ma- 
lissa  Ann,  James  B.,  William,  Benjamin, 
Jane  and  Emma  Isabell,  the  two  latter  of 
whom  are  deceased.  Mrs.  Sims  is  a  daughter 
uf  Irving  Masters,  born  in  Kentucky,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  forty-nine,  and  Mary  Jones, 
born  in  Morgan  County,  and  died  in  1836. 
The  father  of  our  subject,  James  Sims,  was 
a  native  of  Kentucky,  born  in  1810,  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Madison  County,  111.,  and  still  living  in 
Macoupin  County.  His  wife,  Margaret  Rob- 
inson, was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
died  in  1865  at  the  age  of  sixty  years.  The 
result  of  their  union  was  six  children,  of 
whom  Clisby,  our  subject,  was  the  oldest 
child.  He  served  the  people  of  the  county 
as  Justice  of  the  Peace  four  years.  Polit- 
ically, his  sympathies  are  with  the  Democratic 
party.  Religiously,  himself  and  wife  have 
been  members  of  the  Baptist  Church  for  sev- 
eral years. 

GEORGE  W.  SLATER,  lawyer  and  farm- 
er, Harvel,  111.,  was  born  in  Lawrence 
County.  111.  July  14,  1832,  to  William  and 
Jane  (Wilson)  Slater,  he  being  a  native  of 
England,  and  she  of  Kentucky.  The  early 
education  of  George  W.  Slater  was  very  lim- 
ited, owing  to  the  fact  that  no  schools  were 
near  his  native  place.  His  time  was  fully 
employed  upon  his  father's  farm.  In  1843, 
he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Montgomery 
County;  here  his  parents  settled  upon  an  un- 
broken   timber  farm  near  Audubon.     At  the 


HARVEL    TOWNSHIP. 


253 


age  of  fourteen,  his  father  died,  and  he  lived 
with  his  older  brother  for  about  one  year, 
and  then  engaged  as  a  farm  hand,  and  en- 
tered upon  his  career  in  life,  which  has  been 
more  or  less  varied.  He  continued  in  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer  until  1863,  when  he 
went  to  Litchfield  and  ran  two  wood  saws  by 
horse  power,  in  the  employ  of  a  railroad 
company,  with  whom  he  remained  over  four 
years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  again  took 
upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life,  at 
which  he  remained  one  year,  and  then  went, 
to  milling,  and  continued  the  same  for  over 
four  years  While  in  Litchfield  Mr.  Slater 
was  elected  to  fill  the  office  of  Street  Com- 
missioner, and  was  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff. 
He  has,  since  his  residence  at  Harvel,  served 
the  people  in  the  different  offices  of  Consta- 
ble and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  is  now  a 
member  of  the  Town  Board.  He  has  ob- 
tained more  than  ordinary  education  by  his 
observation  and  study.  He  has  been  practic 
ing  law  in  the  Justice's  Court  about  seven 
vears  in  connection  with  his  other  duties. 
He  was  married,  August  19,  1851,  to  Sarah 
Matthews,  who  was  born  in  Christian  County 
March  1 6,  1 832.  She  is  the  mother  of  eleven 
children,  five  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz., 
Elie,  Lewis  L.,  Serene  A.,  James  E.  and 
Sarah  E.  Mr.  Slater  is  an  active  member  of 
the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  THOMASON,  mer- 
chant. Harvel,  was  born  in  Carrollton,  Greene 
Co.,  111.,  February  16, 1843.  His  education- 
al privileges  were  limited  to  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  county.  His  early  life 
was  spent  on  the  homestead  farm,  but  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  entered  the  service  during 
the  rebellion  in  Company  G,  of  the  Sixty- 
first  Illinois  Infantry,  with  Capt.  J.  B.  Nel- 
ton,  his  regiment  being  commanded  by  Gen. 
Jacob  Fry.  He  remained  in  the  service  a 
period  of  three  years,  and,  after  his  discharge, 


he  took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm 
life,  locating  in  Greene  County,  where  he  re- 
mained three  years,  and  then  removed  to 
Montgomery  County,  where  he  continued  the 
same  occupation  five  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  the  town  of  Harvel  had  just  been  incor- 
porated, and  he  erected  the  third  store  in  the 
town,  and  opened  a  grocery  store,  having  at 
that  time  disposed  of  his  farming  interests. 
By  his  energy,  courteous  manners,  and  strict 
attention  to  business,  he  soon  built  up  a  large 
and  steadily  increasing  trade,  which  de 
manded  an  increase  of  stock,  until  now  he  is 
engaged  in  a  general  merchandising  business, 
and  has  also  enlarged  his  storeroom  in  order 
to  make  room  for  his  increasing  stock,  and  to 
better  facilitate  his  business.  He  has  always 
been  identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity 
of  the  town,  and  held  a  prominent  position 
in  the  advancement  of  public  improvements 
and  educational  privileges  of  the  town  and 
county,  having  held  the  different  offices  of 
School  Director,  Village  Trustee,  President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Trustee  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  President  of  the 
Coal  Company.  He  was  married  in  Carroll- 
ton.  Greene  County,  September  7,  1879,  to 
Miss  Mary  Jane  Swires,  who  was  born  in  New 
Jersey  February  7,  1849.  By  this  union 
they  have  had  seven  children,  viz.,  Alice, 
Freddie.  Frankie,  Bertie,  Roy,  Flora  and 
Nellie.  Mrs.  Thomason  is  a  daughter  of 
James  and  Elizabeth  (Lisles)  Swires,  who 
were  natives  of  England;  they  are  both  liv- 
ing. Thp  parents  of  Mr.  Thomason,  Spencer 
and  Mary  (Stone)  Thomason,  were  natives  of 
North  Carolina,  and  early  settlers  of  Greene 
County,  having  emigrated  to  that  county  in 
1830.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  died  in  1847. 
she  died  in  1861.  They  were  the  parents  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  Andrew  J.,  our  sub- 
ject, was  the  fifth  child.  He  is  a  member 
of    the  A.,    F.    &   A.    M.   at  Ravmond,  and 


254 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


also  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter  at 
Litchfield.  In  politics,  he  is.  a  Democrat. 
Mr.  Thomason  has,  by  his  own  unaided  en- 
deavors, made  life-work  thus  far  more  than 
ordinarily  successful,  and  is  entitled  to  a 
place  among  the  substantial  men  of  Mont- 
gomery County. 

JOHN  H.  TODT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Harvel, 
was  born  in  Germany  October  21, 1834.  His 
early  life  was  spent  in  receiving  such  an  ed- 
ucation as  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
country  afforded,  and  in  working  as  a  hired 
hand  upon  a  farm.  At  the  age  of  seventeen, 
he  left  his  native  country  and  sailed  for 
America,  when  he  settled  in  Greene  County, 
111.  Here  he  embarked  on  his  career  in  life 
as  a  hired  hand  upon  a  farm  for  three 
months,  and  then  removed  to  Jersey  County, 
where  he  remained  two  years  engaged  in  the 
same  occupation,  when  ho  spent  two  years  in 
Montgomery  and  Macoupin  Counties,  work- 
ing summers  in  the  former,  and  winters  with 
his  own  people  in  the  latter  place.  In  1857, 
he  had,  by  his  energy  and  business  habits,  ac- 
cumulated enough  funds  to  enable  him  to 
make  a  small  purchase  of  land,  which  he  did 
in  Macoupin  County,  a  tract  of  120  acres  of 
unimproved  timber  land.  Here  he  remained 
for  a  period  of  eight  years;  during  the  time 
he  improved  this  tract.  In  1865,  he  sold  his 
farm  and  removed  to  Montgomery  County, 
where  he  first  bought  160  acres  of  mostly 
wild  prairie.  Here  he  has  since  remained, 
and  by  his  own  endeavors  has  succeeded  in 
accumulating  a  large  tract  of  land,  all  of 
which  is  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
He  is  now  the  owner  of  480  acres,  upon  which 
he  built  a  fine  residence,  by  his  own  design, 
in  1871).  He  has  also  built  large  barns,  etc., 
and  everything  about  his  place  denotes  the 
home  of  a  first-class  farmer.  Much  credit  is 
due  to  Mr.  Todt  for  the  interest  he  has  taken 
in  improving  surroundings,  all  of  which  show 


toward  the  welfare  of  the  county.  In  1857, 
in  Madison  County,,  he  married  Miss  Maria 
Poggenpol,  a  native  of  Germany,  born  April 
15,  1835.  She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  "William,  Her- 
man, Frank,  Elizabeth  and  Margaret;  all  are 
at  home.  Father  of  subject  was  Joseph  Todt, 
who  was  born  in  Germany;  during  his  life 
followed  farming;  joined  the  army  when  but 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  fought  bravely 
under  Napoleon  Bonaparte  I.  He  died  in 
1835,  aged  about  forty-seven  years.  His 
wife,  and  mother  of  our  subject,  was  Elizabeth 
Miller.  She  was  born  in  Germany  in  180]  ; 
came  to  America  with  her  son  in  1851;  she 
died  in  April,  1873.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  John  H.  being  the  fourth 
child.  He  was  appointed  Postmaster  in  1 866, 
and  held  the  office  about  three  years.  He 
has  also  held  the  office  of  Road  Commissioner, 
and  has  been  holding  the  office  of  School 
Trustee  for  eighteen  years.  He  is  also  setv- 
ing  the  people  as  County  Supervisor  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all.  He  was  elected  in  1881. 
Religiously,  self  and  family  are  connected 
with  the  Catholic  Church.  Politically,  his 
sympathies  are  with  the  Democratic  part)-. 
When  he  first  came  to  the  county  to  live,  it 
was  but  thinly  settled,  between  his  place  and 
L.  H  Thomas',  of  Bois  D'Arc,  there  was  no 
settlement  a  distance  of  thirteen  miles. 

B.  TULPIN,  merchant,  Harvel,  was  born 
in  France  April  5,  1836,  where  he  received 
his  education.  On  August  14,  1855,  when 
nineteen  years  of  age,  he  was  married,  and 
on  the  day  following,  emigrated  to  America 
with  his  bride,  and  landed  in  Yirden,  111., 
where  he  did  his  first  day's  manual  labor  for 
Mr.  John  Morrell.  He  remained  near  Virden 
and  Girard  about  three  years,  working  by  the 
month.  From  there  he  went  to  Assumption, 
Christian  County,  and  commenced  farming. 
He  followed  that  occupation  two  years  in  that 


IIAI5VEL  TOWNSHIP. 


•255 


county,  and  three  years  in  Montgomery 
County,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  entered 
upon  a  mercantile  business  at  which  he  has 
si  ace  continued.  In  1805  or  1860,  he  erected 
a  store  building  about  half  a  mile  south  of 
where  Harvel  is  now  located,  and  between 
the  surveys  of  two  proposed  railroads.  His 
was  the  first  store,  and  he  the  first  to  engage 
in  an  enterprise  of  this  nature.  His  facili- 
ties for  doing  business  were  somewhat  limited, 
and  his  stock  necessarily  small,  but  being 
energetic  and  enterprising  in  business,  and 
possessing  the  faculty  of  making  himself 
agreeable  to  the  public,  he  was  soon  enabled 
to  increase  his  stock.  His  principal  draw- 
back was  in  speaking  the  English  language, 
which,  during  his  business  career,  he  has 
mastered.  In  1S70,  his  stock  and  business 
had  increased  until  it  demanded  more  room, 
and  he  erected  the  building  he  now  occupies, 
and  where  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  conduct- 
ing a  large  and  increasing  trade,  the  result 
of  a  successful  business  career;  and,  perhaps, 
no  man  has  done  more  for  public  improve- 
ments and  for  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
Harvel  than  Mr.  Tulpin.  He  is  always  first 
in  all  enterprises,  and  socially  enjoys  the 
highest  esteem  of  the  entire  community.  He 
has  at  different  times  held  town  offices,  but 
usually  declines  the  honors  which  would 
otherwise  be  bestowed  upon  him.  Aside  from 
his  business  relations,  he  has  added  materi- 
ally to  the  growth  of  the  town  by  way  of 
erecting  several  dwellings.  He  received  his 
naturalization  papers  October  8,  18(38,  and 
has  since  been  identified  with  the  Republican 
party.  His  family  consists  of  his  wife  and 
five  boys,  four  of  whom  are  living  at  home, 
Arthur,  the  oldest  being  married,  but  assist- 
ing his  father  in  the  store.  Mr.  Tulpin  has 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  five  children,  four 
girls  and  one  boy,  all  of  whom  died  quite 
young.      He  has   been  a  prominent  member 


of  the  Masonic  fraternity  for  several  years. 
Although  usually  able  to  oversee  his  business, 
his  health  has  been  impaired  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  he  is  at  times  obliged  to  remain  at 
home.  His  children  are  Arthur  Victor,  Hec- 
tor Maxamillian,  Frank  Octave,  Charles  Al- 
bert and  Maurice  Emmanuel,  five  boys,  all 
living. 

GEORGE  W.  VAN  SANDT,  carpenter  and 
joiner,  Harvel,  was  born  in  Fleming  County. 
Ky.,  December  14,  1817,  where  he  received 
a  common  school  education,  and  where  his 
childhood  days  were  spent  upon  the  old 
homestead  farm  with  his  father.  During  the 
winter  season,  his  time  was  employed  in  work- 
ing at  and  learning  the  millwright  and  car- 
penter's trade,  and  at  which  h»  still  followed 
when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  he  left 
his  home  and  entered  upon  his  career  in  life. 
He  remained  in  his  native  State  until  he  was 
forty-five  years  of  age,  when  his  politics  as  a 
Whig  did  not  make  it  pleasant  for  him  at 
the  breaking- out  of  the  war,  and,  not  being 
willing  to  take  the  oath  to  not  oppose  the 
Confederacy,  he  removed  to  Aberdeen,  Ohio, 
where  he  remained  two  years,  and  then  came 
to  Montgomery  County,  111.,  and  located  in 
Butler  Township,  and  there  worked  at  his 
trade  for  about  five  years.  In  January,  1870, 
he  removed  to  Harvel,  his  present  residence, 
which  was  then  just  laid  out  and  was  sur- 
rounded by  wild  prairie.  He  built  the  first 
house  which  was  erected  at  Harvel,  and  has 
also  built  many  others,  several  of  which  be- 
longed to  him,  which  he  rented  to  others. 
To  him  is  due  much  of  the  credit  for  making 
Harvel  the  prosperous  town  it  now  is.  For 
one  year  he  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  but  eventually  returned  to  his  trade. 
He  was  married  in  Lewis  County,  Ky.,  July 
2,  L840,  to  Miss  Isabella  A.  Cooper,  who  was 
born  March  15,  1819,  to  Murdock  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Parker)  Cooper,  natives  of  Kentucky. 


256 


BIOCxRAPIllCAL 


She  died  January  2,  1875,  leaving  five  chil 
dren,  viz.,  Allen  Jerome,  George  B.,  Eliza 
Bell,  James  C.  and  Nelson  M.  Mr.  Van 
Sandt  was  married  again  in  Montgomery 
County  111.,  January  1,  1878,  to  Miss  Mary 
A.  B. ,  who  was  born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ,  in 
March,  1842;  she  has  borne  him  one  child, 
Hattie.  Mr.  Yan  Sandt  has  been  an  active 
member  of  the  Masonic  order  for  about  thirty 
years.  Politically,  he  is  identified  with  the 
Republican  party.  Religiously,  he  and  wife 
are  connected  with  the  Methodist  Church 
at  Harvel.  His  father,  William  Van  Sandt, 
was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1794;  during  his 
life,  followed  the  occupation  of  a  millwright 
and  farmer.  He  lived  to  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-four  years.  His  wife,  and  mother 
of  our  subject,  was  Margaret  Williams;  she 
was  also  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  lived  to 
be  about  sixty  years  of  age,  and  raised  a 
family  of  nine  children,  all  of  whom  grew  to 
man  and  womanhood. 

CONRAD  WILLAR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  Germany  December  17, 
1840.  He  received  such  an  education  as  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  country  afforded, 
and  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  left  his  home  and 
began  working  as  a  farm  hand,  continuing 
the  same  until  he  was  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  and  then,  in  the  year  1865,  came  to 
America,  making  his  first  stop  at  St.  Louis, 
where,  at  the  end  of  a  month,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  leave,  not  being  able  to  obtain  em- 
ployment. He  then  went  to  Butler.  Mont- 
gomery County,  and  hired  out  as  a  farm  hand, 
continuing  thus  for  f our  years.  In  1 869,  he 
married,  and  bought  240  acres  of  the  farm 
upon  which  he  now  resides,  and  began  fann- 
ing on  his  own  account.  By  his  energy  and 
business  habits,  he  succeeded  in  paying  for 
this  tract,  and  in  1871  bought  eighty  acres 
more,  which  makes  his  farm  consist  of  320 


acres,  and  it  is  as  fine  land  as  any  in  the 
State.  January  13,  1869,  in  Montgomery 
County,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Munsterman,  born  in  Germany,  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Margaret  (Wucherbfennig),  both 
natives  of  Germany,  from  which  union  has 
been  born  five  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living — Minnie.  Henry,  Joseph  C.  and  Eliza- 
beth K.,  all  of  whom  are  at  home.  The 
father  and  mother  of  our  subject  were  both 
natives  of  Germany,  and  the  parents  of  six 
children,  two  girls  and  four  boys,  Conrad 
being  the  third  child.  Mr.  Willar  and  wife 
are  members  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

W.  W.  WHITLOW,  farmer,  P.  O.  Harvel, 
was  born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  April  1. 
1834;  son  of  Daniel  and  Fanny  (Ray)  Whit- 
low. The  early  life  of  our  subject  was  spent 
on  his  father's  farm,  and,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, hired  out  as  a  farm  hand.  In  1854, 
with  his  brother,  he  took  charge  of  his  father's 
farm  and  in  1856,  went  to  Macoupin  County, 
where  he  contracted  in  breaking  prairie.  In 
the  fall  of  1S57,  he  rented  a  farm  at  Macou- 
pin Point,  and  remained  there  one  year,  when 
he  returned  to  Macoupin  County;  then  six 
years  more  in  Macoupin  County.  In  1S65. 
he  removed  to  Montgomery  County  and  settled 
upon  a  portion  of  the  farm  upon  which  he 
now  resides,  which  at  that  time  consisted  of 
240  acres  of  land,  most  of  which  has  been 
improved  by  Mr.  Whitlow,  and  to  which  he 
has  added  until  he  has  560  acres.  In  1881, 
he  erected  from  his  own  designs  a  fine  resi- 
dence upon  his  farm,  which,  with  barns,  wind- 
mill, stock  scales,  etc. .  make  the  surround- 
ings complete.  In  1858,  in  Greene  County, 
h  •  married  Miss  Fannie  Thomason,  a  native 
of  Greene,  born  September  16,  1835,  who 
has  borne  him  ten  children,  six  of  whom  are 
living — Mary  A.,  born  September  25,  1860; 
Flora  A.,  May  31,  1862;  George  E.,  Septem- 


HARVEL  TOWNSHIP. 


257 


ber  1,  1863;  William  A.,  March  21,  1865; 
John  W.,  January  26,  1867;  Sarah  T.,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1868,  dead;  Eva  E.,  March  26, 
1871;  Olive,  March  20,  1874,  dead;  Oscar, 
March  20,  1874,  dead;  Herbert,  December 
1,  1875,  dead.  Mr.  WThitlow  is  a  Patron 
of  Husbandry,  and  a  Democrat;  has  held 
the  position  of  Commissioner  of  Highways 
for  ten  years.  The  father  of  our  subject 
was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  a  farmer,  and 
died  in  1S78;  the  mother  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  died  in  1867.  They  had  three 
children,  subject  being  the  oldest. 

JOHN  P.  YOUNG,  farmer,  P.  O.  Harvel, 
was  born  in  Germany  May  19,  1839.  His 
father  was  Vincent  Young,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  in  1T99;  during  his  life,  followed 
rafting  on  the  River  Rhine,  acting  as  steers- 
man. He  died  October  25,  1851.  Motner 
was  Katharina  (Glaser)  Young;  was  born  in 
Germany  in  1S03,  and  died  in  1865.  She 
was  the  mother  of  ten  children,  of  whom 
John  P.,  our  subject,  was  the  ninth  child. 
His  education  was  limited  to  such  as  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  country  afforded. 
His  early  life  was  spent  at  home.  At  the 
agre  of  eighteen,  he  left  his  home  to  see  the 
New  World.  His  first  settlement  in  America 
was  in  Jersey  County,  111.,  where  he  began 
life  as  a  hired  hand  upon  a  farm;  he  remained 
here  one  year.  In  1858,  he  removed  to  New 
Orleans,  where  he  worked  unloading  cars  for 
one  winter,  when  he  returned  to  Jersey 
County  for  one  year,  following  farming  again. 
In  1859,  he  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where  he 
followed  farming  and  other  different  kinds 
of  work.  In  the  spring  of  1860  he  returned 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Montgomery  County, 
where  he  rented  a  farm  for  three  years.  In 
the  fall  of  1863,  he  removed  to  Macon 
County,  111.,  where  he  also  rented  a  farm.  In 
1865,  he  removed  to  Decatur  and  engaged  in 
meat  market  business  for  one  year.      In  1866, 


he  returned  to  Montgomery  County,  where 
he  again  took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a 
farm  life,  where  he  has  since  remained.  By 
his  energy  and  business  habits  he  succeeded 
in  saving  enough  funds  to  buy  him  a  place 
of  eighty  acres,  all  of  which  has  been  im- 
proved by  Mr.  Young.  He  commenced  life 
a  poor  man,  and  by  his  own  unaided  efforts 
he  has  succeeded  in  gainiog  a  good  prop- 
erty and  a  name  and  reputation  which  is 
beyond  reproach,  being  well  worthy  of  the 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  neigh- 
bors. He  was  married  in  1867,  in  De- 
catur, to  Miss  Stefania  Fehr,  a  native 
of  Germany,  born  in  December,  1843.  She 
is  the  mother  of  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  now  living,  viz.,  Frank,  Mary  E.,  Annie 
K. ,  Mena,  Sophia  K.,  John  P.;  Frederick 
G.  is  dead.  Mr.  Young  is  now  holding  the 
office  of  School  Director.  Religiously,  him- 
self and  family  are  connected  with  the  Cath- 
olic Church.  Politically,  his  sympathies  are 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

ORSON  YOUNG,  mechanic,  Harvel,  was 
born  in  August,  1810,  in  Otsego  County,  N. 
Y.,  to  Elam  and  Irene  (Eaton)  Young.  His 
father  was  born  near  Ballston  Springs,  N.  Y., 
and  during  his  life  followed  his  profession 
in  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  served 
through  the  war  of  1812.  He  died  in 
Oregon,  several  years  ago.  His  wife,  and 
mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Otsego 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  died  in  Oregon;  she 
has  also  been  dead  many  years.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  six  boys 
and  two  girls,  Orson  Young  being  the  oldest 
child.  He  was  brought  to  Clermont  County, 
Ohio,  by  his  parents  when  but  six  years  of 
age.  Here  he  received  such  an  education  as 
the  common  schools  afforded.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen,  he  apprenticed  himself  at  the  trade  of 
cloth  dressing  in  the  factory  of  Timothy 
Sprague,  and  remained  three  years,  but,  be- 


258 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ing  more  adapted  to  mechanical  tools,  gave 
up  his  trade  and  followed  that  of  a  carpenter. 
In  the  summer  of  1853,  he  removed  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  111. ,  and  entered  320  acres 
of  wild  prairie,  he  being  among  the  early 
settlers  of  that  county.  In  1877,  he  removed 
from  his  farm  to  the  town  of  Harvel,  his 
present  residence,  where  he  is  engaged  in 
wao-on-makinf.  From  1853  until  1877,  in 
Montgomery  County,  he  worked  at  the  car- 
penter's trade,  and  was  the  builder  of  many 
pioneer  churches  and  dwellings.  He  is  a 
man  of  good  moral  habits,  and  has  the  esteem 
of  all  well-disposed  citizens  of  the  commun- 
ity. In  1878,  he  was  elected  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  which  office  he  filled  to  the  en- 
tire satisfaction  of  the  community.  He  has 
been  twice  married.     The  first  time  in  Cler- 


mont County.  Ohio,  to  Miss  Hannah  Burnett, 
April  28,  1833.  She  was  born  in  Clermont 
County,  Ohio,  April  13,  1810,  and  died  in 
1846.  The  second  time,  he  married  Miss 
Sarah  Hall,  May  31,  1846,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land; she  was  born  in  1S24.  By  his  first 
marriage  he  had  five  children,  Elizabeth  A. , 
residing  now  in  Ohio;  Sarah  E..  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Indiana;  Mary  J.,  Irene  and  William 
B.,  who  are  dead.  By  his  second  marriage 
he  has  had  sis  children,  Samuel  H.,  a  resi- 
dent of  Montgomery  County;  Edmond  B. 
and  George  D.,  of  Iowa,  and  Matilda,  of 
Montana,  John  and  James  O.,  who  are  dead. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Young  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church ,  he  having  been  a  member 
for  forty -five  years. 


PITTMAM    TOWNSHIP. 


259 


PITTMAN  TOWNSHIP. 


ALBERT  BURNET,  retired  farmer,  Ray- 
mond, was  born  in  New  York  City  May  17, 
1812,  to  "William  and  Catharine  (Hutching- 
son)  Burnet.     He  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in 
1787;  during  bis  former  life,  worked  at  the 
trade  of  a   carpenter,  and  for  several  years 
previous  to  bis  deatb  followed  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  farmer;  be  died  in  1849,  in  his  na- 
tive State;  he  was  of  English  descent.      She 
was   born  in  Scotland  in  1791,  and  died  in 
1856;  she  was  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
of   whom  Albert  was  the  fifth  child.     He  re- 
mained with  his  parents  till  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,    receiving  such    an    education    as   the 
common  schools  of  his  native  State  afforded; 
when  he  left  home,  he  apprenticed  himself  at 
the  blacksmith's  trade  in  a  small  town  where 
now  is  the  city  of  Newark;  here  he  remained 
until    1851,    when    he    removed    to    Jersey 
County,  111.,  where  he   worked   at  his  trade 
for  one  year  and  six  months;  he  then  removed 
to  Alton,  Madison  Co.,  111.;  again  worked  at 
his  trade  for  one  year  and  a  half;  he  then,  in 
the  spring  of   1854,  removed  to  Montgomery 
County  and  entered  100  acres  of  wild  prairie; 
here  he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits;  by  his  energy  and  business, 
he  succeeded  in  accumulating  a  good   prop- 
erty and  a  name  and  reputation  which  are 
beyond  reproach ;  he  is  now  the  owner  of  240 
acres.     In  1835,  in  New  York  City,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Cook,  a  native  of 
New  Jersey;  she  was  born  in  1815,  May  1,  to 
Samuel  and  Mary  (King)  Cook.      Mrs.  Burnet 
is  the  mother  of  eight  children,  five  of  whom 
are   living,  viz.:     Sarah  C,  now  the  .wife  of 
"W.    S.   Palmer  and    residing    in  Litchfield; 


James  M.,  now  a  resident  of  Pitman  Town- 
ship, Montgomery  County;  Jane  Elizabeth, 
at  home;  Henry  Cory,  at  home;  Oswald  Jo- 
seph, at  home.  Mr.  Burnet  has  held  office  of 
School  Commissioner.  Mr.  Burnet  and  fam- 
ily are  religiously  connected  with  the  M.  E. 
Church,  he  having  joined  the  church  in  1828; 
politically,  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party. 

REV.    JOHN    R.    BARBEE,    clergyman, 
Girard,  son  of  John  and  Mary  (Ray)  Barbee, 
was  born  in  Green   County,  Ky.,  December 
26,  1828,  where  also  he  was  raised,  educated 
and  married.     His  marriage  to  Miss  Nannie, 
daughter  of  John  and  Hila  (Rogers)  Bottom, 
was  celebrated  November  24,  1S52,  in  Taylor 
County,  Ky.     In  the  fall  of   1804,  Mr.  Bar- 
bee  moved  into  Pitman  Township,  Montgom- 
ery Co.,  111.,  where,  about  the  same  time,  he 
bought  a  farm,  comprising  103  acres  of  very 
rich   land,  well   drained,   and  containing  an 
abundant  supply  of  stock  water;  he  has  quite 
recently  erected  on  these  premises  a  fine  two- 
story  frame  dwelling  house.     Mr.  Barbee  has 
a  famil}  of  six  children — Mary  Ray,  the  wife 
of  William  Howland,  residents  of  Montgom- 
ery County;  Hila.  the  wife  of  Faris  Howland. 
residents  of  Pike  County;  Joseph  Eller,  John 
Waller,  Elias  William  and   Lilla  May.      Mr. 
Barbee  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the 
Baptist  Church  about  185S,  while  residing  in 
Kentucky;  he  is  regarded  by  the  public  as 
devoted,   talented   and  pious;    to  this   senti- 
ment we  give  approbation,    and  add,  as   an 
opinion  of  our  own,  that  he  is  one  of  the  most 
indiistrious  workers  to   be  found  in  his  de- 
nomination.    Mr.  Barbee  has  a  family  record 


260 


BIOGKAPHICAL 


of  which  he  has  a  right  to  feel  proud;  the  re- 
lationship has  been  patriotically  represented 
in  every  war  of  the  nation  from  the  Revolu- 
tion to  the  late  civil  war  of  the  great  rebell- 
ion; his  grandfather,  Elias  Barbee,  a  seventh 
son,  and  six  of  his  brothers,  were  soldiers  in 
the  war  which  gave  independence  to  the 
American  colonies  and  freedom  to  the  world; 
Joshua  and  Thomas  are  the  only  names  of 
these  brothers  handed  down.  Elias  raised 
four  sons — John.  Elias,  William  and  Thomas. 
Of  these,  John,  Mr.  Barbee's  father,  with  his 
tvncle,  Col.  Joshua  Barbee,  were  soldiers  in 
the  war  of  1812;  John  was  in  the  engage- 
ment in  which  the  celebrated  Indian  chief, 
Tecumseh,  fell.  John  Barbee,  Mr.  Barbee's 
immediate  ancestor,  raised  a  family  of  nine 
children — Mrs.  Lucy  (Benjamin)  Thurman, 
of  La  Rue  County,  Ky. ;  Catharine;  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  (David)  Mears,  of  Green  County, 
Ky. ;  Mrs.  Julia  (Thomas)  Lendrum,  of  Mc- 
Lean County,  Ky. ;  Mary;  Mrs.  Lydia  (John) 
Robinson,  of  Taylor  County,  Ky. ;  Elias,  de- 
ceased; Joseph,  of  California;  and  John  R., 
of  this  sketch.  Elias  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Mexican  war,  and  was  wounded  in  the  battle 
of  Buena  Vista,  in  the  same  charge  in  which 
the  brave  Col.  John  J.  Hardin  was  killed. 
Mr.  Barbee  himself  was  a  Chaplain  during 
our  late  civil  strife,  for  the  Thirteenth  Ken- 
tucky Infantry,  and  was  in  the  siege  of  Knox- 
ville.  The  writer  of  this  history  has  known 
this  family  for  a  number  of  years,  and  takes 
pleasure  here  to  testify  to  their  excellent 
standing  and  character,  and  heartily  wishes 
that  the  old  friendship  anil  strong  ties  of 
sympathy  may  continue. 

CHARLES  H.  BURTON,  farmer,  P.  O. 
McVey,  was  born  in  Greene  County,  111. ,  near 
Greenfield,  to  William  L.  and  Rachael  (Dav- 
idson) Burton,  July  25.  1833;  he  was  born  in 
Virginia  July  3,  1797;  emigrated  to  Ken- 
tucky, and  subsequently  removed  to  Illinois 


about  the  year  1825,  and  settled  in  Greene 
County,  111.,  near  White  Hall,  in  1829  or  1830; 
here  he  remained  until  about  1858,  when  he 
removed  to  Montgomery  County  and  resided 
with  his  son,  our  subject,  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  October  5,  1S62;  dur- 
ing his  life,  followed  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer;  it  is  supposed  he  was  of  German  de- 
scent; his  wife,  and  mother  of  our  subject, 
was  born  in  Maryland  January  9,  1798.  and 
died  January  21,  1852;  they  were  the  parents 
of  ten  children — five  boys  and  five  girls,  viz.: 
Henry  James  D.  (dead),  Mary  Jane  (widow 
of  Nathan  T.  Maxtield),  Elizabeth  C.  (wife  of 
William  F.  Carrico,  of  Kansas).  David  Par- 
ker (dead),  Martha  A.  (first  wife  of  William 
Carrico— dead),  Margaret  K.  (second  wife  of 
Volentine  Caswell;  she  is  now  dead),  John 
F.  (dead),  Charles  H.  (our  subject),  Sarah 
M.  (dead),  William  A.  (dead).  Charles  H. 
Burton  received  his  education  at  Greenfield, 
from  the  common  schools  and  the  Greenfield 
Academy;  he  remained  with  his  parents  to  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  assisting  in  tilling  the  soil 
of  his  father's  farm;  he  then  embarked  on  his 
career  in  life  as  a  school-teacher,  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  removed  when  he 
left  his  home;  he  taught  during  the  winters 
of  1855  and  1856;  in  the  summer  of  1S57, 
bought  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  and  began 
farming;  his  farm  was  located  in  Section  16 
of  Pitman  Township ;  here  he  remained  until 
February,  1859,  when  he  bought  a  farm  ad- 
joining his  present  residence,  where  he  re- 
sided until  the  spring  of  1863,  when  he  re- 
moved to  his  present  place,  where  he  has 
since  remained,  engaged  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits;  he  is  now  the  owner  of  100  acres  of 
well-improved  land,  and  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  On  October  15,  1856,  in  Mont- 
gomery, he  married  Samantha  Rogers;  she 
was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  April  Is, 
1835,  to  Benjamin  and  Lydia  (Snow)  Rogers, 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


261 


who  were  natives  of  Kentucky.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Burton  have  had  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  now  living:  James  O.,  born  November  5, 
1857;  Lydia  Estella,  December  9, 1858;  Rosa, 
July  9,  1S60;  George  E.,  January  26,  1862; 
John  A.,  April  6,  1863,  died  September  10, 
1864;  William  W.,  October  25,  1867;  Benja- 
min R.,  June  28,  1872.  Self  and  family  are  re- 
ligiously connected  with  the  M.  E.  Church. 
Air.  Burton  was  elected  County  Supervisor  in 
1877,  and  served  three  years;  School  Treas- 
urer since  1869,  and  still  holds  office;  High- 
way Commissioner  at  present;  politically,  a 
Republican;  he  is  a  member  of  Grange 
Lodge,  No.  970,  in  Pitman  Township,  and 
called  Washington  Lodge.  But  three  of  Mr. 
Burton's  children  are  at  home. 

CHARLES  GILLMAN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser.  P.  O.  Girard,  was  born  in  Ger- 
many, July  17,  1835,  to  Charles  and  Han- 
nah Gillman.  His  early  life  was  spent 
in  receiving  a  common-school  education; 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  was  hired  out  to 
work  on  a  farm  by  his  father,  as  a  shepherd, 
tending  sheep;  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
bade  his  home  farewell  and  emigrated  to 
America;  he  made  his  first  settlement  in  San- 
gamon County,  111.,  and  was  under  the  em- 
ploy of  Charles  Hoppin  for  over  five  years; 
by  his  close  attention  to  business  and  his 
economy,  he  was  able,  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
to  buy  360  acres  of  land  in  Pitman  Town- 
ship. Montgomery  County;  here  he  com- 
menced farming  in  1863  on  his  own  account; 
by  his  energy  and  business  habits,  he  has 
succeeded  in  accumulating  about  nine  hun- 
dred and  thirty  acres  of  land,  all  lying  in 
one  tract  in  Pitman  Township,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  ten  acres  of  timber;  he  is  now 
principally  engaged  in  stock-raising,  making 
cattle  and  hogs  a  specialty,  although  he  raises 
largo  quantities  of  all  other  kinds  of  stock; 
he  is  now  the  owner  of  over  two  hundred  head 


of  cattle;  in  about  1872,  he  enlarged 
his  residence  making  it  very  large  and  com- 
modious. In  1862,  in  Sangamon  County,  111., 
he  married  Miss  Anna  Hantla;  she  was  born 
in  181(5  in  Germany;  she  is  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living 
— Frank,  Willie,  Anna,  Henry,  Carrie,  George 
Emma  and  John.  He  has  served  the  people 
as  School  Director.  Himself  and  wife  are 
religiously  connected  with  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Mr.  Gillman  is  strongly  in  favor  of 
the  Republican  party. 

WILLIAM  R.  HOUCK,  farmer,  P.  O.  Ray- 
mond. The  father  of  this  gentleman  was 
Ross  Houck;  he  was  born  March  4,  1804.  in 
Pennsylvania;  here  he  received  a  limited 
common-school  education;  he  remained  with 
his  parents  to  the  age  of  sixteen,  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm.  At  the 
age  of  sixteen,  he  left  his  home,  with  a  pack 
on  his  back,  with  only  25  cents  in  his  pocket, 
to  embark  on  his  career  in  life,  it  being  his 
intention  to  settle  in  the  far  West;  he  first 
stopped  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  worked  at 
the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  which  he  had  par- 
tially learned  before  he  left  his  home;  here 
he  remained  for  one  year,  when  he  engaged 
with  Virgil  Hickox,  at  a  salary  of  $50  per 
month  and  expenses  paid,  selling  books;  he 
remained  in  the  employ  of  this  gentleman  for 
about  two  years,  during  the  time,  by  his  econ- 
omy and  business  habits,  succeeding  in  accu- 
mulating enough  funds  to  enable  him  to  start 
in  the  same  business  on  his  own  account, 
which  ho  did  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  where 
he  continued  successfully  for  a  term  of  five 
years;  during  the  time,  he  had  accumulated 
about  $5,000,  with  which  he  entered  land  in 
Madison  County,  improved  land,  bought  stock, 
and  also  opened  a  general  merchandising 
store;  he  remained  in  Madison  County  for 
several  years,  but  finally  removed  to  Alton, 
where  he  filled  official  offices,  which  took  the 


262 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


most  of  bis  time:  in  1S43,  he  entered  160 
acres  in  Macoupin  County,  which  he  improved, 
and  removed  his  family  to  the  same  in  1845; 
he  added  to  this  tract  until  he  owned  380 
acres  in  that  county;  in  about  1850,  he  en- 
tered 840  acres  in  Montgomery,  which  he  had 
improved,  but  at  the  time  made  his  home  in 
Macoupin  County;  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
he  had  accumulated  1,140  acres  of  land;  his 
death  occurred  December  24,  1868;  he  was 
one  of  Macoupin  County's  most  successful 
farmers  and  business  men.  His  wife,  and 
mother  of  our  subject,  was  Lucinda  Ann 
(Gunterman)  Houck;  she  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  born  November  27,  1811,  and  is 
now  residing  in  Macoupin  County  upon  the 
homestead  farm:  she  is  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  all  of  whom  are  alive,  William  R. 
being  the  oldest  child;  he  was  born  in  Ed- 
wardsville,  Madison  Co.,  111.,  January  21, 
1833;  he  received  his  education  from  the 
common  schools  of  Alton,  Woodburn,  and  the 
McKendree  College  at  Lebanon.  At  the  age 
of  nineteen,  he  left  his  home,  went  to  Bun- 
ker Hill,  111.,  and  embarked  on  his  career  in 
life  as  a  clerk  in  a  store;  he  remained  here 
until  1854,  when  he  started  a  general  mer- 
chandising store  at  Edwardsville,  111.,  on  his 
own  account,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  John 
Prickett;  in  1851),  he  sold  his  interest  to  his 
partner,  when  he  returned  to  Bunker  Hill, 
and.  with  Mi-.  James  Rider,  bought  out  the 
interest  of  his  old  employer,  T.  J.  Van  Dora ; 
here  he  remained  for  a  period  of  twelve  years, 
dm'ing  which  time  he  had  purchased  the  in- 
terest of  his  partner;  in  1862,  he  purchased 
a  flouring-mill,  which  he  ran  in  partnership 
with  P.  C.  Huggins  until  about  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  he  took  an  interest  in  a  store 
at  Vicksburg;  he  remained  here  about  one 
year,  when  he  returned  to  Bunker  Hill  and 
engaged  in  farming  on  the  old  homestead; 
in  1870,  he  removed  to  Montgomery  County 


and  settled  on  a  farm  of  eighty  acres,  where 
he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  agricult- 
ural pursuits:  by  his  energy  and  business,  he 
has  succeeded  in  accumulating  200  acres  of 
land,  all  of  which  is  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  In  Macoupin  County,  October 
8,  1855,  he  married  Miss  Lucinda  A.  Allard, 
a  native  of  Cape  Cod,  she  born  June  3,  1836; 
she  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  living — Carrie  L.,  July  18,  1856; 
Edward  R.,  March  28,  1858;  William  A., 
July  8,  1859:  Elniira  L.,  November  4,  1861: 
Mary  E.,  February  24,  1864;  Henrietta  V. 
D.  and  Thomas  V.  D.  (twins).  April  17,  1866; 
Ross,  July  4,  1868;  Jessie  M.,  May  12,  1870; 
Elmira  L.  and  Jessie  M.  are  dead.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  A,  F.  &  A.  M.  Lodge,  No.  151, 
at  Bunker  Hill;  in  politics,  is  identified  with 
the  Democratic  party;  self  and  family  are 
connected  with  the  Methodist  Church. 

JOHN  HAYNES,  retired  farmer,  Atwater, 
was  born  in  Harrison  County,  Ind,  May  6, 
1816.  to  William  and  Ann  (Toty)  Haynes; 
he  was  born  in  Person  County,  N.  C,  July 
28,  1790;  he  was  a  farmer  by  occupation; 
from  North  Carolina  he  went  to  Kentucky, 
where  he  remained  until  after  he  was  married, 
and  then  removed  to  Indiana,  where  he  re- 
mained about  three  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  returned  to  Kentucky,  remaining  only 
about  three  years,  when  he  again  returned 
West,  and  located  in  a  portion  of  Morgan 
County  which  is  now  Cass  County,  111. ,  where 
his  death  occurred  the  following  year.  May 
25,  1830;  his  wife  was  also  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  born  in  1791,  November  27;  died 
May  4,  1868;  she  was  the  motber  of  twelve 
children,  all  of  whom,  with  one  exception, 
grew  to  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  of 
whom  John,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
the  fifth  child.  His  early  boyhood  was  spent 
in  assisting  his  father  in  his  agricultural  pur- 
suits; owing  to  the  limited  school  privileges 


FITMAX   TOWNSHIP. 


263 


at  that  early  day,  his  education  was  necessar- 
ily limited;  but  he  has  succeeded,  by  obser- 
vation and  by  contact  with  the  world,  in  re- 
ceiving more  than  an  ordinary  practical  edu- 
cation. At  the  death  of  his  father,  he  assisted 
his  mother  in  the  management  of  the  property 
and  in  the  support  of  the  family;  he  remained 
with  mother  about  three  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  he  apprenticed  himself  to  learn 
the  brick-maker' s  and  brick-mason's  trade, 
which  he  followed  about  twenty -two  years; 
he  eventually  entered  land  in  Morgan  County, 
which  he  sold  a  few  years  later,  and,  in  1855, 
purchased  120  acres  of  the  land  upon  which 
he  has  since  resided,  and  to  which  he  has 
continually  added,  until  he  now  has  the  sat- 
isfaction of  managing  a  farm  consisting  of 
276  acres  of  fine  farm  land,  which  will  com- 
pare with  any  of  the  best  regulated  farms  of 
the  township,  and  places  Mr.  Haynes  in  the 
list  of  practical  farmers;  at  present,  he  is  re- 
tired from  active  labor,  but  still  remains  upon 
the  homestead,  overseeing  the  cultivation  of 
his  land  and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  a  well- 
regulated  life  and  successful  career.  He  was 
married,  in  Morgan  County,  October  18,  1842, 
to  Miss  Harriet  Seymour,  who  was  born  in 
North  Carolina  October  7,  1819;  she  is  the 
mother  of  nine  children,  viz.:  James,  born 
September  '25,  1843;  Sarah  Ann,  born  De- 
cember 8.  1844,  deceased;  Green,  born 
tember  7,  1846;  Mary  Jane,  born  September 
1848  ;  Alexander,  torn  September  28, 
L850;  Charles,  born  November  28, 1852;  an  in- 
fant, born  November  9, 1854,  deceased ;  Henry, 
born  July  12,  1857;  John,  born  November  '28, 
1859 — the  latter  of  whom  is  now  at  home 
with  his  parents.  Mrs.  Haynes  was  thedaugh- 
ter  of  James  P.  and  Levina  (Long)  Seymour, 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  both  deceased. 
Mr.  Haynes  is  not  much  interested  in  politics, 
and  may  be  said  to  be  independent  in  politics, 
and,  as  he  says,  votes  for  men  and  principles. 


WILLIAM  HACKNEY,  retired  farmer. 
Atwater,  born  in  New  York  City  June  30, 
1820,  to  William  and  Margaret  (Kegler) 
Hackney;  he  was  born  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y  . 
July  23,  1789;  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade, 
but,  during  his  life  in  the  East,  worked  in  a 
foundry,  and  was  the  man  who  first  burned 
coal  upon  a  steamboat  for  making  steam;  he 
emigrated  ro  Delhi,  Jersey  Co.,  111.,  in  1836, 
where  he  followed  the  occupation  of  a  black- 
smith; he  died  November  9,  1875,  at  Brigh- 
ton; his  wife,  and  mother  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  March  22.  1794,  and 
died  December  7,  1879;  thoy  were  the  par- 
ents of  nine  children,  of  whom  William  was 
the  second  child,  of  whom  six  are  now  living. 
William  Hackney  was  removed  to  Troy,  N. 
Y..  by  his  pareuts  in  1828,  where  he  received 
his  education  from  the  high  schools  of  Troy; 
at  the  ase  of  thirteen,  he  began  his  career  in 
life  by  working  as  a  cabin  boy,  and  afterward 
acted  as  cook,  upon  the  Hudson  River;  in 
1830,  with  his  parents,  removed  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Jersey  County,  and  again  fol- 
lowed life  on  the  river  as  deck  hand  and 
watchman  for  about  nine  years;  he  then  com- 
menced farming  in  Jersey  County,  on  a  farm 
of  eighty  acres;  here  he  remained  until  1863, 
when  he  removed  to  his  present  residence  and 
bought  250  acres,  a  part  of  which  was  in 
timber  and  part  prairie,  lying  in  Macoupin 
and  Montgomery  Counties;  by  his  energy  and 
business  habits,  succeeded  in  accumulating  a 
good  property,  name  and  reputation  which 
stands  beyond  reproach;  he  is  now  the  owner 
of  about  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres 
of  land,  all  of  which  is  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  and  has  all  the  necessary  im- 
provements: upon  his  place  he  makes  grain 
and  stock  a  specialty.  In  1842,  December  1, 
in  Jersey  County,  he  married  Caroline  M. 
Wilkins,  a  native  of  Greene  County,  111.,  born 
February  8,  1824;  she  is  a  daughter  of  John 


•264 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  Elizabeth  (Lurton)  Wilkins,  who  were 
natives  of  Kentucky,  and  among  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Greene  County.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hack- 
ney were  the  parents  of  nine  children,  two  of 
whom  are  dead — Margaret  E.,  Sarah  T.,  Jo- 
seph, Matthew,  John  W.,  Carey  O.,  Henry  D., 
"Udolpho  and  Katie  G.  Mr.  Hackney  is  an 
active  member  of  the  fraternity  of  A. ,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  No.  69'2,  at  Raymond.  In  politics,  his 
sympathies  are  with  the  Democratic  party. 

JEDUTHUN  B.  NEWELL,  retired  farmer, 
P.  O.  Girard,  son  of  Asahel  and  Elizabeth 
(Bushnell)  Newell,  was  born  in  Rome,  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  13,1811;  the  family  came  to 
Greene  County,  III,  in  1832;  they  moved  to 
Calhoun  in  1831,  where  they  remained  about 
ten  years,  during  which  time  the  mother  died; 
after  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Newell' s  fa- 
ther lived  among  his  children  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life;  he  died  December  8, 
1877;  they  both  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  he 
dying  in  his  eighty-fourth  year,  and  she  in 
her  sixty-fifth;  they  were  members  of  the 
church,  and  each  had  the  reputation  of  being 
a  devoted  Christian.  Mr.  Newell  bought  his 
first  land  in  Calhoun  County,  a  tract  of 
ninety-eight  acres,  lying  on  the  banks  of  the 
Illinois  River.  November  27,  1834,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Eunice,  daughter  of  Chuza  and 
Sarah  (Bacon)  Bushnell,  by  whom  he  had 
four  children — William  and  Sarah,  died  in 
iufancy;  Ira  B.,  died  at  forty  years  of  age; 
and  Alonzo  C.  His  second  wife,  Lucinda 
Underwood,  was  born  in  Harrison  County, 
Ky.,  February  5,  1817,  daughter  of  Francis 
and  Margaret  (Jarvis)  Underwood,  he  a  na- 
tive of  Shrojjshire,  England,  died  in  1S53; 
she,  born  in  Fayette  County,  Ky.,  in  1784, 
died  in  1857;  from  this  second  marriage,  four 
-children  have  been  born  to  them — Moses  A., 
a  teacher  by  profession;  and  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Hoovebeck,  both  of  Harvel  Township,  Mont- 
gomery   County;    Lucy   E.   and   William  R. 


died  in  infancy.  In  1844,  Mr.  Newell  sold 
his  farm  in  Calhoun  County,  and  bought  an- 
other farm  in  Greene  County  about  five  miles 
southwest  of  Carrollton,  on  which  he  moved, 
and  where  he  resided  till  1852,  at  which  time 
he  came  to  Montgomery  County,  Pitman 
Township,  buying  a  farm  of  280  acres  of 
land  where  he  now  lives;  this  farm  is  well 
improved,  and  has  a  fine,  rich,  productive 
soil.  Mr.  Newell  and  wife  are  both  members 
of  the  Methodist  Church,  in  which  denomi- 
nation they  have  good  standing;  as  citizens, 
they  rank  high.  Mi'.  Newell  has  been,  and 
is  yet,  rather  a  prominent  man  in  society, 
and  whose  judgment  is  revered;  he  served 
three  terms  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  while  in 
Calhoun  County,  and  three  terms  since  in 
Montgomery  County;  in  fact,  he  held  the 
office  as  long  as  he  would  have  it  at  all;  his 
judgments  were  generally  sustained  in  higher 
courts.  The  Newells  are  supposed  to  be  of 
English  origin;  it  is  not  now  definitely  known 
when  they  came  to  this  country;  they  were 
here,  however,  before  our  independence  as  a 
nation.  Mr.  Newell' s  grandfather,  Solomon 
Newell,  lived  and  died  in  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut. March  4,  1784,  Asahel,  Mr.  New- 
ell's  father,  emigrated,  after  his  marriage,  to 
Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  about  1807;  he  raised 
a  family  of  seven  children — Isaac,  Jeduthun, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Alonson)  Twitchell,  Asahel, 
Mrs.  Clarissa  (Thomas)  Reynolds,  Mrs.  Louisa 
(Charles)  Thurp  and  Mrs.  Ruth  (Solomon) 
Despain;  Isaac  died  when  about  twenty-three 
years  old;  three  of  these  children  are  now 
living — Jeduthun,  Mrs.  Reynolds,  of  Macou- 
pin County,  and  Mrs.  Despain,  of  Granite 
City,  U.  T. 

JOSEPH  H.  PITMAN,  retired  farmer, 
Raymond,  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1822, 
October  19,  to  Sanmel  and  Fannie  (Phillips) 
Pitman;  he  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1795; 
during:  his  former  life,  followed  the  trade  of 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


265 


a  weaver,  but,  during  the  latter  years  of  his 
life,  followed  farming;  he  removed  to  the 
State  of  Illinois  in  1839,  and  settled  in  Jer- 
sey County,  which  was  at  that  time  Greene 
County;  here  he  remained  to  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  lS5.r>;  she  was  born 
in  New  Jersey  in  about  1797,  and  died  in  her 
native  State  in  1829:  she  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  Joseph  H.  being  the  fourth 
child;  his  school  education  was  very  limited, 
and  only  such  as  the  common  schools 
afforded;  he  has  received  the  most  of  his 
learning  by  observation  and  study  by  himself ; 
he  remained  with  his  father,  assisting  in 
managing  the  farm,  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
and  remained  upon  the  farm  ten  years  after 
his  father's  death,  supporting  and  caring  for 
his  father's  family.  In  the  spring  of  1866, 
he  removed  to  Montgomery  County  and  set- 
tled upon  his  tract  of  160  acres  of  unculti- 
vated prairie  land,  which  he  had  bought  sev- 
eral years  previous;  here  he  has  since  re- 
mained, and  made  all  necessary  improvements 
upon  his  farm,  until  now  it  is  in  a  high  state 
of  cultivation;  in  1879,  he  rented  his  land,  it 
being  his  desire  to  retire  from  active  labor, 
having,  by  his  energy  and  business,  accumu- 
lated a  good  property,  and  a  name  and  repu- 
tation which  stand  beyond  reproach.  Mr. 
Pitman  has  tilled  many  township  offices,  and 
has  been  serving  the  people  as  County  Su- 
pervisor for  eight  years,  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  all  well-disposed  citizens.  In  pol- 
itics, his  sympathies  are  with  the  Republican 
party.  The  township  of  Pitman,  of  which 
he  is  a  resident,  was  named  from  Mr.  Joseph 
H.  Pitman. 

DANIEL  C.  RICHARDS,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Raymond.  The  father  of  this  gentleman  was 
Samuel  S.  Richards;  he  was  born  in  Lima, 
Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  February  22,  1818, 
where  he  was  educated  and  brought  up  on  a 
farm.      In  1836,  he  removed  to  Illinois,  set- 


tled at  Roekford.  Winnebago  County,  where 
he  has  been  engaged  in  farming  and  mer- 
chandising, giving  his  attention  principally 
to  the  former;  he  is  the  owner  of  160  acres 
of  land  at  the  pres.mt  time,  he  having  accu- 
mulated, during  his  life,  a  large  tract  of 
land,  all  of  which  he  improved;  he  is  a  son 
of  Daniel  Richards,  a  native  of  New  York. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  was  Sarah  Brown, 
who  was  born  in  North  Carolina  February  19, 
1818;  she  was  brought  to  Illinois  by  her  un- 
cle, Aaron  Felts,  in  1836,  and  settled  in  Win- 
nebago County,  111. ;  she  remained  with  her 
uncle,  Aaron  Felts,  and  her  brother.  William 
Brown,  to  the  time  of  her  marriage,  which 
occurred  in  1837;  she  is  the  mother  of  four- 
teen children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living 
— Daniel  C,  our  subject;  Oscar  L..  of  Rock- 
ford,  a  farmer;  Clara  M. .  now  at  home.  Mrs. 
Richards,  the  mother  of  our  subject,  is  the 
daughter  of  Daniel  Brown,  who  was  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  and  was  of  German  de- 
scent. D.  C.  Richards  was  born  in  Harrison 
Township.  Winnebago  Co.,  111.,  August  11, 
1838;  his  early  life  was  spent  in  receiving 
such  "education  as  the  common  schools  of  his 
native  county  afforded,  and  assisting  in  till- 
ing the  soil  of  his  father's  farm,  which  at 
that  time  was  very  wild  and  unimproved.  At 
the  age  of  twenty -one,  he  left  home  and  moved 
to  Michigan,  where  he  embarked  on  his  ca- 
reer in  life  as  a  farm  hand,  and,  during  the 
two  years'  stay  in  Michigan,  his  time  was 
divided  in  farming,  teaching  school  and  at- 
tending a  select  school  taught  by  a  Miss 
Brown  ;  the  opportunity  afforded  him  a 
chance  to  complete  bis  education,  which  he 
improved.  In  the  summer  of  1861,  he  re- 
turned to  his  home,  and  taught  school  the 
following  winter,  when  he  entered  the  Du- 
rand  Academy,  at  Durand,  in  his  native 
county^,  for  a  period  of  four  months,  and,  on 
the  5th  of   July,  in  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the 


26C 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


S event)' -first   Illinois    Infantry,    under  com- 
mand of   Col.  Gilbert;  he  served  in  this  reg- 
iment for  three  months,  at  the  expiration  of 
which   time  he  returned   home.      After    the 
battle  of  Stony  River,    he  was   engaged    as 
clerk    in    the    Quartermaster*  s    Department, 
and   remained  in  the  employ  of  Quartermas- 
ter's  Department  at  Murfreesboro,  Nashville 
and  Clarksville,  Tenn.,  until  about  the  1st  of 
April,  1865;  he  then  returned  to  St.  Louis. 
and  subsequently  to  Pitman  Township,  Mont- 
gomery  County,  and   settled  on  his  present 
residence  June  1,1865;  he  remained  here  for 
about  one  month,  and  returned  to  his  home 
in   Winnebago   County,   where   he  remained 
until  fall  of  the  same  year,  when  he  located 
permanently  on  his  place,   October  3,  1865; 
here  he  has  since  remained,  engaged  in  stock- 
raising  and  farming;   in  stock-raising  he  has 
been  engaged  cpiite  extensively,  at  times  keep- 
ing about  two  hundred  head.     He  is  now  the 
owner  of   eighty  acres  of  land,  but  generally 
works  about  three  hundred;  his  farm  is  well 
improved,  and  under  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion.    At  St.  Louis,  October  25,  1864,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Hannah  P.  Houck,  a  native  of  Ma- 
coupin  County,  111.,  who   was  born  June  14, 
1839;  she  is  the  daughter  of  Ross  and  Lu- 
cinda  A.  (Gun terman)  Houck;  he  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania;  she  was  of  Kentucky.      Mr. 
and   Mrs.    Richards   are  the    parents  of  one 
child,  Frank  Claud;  he  was  born  March  9, 
1882.     Mr.  Richards  is  now  serving  the  peo- 
ple on    his   second   term  as   Justice  of    the 
Peace;  he  also  has  been  School  Director  for 
a  number  of  years.     Mr.  Richards  is  a  mi  -in- 
ber  of  the  fraternity  of  A,  F.  &  A.  M.,  No.  166, 
at  Rockford;  of  the  Grangers'  Lodge,  Maple 
Grove    Grange,   at   Pitman    Township;    was 
Master  of  the  same  for  several  years,  and  Sec- 
retary of    County  Council   for  several  years; 
in  poiltics.  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party;  he  and  wife  are  religiously  connected 


with  the  Baptist  Church;  he  has  been  Clerk 
of  the  Baptist  Church  for  about  nine  years, 
since  its  organization.  Mr.  Richards  has 
been  actively  engaged  in  Sunday  school  work 
and  temperance  work. 

JAMES  ROGERS,  farmer,  P.  O.  McVey, 
was  born  in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  January 
11,  1838;  his  early  life  was  spent  in  receiv- 
ing such  an  education  as  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  county  afforded,  and  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  years,  he  was  brought  to 
Montgomery  County  by  his  parents,  who  set- 
tled on  the  same  farm  he  is  now  residing  on; 
he  remained  with  his  parents  to  the  age  of 
twenty- four,  when  he  married  and  entered 
upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer,  at  which 
he  still  continues,  having,  by  his  industry 
and  business  habits,  succeeded  in  accumulat- 
ing ninety-five  acres  of  land,  all  of  which 
(eighty -five  improved  and  ten  acres  of  tim- 
ber) is  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation;  in 
1878,  upon  his  farm  he  erected,  by  his  own 
design,  a  handsome  frame  cottage;  upon  his 
farm  he  makes  stock-raising  and  all  general 
crops  a  specialty;  his  farm  is  located  mostly 
in  Montgomery  County,  his  timber  land  be- 
ing in  Macoupin  County.  The  father  of  this 
gentleman,  Benjamin  K.  Rogers,  was  born  in 
Greene  County,  Ky.,  January  30,  1815;  emi- 
grated with  his  parents  to  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  in  the  fall  of  1830;  his  life  was 
spent  in  following  the  occupation  of  farming; 
was  a  man  who  stood  high  in  the  estimation 
of  his  fellow-men;  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
he  was  holding  the  office  of  School  Treasurer, 
and,  in  Macoupin  County,  served  several 
terms  as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  as  many 
terms  in  Montgomery.  County ;  he  joined  the 
M.  E.  Church  in  1850,  and,  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  was  a  faithful  member;  he  lived 
to  see  all  his  children  but  one  in  the  church; 
his  death  occurred  December  11,  1868;  dur 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


2G7 


ing  his  life,  he  succeeded  in  accumulating 
a  good  farm,  all  of  which  he  improved;  his 
wife,  and  mother  of  our  subject,  was  Lydia 
Snow,  who  was  born  in  Simpson  County,  Ky., 
May  26,  1816,  and  died  January  19,  1850; 
she  was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  seven 
of  whom  are  now  living,  James  Rogers  being 
the  third  child.  He  was  married,  in  Green- 
field, Greene  County,  November  13,  1861,  to 
Eglantine,  the  daughter  of  Valentine  and 
Louisa  (Madison)  Caswell;  Mrs.  Eogers  was 
born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  December  29, 
L843;  her  father  was  born  in  Shawneetown, 
111.,  June  12,  1820;  he  has,  during  his  life, 
been  engaged  in  farming,  but  is  now  retired, 
and  residing  in  Greenfield,  111. ;  his  wife  was 
born  in  Ohio  June  8,  1824,  and  died  March 
7,  1S53.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rogers  are  the  par- 
ents of  four  children — Rollie  B.  is  now  the 
wife  of  Edgar  Massa,  of  Macoupin  County; 
Dora  M.,  Frederick  O.,  Grant  V.,  at  home. 
Mr.  Rogers  is  now  serving  the  people  as 
School  Director  of  the  township;  self  and 
family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Church ; 
politically,  he  is  identified  with  the  Repub- 
licans. 

JOHN  D  STREET,  retired  farmer,  Girard, 
was  born  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  August  10, 
1820,  to  David  and  Catharine  (Duncan) 
Street;  his  early  life  was  spent  in  receiving 
a  common-school  education  and  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm;  he  was 
brought  to  Illinois,  Macoupin  County,  by  his 
parents,  in  1831;  in  1841,  he  left  home  and 
embarked  on  his  career  in  life  as  a  hired 
hand;  in  1842,  he  moved  to  Iowa,  where  he 
remained  four  years,  and,  while  there,  exper 
ieoeed  many  hardships,  such  as  are  found  in 
a  pioneer  life;  one  instance  he  remembers 
of  going  sixty  miles  to  a  mill  to  get  his  corn 
ground,  and,  after  making  the  trip,  found  it 
impossible  to  get  his  grist,  as  the  water  was 
so  high  as  to  prevent  the  running  of  the  mill; 


he  returned,  and,  to  keep  from  starving,  used 
a  coffee-mill  to  grind  corn  enough  to  live  on. 
In  1847,  he  returned  to  Macoupin  County 
and  engaged  in  farming,  which  he  followed 
for  about  one  year,  after  which  he  again 
worked  by  the  month,  or  day,  at  carpentering, 
and,  in  fact,  at  anything  he  could  find  to  do 
and  receive  a  compensation  for  his  labors. 
In  1856,  he  went  to  Texas,  where  he  followed 
hunting;  while  there,  he  bought  600  acres  of 
land,  but  was  defrauded  out  of  it  by  the  last 
rebellion ;  he  returned  to  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  in  1857,  and,  in  1861,  bought  120  acres 
of  unimproved  land  in  Pitman  Township, 
upon  which  he  removed  his  family  in  1862; 
here  he  has  since  remained,  engaged  princi- 
pally in  raising  stock;  his  farm  now  consists 
of  231  acres  of  land,  all  of  which  is  under  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  Mr.  Street  com- 
menced life  a  poor  man;  by  his  honesty,  in 
dustry  and  economy,  he  has  succeeded  in  ac- 
cumulating a  good  property  now,  in  the  later 
years  of  his  life,  he  is  surrounded  with  those 
comforts  and  enjoying  those  pleasures  that 
are  ever  the  result  of  honesty,  industry  and 
economy.  Mr.  Street  was  married,  April  3, 
1862,  to  Mary  E.  Banning;  she  was  born  in 
Illinois  in  1838;  she  was  the  mother  of  seven 
children,  of  whom  six  are  now  living— An 
drew  T.,  Sarah  C,  John  W.,  Jennie  A., 
Charles  M.,  Antoinette  G.  and  Bessie  Lula, 
all  of  whom  are  at  home.  The  father  of  Mr. 
Street  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1785,  and  died 
in  1855;  he  was  a  farmer  and  stone-mason; 
he  was  among  the  early  settlers  of  Kentucky, 
and  also  of  Illinois ;  his  wife,  and  mother  of 
J.  D.  Street,  was  born  in  Virginia  August 
26,  1788;  was  brought  to  Kentucky  by  her 
parents  when  quite  a  small  child;  she  died 
November  4,  1836;  she  was  the  mother  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  our  subject  was  the 
sixth  child.  In  politics,  Mr.  Street  is  a  Re- 
publican ;     is    a    member    of     Washington 


268 


BIOOUAPHICAL: 


Grange.  Lodge  No.  970,  of  Pitman  Town- 
ship; in  the  lodge,  he  has  acted  as  Treasurer; 
he  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

PETER    STUMP,  farmer,   P.   O.    Girard, 
was  born   in  Hocking  County,  Ohio.  June  1, 
1819,  to  John  and  Catharine  (Fouster)  Stump; 
he  was   born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1797;  was 
brought  to  Hocking  County,  Ohio,  by  his  par- 
ents  when  a  child;  here  he  remained  until 
1857,  when  he  removed  to  Illinois;  during 
his  life,  followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer, 
and   died   in  Montgomery  County  in   1872; 
was  of  German  parentage;    she  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania   in   1807;  her  parents  were  na- 
tives of  Germany;  she  died  in  1852.     They 
were  the  parents  of  twelve  children — six  boys 
and  six   girls — of  whom  Peter  was  the  third 
child.     His  early  life  was   spent  in  receiving 
such  an  education  as  the  common  schools  of 
Hockin<i  Countv.  Ohio,  afforded,  and  assist- 
ing  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm; 
he  remained  at  home  until  he  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  when  he  embarked  on  his  career 
in   life   as   a  hired  hand  in  a  saw-mill.     In 
1852,  he  removed  to  Knox  County,  111.,  where 
he  remained   two  years,   following    farming 
and  working  in  a  saw-mill;  in   1851,  he  re- 
moTed  to  Macoupin  County,  where  he  com- 
menced farming  on  rented  propert}';  by  his 
honesty,  industry  and  economy,  he  succeeded 
in  saving  some  money,  with  which,  in  1862, 
he  bought   160  acres  of  partially   improved 
land;  here  he  has  since  remained,  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits;  he  is  now  the  owner 
of  210  acres  of  land,  all  of  which  is  under  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.     In  1815,  in  Hock- 
ing County,  Ohio,  he  married  Miss  Samancy 
Bushy,  a  native  of  Ohio;  she  died  in  1857; 
she  was  the  mother  of   four  children — John, 
married,  living  in  Missouri;  Daniel,  married, 
nearHarvel,  111.;  Catharine,  wife  of  Rutledge 
Fox.  of  Pitman;  Luelza,  dead.     In  1860,  he 


married  Mrs.  Nancy  Mays:  she  was  born  in 
Greene  County,  111. ;  she  is  the  mother  of  one 
child.  Lydia  Ann,  now  at  home.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Democrat;  himself  and  wife  are  re- 
ligiously connected  with  the  Methodist 
Church.  When  he  first  commenced  life  as  a 
hired  hand  in  the  saw-mill,  he  worked  three 
years  and  only  missed  seven  days;  worked  a 
portion  of  the  nights;  he  worked  very  hard 
to  make  a  living. 

GEORGE    W.    WAGGONER,    deceased, 
was  born  in  Hardin   Countv.  Ky. ,  October  8, 
1826,  to  Adam  and  Mary  Ann  (Terry)  Wag 
goner,  natives  of  Kentucky.     The  Waggoner 
family  is  of  German  extraction,  but  came  to 
America  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution ;  in 
the  struggle,  they  espoused  the  patriot  cause, 
and  bore  their  part   in  the  struggle  to  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  British  oppression.      David, 
Adam  Waggoner's  father,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
war.  and  he  was  the  fortunate   father  of  a 
family  who  have  ever  been  loyal  to  the  calls 
of  their  country.      Adam  Waggoner  was  born 
January  30,  1800,  and  died  August  8,  1860; 
his  wife  was  born  August  11,  1800,  and  died 
January  26.  1 874 ;    she  was  the   daughter  of 
Jasper  and  Sarah  Terry;    this   family  is  of 
English  descent,  and  has  a  history  running 
back  to  the  period  of  the  earliest  settlements 
of    this    country.      George     Waggoner    was 
brought   to  Jersey  County,  111.,  in  1830,  by 
his  parents,  who  were   among  the  first  to  en- 
ter upon  pioneer  life  in  the  then  far  West; 
his  early  life  was  spent  upon  the  homestead 
farm,  assisting  in   improvements   and  in  all 
the  agricultural  pursuits   incident    to   early 
pioneer  industries;  his  educational  privileges 
were  limited   to  the  common  schools  at  that 
early  day.     In  1849,  he  entered  480  acres  of 
wild  prairie   land    in    Montgomery    County, 
which  he  eventually  increased  until   he  had 
in  his  possession  about  eight  hundred  acres 
of  land,  nearly  all  of  which  he  improved,  and 


PITMAN   TOWNSHIP. 


269 


which,  as  a  practical  farmer,  he  kept  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  Mr.  Waggoner  was  one 
of  the  few  men  possessing  all  the  energy  and 
enterprise  of  a  man  bound  to  make  his  mark 
in  the  world;  he  entered  upon  his  career  in 
life  comparatively  a  poor  man,  and  his  subse- 
quent possessions  represented  the  dollars 
earned  by  himself,  and  through  the  result  of 
his  good  management  and  thorough  and  prac- 
tical business  ability;  he  was  a  public-spirited 
man,  always  interested  in  all  public  improve- 
ments and  enterprises,  and  generous  in  his 
donations  for  the  advancement  of  educational 
and  church  privileges;  he  was  for  a  number 
of  years  prior  to  his  death  an  active  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  and,  in  his  daily  walk 
in  life,  emulated  the  principles  of  Christian- 
ity. He  was  married,  in  Macoupin  County, 
111.,  December  2,  1851,  to  Elizabeth  J.  Mc- 
Collough,  and.  during  the  fifteen  years  of 
married  life.  Mr.  Waggoner  proved  himself 
to  be  a  kind  father  and  devoted  husband;  his 
death  occurred  September  29,  18P>6;  he  was 
the  father  of  four  children,  viz. :  Horace  G., 
George  B. .  Henry  Q.  and  John  M..  all  of 
whom  have  grown  to  maturity.  Mrs.  Wag- 
goner was  born  in  Rockingham  County,  Va. ; 
March  22,  1827;  at  the  death  of  her  husband, 
she  was  left  with  a  family  of  small  children, 
the  oldest  of  whom  was  but  eleven  years  of 
age;  she  took  upon  herself  the  management 
of  the  property  and  support  of  her  childi'en; 
she  is  a  lady  possessing  all  the  womanly 
graces,  combined  with  energy  and  enterprise, 
and  she  also  has  the  faculty  of  managing  bus- 
iness affairs  with  a  shrewdness  and  ability 
which  but  few  women  possess,  whether  thrown 
upon  their  own  resources  through  misfortune 
or  otherwise;  she  has  added  to  the  property, 
left  by  her  husband,  about  twelve  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  most  of  which  is  now  rented, 
but  all  of  which  has  been  under  her  own 
management;    she  is  now  surrounded   by  her 


children,  in  the  declining  days  of  her  life, 
which  to  her  is  a  comfort  and  a  blessing;  the 
farm  lands  now  consist  of  about  twenty-two 
hundred  acres  of  land,  which  Mrs.  Waggoner 
and  her  sons  have  mutually  decided  to  divide 
the  property  without  the  assistance  of  admin- 
istrators or  otherwise.  Mrs.  Waggoner  was 
a  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  (McCrea)  Mc- 
Collough;  he  was  a  native  of  Belfast.  Ireland, 
born  September  24,  1791,  and  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Macoupin  County;  he  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation;  his  death  occurred  Au- 
gust 30,  1844;  his  wife  was  born  in  Pendle- 
ton County,  Va.,  March  27,  1799;  she  died 
April  30,  1851;  she  was  the  mother  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Waggoner  was  the 
second  child ;  she  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Macoupin  County.  Mrs. 
Waggoner  may  well  be  proud  of  her  family 
of  boys,  all  of  whom  are  steady  and  indus- 
trious, following  business  in  a  manner  like 
their  father;  her  father  was  in  the  war  of 
1812. 

WINTER  P.  WAGGONER,  stock-raiser. 
P.  O.  Decatur,  was  born  in  Pitman  Town- 
ship, Montgomery  Co.,  Ill,  April  8,  1861,  to 
William  R.  and  Sarah  R.  (McCollough)  Wag- 
goner; he  was  born  in  Jersey  County,  111., 
September  9,  1833,  where  he  received  his 
education;  he  remained  in  his  native  county 
with  his  parents,  assisting  in  tilling  the  soil 
of  his  father's  farm  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  when  he  removed  to  Pitman 
Township,  Montgomery  County,  and  entered 
a  small  tract  of  land;  here  he  remained,  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising,  diu-ing 
his  life,  and  succeeded  in  accumulating  1,300 
acres  of  land,  all  of  which  he  improved  and 
put  under  a  high  state  of  cultivation;  in  con- 
nection with  his  farming  and  stock-raising, 
he  shipped  a  great  deal  of  stock,  finding  a 
market  in  St.  Louis  for  the  same;  for  about 
five  years  previous  to  his   death,  which  oc- 


270 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


curred  January  20,  1S71,  he  followed  the  lat- 
ter business  alone;  was  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church;  his  father  was  Adam  Waggoner, 
who  was  of  German  descent;  his  mother,  was 
Mary  A.  (Terry)  Waggoner,  who  was  of  En- 
glish descent.  Adam  Waggoner  served 
through  the  Black  Hawk  war  as  Captain;  in 
the  possession  of  our  subject  is  a  rifle  used 
by  his  grandfather.  Adam  Waggoner  came 
from  Kentucky,  his  native  place.  William 
Waggoner  was  married,  in  Macoupin  County, 
April  16,  1857,  to  Sarah  K.  McCollough;  she 
was  born  in  Virginia  December  3,  1832,  and 
died  June  2,  1866;  she  was  the  mother  of 
four  children,  two  of  whom  died  in  infancy  ; 
our  subject,  Winter  P.,  and  E.  Leroy,  are  now 
living;  E.  Leroy  was  born  September  23, 
1863;  is  now  clerking  in  dry  goods  store  of 
W.  C.  Miller  &  Co.,  of  Hillsboro.  In  1867, 
in  Greene  County,  Mr.  Waggoner  married  a 
second  time,  Susan  C.  Race,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia; she  died  in  1880,  aged  thirty-eight 
years;  she  was  the  mother  of  one  child,  S. 
Colfax  Waggoner,  who  is  following  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer.  Adam  Waggoner 
was  born  Janitary  30,  1800,  in  Hardin  Coun- 
ty, Ky. ;  emigrated  to  Illinois  in  the  year 
1830;  he  died  August  8,  1860;  he  was  a 
farmer;  his  wife,  and  grandmother  of  our 
subject,  was  Mary  A.  (Terry)  Waggoner,  born 
August  11,  1800,  in  Virginia;  she  died  in 
January,  1S74;  they  had  seven  children,  of 
whom  Winter  was  the  third  child.  Our  sub- 
ject received  his  education  at  Valparaiso, Ind., 
at  the  Northern  Normal  School,  and  the 
Blackburn  University,  at  Carlinville,  in  con- 
nection with  his  common-school  education; 
his  father  died  when  he  was  ten  years  old, 
when  he  made  his  home  with  William  Sew- 
ard, and  remained  there  four  years,  when  he 
made  his  home  in  Pitman  Township.  In  the 
fall  of  1870,  he  commenced  farming,  and  con- 
tinued the  same  until    the  fall  of  1881,  when 


he  removed  to  Decatur,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained, enjoying  himself.  He  was  married, 
March  7,  1880,  in  Carlinville,  to  Miss  Cora 
B.  Rensbaw,  a  native  of  Decatur,  111.;  she 
was  born  January  20,  1861;  is  the  daughter 
of  Lucius  and  Martha  J.  (Walker)  Renshaw, 
he  born  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  October  27, 
1824,  died  December  27,  1862;  he  was  a 
contractor,  and  was  the  owner  of  about  four 
hundred  acres  of  land  near  Decatur;  she  was 
born  October  22,  1S38,  in  Carlinville,  111.; 
she  is  now  residing  in  Decatur,  and  is  now 
the  wife  of  William  Taggart.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Waggoner  are  the  parents  of  one  child,  "Win- 
ter Preston,  Jr.;  he  was  born  January  7,  1881 ; 
in  politics,  is  identified  with  the  Republican 
party.  Mr.  Waggoner  is  the  owner  of  510 
acres  of  land,  lying  principally  in  Pitman 
and  Zanesville  Townships,  it  being  one  of  the 
finest  farms  of  the  townships;  upon  his  farm 
he  has  all  modern  improvements,  and  it  is 
under  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  upon  which 
he  intends  to  remove  in  the  spring  of  1883, 
and  engage  in  stock-raising;  he  and  wife  ex- 
pect to  spend  the  summer  at  Eiujeka  Springs, 
in  Arkansas. 

WILLIAM  B.  WOOD,  farmer,  P.  O.  Mc 
Vey.  The  father  of  this  gentleman,  Alfred 
Wood,  was  born  in  Tennessee  in  about  1817; 
emigrated  to  Montgomery  County  with  his 
parents  in  about  1820;  during  his  life,  he 
followed  the  occupation  of  a  farmer;  he  died 
in  about  1847;  his  wife,  and  mother  of  our 
subject,  was  Malinda  Baker;  she  was  born  in 
Arkansas  in  about  1812,  and  died  in  about 
1852;  she  was  the  mother  of  seven  children, 
of  whom  William  B.  Wood  was  the  oldest 
child.  He  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
April  2,  1842;  his  early  life  was  spent  in  re- 
ceiving such  an  education  as  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  county  afforded,  and  in 
assisting  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's 
farm;    he  remained   at  home  to  the  age  of 


PITMAN"   TOWNSHIP. 


271 


nineteen,  when  he  embarked  on  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farm  hand;  he  continued  as  a  hired 
hand  until  he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  when 
he  rented  a  farm  of  forty  acres  in  Pitman 
Township,  where  he  commenced  farming  on 
his  own  account;  he  remained  here  about  sis 
months,  and  removed  to  Honey  Bend  and 
commenced  farming  on  the  old  homestead 
farm;  in  1862,  he  bought  thirty-five  acres  in 
Pitman  Township,  of  timber  land;  upon  this 
farm  he  remained  only  about  one  year,  when 
he  sold  out  and  bought  forty  acres  of  the 
same  farm  he  is  now  residing  on;  here  lie  has 
since  remained,  engaged  in  farming.  In 
1862,  February  27,  he  married  Miss  Mary  E. 
Miller;  she  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
March  18,  1845,  and  died  June  11,  1804;  she 


was  the  mother  of  one  child,  Julia  A. ;  she 
was  born  August  16,  1863;  is  at  home.  On 
March  15,  1866,  he  married  Miss  Hiley  A. 
Rogers;  she  was  born  in  Macoupin  County 
September  15,  1843;  she  is  the  mother  of 
four  children — Nancy  M.,  born  May  4,  1867; 
Alfred  B.,  born  October  13,  L869;  William 
E.,  born  February  24, 1872;  Nellie,  born  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1876.  Mr.  Wood  is  now  serving 
the  people  in  his  third  term  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace;  himself  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church;  politically,  is  identified 
with  the  Republican  party.  In  1S65,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  A,  One  Hundred  and 
Forty-ninth  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  In- 
fantry; he  served  one  year  and  twelve  days. 


27a 


BIOGRAPHIC  A].: 


BOIS   D'AEO  TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  H.  BROWNING,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Girard,  was  born  in  Greene  County,  111.,  April 
22,  1834;  his  education  was  obtained  in  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county,  where 
his  early  life  was  spent  in  assisting  his  grand- 
father upon  a  farm.  At  the  age  of  eighteen, 
he  returned  home  and  took  upon  himself  the 
support  of  his  mother  and  her  family,  which 
duties  ho  performed  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-five  years,  when  he  embarked  upon 
his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer,  and  has  fol- 
lowed that  occupation  up  to  the  present  time; 
his  first  purchase  of  real  estate  was  in  Greene 
County,  and  consisted  of  forty  acres  of  land, 
which  he  improved,  added  to  and  eventually 
sold;  in  1866,  he  purchased  the  property  he 
now  owns,  and  has  built  most  of  the  build- 
ings and  made  all  other  improvements  which 
are  usually  found  upon  a  well-regulated  farm, 
and  everything  about  the  premises  confirms 
the  reputation  Mr.  Browning  bears  as  being 
a  successful  and  enterprising  farmer;  he  has, 
by  his  energy  and  industry,  accumulated  a 
large  property,  and  now  owns  200  acres  of 
choice  prairie  farm  land,  all  of  which,  as  a 
practical  farmer,  he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation,  and  upon  which  he  grows  all  of 
the  usual  farm  crops;  he  also  raises  all  the 
stock  he  handles  upon  his  place.  He  was 
married,  in  Greene  County,  December  20, 
1860,  to  Louisa  E.  Adcock,  who  was  born  in 
Greene  County  April  15, 1838;  she  has  borne 
him  twelve  children,  viz. :  Maxie  J.  (wife  of 
George  Simon),  Edward  M.,  William  A.,  Cora 
L.  (deceased),  George  C. ,  Lena  L.,  John  W., 
Jacob  O.,  Sarah  E.,  Aquilla  E.,  Perry  L., 
Myrtle   (an    infant).     Mrs.   Browning  was  a 


daughter  of  Issan  and  Rachael  (Stinnet)  Ad 
cock,  natives  of  Kentucky,  he  deceased,  she 
still  living.  Matiac  Browning,  the  father  of 
George,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Greene  County ;  ha 
was  a  preacher  by  profession;  his  death  oc- 
curred in  1842;  his  wife,  Maxie  Wood,  was 
also  a  native  of  Kentucky;  she  died  in  I860; 
she  was  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
George,  our  subject,  was  the  fourth.  Polit- 
ically, he  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party.  Mrs.  Browning  is  connected  with  the 
Baptist  Church. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Vir- 
den,  was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn. ,  February 
12,  1828,  and  was  brought  to  Illinois  when  but 
nine  years  of  age;  his  father,  Henry  Evans, 
settled  in  Alton  when  there  were  but  three 
log  houses  in  the  town;  he  remained  there 
about  twenty  years,  engaged  in  blacksmith- 
ing.  and  his  was  the  first  shop  in  the  town; 
he  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and,  when  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  emigrated  to  America  with 
his  wife  and  one  child;  he  died  in  1S61,  aged 
sixty-five  years;  his  wife,  Isabella  Gordon, 
was  also  a  native  of  Ireland;  she  died  in  1854, 
aged  fifty-seven  years;  she  was  the  mother  of 
nine  children,  of  whom  William  was  the  sec- 
ond child.  He  assisted  his  father  in  his- 
shop  until  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  when 
the  family  removed  from  Alton  and  settled 
upon  a  farm,  where  the  father  of  our  subject 
remained,  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits 
up  to  tbe  time  of  his  death.  William  re- 
mained upon  the  farm  until  he  reached  the 
age  of  twenty-three  years,  when  he  entered 
upon  his  career  in  life,  following  in  the  foot- 


BOIS  D'ARC  TOWNSHIP 


273 


steps  of  his  father,  as  a  blacksmith;  he  con- 
tinued in  that  occupation  at  Otter  Creek,  Jer- 
sey County,  about  twenty  years,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  again  took  upon  himself 
the  duties  of  a  farm  life,  purchased  the  prop- 
erty upon  which  he  now  resides,  and  upon 
which  he  has  made  all  the  improvements, 
which  denote  his  energy  and  enterprise  as  a 
man,  and  show  him  to  be  a  practical  farmer; 
his  farm  consists  of  160  acres  of  choice  land, 
all  of  which  is  under  cultivation;  although 
he  grows  all  of  the  usual  farm  crops,  he 
makes  a  specialty  of  grain.  He  was  married, 
in  Jersey  County,  April  7,  1847,  to  Miss 
Louisiana  Noble,  who  was  born  in  Missis- 
sippi July  4,  1829;  she  has  borne  him  eight 
children,  viz.:  Henry  (deceased),  Isabella, 
Martha  Ann,  Albert,  Kate,  Benjamin,  Hattie, 
William  (deceased).  Mrs.  Evans  was  a 
daughter  of  Solomon  and  Louisiana  (So- 
journer) Noble,  natives  of  Mississippi.  Mr. 
Evans  has  served  the  people  as  Supervisor 
two  years;  was  once  elected  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  but  declined  to  serve;  politically,  he 
is  identified  with  the  Republican  party;  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  for 
a  number  of  years,  and  is  also  an  active 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  at  Virden.  So- 
cially, he  ranks  high  in  the  community,  and 
in  him  are  found  the  elements  which,  com- 
bined, make  a  man  a  good  neighbor,  a  kind 
husband  and  an  indulgent  father. 

CHARLES  T.  HOPPIN,  farmer,  P.  O. 
White  Oak,  was  born  in  Madison  County,  N. 
Y.,  June  8,  1817,  where  he  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  common  schools,  and  assisted 
his  father  upon  the  old  homestead  until  he 
was  twenty -live  years  of  age,  when  he  married 
and  engaged  in  farming  for  himself.  He 
remained  in  New  York  three  years,  and  then 
concluded  to  try  the  pioneer  life  in  the  then 
far  West,  and  settled  in  Sangamon  County, 
111  ,  where  he  began  handling  sheep  upon 


the  prairies,  and  was  at  one  time  one  of  the 
largest  sheep  and  wool  dealers  in  the  State; 
by  his  energy,  he  also  accumulated  a  large 
amount  of  land  in  Sangamon  and  Montgomery 
Counties,  which  he  improved  and  cultivated 
himself,  and  held  a  position  as  one  of  the 
practical  farmers  of  the  day.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  1842,  to  Eliza  McConnell,  who  bore 
him  three  children,  who  grew  to  manhood 
and  womanhood;  she  died  in  1853,  and,  two 
years  later,  he  was  again  married,  to  Phinett 
Parmeter,  who  is  still  living,  and  is  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living,  and  all  at  home.  Politically,  Mr. 
Hoppin  is  a  Republican. 

WILLIAM  A.  KNOCK,  farmer,  P.  O.  Vir- 
den, was  born  in  Fulton  County,  111.,  August 
27,  1833;  his  education  was  limited  to  such 
as  could  be  obtained  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  county;  during  his  school  days, 
and  up  to  the  time  he  was  twenty-nine  years 
of  age,  assisted  his  father  upon  the  old  home- 
stead; at  the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  he  en- 
tered the  service  in  Company  F,  Eighty- 
fourth  Illinois  Infantry,  with  Capt.  C.  B. 
Cox,  his  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Wa- 
ters; he  remained  in  the  service  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  then  purchased  the  prop- 
erty he  now  owns,  and  once  again  took  upon 
himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life;  he  erected 
a  tine  farm  dwelling,  which  does  honor  to  the 
county  and  to  Mr.  Knock  as  an  architect;  he 
has  also  made  all  the  other  improvements  that 
are  necessary  on  a  well-regulated  farm,  such 
as  outbuildings,  orchards,  fences,  etc.  ;  his 
farm  consists  of  120  acres  of  fine  farm  land, 
which,  as  a  practical  farmer,  he  keeps  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation,  and  which  denotes 
his  energy  and  enterprise,  and  makes  him 
worthy  of  the  position  ho  holds  as  one  of  the 
leading  agriculturists  of  the  county;  he  has 
always  taken  a  leading  part  in  all  public  im- 
provements and  in  educational  privileges;  so- 


274 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


cially,  he  enjoys  the  highest  esteem  of  the 
entire  community.  His  father,  D.  C.  Knock, 
is  a  native  of  Delaware,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  to  enter  upon  pioneer  life  in  Fulton 
County,  111.,  where  he  is  still  living,  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  a  well-spent  life,  with  his  wife, 
Phoebe  Easley,  who  was  born  in  Freeport. 
Ohio;  she  is  the  mother  of  thirteen  children, 
of  whom  William  is  the  second  child.  He 
was  married,  in  Morgan  County,  August  21, 
1867,  to  Sarah  J.  (Kinnett)  Miller,  who  was 
born  in  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  March  23, 
1836 ;  they  have  two  children,  viz. :  Luetta 
and  Sarah  Phoebe,  both  of  whom  are  at  home 
and  attending  school.  Mrs.  Knock  was  a 
daughter  of  W.  P.  and  Ann  (Brown)  Kinnett, 
natives  of  Ohio,  and  still  living.  Mr.  Knock 
has  held  several  town  offices;  is  also  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  Grange;  politically,  he 
is  identified  with  the  Republican  party. 

MARTIN  McLEAN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Girard, 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1819;  his  education 
was  limited,  owing  to  the  fact  that  his  early 
life  was  spent  in  assisting  his  father  upon  his 
farm,  and  that  the  facilities  for  gaining  an 
education  were  also  limited;  at  the  age  of 
twenty-six,  he  embarked  upon  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farmer  upon  his  own  account.  In 
1845,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  remained 
in  New  York  seven  months,  and  in  New  Jer- 
sey about  fifteen  years,  engaged  as  a  farm 
hand,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  removed  to 
Montgomery  County  and  purchased  160  acres 
of  prairie  land,  upon  which  he  has  made  all 
the  improvements  necessary  for  comfort,  and 
which  are  found  only  upon  the  best  regulated 
and  cultivated  farms;  by  his  energy,  industry 
and  economy,  he  has  continued  to  add  to  his 
possessions  until  now  he  has  the  satisfaction 
of  overseeing  the  cultivation  of  180  acres  of  as 
choice  prairie  farm  land  as  can  be  found  in 
Montgomery  County,  and  to  him  are  due  all 
honors  that  can  be  paid  any  man  who  has  begun 


the  battle  of  life  as  a  poor  boy,  and  has,  by 
energy  and  enterjarise,  worked  his  way  through 
the  world  until  he  is  now  known  and  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  most  successful  and  prac- 
tical farmers  of  the  county;  although  he 
grows  all  the  usual  farm  crops,  he  makes  a 
specialty  of  grain,  and  raises  nearly  all  the 
stock  handled  upon  his  farm;  he  is  a  man 
who  ranks  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  com- 
munity, and  of  which  he  is  well  worthy;  he 
is  a  public-spirited  man,  and  has  long  been 
identified  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
Bois  D'Arc  Township,  and  especially  in  gain- 
ing the  position  it  has  attained  as  being  one 
of  the  best  townships  in  the  county;  although 
he  takes  no  leading  part  in  politics,  he  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Democratic  party.  In  IN  IT. 
he  married  Mary  Carey,  who  was  born  in 
Kings  County,  Ireland,  and  emigrated  to 
America  when  she  was  twenty-seven  years  of 
age;  she  is  the  mother  of  two  boys  and  one 
girl.  viz. :  John  James,  William  Henry  and 
Margaret,  all  of  whom  are  still  living;  John 
is  Circuit  Clerk  at  Hillsboro;  "William  H., 
married  and  living  on  the  homestead  farm; 
Margaret,  living  at  home.  James  McLean, 
the  father  of  Martin,  was  a  native  of  Ireland, 
a  farmer  by  occupation ;  he  died  in  1868;  his 
wife,  Julia  Quinland,was  also  a  native  of  Ire- 
land; she  died  in  1866;  she  was  the  mother 
of  thirteen  children,  of  whom  Martin  was  the 
seventh  child;  himself  and  family  are  con- 
nected with  the  Catholic  Church.  St.  Mar- 
tin's Cemetery  is  located  upon  Mr.  McLean's 
farm,  the  property  being  donated  by  him  to 
the  society,  and  the  cemetery  named  St.  Mar- 
tin in  honor  of  Mr.  McLean. 

ABEL  S.  RANDOLPH,  farmer,  P.  O.  Vir- 
den,  was  born  in  New  Jersey  August  5,  1831; 
his  father,  Louis  Randolph,  was  also  a  native 
of  New  Jersey,  but  moved  to  Jacksonville,  111., 
in  1835,  and  remained  there  one  year,  and 
then  removed  to  Jersey  County,  where  he  is 


BOIS    D'ARC   TOWNSHIP. 


275 


still  living;  he  was  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  count}',  and  holds  a  prominent  position 
among  the   agriculturists  of  the  county:  his 
wife,  Mary  Compton,    was  also  a  native  of 
New   Jersey,  and   is  still  living;  she  is  the 
mother  of  seven  children,  of  whom  Abel  was 
the  second  child:  he  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  Jersey  County,  and 
assisted  his  father  upon  the  old  homestead 
until  he  was  thirty  years  of  age,  when  he 
came  to  Montgomery  County  and  continued 
his  occupation  as  a  farmer   for  himself;  he 
erected  his  dwelling  and  made  all  other  im- 
provements on  the  farm  himself,  and  has  now 
in  his  possession  200  acres  of   choice  farm 
land,  well   fenced,  well   stocked,    and   which 
he  keeps  in  a  high   state  of  cultivation;  the 
surroundings  on  Mr  Randolph's  farm  denote 
energy  and  enterprise,  and  show  him  to  be  a 
practical   farmer,  and  well  worthy  of  the  po- 
sition he  holds  as  one  of  the  leading  agricult 
urists  of  the  county;  he  devotes  time  to  grow- 
ing the  usual  crops,  and  raises  all  the  stock 
he  handles;    politically,  his  sympathies   are 
with  the  Republican  party.     He  was  married, 
in  Jersey  County.  June  9,  I860,  to  Minerva 
Edwards,  who  was  born  m  Ohio  October  27, 
1838;  she  has  borne  him  one  child,  Henry, 
born  April    21,  1870.      Mrs.   Randolph  was  a 
daughter  of  Andrew  and  Mary  (Darlington) 
Edwards,  natives  of  Ohio.      Mrs.  Randolph 
is  connected  with  ..the  Methodist  Church  at 
Wesley  Chapel. 

LEWIS  H.  THOMAS,  son  of  Samuel  and 
Elizabeth  (Isley)  Thomas,  was  born  May  24. 
1827,  in  Greene  County.  111.,  where  he  was 
raised;  after  receiving,  in  the  district  schools, 
an  education,  he  commenced  the  study  of  sur- 
veying, completing  the  latter  at  Carrollton 
Academy;  in  the  spring  of  1851,  Mr.  Thomas 
entered  970  acres  of  land  in  Township  12 
north,  Range  5  west,  Montgomery  County,  the 
entry  being  the  fourth  and  by  far  the  largest, 


up  to  that  time,  in  the  township;  after  enter- 
ing the  land,  Mr.  Thomas  put  a  hedge  around 
the  entire  tract,  which  was  so  successful  that 
the  name  of  the  plant,  Osage  Orange,  or  Bois 
D'Arc,  was  given  to  the  township;  he  also 
planted  groves  of  timber,  and  it  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that,  in  eleven  years  from  the  time 
of   planting  a  fifteen-acre    lot,  he  cut   wood 
enough  from  it  to  burn  300, 000  brick,  with 
which  ho  built  one  of  the  finest  mansions  in 
the  State.   Mr.  Thomas  is  one  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive men  in  the  State,  and  is  always  making 
improvements  on  his  fine  estate;  he  has  been  a 
stock-dealer  since  his  boyhood,  having  inher- 
ited the  business  from  his  father;  he  is  oper- 
ating a  ranch  in  Kansas,  where  he   has  con- 
siderable land  inclosed  with  fences,  for  con- 
venience in  handling  high  grade  stock.     Mr. 
Thomas  has  been  twice  married,  each  time  to 
a  daughter  of  Isham  and  Sarah  Linder,  of 
Greene  County;    the    first  marriage,  to  Miss 
Minerva  C.  Linder,  occurred   May  23,  1851. 
but  she  only  lived  ten  days  after  the  birth  of 
a  son,  who  also  died  a  few  months   after  his 
beloved  mother  "  fell  asleep  in  Jesus."     Mr. 
Thomas,  November  11,    1863,  married   Miss 
Sarah   A.  Linder,  who  has   blessed  her  hus- 
band with  seven  children,  live  of  whom  are 
living— Ettie,  John  I.,  AVilliam  H,  Mary  L. 
and    Samuel;    an   infant  son   and  daughter, 
Harry  and  Matilda,  are  dead.      The  Thomas 
family  are  of    Welsh  extraction,  and   the  fa- 
ther of  our  subject,  Samuel  Thomas,  was  one 
of  the  early  pioneers  of  this  section,  having 
come  to  Greene  County  in  1818,  and  there  he 
lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Decem- 
ber 23,  1873;  the  wife  of  Samuel,  and  mother 
of  Mi\   L.    H   Thomas,  was  Miss  Elizabeth 
Isley,    daughter  of   Rev.    William    Jones,   a 
Baptist  minister. 

SAMUEL  R.  THOMAS,  farmer,  P.  O.  Vir- 
den,  son  of  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  (Isley) 
Thomas,    was  born  May  2,  1829,  in  Greene 


27G 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


County,  111.,  where  he  was  raised  and  educat- 
ed; in  his  education  he  had  only  such  advan- 
tages as  were  common  to  district  schools;  he 
nevertheless  made  an  extraordinary  advance- 
ment in  literature  and  science,  considering 
his  surroundings,  mastering  not  only  the  or- 
dinary branches  of  an  English  education,  but 
philosophy,  higher  mathematics,  surveying 
and  navigation;  these  branches  were  studied 
without  the  assistance  of  a  teacher;  his  mind, 
by  a  kind  of  natural  intuition,  reveled  in 
mathematical  calculation;  and  in  leisure 
ure  hours  he  wrote  down  Colman's  Treatise 
on  Algebra;  to  give  an  idea  of  his  aptitude 
in  calculation,  we  mention  the  fact  that, 
when  in  his  thirteenth  year,  he  mastered  all 
the  problems  in  Smith's  Arithmetic  in  a 
thirty-days'  study;  he  also,  at  an  early  age, 
familiarized  himself  with  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy; he  kept  his  father's  books  from  the 
time  he  was  thirteen  till  he  commenced  busi- 
ness for  himself;  in  connection  with  his 
brother  Lewis,  he  managed,  for  some  time, 
the  business  of  his  father's  farm,  buying,  sell- 
ing and  shipping;  he  was,  in  truth,  a  kind 
of  confidential  adviser.  When  in  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  his  age,  he  entered  a  section  and 
a  half  of  land  in  Township  12  north,  Range 
5  west;  his  entry  was  made  in  the  fall  of 
1850,  and  in  1S51  he  broke  a  hedge  row,  in- 
closing this  entire  tract;  this  was  a  part  of 
the  first  prairie-breaking  done  in  the  town- 
ship. December  29,  1851  he  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  M. ,  daughter  of  Matthew  and  Mar- 
garet (Taylor)  Dayton,  of  Greene  County,  111. ; 
the  Daytons  also  were  old  pioneers  of  this 
section  of  the  State;  Mrs.  Thomas'  grand- 
father, Thomas  Dayton,  with  four  of  his  sons, 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob  and  Matthew,  were 
soldiers  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  took  part  in 
the  battle  of  Plattsburg,  next  to  the  last  en- 
gagement of  any  consequence  of  that  war; 
the   family   are  descended   from   Wales,  and 


settled  in  the  United  States  of  America  prior 
to  their  independence  of  the  mother  country; 
Mrs.  Thomas'  aunt  on  her  father's  side,  Bet- 
sey Ann  Jacobs,  of  Vermont,  when  in  her  sev- 
entieth year,  cut  a  new  set  of  teeth,  and  was 
re-endowed  with  an  eyesight  equal  to  that  of 
her  youth;  this  fact  is  mentioned  as  confirm- 
ing the  theory  that  nature,  in  its  primitive 
state,  had  the  power  of  recuperation  and  re- 
newal. Mrs.  Thomas  is  of  a  good  family, 
well  educated  and  intelligent;  in  fact,  during 
her  school  days  like  her  husband,  she  was 
considered  the  prime  student  of  her  school; 
before  she  was  married,  she  taught  one  or  two 
terms.  Mr.  Thomas  remained  some  two  years 
in  his  native  county  after  his  marriage,  and 
then  came  to  Montgomery  County  and  occu- 
pied his  farm;  here  he  has  since  resided,  add 
ing  improvements  to  his  lands,  and  engaged 
in  the  stock  business,  and  is  the  heaviest 
stock-grower  in  the  county;  his  farm  now 
consists  of  three  sections  of  land,  as  fine  as 
are  to  be  found  within  the  county  or  State,  in 
a  very  high  state  of  cultivation;  the  residence 
is  a  handsome  and  commodious  frame  build- 
ing, possessing  all  the  conveniences  and 
apartments  adapting  it  to  the  wants  and  re- 
quirements of  a  country  seat;  a  cistern  is 
placed  in  the  attic  story,  from  which  the  wa- 
ter is  conveyed  to  every  room  of  the  house; 
instead  of  a  cellar,  an  attachment  is  made, 
which  consists  of  a  room  formed  of  double 
walls,  and  floor  some  two  feet  below  the  grade 
of  the  earth's  surface;  this  attachment  joins 
onto  the  kitchen,  and  keeps  vegetables  and 
fruits  as  well  as  a  cellar,  and  does  not  add  a 
mold  to  butter  and  other  articles;  we  advise 
any  one  contemplating  bni'ding  to  take  a  look 
through  Mr.  Thomas' house  first;  we  are  sat- 
isfied that  it  would  pay.  Mr.  Thomas  con- 
templates another  improvement  which  is 
worthy  of  notice.  A  wind-mill  and  coru- 
sheller  stand   at  a  convenient  distance  from 


BOIS    D'ARC  TOWNSHIP. 


377 


his  house;  he  meditates  putting  a  large  cis- 
tern in  the  tower  part  of  this  building,  and 
then  running  pipe  to  supply  his  bath  room 
and  a  fountain  in  the  yard;  two  other  wind- 
wheels  run  as  many  pumps  at  convenient 
points  on  the  farm;  from  one  of  these  the  wa- 
ter is  conveyed  120  rods,  to  supply  feed  lots; 
we  believe  now  that  every  160-acre  tract  is 
well  supplied  with  stock  water;  he  has  also 
on  his  farm  a  very  nice  grove  of  cultivated 
timber,  consisting  of  about  twenty-live  acres. 
Mr.  Thomas'  family  consists  of  the  follow- 
ing children:  Henry  Matthew,  who  married 
Miss  Lydia  Ann  Baird  September  25,  1873, 
daughter  of  Zebulon  Baird,  of  Harvel  Town- 
ship: Ann  Amanda,  Elizabeth  Jane,  Catha- 
rine, Samuel  Dayton  and  Mary  Lenora.  The 
parents  have  spared  neither  means  nor  care 
in  educating  their  children,  and  have  been 
rewarded  with  both  gratitude  and  success. 

CLAUD  J.  WILLIS,  farmer,  P.  O.  White 
Oak,  was  born  in  England  April  19,  1842;  he 
obtained  the  principal  part  of  his  education 
in  his  native  country,  under  the  instruction 
of  his  mother  and  a  governess:  at  the  ago  of 
thirteen  years,  he  was  brought  to  America  by 
his  parents,  who  settled  in  Jacksonville,  111. 
Charles  Willis,  the  father  of  Claud,  was  a 
parliamentary  lawyer  in  England,  but  his 
health  failed  him,  and  he  came  to  America 
and  traveled  for  his  health;  his  death  oc- 
curred in  1856;  his  wife,  Ann  C.  Row,  who 
is  also  a  native  of  England,  and  is  still  liv- 
ing, at  Jacksonville;  she  is  the  mother  of  two 
children,  viz.:  Charles  and  Claud.  The 
latter,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  took  upon 
himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life,  and  fol- 
lowed that  occupation  in  Scott  County  a  few 
years,  when  he  gave  up  his  farming  interests 
and  engaged  for  about  ten  years  in  the  stock 
trade,  with  John  Alexander  and  several  other 
men  of  Morgan  County,  who  are  known  as 
large  and  extensive  operators  in  nearly  all 
markets.     In  1878,  he  came  to  the  place  he 


now  resides  upon,  and   again   turned  his  at- 
tention to  farming;  the  farm  had  been  rented 
for  several  years  before  Mr.  Willis  took  charge 
of  it,  and  had  been  very  badly  cultivated,  but, 
owing  to  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  Mr. 
Willis,  it  will  now  compare  with  any  of  the 
best-improved  farms  of  the  county,  and  places 
Mr.  Willis    in  the  list  of  practical   farmers, 
and  he  is  also  the  largest  stock-dealer  in  the 
township  at  the  present  day.     He  was  mar- 
ried in  Greene  County,  December  23,  1881,  to 
Miss  Jane  E.  Eldred,  who  was  born  October 
24,  1839,  to  Elon  and  Jane  (Stuart)  Eldred; 
he  was  one  of  the  very  early  settlers  of  Greene 
County,  and  also  at  an  early  day  one  of  the 
first  to  enter  and   improve  land  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  and  became  very  noted  as  a  land- 
holder, having  accumulated  at  different  places 
about  three  thousand  acres  of  land,  all  under 
cultivation,  and  managed  by  himself  person- 
ally; to  him  is  due  all  the  credit  of  the  early 
improvements  made  upon  the  place  now  occu- 
pied by  the  subject  of   this  sketch,  and  his 
death  occurred  in  1871,  while  on  the  way  to 
make  a  visit  to  his  Montgomery  farm,  having 
expressed   a   wish  to  see  the  "White  Oak" 
farm  again — the  farm  so  named  from  a  white 
oak  tree,  which  is  located  on  the  corner  of 
the  farm,  and  being  at  one  time  the  only  tree 
standing  for  many  miles  around,  and  which 
served  as  a  landmark  and  guide  to  travelers 
in  crossing  the  prairie  before  settlement;  his 
wife  survived  him  live   years;    she  was  the 
mother  of  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all 
of  whom  are  living,  with  one  exception,  viz., 
the  oldest  son,  William;    they  are  all  resi- 
dents of  Greene   County ;  Lucius,  a  leading 
hardware  merchant  at  Carrollton ;  and  Charles, 
a  prominent  farmer  and  stock-dealer;  Louisa, 
wife  of  L.  F.  Wheeler,  retired  merchant,  liv- 
ing at  Carrollton;  and  Julia,  wife  of  R.  Pear- 
son, banker  at  the  above  place.      Mr.  Willis 
is  identified  with  the  Republican  party:  re- 
ligiously,  himself    and    wife   are   connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


278 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


KOUJNTREE  TOWNSHIP. 


NOAH  LIFE,  farmer,  P.  0.  Hillsboro.  The 
grandparents  of  our  subject,  Godfrey  and  Bar- 
bara (House)  Lipe,  were  natives  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  were  of  German  descent,  their  par- 
ents having  emigrated  to  America  at  an  early 
date  in  this  country's  history.  Godfrey  Lipe 
and  wife  emigrated  to  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C, 
and  he  was  noted  grain-grower,  and  withal  one 
of  the  most  practical  farmers  of  the  State,  and 
it  has  been  said  of  him  that  he  drove  the  best 
team  of  horses  from  Cabarrus  County  to  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  They  were  the  parents  of  four  boys 
and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom  grew  to  ma- 
turity, viz.,  John,  Henry,  Moses,  Daniel,  Sarah, 
Catharine  and  Eula,  all  of  whom  married  in 
North  Carolina,  and  of  whom  John  and  Daniel 
were  the  only  ones  that  ever  left  their  native 
State.  John,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  in  1789.  His 
early  life  was  spent  upon  the  homestead  farm, 
and  eventually  he  became  the  owner  of  land, 
married  and  raised  a  family  of  eleven  children, 
with  whom,  in  November,  1831,  he  emigrated 
to  then  distant  wilds  of  Illinois,  and  located  in 
Irving  Township,  where  he  entered  a  tract  of 
wild  prairie,  which  he  eventually  improved,  and 
b}-  his  energy  and  industry  accumulated  a  large 
amount  of  this  world's  goods,  and  at  one  time 
owned  about  500  acres  of  choice  land;  although 
he  had  but  a  practical  education,  he  was  con- 
sidered a  good  business  man,  and  a  practical 
farmer  ;  he  lived  to  see  his  youngest  child  mar- 
ried and  a  mother,  and  could  say  he  never  saw 
one  of  his  family  die.  His  death  occurred  in 
November,  1857.  His  wife,  Rachael  Black- 
welder,  was  also  a  native  of  Cabarrus  County, 
N.  C,  born  in  1793.  She  was  a  kind  parent,  a 
true,  sincere  and  consistent  Christian  woman  ; 
she  died  November   30,   1881,  and    which    is 


something  remarkable,  was  at  the  time  of  her 
death  the  mother  of  thirteen  children.  131 
grand-children,  243  greatgrandchildren,  and  21 
great-great-grandchildren,  making  a  grand  to- 
tal of  408  descendants,  of  which  at  the  time 
of  her  death,  there  were  living  304.  Her  own 
children  were,  viz.,  Barbara,  was  married  in 
North  Carolina  to  Michael  Hefry,  and  moved 
to  Illinois  in  company  with  her  parents,  and 
settled  in  Irving  Township,  died  about  1872  ; 
Nelson,  also  married  in  North  Carolina,  and 
came  to  Illinois  with  his  parents,  and  settled 
near  the  homestead,  died  November,  1879  ; 
Allen,  married  in  Illinois,  was  the  third  set- 
tler in  Bountree  Township,  died  in  1856  ;  Ella, 
wife  of  Daniel  Bost,  died  about  1862  :  Noah, 
our  subject  ;  Delila,  wife  of  Michael  Walcher, 
living  in  Irving;  Wiley,  living  in  Bountree;  Eliz- 
abeth, resident  of  Irving,  wife  of  Milton  Nisler; 
Helena,  married  Moses  M.  Sickles,  located  in 
Witt  Township,  died  about  1874  ;  John  G.,  liv- 
ing in  Bountree  Township  ;  Martin,  died  in 
1879  ;  Catharine,  wife  of  James  Morram,  Irv- 
ing Township  ;  Crissa  Diana,  wife  of  James  T. 
Fite,  Zauesville  Township.  Noah  was  the  fifth 
child,  and  was  born  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C, 
January  20,  1818,  where  his  early  childhood 
was  spent  in  assisting  his  father  in  his  agri- 
cultural pursuits  upon  the  homestead  farm.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen,  he  was  removed  to  Montgom- 
ery County,  111.,  by  his  parents,  and  remained 
with  them  until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  and  assisted  his  father  in  improving  and 
cultivating  the  farm  upon  which  he  settled.  At 
that  early  da.y  there  were  no  schools,  but  event- 
ually a  subscription  school  was  started,  which 
he  attended  about  one  mouth  ;  he  has,  however, 
obtained  more  than  an  ordinary  education  by 
close  observation  and  close  study  at  home.    He 


ROUNTREE    TOWNSHIP. 


279 


was  married  in  Montgomery  County,  May  12, 

1842,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Weller,  who  was  born 
in  Ohio  April  11,  1822,  and  came  to  Illinois 
with  her  parents  when  she  was  about  eighteen 
years  of  age.  She  has  borne  him  eleven  chil- 
dren,   viz.,  Columbus  J.,  born   December    16, 

1843,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Vincennes,  Ind.; 
Martha  Jane,  born  March  18,  1845,  died  Sep- 
temper  13,  1845  ;  John  W.,  born  March  6, 
1847,  died  August  3,  18G3 ;  Lorenzo  Dow, 
born  September  17,  1849,  a  prominent  farmer 
living  near  the  homestead  ;  MaryM.,  born  May 
17, 1S51,  wife  of  John  Kerr,  living  in  Rountree  ; 
KittieR.,  born  December  5,  1852,  wife  of  Eras- 
tus  Shere.  living  in  Rountree  ;  Charles  E., 
born  February  3,  1855,  farmer  living  near  here; 
Angelia,  born  December  28,  1856,  wife  of  James 
Simms,  living  in  Rountree  ;  Alice,  born  April 
8,  1859,  at  home;  Etta,  born  December  11, 
1860,  at  home  ;  Nettie,  born  February  14,  1863, 
died  April  27,  1864.  Mrs.  Lipe  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Mally  (Lingenfelter)  Weller, 
a  native  of  Stark  County,  Ohio.  He  died  in 
1843  ;  she  is  still  living  in  Rountree  Township 
with  her  son  Jacob,  a  wealthy  farmer.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-four  years,  Mr.  Lipe  left  home, 
and  entered  upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer, 
locating  in  Rountree  Township,  where  he  began 
life  in  a  small  way  ;  built  a  small  log  cabin, 
having  a  sod  chimney  (the  largest  farm  in  the 
township  was  surrounded  by  a  sod  fence,  con- 
taining sixty  acres).  He  has  gradually  added  to 
his  possessions  until  at  one  time  he  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  conducting  a  farm  consisting  of 
500  acres,  which  represented  the  dollars  earned 
by  himself,  the  result  of  energy,  enterprise  and 
good  management.  He  has  a  farm  now  under 
a  high  state  of  cultivation  and  is  improved  by 
buildings  and  all  the  necessary  appliances 
for  comfort  and  convenience.  He  has  given  all 
his  children  a  good  education,  realizing  from 
his  own  limited  privileges  how  important  a  good 
education  is  to  the  rising  generation.  He  has 
held  the  offices  of  School  Director  and  Trustee. 


in  the  township.  Himself  and  wife  are  con- 
nected with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  a  Christian  Church 
about  forty-two  years.  His  uncle  Dan  came 
to  Illinois  and  settled  upon  a  tract  of  land  ad- 
joining that  of  our  subject,  in  the  year  1839, 
where  he  lived  until  1869,  and  where  he  raised 
a  large  familj-  ;  he  is  now  located  in  Whiteside 
County.  Two  of  his  sons  are  Lutheran  preach- 
ers; all  the  balance  of  his  family  held  promi- 
nent positions. 

ELI  NUSMAN,  farmer,  P.  0.  Irving,  was 
born  in  Ilillsboro,  Montgomery  Co.,  111.,  April 
9,  1824.  His  father,  John  Nusman,  was  born 
in  Cabarrus  County.  N.  C.  He  was  a  former  by 
occupation,  came  to  Hillsboro,  Montgomery 
County,  in  about  1820,  where  he  remained 
about  ten  years,  and  then  removed  his  family 
to  Rountree  Township,  where  he  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers,  and  where  he  remained,  en- 
gaged in  agricultural  pursuits,  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  occurred  May  27,  1852 
aged  about  seventy-five  }rears.  His  wife,  Cath- 
arine Fogleman,  was  also  a  native  of  Cabarrus 
County,  N.  C,  born  in  1791 ;  she  died  August  13, 
1846.  She  was  the  mother  of  eleven  children, 
of  whom  Eli,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
next  to  the  youngest  child.  As  school  privil- 
eges were  very  limited  at  that  early  day.  he 
was  unable  to  receive  such  an  education  as  he 
would  have  liked  ;  however,  by  contact  with  the 
world,  and  by  observation,  he  has  accumulated 
more  than  an  ordinarily  practical  education. 
His  early  childhood  was  emploved  upon  his 
father's  farm,  in  assisting  him  in  improving  the 
place,  and  at  the  death  of  his  parents  remained 
upon  the  homestead,  which  he  has  never  left) 
and  which  he  lias  at  the  present  time  in  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  Mr.  Nusman  is  consid- 
ered one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  the  town- 
ship, and  also  ranks  with  the  practical  farmers 
of  the  County.  He  was  married  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  May  6,  1858.  to  Sarah  Elizabeth 
Liticker,  who  was  born  in  Cabarrus  Co.,  N.  C, 


280 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


April  6,  1840.  They  have  six  children,  viz.: 
Harriet  Catharine,  born  Api'il  15,  1859  ;  Peter, 
born  March  19,  1861  ;  Mary  Emiline,  born 
March  16,  1863  ,  Clara  Henrietta,  born  Janua- 
ry 12,  1866  ;  Nellie  Jane,  born  March  27, 1868  ; 
Elizabeth  Nora,  born  December  12, 1869  ;  all  of 
whom  are  living.  Mrs.  Nusman  is  a  daughter 
of  Arba  and  Mary  Ann  (McCoy)  Liticker, 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  both  still  living  in 
Montgomery  Count}'.  Mr.  Nusman  has  in  his 
possession  about  three  hundred  acres  of  choice 
farm  land,  upon  which  he  grows  the  usual  farm 
crops  and  raises  all  kinds  of  stock  usually  found 
upon  a  well-regulated  farm.  Although  not 
much  interested  in  politics,  Mr.  Nusman  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  He  is  a 
man  who  ranks  very  high  socially,  and  now  in 
his  declining  days  he  is  enjoying  the  fruits  of 
an  energetic  and  prosperous  career,  surrounded 
by  his  family  of  children,  all  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing at  home.  Elizabeth  Nusman,  a  sister  of 
Mr.  Nusman,  is  also  one  of  the  household,  they 
having  always  lived  together  since  childhood. 
There  are  but  two  others  of  the  original  family 
living,  viz.,  John  L.,  at  Ramsey,  and  Sarah, 
wife  of  J.  Kennedy,  living  in  Missouri.  At  an 
early  time  in  his  life,  Mr.  Nusman  was  consid- 
ered a  great  hunter,  and  while  still  a  small  boy 
he  shot  and  killed  two  deer,  in  the  morning  be- 
fore breakfast,  and  has  since  killed  four  in  one 
day.  Mr.  N.  is  the  oldest  living  first  settler  in 
township. 

JOSEPH  WALERS,  farmer,  P.  0.  Morrison- 
villc,  was  born  in  the  Parish  of  Christ  Church, 
South  Wales,  G-reat  Britain,  March  18,  1835, 
where  he  received  a  common  school  education, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  was  apprenticed 
to  learn  the  trade  of  boiler-making,  at  which 
occupation  he  was  engaged  about  four  years. 
Arnold  Walers,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
also  a  native  of  South  Wales,  and  was  a  rail- 
road and  turnpike  contractor  by  occupation. 
His  death  occurred  in  about  1843,  aged  fifty- 
three  years.     His  wife,  Mary  Pierson,  was  also 


a  native  of  South  Wales.  She  died  March  5, 
1855,  aged  about  fifty-five  years.  The  result 
of  this  union  was  five  children,  viz.:  Henry,  a 
contractor  by  occupation,  and  was  assisting  in 
constructing  the  railroad  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama,  when  he  was  taken  sick  with 
the  yellow  fever,  and  died  in  1863  ;  John,  an 
attache  of  the  British  Navy,  supposed  to  be 
still  living ;  Maria,  wife  of  John  Green,  now 
living  in  South  Wales ;  Ann,  wife  of  Will- 
iam Bailey,  living  in  South  Wales.  Joseph, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  at  the  age  of  twenty 
years,  emigrated  to  America,  and  eventually 
went  to  New  Jersey,  where  his  brother  Henry 
was  at  that  time  engaged  in  constructing  turn- 
pikes ;  Joseph  also  engaged  in  the  same  occu- 
pation, at  which  he  remained  about  four  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  turned  his  face  to- 
ward the  setting  sun,  and  eventually  located  in 
Jersey  Count}*,  111.,  where  he  took  upon  him- 
self the  duties  of  a  farm  life.  In  the  fall  of 
1866,  he  purchased  the  property  upon  which  he 
now  resides,  and  removed  with  his  family  to 
their  future  home  in  Rountree  Township,  where 
he  has  since  remained  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  His  original  purchase  consisted  of 
ninety  acres,  to  which  he  has  continued  to  add 
until  now  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  conducting 
a  farm  consisting  of  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  acres  of  as  choice  and  well-cul- 
tivated farm  land  as  can  be  found  in  Rountree 
Township,  the  result  of  energy,  enterprise  and 
thorough  business  habits  ;  being  a  progressive 
man  himself,  he  is  fully  alive  to  all  progressive 
movements  favoring  the  prosperity  of  the 
county,  and  for  the  advancement  of  religious 
and  educational  privileges.  He  is  now  filling 
the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  the  duties 
of  which  office  he  has  performed  two  terms 
previous  to  the  present,  and  which  duties  he 
has  performed  with  honesty  and  integrity,  and 
in  a  manner  approved  by  all  the  people.  He 
was  married  in  New  Jersey,  to  Delilah  Conno- 
var,  who  was  born    in  New   Jersey  to   Peter 


ROUNTREE  TOWNSHIP. 


281 


Connovar,  native  of  New  Jersey,  deceased,  in 
August,  1835.  She  is  the  mother  of  three 
children,  viz.:  Mary,  wife  of  Frank  McNorton, 
living  in  Rountree  Township  ;  Emma,  wife  of 
John   McCallum,  living   near  the  homestead  ; 


Flattie,  single,  living  at  home.  Mr.  Walers  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party,  and  is  al- 
ways interested  in  the  political  issues  of  the 
times. 


282 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


IRVING  TOWNSHIP. 


SAMUEL  T.  BARTLETT,  dry  goods,  drug 
store  and  farmer,  P.  0.  Irving ;  born  in  Henry 
County,  Ky.,  in  1819.  He  is  the  second  son  of 
a  family  of  eight,  born  to  Samuel  and  Elizabeth 
(Owens)  Bartlett,  natives  of  Virginia.  Samuel 
was  born  about  the  year  1777  ;  came  to  Ken- 
tuck}"  when  a  young  man,  and  settled  in  Henry 
County,  where  he  farmed  and  taught  school. 
In  1833,  came  to  Illinois,  where  he  died  April 
29,  1835.  His  wife  Elizabeth  was  born  about 
the  year  17S6,  and  died  in  Illinois  in  1858.  Sub- 
ject received  his  education  principally  in  Illi- 
nois in  the  common  schools.  In  Montgomery 
County,  October  2,  1838,  he  married  Martha 
Maxey,  who  was  born  in  Warren  County,  Ky., 
about  the  year  1820.  She  is  the  daughter  of 
Edward  and  Elizabeth  (Berry)  Maxey.  He  was 
a  Virginian  by  birth,  removed  to  Kentucky, 
then  came  to  Illinois,  where  he  died  in  18(30. 
His  wife  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  also 
died  in  Illlinois  in  1837.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bartlett  have  been  born  nine  children,  seven 
now  living — John,  Charles  L.,  Edward,  Henry, 
Hiram,  Douglas  and  Mary  ;  George  and  Jane, 
deceased.  Mr.  Bartlett  still  carries  on  farming, 
in  connection  with  his  other  business  of  dry 
goods,  drugs,  etc.,  in  which  he  has  been  engaged 
since  18G9.  He  has  held  the  offices  of  Town- 
ship Treasurer  and  Deputy  Sheriff  for  eight 
years.  Mr.  Bartlett  and  wife  are  Methodists. 
He  is  a  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  the  I.  O. 
O.  F.  He  owns  about  seven  hundred  acres  of 
good  prairie  land,  nearly  all  of  which  is  under 
cultivation,  besides  town  property,  consisting 
of  five  dwellings  and  one  business  house.  His 
son  Henr}'  assists  him  in  the  dry  goods  depart- 
ment, and  his  son  Douglas  in  the  drug  depart- 
ment of  his  business. 


THOMAS  G.  BLACK,  farmer  and  grain 
dealer,  P.  0.  Irving,  was  born  in  Kentucky 
February  21,  1S28,  son  of  James  B.  and  Mary 
G.  (McCaslin)  Black,  he,  a  farmer,  born  in 
Kentucky  October  7,  1799,  died  about  the  year 
1876  ;  she,  born  July  3,  1793,  died  September 
14.  1836.  Subject,  the  second  child  of  a  family 
of  four  children,  came  to  Illinois  with  his 
parents  when  three  j-ears  of  age,  and  stayed 
one  year  in  Bond  County  ;  then  moved  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools.  He  assisted  his  father 
on  the  farm  till  he  was  twenty -one  years  of 
age,  then  engaged  in  the  tanning  business, 
which,  not  proving  satisfactory,  he  abandoned, 
and  began  farming.  He  bought  a  farm  in 
1853,  but  sold  it  in  1854,  and  moved  to  the 
town  of  Irving,  where  he  and  James  N.  Bern- 
built  the  first  business  house  in  the  place  in 
1855,  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  and  grain 
trade,  which  he  followed  for  twenty  years, 
when  he  bought  the  place  where  he  now  lives, 
about  a  half  mile  from  Irving,  and  engaged  in 
his  present  occupation  of  farming  and  stock 
trading,  which  he  carries  on  successfully.  In 
1852,  he  married  Nancy  A.  Whitlidge,  a  native 
of  Illinois,  who  died  February  21,  1857  ;  her 
parents  were  natives  of  Kentucky.  From  this 
union  three  children  were  born,  one  only  now 
living,  viz.,  Mary  M.  His  second  wife,  Sarah 
E.  Berry,  was  born  February  18,  1S38  ;  her 
parents  were  natives  of  Kentucky.  She  has 
borne  him  ten  children,  of  whom  eight  are  liv- 
ing. Mr.  Black  served  in  the  army  three  months 
in  1862,  as  Lieutenant  of  Cornpan}-  C,  Seven- 
tieth Illinois  Volunteers,  principally  on  guard 
duty  ;  has  been  Supervisor  of  Irving  Township 
for  two  terms,  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee 


IRVING    TOWNSHIP. 


283 


of  the  Poor  Farm,  and  has  done  much  toward 
the  improvement  of  the  town.  He  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  a  member  6f  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
W.  MILTON  BERRY,  of  the  firm  of  Kelly 
&  Berry,  dealers  in  general  merchandise,  was 
born  in  Woodford  County,  111.,  in  1850,  and 
came  to  this  place  in  1870.  His  father,  Will- 
iam S.  Berry,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1807, 
but  was  raised  in  Kentucky.  Came  to  Illinois 
when  a  young  man,  and  settled  first  in  this 
county,  afterward  in  Woodford  County,  thence 
to  Wisconsin,  whence  he  returned  to  this  place. 
where  he  now  resides.  The  maiden  name  of 
his  wife,  the  mother  of  our  subject,  was  Cath- 
arine Johnson,  born  in  Ohio  in  1808  ;  both 
parents  are  still  living  and  in  good  health. 
They  had  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  Our 
subject  studied  at  Eureka,  111.,  taking  a  clas- 
sical course  at  Christian  College,  though  leav- 
ing a  year  before  the  time  for  graduation.  He 
followed  teaching  for  seven  years,  five  years 
being  spent  at  Irving.  He  was  married  in  this 
place.  May  9,  1876,  to  Kausie  L.  Kelly,  who 
was  born  in  this  county  in  1856.  His  wife's 
father  was  James  Kelly,  a  native  of  Kentucky, 
who  came  to  this  State  when  a  young  man. 
Mr.  Berry  began  at  his  present  business  of 
general  merchandising  in  1870,  and  now  has  a 
fine  trade,  carrying  a  large  stock  of  goods  for  a 
small  town.  He  has  been  Treasurer  of  the 
town  for  the  past  three  years.  He  owns  a  good 
two-story  frame  residence,  one  of  the  prettiest 
in  town,  recently  built,  and  has  a  farm  two 
miles  south  of  town,  containing  130  acres  of 
good  land,  with  a  hedge  fence  around  nearly 
the  whole  of  it,  and  has  a  half-interest  in  the 
stock  and  business  of  the  firm  of  Kelly  &  Berry. 
He  has  one  daughter,  Eunice  Ray.  Himself 
and  wife  are  members  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  he  is  a  Republican. 

MONROE  BOST  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  1833,  and  came  to  Macoupin  County, 
111. ,  when  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and  re- 
mained one  year;  he  then  moved  to  Mont- 


gomery County  and  bought  the  place  he  now 
owns,  in  Irving  Township,  his  first  purchase 
being  sixty  acres,  and  has  added  to  that  until 
he  now  owns  140  acres  of  good  tillable  land, 
on  which  he  has  erected  a  good  dwelling  and 
barn,  and  all  necessaiy  outbuildings,  and  was 
married,  in  this  State,  the  20th  of  December, 
1860,  to  Miss  Rebecca  Lipe,  she  being  the 
mother  of  eight  children,  and  died  December 
3,  1877;  Wilson  Lipe,  her  father,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina;  occupation,  farmer;  and 
died  in  1881;  Nancy  Lipe,  her  mother,  was 
also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  still  liv- 
ing in  this  county.  Levi  Bost,  his  father, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  about  1S06  occu- 
pation, farmer;  Catharine  Raymer  Bost,  his 
mother,  was  also  born  in  same  State,  about 
1812;  she  was  the  mother  of  ten  children,  the 
subject  being  the  third  child.  His  second 
wife,  Elizabeth  Easterdy,  was  born  in  this 
State  April  27,  1852;  wife  is  a  member  of 
Lutheran  Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of 
Presbyterian  Church;  he  is  a  Republican. 

ATHAN  CANNON  was  born  in  North  Car- 
olina in  the  year  1815,  and  worked  on  the 
farm  during  his  minority,  following  that  oc- 
cupation eight  years,  when  he  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade,  which  he  followed  in  con- 
nection with  farming,  and  sold  out  his  place 
in  North  Carolina  and  moved  to  Alabama, 
where  he  remained  a  number  of  years  engaged 
in  fanning,  and  moved  from  there  to  Arkan- 
sas, and  was  engaged  in  cotton  speculation 
and  farming;  he  remained  a  few  years,  and 
came  to  Hillsboro,  Montgomery  County,  and 
was  a  grain  and  stock  dealer,  and  moved  to 
the  town  of  Butler  in  1865,  and  engaged  in 
lumber  and  carpenter  business,  where  he  re- 
mained four  years,  and  was  also  in  mercantile 
business  one  year;  in  1870,  moved  to  the  town 
of  L'ving;  went  into  the  mercantile,  lumber 
and  grain  business  with  his  sons;  they  carried 
on  the  business  for  six  years,  and  has  been  in 


'0^1 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


the  grain  and  farming  business  up  to  the 
present  time,  and  has  bought  several  tracts, 
until  he  has  reached  the  handsome  estate  of 
239  acres,  all  in  Section  15,  Irving  Township, 
and  has  it  all  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation. 
He  was  married,  in  North  Carolina,  in  1834, 
to  Miss  Anna  M.  Slough;  she  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  born  in  the  year  1819;  her 
parents  were  natives  of  the  same  State. 
"William  Cannon,  the  father  of  subject,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  in  1783;  his  occupa- 
tion was  farming;  died  in  1819;  Keziah  L. 
Cannon  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1785,  and 
was  the  mother  of  seven  children,  the  subject 
being  the  sixth  child,  and  he  has  a  family  of 
eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  dead;  those 
living  are  as  follows:  Marquis  De  L.,  Rob- 
ert E.,  William  S.,  Louisana.  He  and  fam- 
ily are  members  of  the  M.  E.  Church;  he  has 
been  Deacon  since  1855;  politically,  conser- 
vative; he  is  a  Mason,  belonging  to  Irving 
Lodge,  No.  455;  he  has  always  been  prom- 
inent in  the  advancement  of  public  improve- 
ments and  agricultural  interests,  and  has  been 
moderately  successful  in  all  of  his  business 
transactions. 

JULIUS  CARRIKER  was  born  in  this 
county  in  1S56,  August  S,  and  assisted  his 
father  on  the  farm  until  twenty-one  years  of 
age;  was  educated  in  common  schools  of  coun- 
try, and  entered  on  his  business  career  as  a 
farmer  and  running  a  threshing  machine;  has 
always  remained  on  the  old  homestead,  and  is 
now  in  full  possession,  having  bought  out  his 
father;  he  has  a  beautiful  home,  with  all 
necessaiy  buildings  and  modern  improvements 
to  make  agriculture  a  success;  he  has  the 
name  of  being  an  energetic  and  enterprising 
young  farmer;  married,  in  this  county,  in 
1877,  to  Miss  Lizzie  Moraine;  she  was  born 
in  this  county  in  1858,  and  is  the  mother  of 
two  children,  Pearla  and  Stella;  James  Mor- 
aine, her  father,  was  born  in  Madison  County, 


Ohio,  February  24,  1828,  and  is  a  farmer  by 
occupation;  was  brought  to  this  State  at  ten 
years  of  age  by  his  parents,  and  has  been  a 
very  successful  farmer,  accumulating  a  large 
tract  of  land;  her  mother,  Sarah  (Lipe)  Mor- 
aine, was  born  in  this  county  January  10, 
1832;  her  parents  were  natives  of  North  Car- 
olina, and  are  all  large  land-owners.  His 
father,  John  Carriker,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina,  and  has  accumulated  a  large  landed 
estate,  which  he  has  divided  among  his  chil- 
dren, and  retired  to  a  comfortable  home  in 
the  town  of  Irving,  and  is  doing  a  small  nur- 
sery business;  his  mother  is  also  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  is  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  the  subject  being  the  sixth  child. 
They  are  blessed  with  a  beautiful  home  and 
two  lovely  children;  are  members  of  Lutheran 
Church;  he  is  a  Democrat. 

DOLPHAS  CARR,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irving, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  February  9,  1852, 
and  came  to  this  State  when  fifteen  years  of 
age;  was  partially  educated  in  North  Caro- 
lina; finished  in  this  State,  in  common  school 
of  coimtry,  and  worked  on  the  farm  by  day 
labor  until  he  bought  the  place  on  which  he 
now  resides,  containing  100  acres  of  well-im- 
proved land,  with  good,  comfortable  build- 
ings; married,  September  19,  1878,  to  Miss 
Alice  Cline;  she  was  born  in  this  county  Sep- 
tember 9,  1862;  Nelson  Cline,  her  father, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina;  her  mother  was 
also  a  native  of  same  State,  born  about  1815, 
still  living.  John  Carr,  his  father,  and  also 
his  mother,  were  born  in  North  Carolina;  she 
was  the  mother  of  the  one  child,  and  he  has 
only  one  child,  Charlie  Carr;  are  members  of 
Lutheran  Church;  politically.  Republican. 

GEORGE  H.  FILE  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  June  12,  1828;  was  brought  to  this 
county  when  three  years  old,  by  his  parents, 
and  worked  on  the  farm  until  he  became  of 
age,  and  bought  a  piece  of  land  near  his  fa- 


IRVING  TOWNSHIP. 


285 


ther's.  containing  190  acres;  he  made  the 
first  payment  by  raising  castor  beans,  which 
he  sold  for  $1.25  per  bushel,  hauled  to  St. 
Louis,  seventy-five  miles,  which  was  the  only 
market  at  that  day;  the  yield  was  about  eight 
bushels  per  acre,  the  most  paying  crop  at  that 
time — in  fact,  the  only  crop  at  that  early  day 
that  brought  the  cash.  Mr.  File  was  mar- 
ried, in  Montgomery  County,  in  1852,  to  Miss 
Susanna  L.  Cress,  daughter  of  Absalom  Cress. 
At  the  time  of  his  marriage,  he  had  improved 
about  thirty  acres  and  built  a  small  frame 
house,  which  he  occupied  the  first  year  with- 
out plastering;  in  one  year  after,  he  sold  that 
place  for  $7.50  per  acre,  and  purchased  his 
present  home,  containing  180  acres  of  land, 
with  sixty  acres  improved,  and  the  only  build- 
ing being  a  log  cabin,  and  afterward  added 
to  his  first  purchase  seventy-six  acres,  on 
which  he  has  built  all  necessary  improvements, 
at  considerable  cost,  and  has  his  place  under 
fine  cultivation;  he  has  turned  his  attention 
to  fine  cattle,  and  is  making  his  preparations 
to  go  into  tbe  stock  business.  Jacob  File  was 
born  in  North  Carolina,  Cabarrus  County; 
Caroline  Cress,  his  mother,  was  also  born  in 
same  State  and  county;  she  was  the  mother 
of  nine  children,  our  subject  being  the  second 
child;  his  wife's  father  was  born  in  North 
Carolina;  also  mother.  The  subject  has  had 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  living — Mary 
Frances  Drew,  Clara  M. ,  Lawrence  A.,  Will- 
iam H.,  Francis  L. ;  members  of  Lutheran 
Church,  which  they  joined  while  quite  young! 
ho  has  always  been  identified  with  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

THOMAS  GRANTHAM,  restaurant,  born 
in  Montgomery  County,  111,  April  12,  1841, 
son  of  Ezekiel  and  Eleanor  (Wiley)  Gran- 
tham, he  a  native  of  Kentucky,  she  the  mother 
of  fourteen  children,  Thomas  the  twelfth 
child.  Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon   schools   of    Montgomery    County,    and 


worked  on  his  father's  farm  till  he  arrived  at 
the  years  of  manhood,  when  he  enlisted  in 
Company  F,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-sixth 
Infantry,  under  Capt.  J.  H.  Cabrick;  was  de- 
tailed on  the  bakery  department,  and  on  guard 
duty;  served  three  years,  and  was  honorably 
discharged.  Returning  to  Irving,  he  engaged 
in  the  grocery  business  about  a  year,  then  ran 
a  threshing-mill,  and  worked  out  by  the  day; 
engaged  in  the  dairy  business  about  thirteen 
months,  and  then  in  the  bakery  business,  and 
now  owns  an  interest  in  a  restaurant  in  Ir- 
ving, doing  a  good  business.  In  Montgomery 
County,  111,  October  11,  186(3,  he  married 
Miss  A.  L.  Saylor,  born  in  Ohio  in  1847,  who 
has  borne  him  six  children,  viz. :  Jay  V.,  Lola 
V.,  Laura  J-,  AlveeO,  Theresa  M.  and  Harry 
V.  The  parents  of  Mrs.  Grantham  were  na- 
tives of  Ohio,  and  died  in  Marion  County. 
111.  Mr.  Grantham  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  M.  E.  Church;  he  is  a  Republican. 

I.  L.  GREGORY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irving, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111,  April 
22, 1851.  son  of  David  E.  and  Rebecca  (Cress) 
Gregory,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  he,  a 
farmer  and  wheelwright,  born  December  1, 
1809;  she,  born  February  12,  1812;  they  are 
now  residents  of  the  town  of  Irving,  are  hale 
and  hearty,  and  enjoying  the  comforts  of  their 
snug  home,  having  retired  from  active  life, 
leaving  their  son  on  the  farm;  of  their  six 
children, Irvin,  our  subject,  is  the  fifth  child: 
he  received  a  rudimentary  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  the  county;  afterward  at- 
tended Carthage  College  a  year,  and  finished 
at  Hillsboro,  111. ;  he  assisted  his  father  on 
the  farm  until  twenty-six  years  of  age,  when 
he  began  farming  on  his  own  account,  on  the 
homestead  place,  where  he  is  doing  well.  In 
Montgomery  County,  he  married  Helen 
Thumb,  a  native  of  that  county,  born  in  1859, 
who  has  borne  him  five  interesting  children, 
viz. :     Ethel,  Marvin,  Iva,  Rolland  and  Rosa. 


28G 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


The  parents  of  Mi's.  Gregory  were  born  in  New 
York;  her  father,  Marion  Thumb,  was  a 
farmer  by  occupation.  Mr.  Gregory  is  a 
Democrat;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church. 

SAMUEL  F.  KING,  farmer  and  lawyer, 
Irving,  was  born  in  Lincoln  County,  Tenn., 
in  1825,  son  of  Andrew  and  Hannah  (Guttis) 
King;  he,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  born  in 
North  Carolina,  died  in  1856;  she,  born  in 
Orange  County,  N.  C,  died  in  1858:  she  was 
the  mother  of  eleven  children,  subject  being 
the  tenth  child.  He  came  to  Illinois  with 
his  parents  when  six  years  old,  and  settled 
near  Irving;  received  a  rudimentary  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools  of  Montgomery 
County;  also  attended  the  high  school  at 
Hillsboro,  111. ;  after  finishing  at  Hillsboro, 
he  taught  school  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  law;  in  1866,  he  returned  to  Irving, 
where  he  carries  on  farming  in  addition  to 
the  practice  of  the  legal  profession;  he  was 
also  engaged  in  the  produce  business,  but 
sold  out  quite  recently.  In  Shelby  County, 
111.,  in  1851,  he  married  Narcissus  E.  Bivins, 
who  died  of  cholera  in  1855;  of  her  two  chil- 
dren, one  is  living.  His  second  wife,  Zeno- 
bia  Kershner,  has  born  him  six  children,  of 
whom  one  died.  Mr.  King  served  in  the 
Mexican  war  five  months  in  1846;  he  is  a 
.  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  the  Free  M.  E. 
Church. 

ISAAC  LEWEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irving,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  November  5,  1VJ2. 
and  came  to  Montgomery  County  in  June, 
1843,  and  was  in  the  Mexican  war  in  1846 
and  1847;  was  discharged  on  account  of  ill 
health;  came  back  to  Irving  Township,  and 
commenced  farming  on  land  he  received  for 
his  services  in  the  war,  and  has  added  to  that 
until  he  now  owns  400  acres  of  good  tillable 
land,  on  which  he  has  erected  a  very  good 
in  dwelling  and  very  fine  barn,  and  everything 


in  proportion.  He  married  Miss  Brown  in 
1847,  in  this  county,  her  parents  being  natives 
of  Tennessee;  three  children  were  the  result  of 
this  union;  she,  the  mother,  died  March  12, 
1855,  and  his  second  wife,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Griffith,  was  born  in  this  State  in  1831 ;  John 
Griffith,  her  father,  was  born  in  Tennessee  in 
March,  1808;  occupation,  farming;  Harriet 
(Pyatt)  Griffith,  her  mother,  was  born  in 
1811,  in  Tennessee,  and  she  was  the  mother 
of  ten  children.  The  father  of  our  subject, 
John  Lewey,  was  born  in  North  Carolina; 
occupation,  farming;  and  died  about  1863; 
and  his  mother  was  also  born  in  same  State 
November  5,  1842,  and  she  was  the  mother 
of  fourteen  children,  the  subject  being  the 
eighth  child.  He  has  a  family  of  four  chil- 
dren, and  owns  a  nice  home  in  the  town  of 
Irving,  where  he  now  resides,  and  has  it 
handsomely  improved;  members  of  Lutheran 
Church;  politically,  a  Republican. 

GEOEGE  W.  LEWEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irv- 
ing, was  born  in  Montgomery  County  De- 
cember 23,  1853,  son  of  Isaac  Lewey,  a  na- 
tive of  North  Carolina.  Subject  received  his 
early  education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Montgomery  County,  and  finished  at  Carthage 
College;  he  also  took  a  business  course  at 
the  commercial  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. ; 
from  Poughkeepsie  he  returned  home  and  re- 
mained till  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  as- 
sisting his  father  on  the  farm ;  he  then  began 
his  business  career  as  a  merchant  in  Nokomis. 
111.,  in  partnership  with  T.  H.  Lane;  at  the 
end  of  a  year,  they  moved  their  business  to 
Witt,  where  they  stayed  nine  months;  then 
removed  to  Raymond,  where  they  carried  on 
their  business  successfully  for  three  years; 
Mr.  Lewey  then  sold  out  his  share  in  the  bus- 
iness, and  bought  alivery  stable  in  Raymond; 
but,  after  being  in  the  livery  business  nine 
months,  he  sold  out  and  returned  to  the  home- 
stead farm,  of  which  he  has  full  charge  and 


IRVING    TOWNSHIP. 


287 


control,  his  father  having  retired  from  active 
life  and  moved  to  the  town  of  Irving;  the 
farm,  which  is  an  excellent  one,  has  all  the 
modern  improvements.  In  Montgomery  Coun- 
ty, in  October.  1877,  he  married  Augusta  F. 
Lane,  a  native  of  that  county,  born  in  March, 
L857,  daughter  of  J.  B.  and  Susan  (Bost) 
Lane,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Lewey 
is  a  Republican;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Old  Presbyterian  Church. 

JOHN  T.  McDAVID,  Sb.,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Irving,  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
February  8,  1824,  son  of  William  McDavid, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  whose  wife's  maiden 
name  was  Johnson,  she  having  been  born  in 
Tennessee  September  20,  1800.  Our  subject 
was  raised  on  a  farm;  received  such  an  edu- 
cation as  was  afforded  by  the  common  schools 
of  that  early  day,  and  began  life  for  himself 
as  a  farmer  in  East  Fork  Township,  his  first 
purchase  being  eighty  acres  of  land,  which 
he  traded  for  horses,  on  which  he  realized 
such  a  profit  as  to  enable  him  to  buy  123  acres 
in  the  year  1850,  on  which  he  resided  for 
seven  years;  he  then  sold  out  and  bought  an 
adjoining  farm  of  155  acres,  where  he  lived 
several  years,  also  buying  sixty  acres  near 
Hillsboro,  on  which  he  realized  a  handsome 
profit  in  a  short  time;  he  next  sold  his  farm 
and  bought  500  acres  of  good  tillable  land, 
and  erected  a  fine  dwelling,  barn  and  other 
buildings;  in  1881,  he  again  sold  out,  and 
bought,  in  Shelby  County,  475  acres  of  good 
farm  land,  north  of  Shelbyville,  and  he  also 
has  266  acres  in  Irving  Township,  as  well  as 
eighty  acres  in  East  Fork;  he  has  also  helped 
all  his  six  sons  to  start  well  in  life.  Mr.  Mc- 
David tvas  married,  in  Montgomery  County, 
in  1S45,  to  Edna  J.  Knight,  who  was  born  in 
this  county  July  26,  18267  daughter  of  Will- 
iam Knight,  of  Kentucky,  who  was  born  in 
1798,  and  died  December  6,  1862;  her  moth- 
er's maiden  name  was  Barsheba  Bostick,  born 


in  Kentucky  in  1800,  and  died  February  9, 
1860;  Mrs.  McDavid  became  the  mother  of 
six  children,  and  died  March  6,  1870.  On 
August  6,  1871,  he  was  married  to  Linda 
Snell,  who  was  born  and  grew  up  in  Macou- 
pin County,  111.,  where  she  received  a  good 
education;  they  have  one  son  by  this  mar- 
riage, Frank  Lee,  born  August  20,  1877.  In 
addition  to  his  other  property,  Mr.  McDavid 
owns  a  house  and  lot  in  the  town  of  Irving. 
where  he  resides,  comfortably  situated,  and 
highly  esteemed  for  his  social  worth  and  pub- 
lic enterprise;  the  children  by  his  first  mar 
riage  were  AlbinB.,  William  J.,  John  T.,  Jr., 
Joel  K.,  Augustus  B.  and  James  L.  Mr.  Mc- 
David was  elected  Sheriff  in  1868,  and  served 
two  years;  he  was  also  Deputy  Sheriff  four 
or  five  years;  also  Assessor;  his  family  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

JAMES  McDOWELL,  merchant,  Irving, 
was  born  in  Adair  County,  Ky.,  February  1  1, 
1842;  came  to  Illinois  in  1860  and  settled  in 
Montgomery  County;  his  parents,  John  and 
Lucinda  (Rippetoe)  McDowell,  were  natives 
of  Adair  County,  Ky.,  he,  a  farmer,  was  born 
in  1809,  and  died  about  the  year  1850;  she, 
born  in  1811,  died  at  her  son's  (subject's) 
residence  in  1878;  of  their  four  sons,  James 
is  the  youngest;  he  received  his  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  Kentucky,  and  began 
life  as  a  teacher,  and  taught  eighteen  terms; 
he  followed  the  trade  of  a  house  painter  for  a 
few  years,  and,  in  1873,  began  mercantile 
business  in  Irving;  he  carries  a  good  ntock  of 
goods,  does  an  extensive  trade,  and  is  one  of 
the  leading  merchants  of  Irving;  he  was  Town 
Clerk  of  Irving  Township  for  twelve  months. 
At  Beardstown,  Cass  Co. ,  111. ,  April  5,  1865, 
he  married  Caroline  Wubker,  born  at  Jack- 
sonville, Morgan  Co.,  111.,  March  20,  IMS. 
who  has  borne  him  five  children,  viz. :  Wal- 
ter H.,  Lena  L.,  Edward  H.,  Albert  L.  and 
Clarence  M. ;    her  father,  William  Wubker, 


288 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


born  in  Minden,  Prussia,  February  10,  1816, 
came  to  the  United  States  when  but  a  small 
boy;  her  mother,  Helena  Maas,  still  living, 
was  born  in  Hanover  City,  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, August  21, 1818.  Mr.  McDowell  owns 
a  residence  and  business  house  in  Irving;  he 
is  a  Democrat;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

ALEXANDER   B.   ROSS,    farmer,  P.    O. 
Irving,  was  born  in  Center   County,   Penn., 
September  4,  1837,  and  was  educated  in  the 
common   schools  of  country,  and  was  thrown 
on  his  own  resources  at  the  early  age  of  four- 
teen years;  h;s  father  sold  him  half-interest 
in   stock  and   farm,  and  charged  him  6  per 
cent   interest  on  the   investment;  he  went  to 
work  with  energy,  and,  in  the  short  space  of 
three  years,  he  was  sole  owner  of  the  stock, 
and   in  six  years  he  owned  the  entire  inter- 
est.    He  went  into  the  army  in  1862,  in  Com- 
pany G,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  Reg- 
iment Ohio  Volunteers,  and  was  at  the  battle 
of  Chancellorsville,  where  he  received  a  flesh 
wound  in  the  neck,  and  was  in  several  battles 
afterward,  and  received  a  wound  "nthe  shoul- 
der, which  d'sabled  him  for  a  short  time;  he 
served     in    the      Commissary    Department; 
greatly  to  his  chagrin,  they  would  not  let  him 
go  into  active  service  again;  he  was  mustered 
out,  and  went  to  his  old  home,  and  married, 
January  6,  1866,  in  Pennsylvania,  Miss  Anna 
M.  Rhinehart;  she  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
February  23,  1841;  her  father,  John  Rhine- 
hart,    was    also    a    native    of    Pennsylvania. 
Robert  Ross  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  the 
year   1813,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died 
July  6,  1863 ;  Sarah  McMitt  Ross  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania   in  the  year  1820,  and  was  the 
mother  of  eleven  children,  the  subject  being 
the  eldest;  he  has  a  family  of  eight  children, 
named  as  follows:     Agnes  was  born  June  10, 
1867;  Minerva  B.  was  born  July  25,  1868; 
Sarah  J.  was  born  May  2,  1870;  Harriet  E. 


was  born  December  6,  1871;  Thomas  was 
born  May  27,  1873;  John  Alfred  was  born 
June  4,  1875;  Robert  was  born  June  18, 
1878;  Penelope  Frank,  born  December  3, 
1881.  He  came  to  Montgomery  County  in 
1875  and  located  in  the  town  of  Irving,  where 
he  remained  only  one  year ;  in  1S66,  he 
bought  his  present  home,  and  deserves  great 
credit  for  the  manner  in  which  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  his  place  in  such  fine  state 
of  cultivation;  is  a  Republican  politically;  he 
sold  a  farm  of  175  acres,  when  he  emigrated 
to  this  place,  at  $60  per  acre. 

A.  A.  RHINEHART,  farmer,  P.  O  Irving, 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1839,  April  10; 
raised  in  town,  and  educated  at  Potter's  Bank, 
Penn.;  remained  with  his  father  until  eight- 
een years  of  age,  when  he  commenced  busi- 
ness  for  himself  as  a  carpenter,  which  trad? 
he  followed  two  years;  enlisted,  in  1862,  in 
Company  D,  One  Hundred  and  Forty- eighth 
Regiment  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry; 
was    in    several    hard- fought    battles;    was 
wounded  twice  at  the  battle  of  Chancellors- 
ville, only  flesh  wounds,  however,  which  dis- 
abled him  only  a  short  time ;  at    Five  Forks 
he  received  a  wound  in  the  foot  which  dis- 
abled him  for  several  months,  and  which  gives 
him  trouble  at  the  present  time  if  he  does 
much  walking  on  uneven   ground;  he  went 
out  as  Sergeant;    was  promoted  to    Second 
Lieutenant  in  sis  months,  and  afterward  to 
Captain  of  a  company,  which  rank  he  held 
during  the  remainder   of    the    service.      He 
came  to  Illinois  in  1866,  and  bought  sixty 
acres  of  land,  to  which  he  has  since   added 
sixty  acres  more,  making  120  acres  of  good 
farm  land.     He  was  married,  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, in   1862,   to  Miss   Penelope  McAlister, 
who  was  born  in  Bellefonte,  Penn.,  in  183S; 
John  McAlister,  her   father,  was  born  about 
the  year  1817,  and  died  about  the  year  1859; 
Hannah  (Thomas)  McAlister,  her  mother,  was 


IRVING    TOWNSHIP. 


289 


born  in  Pennsylvania  about  the  year  1825, 
and  died  in  1880.  John  Khinehart,  the  fa- 
ther of  subject,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in 
1817,  and  is  now  residing  in  Montgomery 
County;  Rebecca  (Taylor)  Rhinehart,  sub- 
ject's mother,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in 
1820,  also  residing  in  Montgomery  County, 
and  is  the  mother  of  thirteen  children,  sub- 
ject being  the  eldest  of  family.  He  has  no 
children ;  he  has  raised  a  boy  from  eight  years 
to  twenty,  and  now  has  two  little  nieces  whom 
he  is  raising.  He  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  M.  E.  Church;  he  is  a  Republican,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

J.  M.  TAULBEE,  dealer  in  provisions,  and 
minister,  Irving,  born  in  Wilkes  County,  N. 
C,    December  23,    1815;    son    of    William 
H.     and    Nancy    Taulbee,   he,    a    farmer  by 
occupation,   born    in  Stokes   County,  N.   C, 
October   21.    1791,   died   October   22,  1812; 
she,  born  in   Rowan   County,  N.    C,  May  9, 
1789,  died  August  14,    1837.     Subject,   the 
second  child   of  a  family  of   ten,    spent  his 
early  days  in  assisting  his  father  on  the  farm; 
he  received  his  education  in  the   schools  of 
Kentucky,  whither  his  parents  had  moved  in 
1817;  in  the  fall  of  1836,  he  removed  to  Fay- 
ette County,   111.,  where  he  bought  a   farm, 
which  he  sold  in  1853;  he  then  came  to  Irv- 
ing Township,  Montgomery  Co.,  111.,  where 
he  followed  farming  during  1855  and  1856; 
he  then  moved  to  what  is  now  the   town  of 
Irving,  he  being  the  first  resident  of  the  place. 
In    Perry    County,   Ky ,  June    30,    1836,   he 
married  Ann  Damrul,  born  in  Morgan  County, 
Ky.,  April  9,    1817,  died  June  28,  1853,  in 
Fayette  County,   111.,    leaving   six  childi-en; 
her  father,  Joseph  Damrul,  a  native  of  Shen- 
andoah County,  Va.,  died  October  15,  1840; 
her  mother,  Elizabeth  (Dykes)  Damrul,  born 
in  Floyd  County,  Ky.,  March  14.  1798,  died 
October  24, 1839.     Mr.  Taulbee's  second  wife, 
Mrs.  Prudence  Carriker,  whose  parents  were 


natives  of  North  Carolina,  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee in  1817;  she  is  the  mother  of  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  by  her  first  hus- 
band. Mr.  Taulbee  was  ordained  a  minister 
of  the  Gospel  in  1851,  since  which  time  he 
has  preached;  he  has  now  charge  of  three 
churches;  he  is  a  Republican;  has  filled  the 
office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  twenty-two 
years,  giving  general  satisfaction  to  all;  he 
now  owns  a  produce  and  feed  store  in  the 
town  of  Irving,  and  does  a  good  business; 
his  children  are  Joseph  E.,  Mary  J.,  Levi  L., 
William,  Sarah  A.  and  James  P.;  two  of  his 
sons  were  in  the  army  during  the  war;  the 
elder,  who  served  four  years,  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Shiloh,  came  home  and  recruited 
in  health,  and  returned  to  do  battle  for  his 
country;  the  younger  served  three  years. 

WILLIAM  W.  WEBER,  farmer  and  mil- 
ler, Irving,  was  born  in  New  York  August  23, 
1835;  educated  in  common  school  of  coun- 
try; came  to  Montgomery  County  with  his 
parents  at  eight  years  of  age;  settled  in  But- 
ler Township,  and  worked  on  the  farm  until 
he  arrived  at  his  majority;  commenced  busi- 
ness saw-milling,  and  still  keeps  up  that,  with 
farming  in  connection;  in  1862,  he  purchased 
120  acres,  to  which  he  has  added  forty;  he 
has  built  all  the  improvements,  as  it  was  all 
wild  prairie  when  he  settled;  he  first  located 
his  mill  south  of  Irving  two  and  a  half  miles, 
and  ran  six  months,  and  then  moved  it  to  its 
present  location,  half  a  mile  west  of  his  pres- 
ent home;  was  married,  in  Montgomery 
County,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Osborn,  January  7, 
1857 ;  she  was  born  in  this  county  Dec.  30, 
1835.  The  father  of  subject,  Joseph  Weber, 
was  born  in  New  York  about  1803;  occupa- 
tion, farmer;  died  May  3,  1853;  Eunice 
(Johnson)  Weber,  his  mother,  was  born  in 
New  York  in  1802,  and  was  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  the  subject  being  the  sixth  child, 
and  he  has  a  family  of  three  children,  one 


290 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


dead— William  P.,  George  E.,  Olive  J. ;  one 
died  in  infancy.  He  was  Road  Commissioner 
six  years,  and  was  School  Director  for  eight 
years,  and  now  Trustee;  member  of  M.  E. 
Church;  is  a  Republican;  member  of  Odd 
Fellows. 

SAMUEL  R.  WILEY,  farmer,  P.  0.  Irv- 
ing, was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
February  13,  1837,  son  of  Zachariah  and 
Elizabeth  (Mann)  Wiley;  Zachariah  Wiley, 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  was  born  in  Virginia 
March  2,1804;  came  to  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  in  1820,  with  his  father,  and  took  up  a 
farm,  where  he  died  in  1842;  his  wife,  who 
was  the  mother  of  sis  children,  subject  being 
the  third  child,  was  born  January  14,  1806, 
and  died  in  1868.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Mont- 
gomery County;  after  his  father's  death,  he 
took  charge  of  the  homestead  farm,  and  man- 
aged it  for  his  mother  till  he  was  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age,  when  he  began  business 
for  himself    by  purchasing  a  farm   of    120 


acres  of  land,  to  which  he  has  since  added 
160  acres  more,  on  which,  at  the  time  of  pur- 
chase, was  a  small  house,  the  farm,  with  the 
exception  of  thirty  acres,  being  unbroken 
prairie;  by  industry  and  perseverance,  he  now 
has  his  farm  in  a  fine  state  of  cultivation, 
with  comfortable  dwelling,  fine  barn,  and  all 
necessary  outbuildings;  he  raises  quite  a 
number  of  Short-Horn  cattle,  as  well  as  horses 
and  mules;  has  all  the  latest  improved  farm 
machinery.  In  Montgomery  County,  111. .  in 
1862,  he  married  Sophia  A.  Carriker,  born  in 
North  Carolina  in  1844,  daughter  of  John 
and  Mary  L.  Carriker,  he,  a  farmer,  born  in 
North  Carolina,  is  now  living  in  the  town  of 
Irving;  she,  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina, 
is  the  mother  of  seven  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wiley  are  mem- 
bers of  the  M.  E.  Church;  they  have  six  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Wiley  has  been  School  Director 
for  twenty  years,  and  still  holds  that  position; 
he  is  a  Democrat. 


EAST    FORK   TOWNSHIP. 


291 


EAST  FOKK  TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  P.  BECK,  farmer,  P.  O,  Hillsboro, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  March 
6,  1837,  to  John  and  Nancy  (Blair)  Beck,  he 
a  native  of  North  Caorlina,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  to  enter  upon  pioneer  life  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  engaged  in  milling, 
blacksmith ing,  coopering,  distilling  and  farm- 
ing at  different  times.  He  entered  land  in 
Town  7,  Fillmore.  Range  2,  but  at  the  time 
of  his  death  had  land  also  in  Range  3.  His 
death  occurred  in  1845.  His  wife,  Nancy, 
was  also  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
died  in  1851.  She  was  the  mother  of  ten 
children,  of  whom  John,  our  subject,  was  the 
youngest  child.  His  early  childhood  was 
spent  upon  the  farm  and  in  attending  school 
at  the  neighboring  log  schoolhouse,  to  which 
his  educational  privileges  were  limited.  At 
the  death  of  his  mother,  which  occurred  when 
he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  left  the 
homestead  and  engaged  as  a  farm  hand.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  had  succeeded  in 
accumulating  enough  funds  to  enable  him  to 
purchase  twenty  acres  of  timber  land,  and 
soon  after  purchased  forty  acres  of  prairie, 
upon  which  he  made  all  the  improvements 
himself,  and  to  which  he  has  continued  to 
add,  and  now  has  in  his  possession  160  acres 
of  choice  farm  land,  all  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  He  grows  all  the  usual  crops, 
but  makes  a  specialty  of  grain.  He  was 
inarried  in  Montgomery  County,  February  '26, 
1861,  to  Miss  Nancy  J.  Brown,  who  was  born 
in  the  same  county  November  15,  1839.  She 
is  the  mother  of  five  childi-en,  viz.,  Emma  J., 
Mary  C,  George  M.,  Nina  and  Laura  L.,  the 
two  oldest  of  whom  died  in  infancy.     Mrs. 


Beck  was  a  daughter  of  Harrison  Brown. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beck  are  connected  with  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  Polit- 
ically, he  was  formerly  a  Democrat,  but  now 
is  considered  independent  in  politics. 

WILLIAM  S.  BARRY,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
September  IS,  18-41,  to  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Robinson)  Barry.  He  was  born  in  Barren 
County,  Ky.,  in  1806.  In  1834  or  1835  be 
emigrated  to  Montgomery  County,  in  Hills- 
boro Township,  where  he  bought  a  small 
tract  of  improved  land.  He  remained  in 
Montgomery  County  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  March  15,  1876.  He  was  of 
Irish  descent.  His  wife,  and  mother  of  our 
subject,  was  born  in  Warren  County,  Ky.,  in 
1809,  and  died  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
in  1868.  She  was  the  mother  of  nine  chil- 
dren, of  whom  William  S.  Barry  was  the 
seventh  child.  His  early  life  was  spent  in 
receiving  such  an  education  as  the  common 
schools  of  his  day  afforded,  and  assisting  in 
tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-two,  he  left  home  and  embarked 
on  his  career  in  life  by  farming  on  his  own 
account,  on  a  farm  of  140  acres  of  partially 
improved  land,  situated  in  Section  23,  of  East 
Fork  Township.  Here  he  has  since  remained, 
and  by  honesty,  industry  and  economy,  he 
has  succeeded  in  accumulating  200  acres  of 
land,  all  of  which  is  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  Besides  raising  all  the  principal 
farm  crops,  he  makes  wheat  a  specialty.  Mr. 
Ban-}'  was  married  in  Montgomery  County 
April  2.  1863,  to  Charity  C.  daughter  of 
Jabez  and  Polly  Ann  (Lewey)  Wheeler.    Mrs. 


292 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


Barry  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
August  17,  1843.  She  is  the  mother  of  five 
children,  four  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz., 
Minnie  V.,  wife  of  Frederick  Coffeen,  of  East 
Fork  Township;  Robert  F.,  at  home;  Hattie, 
died  August  28,  1867;  Ina  M.,  home;  Fred, 
at  home.  Wife,  of  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church.  Mr.  Barry  has  served  as  Highway 
Commissioner.  Politically,  he  is  indepen- 
dent. 

GUSTAVUS  F  COFFEEN,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Watertown,  Jeffer- 
son Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  19,  1820,  to  Frederick 
and  Elcena  (Hubbard)  Coffeen,  he  born  in 
Schuyler,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  about  1795,  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  and  at  one  time  was  a 
hotel  keeper,  and  dying  about  1860.  His 
wife,  Elcena,  was  born  in  Jefferson  County, 
N.  Y,  in  1798,  and  died  about  1S76.  She 
was  the  mother  of  sis  children,  four  of  whom 
are  now  living,  and  of  whom  Gustavus  is  the 
oldest  child  living.  His  paternal  grandfather, 
Henry  Coffeen,  was  the  first  settler  in  Water- 
town,  N.  Y.,  having  penetrated  from  Lcwville 
through  the  woods  with  his  goods  and  family, 
drawn  by  an  ox-team.  He  erected  his  hut  on 
the  ground  just  west  of  Iron  Block.  He 
was  a  very  prominent  merchant  and  specu- 
lator in  land.  Gustavus,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  received  a  common  school  education 
in  his  native  town,  and  spent  his  early  child- 
hood in  assisting-  his  father  in  his  agrieult- 
ural  pursuits.  At  the  age  or  eighteen  years, 
he  entered  a  hotel  in  Jefferson  County  with 
his  father,  where  he  remained  about  fifteen 
years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  turned 
his  attention  to  railroading,  which  occupation 
he  followed  about  two  years  in  New  York, 
and  then  came  to  Illinois,  and  continued  in 
the  same  business  about  two  years  more, 
when  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1855,  purchased  1.140  acres 
of  wild  prairie  land.     He  remained  upon  the 


same  about  eighteen  months,  and  improved 
about  one  hundred  acres.  He  then  disposed 
of  his  property  and  purchased  160  acres  of 
improved  and  forty  acres  of  timber  land  in 
East  Fork  Township,  where  he  has  since 
carried  on  farming  more  or  less  extensively. 
Grows  all  the  usual  farm  crops,  and  raising 
and  dealing  in  stock.  His  farm  now  consists 
of  640  acres  of  choice  farm  and  timber  land. 
In  1862-63,  he  served  a  term  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  from  Montgomery  and  Chris- 
tian Counties;  has  also  served  as  Supervisor. 
He  was  married,  November  9,  1846,  to  Miss 
Mary  Adelia  Bell,  born  in  Herkimer  County, 
N.  Y.,  February  2, 1827.  She  is  the  mother 
of  three  children,  viz..  Frederick  H.;  Mary, 
wife  of  John  McLean,  living  in  East  Fork 
Township;  Clotilda  Bell,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  T. 
Hendrix,  deceased.  (See  history.)  Mrs. 
Coffeen  is  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

GEORGE  C.  CAMPBELL,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Perry  County,  Mo., 
August  13,  1824,  to  Samuel  and  Margaret 
(Cowan)  Campbell,  he  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina, in  Lincoln  County,  June  17,  1793,  was 
a  tanner  by  trade,  but  in  1819  emigrated  to 
Missouri,  and  engaged  in  farming  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  October  1, 
1864.  His  wife,  Margaret,  was  also  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  born  in  Rowan  County 
May  25,  1795,  and  is  still  living  in  Kansas, 
and  is  the  mother  of  nine  children,  of  whom 
George,  our  subject,  was  the  third  child;  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  common  schools 
of  Missouri.  He  remained  upon  the  home- 
stead until  he  was  twenty-four  years  of  age. 
and  entered  upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farm- 
er, in  Perry  County,  Mo.  In  March,  1864, 
he  removed  to  Montgomery  County,  and  pur- 
chased 100  acres  of  land,  which  he  disposed 
of  five  years  later,  and  removed  to  his  present 
place  of  residence,    where  he  has  about  one 


EAST  FORK  TOWNSHIP. 


293 


hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  choice  farm 
land  under  cultivation.  He  was  married  in 
Missouri,  October  31,  1849,  to  Miss  Mary  E. 
Smith,  who  was  born  in  Cape  Girardeau 
County,  Mo.,  February  9,  1825.  They  have 
four  living  children,  viz.,  Margaret  J.,  Cath- 
arine E.,  Lamirah,  Amanda  M.  and  two  in- 
fants deceased.  Mrs.  Campbell  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  Matthew  and  Margaret  (Wallace) 
Smith,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  both  de- 
ceased. Religiously,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Campbell 
are  connected  with  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Chiu-ch.  Politically,  Mr.  C.  was  for- 
merly a  Republican,  but  now  considers  him- 
self independent.  Entered  the  service  dur- 
ing the  rebellion  with  Capt.  A.  C.  Bishop,  in 
Company  H,  of  the  Eighth  Illinois  Volunteer 
Infantry;  remained  in  service  about  one  year, 
and  was  in  the  engagement  at  Mobile. 

HARDY  F.  JONES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hills- 
boro,  was  born  in  South  Carolina  April  24, 
1813,  to  James  aud  Elizabeth  (Toles)  Jones, 
he,  James,  was  born  in  America,  but  was  of 
English  descent.  He  died  in  1816,  aged 
sixty  four  years.  During  his  life  he  followed 
the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  He  served 
through  the  war  of  1812.  His  wife,  the 
mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Georgia 
in  1804,  and  died  in  1854;  she  was  of  Scotch 
descent.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Hardy  Jones  was  the  sixth 
child.  His  early  life  was  spent  in  receiving 
such  an  education  as  the  log  schoolhouse  of 
his  day  afforded,  aud  assisting  in  tilling  the 
soil  of  the  homestead  farm.  At  the  age  of 
three  years  he  was  brought  to  Adair  County, 
Ky. ,  his  father  having  died  on  the  way  be- 
fore reaching  their  new  home.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-one  he  left  home  and  removed  to 
Greene  County,  Ind. ,  where  he  embarked  on 
his  career  in  life  as  a  farm  hand,  by  the 
month.  In  April,  1842,  he  removed  to  Mont- 
gomery   County,    111.,    and   settled    in    East 


Fork  Township,  two  miles  east  of  his  present 
residence;  there  entered  eighty  acres  of  land, 
forty  in  timber  and  forty  in  prairie.  He  re- 
mained upon  this  tract  of  land,  making  all 
necessary  improvements  and  raising  all  usual 
farm  crops,  until  March,  1877,  when  he 
bought  his  present  residence  and  farm,  and 
removed  to  the  same,  where  he  is  still  engaged 
in  farming.  By  his  honesty,  industry  and 
economy  he  has  succeeded  in  accumulating 
360  acres  of  land,  most  of  which  is  under  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  In  1832,  he  mar- 
ried Matilda  Nicholson,  who  was  born  in 
Kentucky,  and  died  in  1863,  aged  fifty -two 
years.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children, 
six  of  whom  are  now  living — William,  James, 
Joseph,  Tabitha,  Mary  Ann  and  Rebecca. 
In  1869,  he  married  Mary  C.  Ragland;  she 
was  born  in  Virginia  in  October,  1832.  She 
is  the  mother  of  two  children,  viz.,  Wilson 
S.  and  Eugenia.  Politically,  Mr.  Jones  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  Mr. 
Jones  remembers  of  hearing  the  first  preacher 
deliver  a  sermon;  his  name  was  old  Jirnmie 
Street. 

HENRY  M.  LUDEWICK,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
July  14,  1837,  to  Daniel  F.  and  Nancy  (Cress) 
Ludewick.  He  was  born  in  Cobarrus  County, 
N.  O,  December  2,  1800.  He  emigrated  to 
the  State  of  Illinois,  and  settled  in  East 
Fork  in  1831.  During  his  life,  he  was  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
had  succeeded  in  accumulating  eight  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  most  of  which  he  entered, 
and  made  all  improvements  on  the  same. 
His  death  occurred  May  4,  1849.  He  was  of 
German  descent.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  born  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  October 
25,  1806,  and  died  October  12,  1852;  was  of 
German  descent.  She  was  the  mother  of 
thirteen  children,  ten  of  whom  lived  to  man 
and  womanhood.     Of  the  thirteen  children 


294 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


our  subject  was  the  seventh  child.  His  early 
life  was  spent  in  receiving  such  an  education 
as  the  common  schools  of  his  day  afforded, 
and  in  assisting  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his 
father's  farm.  He  left  home  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  and  embarked  on  his  career  in 
life  as  a  farmer,  upon  eighty  acres  of  prairie 
and  forty  acres  of  timber.  His  farm  is  lo- 
cated in  Section  11,  and  by  his  energy  and 
business  habits  he  has  succeeded  in  accumu- 
lating 3-40  acres  of  land.  In  1862,  on  the 
21st  of  February,  in  Montgomery  County, 
he  married  Cynthia  Williamson.  She  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County  in  1845.  She 
is  the  daughter  of  John  D.  and  Nancy  G. 
(Card)  Williamson.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lude- 
wick  have  had  five  children,  three  of  whom 
are  now  living,  viz.,  Ina  O.,  the  wife  of 
Henry  H.  Whitten,  of  Fillmore  Township; 
Lowell  W.,  at  home;  Olive  Maud,  at  home; 
Robert  Grant  and  Walter,  dead.  Member  of 
the  order  of  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Irving,  No. 
455.  Wife  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Politically,  he  is  identified  with 
the  Republican  party. 

WILLIAM  C.  McDAVLD,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  March  1,  1820,  to  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Johnson)  McDavid.  He  was  born  in  Scott 
County,  Va.,  in  September,  1790;  when  a 
boy,  was  taken  to  Missouri  by  his  brother, 
and  afterward  went  to  Tennessee,  where  he 
joined  the  Seminole  war,  and  also  served 
through  the  war  of  1812,  under  Jackson. 
During  his  life,  followed  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer.  In  1832,  served  six  months  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war.  In  January,  1820,  he  emi- 
grated from  Tennessee  to  Montgomery 
County,  and  settled  in  East  Fork  Township, 
on  the  same  farm  that  Thomas  W.,  his  son, 
is  now  residing  on.  His  death  occurred  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1866.  His  marriage  took  place  in 
Tennessee  in   1819.      His  wife,  and  mother 


of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Tennessee  Sep- 
tember 15,  1800,  and  is  now  residing  on  the 
same  farm  where,  with  her  husband,  she  set- 
tled in  1820;  she  is  now  enjoying  good 
health.  She  is  the  mother  of  nine  children, 
of  whom  William  C.  is  the  oldest  child.  His 
early  life  was  spent  in  receiving  such  an  ed- 
ucation as  the  log  schoolhouses  of  his  day 
afforded,  at  that  time  having  to  walk  four 
miles  to  school.  He  remained  with  his  par- 
ents, assisting  in  tilling  the  soil  of  the  old 
homestead  farm  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  when  he  embarked  on  his  career 
in  life  as  a  hired  hand  upon  a  farm,  and,  in 
fact,  doing  all  kinds  of  work.  He  continued 
in  this  way  until  he  was  about  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  when,  with  the  savings  of  his 
meagre  earnings,  he  was  able  to  enter  forty 
acres  of  prairie  land;  a  portion  of  this  same 
farm  he  is  now  residing  on,  and,  by  his  econ- 
omy and  business  habits,  he  succeeded  in  ac- 
cumulating about  four  hundred  acres  of  land, 
all  of  which  he  placed  under  a  high  state  of 
cultivation.  His  farm  now  consists  of  190 
acres,  he  having  divided  his  land  among  his 
children.  On  September  2,  1847,  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  he  married  Lydia  C.  Wilson, 
a  native  of  Harrison  County,  Ind. ,  born  April 
11,  1826.  She  is  the  daughter  of  John  and 
Ruth  (Wilburn)  Wilson,  natives  of  North 
Carolina.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McDavid  are  the 
parents  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing— James  S. ,  Thomas  J.,  Emily  E.  and 
John  L.  Mr.  McDavid  has  held  the  office  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace  in  his  township  for 
twenty-eight  years,  and  has  never  had  a 
judgment  reversed,  and  but  few  cases  of 
appeal  to  higher  courts.  He  is  an  active 
member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  of  Hillsboro. 
In  politics,  he  is  identified  with  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  Self  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

JAMES  B.  McDAVID,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hills- 


EAST    FORK    TOWNSHIP. 


295 


boro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
March  31.  1821,  to  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Johnson)  McDavid  (see  history  J.  T.  Mc- 
David), and  his  early  childhood  was  employed 
in  assisting  his  parents  upon  the  homestead 
farm,  and  in  attending  the  neighboring  log 
schooJhouse  common  at  that  early  day,  and 
to  which  his  educational  privileges  were  lim- 
ited; but  he  has,  however,  by  observation, 
and  in  contact  with  the  world,  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  practical  education,  that  is,  per- 
haps, above  the  average.  He  remained  upon 
the  homestead  farm  until  be  was  about 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  when  he  married 
and  entered  upon  his  own  career  in  life 
as  a  farmer,  and  moved  upon  the  place 
upon  which  he  has  since  resided,  engaged 
more  or  less  extensively  in  farming.  His 
first  real  estate  consisted  of  eighty  acres  of 
land,  to  which  he  has  continually  added, 
until  he  now  has  in  his  possession  about  one 
thousand  and  twenty-five  acres,  the  greater 
portion  of  which  is  under  good  cultivation. 
Although  he  grows  all  the  usual  farm  crops, 
he  has,  during  the  last  few  years,  made  a 
specialty  of  grain,  and  has  also  been  engaged 
quite  extensively  in  handling  stock.  At  pres- 
ent, however,  he  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  re- 
tired from  active  labor  and  given  place  to 
younger  men,  who  may  do  well  to  follow  the 
example  Mr.  McDavid's  life  will  afford.  Mr. 
McDavid  has  held  several  of  the  county  offi- 
ces, having  served  as  County  Assessor  for  a 
term  of  ten  years,  before  the  township  organi- 
zation. He  is  the  present  Township  Asses- 
sor, the  duties  of  which  office  he  has  filled 
for  two  terms  before  the  present.  He  has 
also  served  the  people  as  Justice  of  the  Peace 
about  one  year,  which  position  he  resigned 
at  the  end  of  that  time.  He  was  married  in 
Montgomery  County  February  29,  1848]  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Burk,  who  was  born  in  Smith 
County,  Term.,  December  26,  1827,  and  was 


brought  to  Illinois  by  her  parents  when  she 
',  was  about  two  years  of  age.  She  is  the 
mother  of  one  child,  William  A.,  who  was 
born  April  23,  1854,  and  is  now  a  prominent 
young  farmer  living  near  the  homestead. 
Mrs.  McDavid  is  a  daughter  of  Andrew  and 
Rachel  (Burnette)  Burk,  natives  of  Tennes- 
see, both  deceased.  Mr.  McDavid  served  in 
the  Mexican  war  about  nine  months,  and  was 
discharged  on  account  of  sickness.  He  has 
always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  political 
issues  of  the  day,  and  has  always  been  iden- 
tified with  the  Democratic  party.  Himself 
and  wife  are  connected  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  at  Hillsboro,  for  a  number 
of  years. 

T.  W.  McDAVID.  preacher  and  farmer, 
P.  O.  Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomeiy 
County. 111.,  September  6,  1833,  to  William 
and  Elizabeth  (Johnson)  McDavid.  His  early 
life  was  spent  upon  the  homestead  farm  as- 
sisting in  tilling  the  soil  of  his  father's  farm, 
and  receiving  such  an  education  as  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  county  afforded, 
and  a  few  months  at  the  Hillsboro  Academy. 
At  the  age  of  twenty -three,  he  commenced 
teaching  school,  following  the  same  in  the 
winter,  and  during  the  summer  he  followed 
the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  He  followed 
teaching  in  the  winter  season  for  about  six 
years.  He  became  a  candidate  for  the  min- 
istry in  1S65,  and  was  ordained  in  Septem- 
ber, 1867,  by  the  Vandalia  Presbytery.  His 
first  charge  was  at  home  and  Maple  Grove, 
and  held  the  former  for  seven  and  a  half 
i  years,  and  the  latter  for  six  years.  Since,  he 
has  served  as  pastor  in  the  following  churches, 
viz.:  Mt.  Tabor;  Witt  Church,  four  years: 
Cross  Roads;  at  present,  he  is  pastor  Irv 
ing  Church,  C.  P.,  Maple  Grove.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  pastoral  duties,  Mr.  McDavid  is 
1  extensively    engaged    in    farming   upon    his 


296 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


farm  of  about  four  hundred  acres;  with  the 
exception  of  eighty-four  of  timber,  it  is  all 
under  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  In  June, 
1860,  in  Montgomery  County,  he  married 
Louisa  J.,  daughter  of  Richard  and  Tabitha 
(Vicars)  Blackburn.  Mrs.  McDavid  was 
born  September  19,  1841,  in  Montgomery 
County,  111.  She  is  the  mother  of  thirteen 
children,  eleven  of  whom  are  now  living — 
Emma  D.,  Lizzie  J.,  Frank  M.,  Ella,  Mar- 
garet, Annie,  Albert  C. ,  James  E. ,  Minnie, 
Lester  T.  and  Hattie.  Family  are  all  con- 
nected with  his  church,  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian.  He  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.,.  Hillsboro  Lodge.  Politically, 
is  identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 

WILLIAM  A.  McDAVID,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  April  23,  1854,  to  James  B.  and  Mary 
A.  McDavid.  (See  history.)  His  early 
childhood  was  employed  in  assisting  his 
father  in  his  agricultural  pursuits  upon  the 
homestead  farm,  and  in  attending  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  neighborhood,  where  he 
received  the  foundation  of  his  education. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  McGee 
College,  at  College  Mound,  Macon  Co.,  Mo., 
where  he  remained  two  years,  and  then  spent 
two  years  in  Lincoln  University,  Lincoln, 
Logan  Co.,  111.  While  at  McGee  he  gradu- 
ated in  book-keeping.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  he  left  the  homestead  farm,  and 
entered  upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  farmer, 
at  which  occupation  he  has  since  continued. 
In  connection  with  his  father  he  has  farm 
lands  numbering  about  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  acres,  the  principal  part  of  which  is 
under  cultivation.  His  residence  is  located 
about  five  miles  east  of  Hillsboro,  in  East 
Fork  Township,  and  is  surrounded  by  all  im- 
provements necessary  for  comfort  and  con- 
venience, and  which  shows  Mr.  McDavid  to 
be  a  practical    farmer.      His  farmhouse  was 


built  after  his  own  design,  and  does  honor  to 
him  as  an  architect,  and  his  residence  is 
spoken  of  as  one  of  the  finest  in  the  town- 
ship. He  was  married  in  Montgomery 
County,  April  29,  1874,  to  Miss  Martha  J. 
Wilson,  who  was  born  in  Montgomery  County 
March  14,  1857.  She  is  the  mother  of  one 
child,  Joseph  C,  born  February  8,  1875.  Mrs. 
McDavid  is  a  daughter  of  Joshua  H.  and 
Sarah  (Hutchison)  Wilson,  natives  of  Illinois, 
both  deceased.  Mrs.  McDavid  is  connected 
with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 
Politically,  Mr.  McDavid's  sympathies  are 
with  the  Democratic  party. 

HIRAM  SHEPHERD,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  August  18,  1830,  to  Pleasant  and  Anna 
(Brown)  Shepherd.  He  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  in  1803.  When  quite  a  young  man 
he  emigrated  to  Kentucky  after  a  period  of 
seven  years;  there  married  and  removed  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Fillmore  Township, 
Montgomery  County.  During  his  life  he  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  In  the 
fall  of  1832,  he  sold  his  property  in  Mont- 
gomery County,  and  returned  to  Kentucky, 
Adair  County,  and  in  the  spring  of  1833, 
returned  to  Montgomery  County  and  settled 
in  North  Litchfield  Township.  Here  he  re- 
mained to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred April  10,  1834;  at  the  time  of  his 
death  he  owned  a  farm  of  120  acres.  His 
wife,  and  mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in 
Virginia  in  1804,  and  died  in  1848.  She 
was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  Hiram 
Shepherd  being  the  fifth  child.  His  early 
life  was  spent  in  receiving  such  an  education 
as  the  common  schools  of  his  day  afforded, 
and  in  assisting  in  tilling  the  soil  of  his 
father's  farm.  In  his  eighteenth  year  he  was 
left  an  orphan,  and  at  that  age  embarked  on 
his  career  in  life  as  a  hired  hand,  which  he 
followed  for  one  year,  when  he  worked  a  farm 


EAST    FORK    TOWNSHIP. 


297 


on  shares.  In  1852,  he  went  to  California, 
and  there  followed  gold  mining.  In  1854, 
he  returned  to  Montgomery  County,  111.,  and 
embarked  in  a  saw-mill  business,  near  Litch- 
field. In  1856,  he  bought  eighty  acres  of 
land,  but  soon  traded  the  same  for  a  100- 
acre  tract  of  partially  improved  prairie.  He 
remained  upon  his  farm  about  three  years, 
when  he  sold  out  and  bought  100  acres  of  the 
same  farm  he  is  now  residing  on.  By  his 
energy  and  business  habits,  he  has  succeeded 
in  accumulating  200  acres  of  well-improved 
land,  upon  which  he  raises  all  farm  products, 
but  makes  wheat,  corn  and  oats  a  specialty, 
and  aims  to  keep  his  farm  well  stocked.  On 
October  21,  1857,  in  Montgomery  County,  he 
married  Miss  Nancy  A.,  daughter  of  James 
and  Sarah  (Beer)  "Williams.  Mrs.  Shepherd 
was  born  in  Washington  County,  III,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1S32.  She  is  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  viz.,  Anna  E.,  Sarah  E.,  Martha  J., 
John  P.,  Bosa  A.,  Lillie  L.,  Charles  H., 
Hiram  F.  and  Edward  E.  Politically,  Mr. 
Shepherd  is  identified  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

JOEL  C.  TEAYLOE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hills- 
boro,  was  born  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  Octo- 
ber 6,  1814,  to  James  and  Nancy  (Cardwell) 
Traylor,  natives  of  Virginia.  He  died  about 
1S50,  aged  about  sixty-five;  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation.  She  died  about  1822,  aged  about 
thirty  years.  She  was  the  mother  of  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  still  living,  viz., 
William  and  Joel.  The  subject  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  State. 
When  ten  years  of  age,  he  engaged  to  learn 
the  trade  of  harness-making;  came  to  Mont- 
gomery County  in  1844,  and  settled  upon  his 
present  place  of  residence,  and  has  been  en- 
gaged in  merchandising.  His  farm  consists 
of  about  three  hundred  acres,  which  are  worked 
by  his  children  under  his  management.  In 
1874,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster,  the  office 


being  in  his  house,  and  known  as  Ester  Post 
Office.  He  was  married  in  Kentucky  to  Julia 
Gibbs,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  who  died  in 
1845.  His  second  marriage  occurred  April 
3,  1846,  to  Sarah  A.  Ohinart,  born  in  Ohio 
February  18,  1828.  She  is  the  mother  of 
thirteen  children,  viz.,  Andrew  J.,  George, 
Margaret,  Joel  C,  Jr.,  Harriet,  Mahlon, 
Jacob  L.,  Bobert  J.,  Elva  A.,  Bunyan  H., 
Mary  F.,  Clement  A.,  infant  son  deceased. 
Seven  of  these  children  are  now  living.  Mr. 
Traylor  has  served  the  people  as  Justice  of 
the  Peace  about  thirty  years,  and  as  Town- 
ship Treasurer  about  twenty  years.  Polit- 
ically, he  is  a  Democrat;  religiously,  he  is  a 
Universalist. 

AAEON  C.  WILLIAMS,  music  teacher 
and  farmer,  P.  O.  Hillsboro,  was  born  in 
Orange,  Essex  Co.,  N.  J.,  August  13,  1830, 
to  Ebenezer  and  Abigail  (Crane)  Williams. 
This  family  is  of  Welsh  descent,  amd  emi- 
grated to  America  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Matthew  Williams,  the  first,  was 
born  in  1651;  supposed  to  have  been  born 
at  Branford,  Conn. ;  died  in  1732.  His 
wife,  Buth,  died  July  27,  1724,  aged  sixty- 
seven  years.  Matthew,  the  second,  was  born 
in  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1694,  and  died  in  1772. 
His  wife  was  Abby  Brown,  daughter  of 
Th  mas  Brown.  Isaac  Williams  was  the 
oldest  son  of  their  six  children,  born  Novem- 
ber 6,  1722,  and  was  the  paternal  great- 
grandfather of  our  subject.  His  wife  was 
Eunice  Pierson;  they  had  eight  children; 
Aaron  was  the  fifth  child;  he  was  born  July 
5,  1759;  married  Mary  Dodd,  by  whom  he 
had  five  children,  three  of  whom  lived  to  be 
over  eighty  years  of  age.  Ebenezer,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  the  second  son, 
born  January  7,  1792.  He  was  a  carpenter 
by  occupation,  and  served  his  apprenticeship 
in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  died  February 
14,    1874.      Two   brothers   and  one  sister  of 


298 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


his  were  born,   and  lived  to  a  good  old  age, 
and  eventually  died  in  the  same  house.     His 
wife,    Abigail  B.   Crane,  was  born  in   1795, 
and  is  still  living.     She  is  the  mother  of  nine 
children,  only  four  of  whom  are  now  living, 
and    of   whom    Aaron,    the   subject    of    this 
sketch,   is  next  to  the  youngest  child  living. 
His  early  childhood  was  employed  in  attend- 
ing the  public  schools   of  his  native  county, 
and   in  working  with  his  father  at  his  trade. 
At  the   age  of   eighteen   he  commenced  the 
study  of  music,  and  soon  after  began  to  teach 
the  same  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he 
remained  until   ill   health   compelled  him  to 
give  up  that  occupation.     In  1854,  he  turned 
his  face  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  located 
in  Jacksonville,  111.,  where  he  again  began  to 
teach  music,  at  which  occupation  be  continued 
until  1871,  in  many  of  the  principal  cities  of 
the  East  and  West,  viz. ,  New  York,  Chicago,  St. 
Louis,  Quincy,  Springfield  and  Jacksonville. 
In  tbe  spring  of  1871,  he  went  to  Montgom- 
ery,   111.,   where  he  purchased  160  acres  of 
land,   and   in  connection  with  the  duties  of 
his  profession,  he  engaged  in  farming.     He 
has   now  in  his  possession  a  farm  consisting 
of    233   acres  of  choice   farm   land,   located 
about  two  miles  east  of  Hillsboro.      In  the 
spring  of  1S82,  he  erected  a  large  and  com- 
modious farm  residence,  which  is  an  honor  to 
him  as  an  architect,  and  is  spoken  of  as  one 
of   the  finest  farmhouses  in  the  county.     He 
was  married  in  Hillsboro,  November  25,  1804, 
to  Miss  Jane  Elizabeth  Brown,  a  native  of 
Montgomery  County,  born  January  8,  1S37. 
They  have  four  children  living,  viz.,  Edward 
E.,    Margaret  A.,    Mary   G.,    Alfred  A.  and 
Elizabeth    Jeanette,    who    died  in    infancy. 
Mrs    Williams  was  a  daughter  of  Maj.  Will- 
iam and  Elizabeth  (Craig)  Brown,  natives  of 
North    Carolina,    both    deceased.      Mr.    and 
Mrs.    Williams  are  members  of   the  Presby- 
terian Church.     Politically,  Mr.  Williams  is 


identified  with  the  Republican  party.  He  is 
one  of  those  men  who  always  take  part  in 
all  progressive  movements  favoring  the  im- 
provement of  the  county,  and  especially  in 
the  advancement  of  religious  and  educational 
privileges,  and  is  a  warm  advocate  of  the 
cause  of  temperance. 

ROBERT  A.  WILLIAMSON,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Hillsboro,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
III,  March  12,  1837.  This  family  are  of 
Irish  descent,  and  emigrated  to  America  at  a 
very  early  day  in  this  country's  history.  The 
paternal  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  born 
in  Virginia,  where  he  carried  on  farming, 
and  raised  a  family  of  nine  children,  with 
whom  he  removed  to  Montgomery  County, 
111.,  in  the  year  1S35,  where  he  died  Septem- 
ber 20,  1861,  aged  about  seventy  years.  His 
wife,  Jane  Davidson,  is  of  Welsh  descent, 
and  was  born  March  15,  1797,  and  is  still 
living,  enjoying  as  good,  if  not  better,  health, 
than  persons  usually  do  who  have  attained 
her  age.  Of  her  once  large  family  sis  are 
still  living,  and  of  whom  John,  the  father  of 
our  subject,  was  the  oldest  child,  and  was 
born  December  15,  1814,  and  since  he  came  to 
Montgomery  County  with  his  parents  has 
continued  in  the  county,  engaged  more  or 
less  extensively  in  farming,  and  was  at  one 
time  considered  one  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  county,  but  has,  to  a  certain  extent,  re- 
tired from  active  labor  and  given  way  to 
younger  men,  who  may  never  be  able  to  dis- 
play more  energy,  enterprise  and  general  ac- 
tivity than  has  Mr.  Williamson,  who,  at  the 
present  time,  is  enjoying  good  health,  and 
bids  fair  to  live  still  many  years,  surrounded 
by  his  children,  and  enjoying  the  fruits  of  a 
well-spent  life  and  successful  career.  His 
wife,  Nancy  G.  Card,  was  born  in  Kentucky 
February  14,  1819,  is  still  living,  and  is  also 
hale  and  hearty.  She  is  the  mother  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  five  are  still  living,  viz., 


EAST  FORK  TOWNSHIP. 


299 


Eobert  A.,  oar  subject;  Otis  M.  (see  history); 
Cynthia  J.,  wife  of  H.  M.  Ludewick;  William 
C,  a  farmer  living  in  Butler  Township; 
Arra  E.,  wife  of  W.  C.  Woodward,  living  on 
the  homestead.  Robert  A.,  the  oldest  child 
and  subject  of  this  sketch,  remained  upon  the 
homestead  farm  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  assisting  his  father  in  his  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  and  in  attending  school  in 
the  neighboring  log  schoolhouse,  to  which  his 
educational  privileges  were  limited.  He  has, 
however,  by  contact  with  the  world,  close  ob- 
servation and  reading,  succeeded  in  obtaining 
more  than  an  ordinary  practical  education. 
He  entered  upon  his  career  in  life  as  a  house 
builder,  comparatively  a  poor  man;  but,  hav- 
ing a  stout  heart  and  an  energetic  spirit,  he 
determined  to  make  his  own  way  in  the 
world.  He  remained  engaged  in  house 
building  in  different  localities  for  about 
twelve  years,  and  then  went  to  Colorado, 
where  he  remained  two  years  engaged  in 
mining.  He  then  entered  the  service  during 
the  rebellion  in  Company  H,  One  Huudred 
and  Forty-third  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry, 
with  Capt.  James  G.  Seward;  regiment  com- 
manded by  Col.  D.  C.  Smith.  He  remained 
in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when 


he  returned  home,  and  took  upon  himself  the 
duties  of  a  farm  life,  at  which  he  has  since 
remained  engaged.  He  has  sixty-nine  acres 
of  choice  farm  and  timber  land  under  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  which  shows  Mr.  Will- 
iamson to  be  a  practical  farmer.  Although 
he  grows  all  the  usual  farm  crops,  he  makes 
a  specialty  of  grain,  and  raising  stock  in  a 
small  way.  He  was  married  in  Montgomery 
County,  September  20,  1866,  to  Mary  E. 
(Cress)  Ludewick,  who  was  born  August  18, 
1838.  She  is  the  mother  of  two  living  chil- 
dren, viz.,  Delia  Heed  and  Katy  Hays;  four 
children  died  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Williamson 
is  a  daughter  of  Absalom  C.  and  and  Katy 
(Fogleman)  Cress,  natives  of  North  Carolina, 
deceased.  Religiously,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Will- 
iamson are  connected  with  the  Lutheran 
Church.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  at  Irving.  Politically, 
he  is  identified  with  the  Republican  party. 
He  is  an  energetic  and  enterprising  man,  and 
socially  enjoys  the  highest  esteem  of  the  en- 
tire community.  He  is  a  public-spirited 
man,  always  interested  in  any  county  or  pub- 
lic enterprise,  and  for  the  advancement  of 
religious  and  educational  privileges. 


300 


BIOGRAPHICAL  : 


FILLMORE  TOWNSHIP. 


JOSEPH  T.  ALEXANDER,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Fillmore,  was  born  in  this  county  Sep- 
tember 17,  1834,  and  was  raised  to  a  life  of 
farming;  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  county,  and  commenced  busi- 
ness for  himself  as  a  farmer,  and  inherited 
sixty  acres  of  land,  unimproved,  on  which  he 
built  all  necessary  improvements,  and  re- 
mained there  sixteen  years,  and  added  to  that 
forty  acres,  making  one  hundred  acres  in  the 
tract;  sold,  and  bought  the  place  on  which 
he  now  resides,  and  has  erected  a  very  ele- 
gant dwelling  with  all  the  necessary  out- 
buildings, and  has  a  beautiful  location,  the 
land  being  rolling  enough  to  drain  well, 
which  makes  it  valuable,  and  was  married  in 
Fayette,  May  3,  1859,  to  Miss  Irene  "Wright. 
She  was  born  in  this  State  July  23,  1839,  to 
Joseph  Wright.  Her  father  was  born  in 
Kentucky  in  1813;  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  November  27,  1873.  Rebecca 
Kirk,  her  mother,  was  born  in  Tennessee  in 
the  year  1810,  and  died  in  the  year  1876. 
They  reared  a  family  of  six  children,  all  liv- 
ing. Richard  Alexander,  the  father  of  sub- 
ject, was  born  in  Tennessee  January  10, 
1810,  and  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  He 
came  to  this  State  when  quite  a  boy,  and  en- 
listed in  a  company  of  rangers  against  the 
Indians,  and  lived  and  died  on  the  place  now 
owned  by  subject.  His  death  occurred  about 
May  12,  1874.  Sarah  Whitten  was  the 
mother  of  six  children,  the  subject  being  the 
oldest  child,  and  he  has  a  family  of  four 
children,  whose  names  are  as  follows :  Eveline 
C. ,  Easton  W. ,  Sarah  R.  and  Homer  L. ;  was 
elected  Assessor  and  served  one  year,  and  has 


been  Commissioner  six  years,  and  filled  other 
offices  of  township.  He  belongs  to  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  and  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party. 

LYMAN  C.  ALLEN,  Fillmore,  was  born 
in  New  Hampshire  in  the  year  1836;  worked 
with  his  parents  until  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  and  entered  on  his  business  career  as  a 
school  teacher,  and  followed  that  profession 
for  several  years.  He  went  to  Minnesota  in 
1860,  and  pre-empted  160  acres  of  land,  im- 
proved it,  and  remained  there  five  years,  at 
the  expiration  of  which  time  he  came  back  to 
Montgomery  County,  111.,  and  settled  on  the 
farm  on  which  he  now  resides,  on  which  he 
has  erected  a  good  dwelling  and  barn,  with 
all  other  buildings  necessary  for  comfort  and 
convenience.  His  farm  contains  330  acres 
of  good,  tillable  land;  he  also  owns  400  acres 
of  good  farming  and  stock  land  in  Minne- 
sota. He  married  in  Montgomery  County  in 
1864,  Miss  Alice  D.  Bliss.  She  was  born  in 
this  State  in  March,  1843,  and  was  the  mother 
of  four  children;  she  died  in  June.  1879. 
Her  father,  a  native  of  Vermont,  her  mother 
born  in  New  Hampshire  are  now  living  in 
this  State.  His  second  wife,  Emeline  Rus- 
sell, was  born  in  this  State  in  February, 
1S46;  was  married  in  January,  1881.  Her 
father,  William  Russell,  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation; her  mother  is  still  living  in  Mont- 
gomery County.  Winslow  Allen,  the  father 
of  subject,  was  born  in  New  Hampshire  in  the 
year  1800;  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and 
died  in  1859.  His  wife,  Nancy  (Grout) 
Allen,  was  also  born  in  New  Hampshire  in 
the  year  1803,   and  died  in  1856.     She  was. 


FILLMORE  TOWNSHIP. 


301 


the  mother  of  eleven  children,  the  subject 
being  the  sixth  child,  and  he  has  a  family 
of  three  children  (one  deceased),  named  as 
follows:  Ned  B.,  Jesse  A.  and  Carlos  E. 
Mr.  Allen  has  been  Supervisor  for  two  years ; 
he  is  a  Democrat.  His  wife  is  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  Church. 

AARON  G.  BUTLER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fill- 
more, was  born  in  Tennessee  January  1, 
1838;  was  raised  .on  a  farm;  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  the  country,  and  remained 
with  his  father  until  twenty -one  years  of  age. 
He  began  business  for  himself  as  a  farmer, 
in  this  State,  in  I860,  with  an  uncle  in 
Fayette  County,  with  whom  he  remained 
about  two  years;  then  came  to  Montgomery 
County,  and  settled  on  the  farm  on  which  he 
now  lives,  which  contains  about  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  land,  four  hundred  of  which 
are  under  cultivation,  and  has  all  necessary 
improvements.  He  also  owns  seventy  acres 
of  land  in  Fayette  County,  also  improved. 
He  married  in  Montgomery  County  in  1863, 
Miss  Jane  Casey,  born  in  that  county  in  the 
year  1847.  Her  father,  John  Casey,  born  in 
Kentucky  November  26,  1825,  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  died  August  5,  1863.  His  wife, 
Louisa  McCaslin,  was  born  in  Tennessee 
November  29,  1825,  and  died  in  September, 
1868.  Calvin  J.  Butler,  the  father  of  subject, 
a  farmer,  born  in  Tennessee,  died  about 
1S72.  Martha  J.  Hix,  subject's  mother,  also 
a  native  of  Tennessee,  died  about  the  year 
1868.  She  was  the  mother  of  eight  children, 
the  subject  being  the  second  child,  and  he 
has  a  family  of  three  children,  viz.,  Charlie 
L.,  Ora  and  J.  L.  S.  Mr.  Butler  was  elected 
Sheriff  in  1878,  and  served  one  term;  has 
also  been  Supervisor  two  terms.  He  is  a 
hospitable,  genial  and  accommodating  gen- 
tleman, and  has  a  high  social  standing  in  his 
community.  He  is  a  Democrat,  and  a  member 
of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.    His  wife  is  a  Methodist. 


LEVI  HILL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fillmore,  was 
born  in  this  county  and  State  in  the  year 
1825,  and  commenced  life  as  a  farmer.  His 
father  gave  him  100  acres  of  land,  and  he 
has  added  to  that  until  he  has  reached  the 
handsome  estate  of  290  acres,  on  which  he 
has  erected  a  good  and  comfortable  dwelling 
and  barn,  with  all  necessary  improvements, 
and  was  married  in  this  county  in  the  year 
1848,  to  Miss  Wilmoth  (Landers)  Hill.  She 
was  born  in  this  State  in  the  year  1831. 
Henry  Landers,  her  father,  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  died  in  1842.  Elizabeth  Hinton, 
her  mother,  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  and 
died  about  1868.  She  was  the  mother  of  six 
children,  one  deceased.  Henry  Hill  em- 
igrated to  this  State  from  Kentucky  in  1816; 
he  was  a  farmer  by  occupation;  he  entered 
quite  a  large  tract  of  land;  died  April  5. 
1855.  Mary  Prater,  his  mother,  was  born 
November  6,  1803;  she  died  April  16,  1842. 
She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  the 
subject  being  the  third  of  the  family,  and  he 
has  a  family  of  seven  children,  three  deceased ; 
names  as  follows:  Mary  Hill,  December  8, 
1849:  Homy  E.  Hill,  July  11,  1851;  Simeon 
M.,  December  15,  1852;  Martha,  January 
22,  1857;  Sarah,  June  23,  1858;  Orlena,  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1860;  Illinois,  November  17.  1861 ; 
Layfayette,  August  21,  1863;  Celeste,  July  9, 
1868;  Theodore  Hill,  born  Augiast  13,  1869. 

SQUIRE  HILL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fillmore, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  Janu- 
ary 17,  1844,  and  inherited  160  acres  of  land, 
located  in  Fillmore  Township,  on  which  were 
no  improvements.  This  he  sold  and  bought  a 
place  containing  160  acres  of  unimproved 
land,  which  he  improved  and  lived  upon 
about  four  years;  sold  out  and  bought  the 
place  on  which  he  now  resides,  which  con- 
tains 160  acres  of  good,  fertile  land,  on  which 
he  has  erected  a  fine  dwelling  and  barn,  with 
all  necessaiy  outbuildings.     The  farm  is  lo- 


302 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


cated  on  Section  33,  Town  8,  Range  2,  about 
twelve    miles    east   and  south   of  Hillsboro. 
He  was  married  in  Fayette   County  October 
22,    1808,    to   Miss   Mary  L.    Bost,  born   in 
Fayette  County  in  1849.     Her  father,  Henry 
Bost,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  about  1826; 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  in  1876. 
Her  mother,   Elizabeth    (Harris)    Bost,    was 
bom  in  Illinois.     Henry   Hill,  the  father  of 
subject,  was  born  in  Kentucky;  his  wife  was 
born  in  North  Carolina.      She  was  the  mother 
of  six  children,  the  subject  being  the  youngest 
child.      He  has  a   family  of  three  children, 
one    deceased,   named    as   follows:  Ollie  O., 
born    September  5,    1869;    Henry    C,    born 
October     29,     1873;     Anna     E.,     deceased, 
born   February  28,    1876,   died  August   "26. 
1876;   Mary  E.   was   born   April    19,    1878. 
He  has    been    Supervisor    of    this    township 
for   two   terms.      He    enlisted    in    Company 
E,  i  irst  Illinois  Cavalry,  in  1862,  Capt.  Paul 
Walters;    principally   on    escort    duty,    and 
served   a  short  time.      He  has  been  always 
identified   with    the    Democratic   party;  has 
taken  great  interest  in  public  improvements, 
and  the  advancement  of  agricultural  interests. 
DR.     JOHN    T.     HENDBIX,     Fillmore, 
was     born    in     Tennessee    in    1845.       Har- 
rison Hendrix,   his  father,   a  merchant,  was 
born    in    Tennessee.       Editha    Taylor,     his 
mother,  was  a  descendant  of   President  Tay- 
lor, and  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  the 
subject    being   the    second    child.     He    was 
raised    near     Elizabethton,    Tenn.,   and    re- 
mained with  his  father  until  sixteen   years 
of    age.     He   then    entered  the  Confederate 
army,    in  Company  C,  First  Regiment  Ten- 
nessee Artillery;  was   taken  prisoner   at  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg;  had  taken  part  in  several 
previous  engagements;  was  sent  to  St.  Louis 
prison,   but,  through  the  influence  of  Presi- 
dent Johnson,  was  released  in  a  short  time. 
He  remained   in  St.   Louis  six  months  after 


being  released  from  prison;  then  came  to 
Montgomery  County,  and  settled  in  East  Fork 
Township.  He  was  married  in  1865  to  Miss 
Clotilda  B.  Coffeen,  born  in  Jefferson  County, 
N.  Y.,  in  the  year  1850.  She  was  the  mother 
of  five  children,  all  living.  She  died  March 
9,  1875.  His  second  wife,  Dorcas  F.  Bost, 
was  born  in  Illinois  in  the  year  1857.  Her 
father,  Martin  Bost,  born  in  North  Carolina, 
died  about  the  year  1872.  Hannah  J.  Bost, 
her  mother,  born  in  New  Hampshire,  is  still 
living.  Subject  commenced  the  study  of 
medicine  in  1873,  with  Drs.  Hanes  &  Wash- 
burn, of  Hillsboro;  remained  with  them  three 
years;  then  attended  Medical  College  in  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  in  1877,  and  graduated  at  Keo- 
kuk, Iowa,  in  1878.  He  first  settled  at  Fair- 
view,  in  June.  1879,  and  remained  there  un- 
til October;  then  removed  to  the  place  where 
he  now  resides,  and  bought  fifteen  acres  of 
land,  and  has  it  well  improved  with  all  con- 
veniences necessary.  He  is  highly  esteemed 
as  a  man,  as  well  as  a  physician;  has  a  good 
practice. 

O.  W.  ISBELL.  farmer,  P.  O.  Hurricane, 
was  born  in  Fayette  County,  in  the  year 
1833,  and  has  a  good  practical  education. 
He  commenced  business  as  a  farmer,  and 
took  charge  of  his  father's  farm  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  years  (his  father  being  an  invalid), 
and  remained  in  charge  until  twenty-three 
years  of  age.  He  then  married  and  moved 
to  Montgomery  County,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. His  first  purchase  of  land  was  sixty 
acres,  which  were  partially  improved,  to  which 
he  has  added  until  he  has  reached  the  hand- 
some estate  of  235  acres  of  good,  tillable 
land,  on  which  he  has  erected  a  fine  house, 
barn  and  outbuildings.  It  is  considered  one 
among  the  best  improved  places  in  the  vicin- 
ity. He  also  owns,  in  Fayette  County,  440 
acres  of  land,  the  most  of  which  is  in  a  good 
state    of   cultivation.      He    was    married    in 


FILLMORE    TOWNSHIP. 


:;o:: 


Fayette  County,  in  1S56,  to  Miss  Mahala 
Hill.  She  was  born  in  Kentucky;  is  the 
mother  of  six  children,  four  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing. She  died  in  May,  1873.  Her  mother, 
a  native  of  Kentucky,  is  still  living  in  Fayette 
County,  111.  His  second  wife,  Theresa  (Elam) 
I. Mason)  Isabell,  was  born  in  Bond  County, 
111. .  in  1S48  ;  married  in  Bond  County 
in  1873.  Her  parents  were  natives  of 
North  Carolina,  and  both  are  now  living  in 
Bond  County.  James  Elam,  her  father,  is  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel.  Paschal  Isbell,  the 
father  of  subject,  was  born  in  Kentucky  in 
1807,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  emigrated 
to  this  State  in  1S2S  or  1829;  settled  in 
Fayette  County,  111.,  and  died  there  in  April. 
1879.  Clarissa  (Seers)  Elam,  the  mother  of 
subject,  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1801),  and 
is  the  mother  of  fourteen  children,  the  subject 
being  the  fourth  child.  He  has  a  family 
of  seven  children,  five  living,  viz. :  Diana, 
Melvina,  William  Jackson,  Lewis,  Jasper  (de- 
ceased). Jennie;  one  died  in  infancy.  Hiswife 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church;  he  is  a 
Democrat.  He  has  always  been  an  advocate 
in  favor  of  public  improvements  and  agricult- 
ural interests.  He  started  out  to  battle  with 
the  world  without  anything,  but,  being  pos- 
sessed of  a  stout  heart  and  an  indomitable 
energy,  he  has  accumulated  quite  a  fortune. 
JOHN  H.  KNOWLES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fill- 
more, born  in  Piermont,  Grafton  Co.,  N.  H., 
March  16,  1822:  raised  on  the  farm.  His 
boyhood  days  were  spent  in  assisting  his 
father;  educated  in  the  common  schools  of 
the  country;  entered  on  his  business  career 
as  a  farmer;  brought  to  this  county  by  his 
parents  in  1838;  settled  near  Fillmore  Town- 
ship, his  father  having  bought  land  there, 
when  subject  commenced  farming;  stayed 
about  three  years;  sold  out  and  went  to  Vera; 
bought  a  half -interest  in  a  mill,  and  operated 
that  four  years;  sold  out  and  bought  a  farm 


about  a  mile  from  the  mill,  containing  2S0 
acres  of  land;  remained  there  two  years;  and 
bought  the  place  where  he  now  lives,  con- 
taining 260  acres  of  land.  He  has  all  nec- 
essary improvements  on  the  farm,  and  which 
is  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation.  Subject 
was  married  at  Vandalia,  111.,  December  27. 
1 8 13,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Casebeer,  born  in  New 
Philadelphia,  Ohio,  March  1,  1827.  Her 
father.  Christian  Casebeer,  a  farmer  and  mill- 
wright, born  in  Somerset  County,  Penn., 
February  1,  1803,  and  died  October  8,  1849. 
His  wife,  Rosanna  (Willson)  Casebeer,  still 
living,  was  born  near  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  May 
17,  1807.  The  father  of  subject,  Joseph 
Knowles,  born  in  New  Hampshire  April  1. 
1  783,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  died  February 
15,  1800.  His  mother,  Hannah  (Haines) 
Knowles,  also  a  native  of  New  Hampshire, 
born  July  12,  1787,  died  October  31,  1845; 
was  the  mother  of  eight  children,  the  subject 
being  the  fifth  child.  He  has  a  family  of 
four  children,  Dianna  J.,  Lillie  G.  and  Adel 
G.,  and  one  child  deceased.  He  has  been 
Deputy  Sheriff  and  Constable  for  five  years; 
also  School  Trustee  for  a  number  of  years;  is 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
a  Mason  and  a  Democrat;  grandfather  was  in 
the  Revolutionary  war. 

ALBERT  LIVINGSTONE,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Fillmore,  was  born  in  Amsterdam,  Montgom- 
ery Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  16,  1821;  assisted  his 
father  in  the  tanning  and  coloring  business 
in  his  boyhood  days;  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  the  country;  commenced 
business  for  himself  as  a  fanner,  in  this 
State,  at  twenty -two  years  of  age;  bought  LOO 
acres  of  land,  his  first  purchase,  which  was 
slightly  improved,  a  log  cabin  being  the  only 
dwelling,  and  four  or  five  acres  of  land 
broken.  He  has  added  to  his  first  purchase 
until  he  now  has  355  acres  of  good,  tillable 
land,  on  which  he  has  all  necessary  buildings. 


304 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


He  gave  his  children  200  acres,  north  of  the 
home  tract,  160  of  which  is  improved.  He 
was  married  in  Fayette  County  Febuary  26, 
1S46,  to  Ann  Elizabeth  Barringer,  born  June 
17,  1824,  in  Cabarrus  County,  N.  C. ,  and 
died  August  2,  1862,  leaving  nine  children. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  John  M.  and  Crissey 
M.  (Pitts)  Barringer,  he  born  in  1803,  and 
died  August  4,  1854;  she  born  in  1805,  and 
died  in  February,  1849.  Jane  Gatewood, 
his  second  wife,  was  born  in  Ohio,  in  the 
year  1832,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren. Her  father,  a  native  of  Ohio,  died  in 
January,  1879.  Her  mother,  a  native  of 
Virginia,  is  still  living.  Timothy  Living- 
stone, the  father  of  subject,  was  born  in  Mas- 
sachusetts October  19,  1777,  and  died  in 
1861.  His  wife,  Mary  (Guran)  Livingstone, 
born  April  29,  1786,  in  Massachusetts,  and 
died  April  5,  1821,  leaving  nine  children,  of 
whom  subject  is  the  youngest.  He  has  been 
Highway  Commissioner  for  several  years; 
also  School  Director  for  a  number  of  years; 
has  done  all  he  could  toward  public  improve- 
ments and  agricultural  interests;  has  always 
been  identified  with  the  Republican  party. 
His  children  are  Mary,  born  December  14, 
1846;  Joseph  P..  born  June  9,  1848;  Ade- 
line, born  February  25,  1850;  Timothy  A., 
born  May  21, 1851 ;  Catharine  E.,  born  Febru- 
ary 4,  1853;  Charles  E.,  born  April  2,  1855; 
George  Albert,  born  September  3,  1857,  and 
Alfred  W.,  born  February  22.  1861. 

J.  BOWERS  LANE,  farmer  and  merchant, 
Fillmore,  born  in  Cheshire  County,  N.  H, 
September  10,  1826.  His  father,  Timothy 
L.  Lane,  was  born  in  Marlboro,  N.  H. , 
September  1,  1800;  was  educated  at  Groton, 
Mass.;  afterward  attended  Medical  College 
at  Hanover,  N.  H,  where  he  graduated  in 
1824;  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion at  Sullivan,  N.  H. ;  moved  to  Lunenburg. 
"Vt.,  in   1832,  and  remained  there  two  years, 


at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he  located  at 
Gilsum,  N.  H,  where  he  remained  until 
1838;  thence  to  Daysville,  111.,  practicing 
his  profession  there  until  1840;  then  removed 
to  Fillmore  Township,  and  continued  his 
practice  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Sep- 
tember 1,  1849.  Roxana  (Harvey)  Lane,  the 
mother  of  subject,  was  born  in  Marlboro, 
N.  H.,  August  2,  1802,  and  died  January  1, 
1849;  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  two 
of  whom  are  living.  The  subject,  the  eldest 
of  the  family,  was  raised  in  town;  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  of  the  country; 
entered  on  his  business  career  as  a  farmer, 
his  first  purchase  being  ninety  acres  of  land, 
to  which  he  has  added  from  time  to  time, 
until  he  has  now  a  handsome  estate  of  650 
acres  of  fine  farming  land.  He  has  given 
his  children  200  acres  from  that  tract,  and 
now  has  450  acres  on  his  home  place,  on 
which  ho  has  all  necessary  buildings  con- 
ducive to  the  health  and  comfort  of  man  and 
beast.  He  has  also  had  a  store  on  his  farm 
since  1861.  and  is  doing  a  good  business; 
has  been  Postmaster  for  a  number  of  years. 
His  place  was  mostly  raw  prairie,  and  he  has 
made  all  the  improvements;  was  elected  As- 
sociate Judge  in  1869,  and  served  four  years, 
acquitting  himself  with  honor.  He  is  a 
stanch  Republican.  He  married,  February 
3,  1852,  Rachel  G.  Bost,  born  in  North  Car- 
olina March  22,  1830,  daughter  of  Jacob  and 
Margaret  (Cress)  Bost,  he  born  in  Pennsyl- 
vania April  4,  1794;  she  born  in  North  Car- 
olina February  26,  1797,  and  died  in  May, 
1853.  From  this  union  eight  children  have 
been  born  to  them— Timothy  L.,  Margaret 
R.,  Torrance  H.,  Augusta  F.,  Ora  E.,  Carrie 
M.,  Elsie  V.  and  Ella  L. 

ASA  PRATER,  farmer.  P.  O.  Fillmore, 
was  born  in  Bond  County  December  10, 
1829.  Alexander  Prater,  his  father,  was  bom 
in   Tennessee   October    17,    1807.     He   was 


FILLMORE  TOWNSHIP. 


305 


brought  to  this  State  by  his  father  in  1818. 
Hnlloway  Prater,  the  grandfather  of  subject, 
was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1777,  of  Scotch 
descent;  was  a  farmer  and  wheelwright  by 
occupation,  and  died  in  November,  1846. 
His  grandmother,  Anna  Adair,  was  born  in 
North  Carolina  about  1779.  She  was  the 
mother  of  eight  children;  the  father  of  sub- 
ject was  the  fifth  child,  and  married  Mary 
Sears,  the  mother  of  subject.  She  was  born 
in  Kentucky  about  1809,  and  was  the  mother 
of  four  children,  one  deceased,  our  subject 
being  the  second  child;  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  the  country,  but  has,  by 
observation  and  application,  a  good  practical 
education.  He  entered  120  acres  of  Govern- 
ment land  which  was  slightly  improved,  pay- 
ing $100  for  the  improved  part,  and  has 
added  to  his  first  purchase  120  acres  more, 
making  2-10  acres  of  good,  tillable  land,  on 
which  he  has  erected  a  fine  house  and  barn, 
with  all  necessary  improvements,  and  also 
owns  about  forty-three  acres  of  timber.  He 
married  in  this  county  Artemisia  Brown  Pra- 
ter, who  was  born  in  this  county  November 
10,  1830.  She  died  June  9,  1857.  As  his 
second  wife  he  married,  in  1861,  Sarah  H 
Brown,  born  December  1,  1836,  and  she  is 
the  mother  of  four  children,  all  living;  the 
names  as  follows:  Horatio  L.,  born  February 
13,  1S62;  Flora  B.,  born  August  13,  1864; 
Lillie  May,  born  May  7,  1868;  John  H, 
born  April  21,  1871.  He  was  Town  Clerk 
one  year,  in  1873.  Members  of  Primitive 
Baptist  Church;  he  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity;  is  identified  with  the 
Democratic  party,  and  extremely  liberal  in 
his  views.  His  grandfather  was  in  the  war 
of  1812;  his  father  was  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war;  has  always  been  an  advocate  of  public 
improvements,  taking  great  interest  in  agri- 
culture. 

GIDEON   RICHMOND,    farmer.     P.     O. 


Fillmore,  born  in  Licking  County,  Ohio, 
September  14,  1820;  raised  on  a  farm,  and 
assisted  his  father  until  twenty  years  of  age; 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  the 
country,  and  began  his  business  career  as  a 
farmer,  his  first  piu-chase  of  land  being  fifty 
acres,  partially  improved,  on  which  he  re- 
mained only  two  years;  sold  out  and  moved 
to  Montgomery  County,  111.,  and  bought 
100  acres  of  land;  has  increased  his  property 
to  500  acres  of  good  farming  land.  He  has 
given  his  son  eighty  acres  recently;  has 
erected  a  fine  dwelling  and  barn,  with  all 
necessary  outbuildings,  and  his  farm  is  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  He  was  married 
first  in  Ohio,  to  Miss  Lois  Ames,  who  died, 
and  he  then  married  Miss  Cynthia  Dota,  also 
of  Ohio,  who  died,  leaving  one  child;  her  par- 
ents were  natives  of  New  Jersey.  His  third 
wife,  Harriet  A.  Knowles,  whom  he  married 
March  14,  1S47,  was  born  in  New  Hampshire 
August  11, 1830;  her  father,  Joseph  Knowles, 
was  born  in  New  Hampshire  April  1,  1784; 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  died  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1860.  Her  mother,  Hannah 
(Haines)  Knowles,  was  also  born  in  New 
Hampshire  June  29,  1788,  and  died  October 
31,  1845.  Mrs.  Richmond  is  the  mother  of 
four  children.  The  father  of  subject,  Henry 
W.  Richmond,  was  born  in  Adams  County, 
Mass.,  December  5,  1798 ;  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation,  and  died  May  4,  1874.  His  wife, 
Eliza  Cubberly,  was  born  near  Trenton,  N. 
J.,  April  11,  1800,  and  is  still  living.  She 
is  the  mother  of  three  children,  the  subject 
being  the  eldest  child.  Mr.  Richmond  has 
by  energy  and  economy  accumulated  a  hand- 
some property,  and  he  and  wife  seem  to  be 
enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  labor  in  their 
old  age;  is  a  good  citizen  and  useful  to  the 
community  in  which  he  resides.  His  chil- 
dren are  Henry  F.,  Hiram  F.,  George  A., 
Dora  I.  and  Ernest  H. 


3C6 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


G.  A.  BICHMOND,  Fillmore,  was  born  in 
Fillmore,  Montgomery  County,  October  8, 
1851 ;  worked  on  the  farm  with  his  father 
until  of  age,  and  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  the  country.  He  commenced 
life  as  a  farmer,  and  settled  on  the  old  home 
place  of  his  father  s,  beginning  on  eighty 
acres  oi  land  that  his  father  had  given  him, 
to  which  he  has  added  forty  acres  of  good  land, 
and  has  erected  a  good  dwelling  and  barn, 
and  all  necessary  outbuildings.  He  was 
married,  September  18,  1877,  at  Irving,  111., 
to  Miss  Addie  Bost.  born  in  Fillmore  August 
8,  1859,  daughter  of  John  J.  and  Bebecca 
M.  (Sanders)  Bost,  he  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, born  in  Cabarrus  County.  N.  C. ,  Janu- 
ary 4,  1836,  and  is  still  living;  she,  also  liv- 
ing, born  in  Montgomery  Comity,  111.,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1839.  Giceon  Bichmond.  subject's 
father,  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1820,  a  farmer 
by  occupation.  His  wife.  Harriet  Knowles. 
was  born  in  New  Hampshire  in  August, 
1830,  and  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  the 
subject  being  the  oldest  of  the  family,  and 
he  has  but  one  child,  Nellie  V.,  two  and  one- 
half  years  of  age.      Is  a  Democrat. 

HIBAM  S.  SHOBT,  physician,  Fillmore, 
was  born  in  Bandolph  County,  N.  C. ,  May  4, 
1840.  The  main  part  of  his  early  childhood 
was  spent  in  attending  the  common  schools, 
where  he  received  the  foundation  of  his  sub- 
sequent learning.  In  January,  1854,  he  was 
removed  by  his  parents  to  Fayette  County, 
111.,  where  they  remained  three  years,  and 
then  removed  to  Shelby  County.  Lemuel 
Short,  the  father  of  our  subject,  a  native  of 
Guilford  County,  N.  C,  was  born  February 
24,  1814,  and  from  the  time  he  reached  ma- 
turity followed  teaching  until  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  May  6,  1858.  His 
wife,  Mary  Haskett,  was  also  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  born  November  21,  1816, 
and  is  still  living,  the  wife  of  John  H.  Buck- 


master,  residing  five  miles  north  of  Vandalia. 
By  her  first  husband  she  gave  birth  to  eleven 
children,  nine  of  whom  are  still  living,  and 
of  whom  Hiram  S.  was  the  second  child. 
After  reaching  Illinois  with  his  parents,  he 
continued  to  attend  the  common  schools  for 
a  short  time,  and  then  entered  the  Quaker 
High  School  of  Westfield,  Ind.,  where  he  re- 
mained one  year  and  then  returned  home 
and  taught  school  a  large  portion  of  the  fol- 
lowing foxu-  years,  and  a  portion  of  which 
time,  in  connection  with  his  other  duties  each 
year,  he  read  medicine  with  Dr.  J.  C.  Jones, 
of  Bamsey,  with  whom  he  continued  from 
1865  to  1869,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
and,  after  attending  the  Cincinnati  Medical 
College  two  terms,  he  successfully  passed  the 
rigid  examination  necessary  to  become  an  M. 
D. ;  received  his  diploma  May  19,  1873,  and 
continued  in  his  practice  at  Fillmore,  where 
he  first  located.  He  removed  to  Bamsey  in 
September,  1875,  and  remained  until  Octo- 
ber, 1878,  when  he  returned  to  Fillmore. 
His  farm  consists  of  eighty  acres  of  choice 
farm  land,  which  he  now  rents  out  and  devotes 
his  time  to  his  calling.  By  his  prompt  at- 
tention to  and  thorough  knowledge  of  his 
profession,  he  succeeded  in  building  up  a 
large  and  steadily  increasing  practice,  the 
duties  of  which  would  fall  heavy  upon  the 
shoulders  of  a  man  many  years  his  senior, 
and  is  the  result  of  a  good  education,  energy 
and  business  ability,  and  qualifications  nec- 
essary" to  gain  the  esteem  of  all.  July  3, 
1861,  he  entered  the  service  in  Company  C, 
Thirty-fifth  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  with 
Capt.  James  Williams,  regiment  commanded 
by  Col.  G.  A.  Smith.  He  received  his  dis- 
charge September  27,  1864.  While  in  the 
service,  he  took  part  in  several  notable  en- 
gagements, among  which  are  Pea  Eidge, 
Ark,   Perry ville,   Ky.,   Stone   Biver,    Tenn. : 


FILLMORE   TOWNSHIP. 


307 


was  also  upon  duty  at  the  evacuation  of 
Corinth,  Miss. ;  also  at  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga,  and  in  Sherman's  campaign  in  Georgia. 
He  was  married,  October  31,  1871,  at  Ramsey, 
Fayette  Co.,  111.,  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Stokes, 
who  was  born  October  25,  1851.  She  is  the 
mother  of  rive  children,  viz.,  William  T. , 
born  July  27,  1872;  Mary  L.,  born  March 
12,  1874;  Emma  E.,  born  October  31,  1876; 
Ulysses  S.,  born  February  25,  1878;  Walter 
C. ,  born  March  30,  1880.  Mrs.  Short  is  a 
daughter  of  Bird  and  Margaret  J.  (Casey) 
Stokes,  he  a  native  of  Tennessee,  born  De- 
cember 25,  1817,  and  died  November  16, 
1877;  she  of  Fayette  County,  111.,  born  July 
16,  1832,  and  still  living.  Although  a  man 
not  very  much  interested  in  politics,  his  sym- 
pathies are  with  the  Republican  party.  He 
is  an  active  member  of  the  order  of  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  of  Fillmore  Lodge;  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Montgomery  County  Eclectic  So- 
ciety since  its  organization  in  May,  1870; 
has  also  been  a  member  of  the  State  Society 
since  June,  1880. 

S.  P.  TROUTMAN,  Fillmore,  was  bom  in 
Cabarrus  County,  N.  C,  October  3,  1822, 
and  has  a  good,  practical  education.  He 
commenced  business  for  himself  as  a  farmer; 
coming  to  Montgomery  County  at  eighteen 
years  of  age,  stayed  there  two  and  a  half 
years,  working  on  the  farm,  and  then  re- 
turned to  North  Carolina,  where  he  remained 
until  1847.  He  served  about  eighteen 
months  in  the  Mexican  war,  having  enlisted 
under  Gen.  Zachary  Taylor;  went  back  to 
North  Carolina;  remained  there  until  August, 
1849,  when  he  returned  to  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  and  worked  on  the  farm  one 
month,  and  at  different  other  occupations  un- 
til 1852,  when  he  entered  120  acres  of  raw 
prairie  land  on  which  there  were  no  improve- 
ments of  any  kind.  He  has  since  added 
eighty  acres,  making   200  acres  of  good,  till- 


able land,  on  which  he  has  erected  a  good 
and  substantial  dwelling,  with  all  necessary 
outbuildings.  He  also  owns  ninety-two  acres 
of  land  one  and  a  half  miles  west  of  his  home 
place,  Section  30.  He  was  married  in  Mont- 
gomery County  in  the  year  1852,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Hill,  a  native  of  that  county,  who  died 
in  1853.  She  was  the  mother  of  one  child, 
dead.  His  second  wife,  Mary  A.  Sheppard. 
a  native  of  Illinois;  died  in  1805.  She  was 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  only  five  of 
whom  are  living.  Christina  L.  Cruse,  his 
third  wife,  was  born  in  Union  County.  111., 
in  1822.  Henry  Cruse,  her  father,  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  and  was  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation. Her  mother  was  also  a  native  of 
North  Carolina.  Jacob  Troutman,  subject's 
father,  was  born  in  North  Carolina;  served 
in  the  war  of  1812;  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  about  1829.  Christina  Walk- 
er, subject's  mother,  was  born  in  North  Car- 
olina, and  died  in  1850;  was  the  mother  of 
eight  children,  the  subject  being  the  third 
child.  He  has  an  elder  brother  living  in 
North  Carolina.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  He  is  independent  in  re- 
gard to  the  political  issues  of  the  day;  has 
always  done  his  utmost  in  aid  of  public  im- 
provements, and  the  advancement  of  agricult- 
ural interests. 

JARET  WRIGHT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Fill- 
more, was  born  in  Montgomery  County  in 
the  year  1819,  and  was  raised  on  the  farm 
and  assisted  his  father  in  his  boyhood  days; 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  the 
country,  and  entered  on  his  business  career 
as  a  farmer;  went  into  the  Mexican  war  in 
1846,  under  Capt.  McAdams,  Company  C, 
Infantry;  was  at  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo, 
at  the  taking  of  Vera  Cruz ;  was  in  the  service  a 
year,  at  the  expiration  of  which  he  came  back 
to  Montgomery  County,  and  settled  on  the 
land  he  received  for  his  services  in  the  war, 


308 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


which  was  160  acres  of  slightly  improved 
land,  and  remained  on  it  for  several  years, 
and  sold  that  and  moved  to  the  place  on 
which  he  now  resides,  consisting  of  530 
acres,  the  most  of  which  is  good,  tillable 
land,  and  has  it  well  improved  with  a  good, 
comfortable  house  and  barn,  with  all  neces- 
sary outbuildings,  and  was  married  in  this 
county  November  8,  1849,  to  Miss  Mary 
Whitten.  She  was  born  in  this  county  in 
1821.  Easton  Whitten,  her  father,  was  born 
in  South  Carolina;  was  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  in  this  State  in  1855.  Her 
mother  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  died 
in  this  county  in  1851,  and  was  the  mother 
of  eight  children,  wife  of  subject  being  next 
youngest.  Joseph  Wright,  the  father  of 
subject,  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  his 
mother,  Sarah  Revis,  was  born  also  in  the 
same  State;  she  died  in  1855,  and  was  the 
mother  of  ten  children,  the  subject  being  the 
fifth  child,  and  he  has  a  family  of  five  chil- 
dren living.  The  names  are  as  follows:  Ara- 
minda,  born  July  17,  1851;  Emora,  born 
May  8,  1853;  Ezra,  born  July  17,  1855;  Esta, 
born  November  17,  1858;  Elbert,  born  Octo- 
ber 8,  1861.  John  Ambler  Johnson,  the 
grandfather  of  subject's  wife,  was  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary war;  Democrat  all  his  life.  He 
being  one  of  the  old  settlers,  has  done  as 
much  as  any  man,  according  to  means,  to 
ward  the  advancement  of  agricultural  and 
public  improvements. 

ELIJAH  WRIGHT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Hurri- 
cane, was  born  in  Fillmore  Precinct,  Mont- 
gomery County,  November  24,  1824.  Joseph 
Wright,  his  father,  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
April  20,  1780.  He  emigrated  to  this  State 
in  1814,  and  entered  a  large  tract  of  land  be- 
sides what  he  purchased;  was  one  among  the 
prominent  men  of  the  day;  was  a  farmer  and 
blacksmith  by  occupation,  and  died  October 
1,  1844,  after  having  raised  a  large  and  use- 


ful family  of  children,  who  are  among  the 
best  citizens  of  the  county  at  the  present 
day.  He  married  in  Kentucky  about  1802, 
Miss  Sarah  Revis,  who  was  the  mother  of 
eleven  children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  our 
subject  being  the  eighth  child;  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  the  country,  and 
commenced  business  for  himself  as  a  farmer, 
his  first  purchase  being  a  tract  of  eighty  acres, 
and  he  has  added  to  it  until  he  has  reached 
the  handsome  estate  of  500  acres,  300  of 
which  he  has  given  to  his  children,  and  has 
erected  on  his  home  place  a  fine  dwelling  and 
barn,  with  all  necessary  outbuildings,  and 
has  his  farm  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
He  was  married  in  Montgomery  Co.,  Nov.  13, 
1851,  to  Miss  Drucilla  Lynn,  born  in  Ken- 
tucky December  1,  1833.  Her  father,  Jef- 
ferson Lynn,  was  born  in  Kentucky;  Eliza- 
beth Casey,  her  mother,  was  also  a  native  of 
Kentucky;  her  father  was  a  farmer;  they 
both  died  in  this  county.  Her  mother  had 
seven  children,  all  living  except  one.  She 
is  the  oldest  of  the  family,  and  is  the  mother 
of  seven  children,  two  deceased.  Camallia, 
born  in  1853;  Celestina,  born  in  1S55;  Joseph 
Jefferson,  born  in  1858;  Sarah  E.,  born  in 
1861;  Emmerson,  born  December  14,  1870, 
Mary  Rosetta,  born  in  1860.  and  died  in  1864, 
and  two  infants  died  without  name.  He  is 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party,  and 
has  always  been  instrumental  in  helping  on 
the  agricultural  interests  and  public  improve- 
ments— a  man  who  stands  high  where  he  is 
known. 

EASTON  WHITTEN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Bost 
Hill,  was  born  in  Warren  County,  Ky.,  May 
22,  1827,  and  when  four  years  of  age  was 
brought  to  Montgomery  County,  111.,  by  his 
parents,  where  his  early  childhood  was  em- 
ployed upon  the  homestead  farm  assisting 
his  father  in  his  agricultural  pursuits. 
When  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty- two,  he 


FILLMORE  TOWNSHIP. 


309 


left  the  paternal  roof,  purchased  eighty  acres 
of  wild  prairie  laud  which  he  improved  and 
eventually  sold,  with  the  intention  of  trying 
his  fortune  in  the  gold  region  of  California, 
where  he  remained  about  two  years,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  laying  up  enough  money  to  enable 
him  to  make  a  start  in  the  world  with  a  good 
footing.  Upon  his  return  home,  he  again 
took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life, 
at  which  he  has  since  remained  engaged,  and 
has,  by  his  energy,  industry  and  economy,  ac- 
cumulated 580  acres  of  land  near  the  line  be- 
tween Fillmore  and  East  Fork,  the  greater 
portion  of  which  he  has  under  a  state  of  cul- 
tivation which  shows  Mr.  Whitten  to  be  a 
practical  farmer.  He  grows  all  the  usual 
farm  crops,  and  is  also  a  breeder  of  stock 
having  now  in  his  stable  as  fine  a  stallion  as 
can  be  found  in  the  county,  and  which  is  of 
Black  Hawk  Morgan  and  Arabian  stock.  Mr. 
Whitten  was  married  February  6,  1849,  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Sanders,  who  was  born  in 
Montgomery  County  March  7,  1831.  They 
have  two  living  children,  Thomas  T.  and 
Henry  H.  Mrs.  Whitten  is  a  daughter  of 
John  and  Elizabeth  (Powell)  Sanders,  natives 
of  Kentucky,  he  born  in  the  year  1709,  and 
died  February  12,  1864;  she  living,  born  No- 
vember 19,  1802.  Austin  Whitten,  the 
father  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  South  Car- 
olina, November  29,  1802,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation; located  in  East  Fork  Township, 
Montgomery  County,  in  1831,  where  his 
death  occurred  May  12,  1809.  His  wife, 
Keziah  Casey,  also  a  native  of  South  Caro- 
lina, born  March  15,  1800,  and  died  October 
1,  1856.  She  was  the  mother  of  twelve  chil- 
dren, all  of  whom  grew  to  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, and  of  whom  Easton  was  the  fourth 
child.  Himself  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Church.  Politically,  Mr.  Whitten 
was  identified  with  the  Democratic  party, 
but  of  late  years  has  been  a  stanch  Repub- 


lican. Being  a  progressive  man  himself,  he  is 
always  in  favor  of  any  enterprise  that  will  in 
any  way  tend  to  the  advantage  of  the  county, 
and  especially  for  the  advancement  of  relig- 
ious and  educational  privileges. 

OTIS  M.  WILLIAMSON,  farmer.  P.  O. 
Bost  Hill,  was  born  in  Montgomery  County. 
111.,  November  19,  1840, 'to  John  and  Nancy 
G.  (Card)  Williamson  (see  history),  and 
passed  his  early  childhood  in  the  manner 
common  with  the  children  of  that  day,  in  at- 
tending the  common  schools,  and  in  assisting 
his  father  in  his  agricultural  pursuits.  Ow- 
ing to  the  limited  school  privileges,  his  edu- 
cation was  necessarily  limited  to  such  as  could 
be  obtained  in  the  common  schools  at  that 
early  day.  He  has,  however,  continued  to 
add  to  the  foundation  laid  in  the  log  school- 
house,  and  now  considers  his  education  to  be 
one,  if  not  above  the  average,  a  practical  ed- 
ucation, and  realizing  from  his  own  meager 
opportunities  the  value  education  gives  one 
at  the  present  time,  he  has  spared  no  means 
to  provide  such  a  one  for  his  children,  and 
in  return  they  have  taken  advantage  of  the 
privileges  allowed  them,  and  bear  a  reputa- 
tion as  scholars  of  which  they,  as  well  as 
their  parents,  may  well  feel  justly  proud. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  Mr.  William- 
son left  his  paternal  roof  with  nothing  but 
his  hands  with  which  to  enter  upon  the  bat- 
tle of  life,  but  possessed  with  all  the  en- 
ergy and  enterpriso  of  a  man  who  considers 
that  the  world  owes  him  a  living  and  sets 
out  fully  determined  to  make  his  own  way. 
Upon  leaving  home,  he  engaged  in  the  car- 
penter and  joiner's  business,  at  which  occu- 
pation he  remained  engaged  about  three  oi 
four  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  took 
upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  farm  life.  In 
1866,  he  purchased  his  first  real  estate,  upon 
which  he  has  since  resided  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  handling  stock,  more  or  less  exten- 


310 


BIOGRAPHICAL : 


sively.  During  the  years  of  1802-63,  he 
was  in  Colorado  engaged  in  mining,  and, 
in  connection  with  the  duties  of  his  farm,  he 
has  traveled  in  several  of  the  States  where 
his  stock  dealing  may  have  called  him.  He 
was  married  in  Montgomery  County,  111., 
February  28,  1864,  to  Melvina  Jane  Cress, 
who  was  born  September  12,  1813.  She  is 
the  mother  of  four  children,  viz.,  Peter  P., 
born  May  12,  1868;  Hattie  A.,  born  January 
27,  1871;  Walter  A.,  born  February  5,  1875; 
Torney,  born  December  16,  1865,  and  died 
March  27,  1867.  Mrs.  Williamson  is  a 
daughter  of  Peter  and  "Katy  (Nusman)  Cress; 
he  living,  she  deceased.  Mr.  Willi  amson  is 
an  active  member  of  the  order  of  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M. ,  Fillmore  Lodge,  No.  670.  He  served 
as  Assessor  during  the  first  term  after  town- 
ship organization,  and  is  the  present  Super- 
visor. He  is  a  man  that  takes  a  deep  in- 
terest in  all  the  political  issues  of  the  day,  and 
also  in  all  progressive  movements  favoring 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  county,  and 
especially  in  the  advancement  of  religious 
and  educational  privileges. 

GEORGE  O.   WOLCOTT,   farmer,  P.  O. 


Fillmore,  was  born  in  Worcester  County, 
Mass.,  October  26,  1831.  William  Wolcott, 
subject's  father,  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in 
the  year  1801 ;  is  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
and  a  resident  of  Montgomery  County.  His 
wife,  Lucy  Fairbank,  was  born  in  New  Hamp- 
shire about  1813;  she  is  also  a  resident  of 
Montgomery  County.  She  is  the  mother  of 
six  children,  the  subject  being  the  second 
child.  He  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  country,  and  entered  on  his 
business  career  as  a  farmer.  He  married  in 
Montgomery  County  May  11,  1857,  Miss 
Jane  Mack,  born  in  New  Hampshire  in  1835. 
He  is  the  father  of  seven  children,  viz.,  Will- 
iam O.,  Alice  J.,  George  E.,  Charles  W.  Illi- 
nois, James  F.  and  Frederick.  Mr.  Wolcott 
has  240  acres  of  good  farming  land,  with  all 
necessary  improvements,  in  Fillmore  Town- 
ship, where  he  now  resides,  and  also  twenty 
acres  in  Fayette  County.  He  commenced 
with  eighty  acres  of  land,  and  has  by  his 
economy  and  energy  amassed  a  large  and 
handsome  property.  He  has  always  been 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party. 


WITT  TOWNSHIP. 


311 


AY  ITT  TOWNSHIP. 


P.  C.  ABELL,  farmer,  P.  O.  Nokomis, 
born  in  Sangamon  County,  111.,  May  15, 
1834,  son  of  James  H.  and  Adeline  (Durley) 
Abell;  the  former,  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
was  born  in  Adair  County,  Ky.,  February  12, 
1S01,  and  died  in  Bond  County,  111.,  April 
25,  1863;  the  latter,  bom  in  Tennessee,  died 
in  Bond  County,  111.,  in  1880.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  the  second  of  a  family  of  four- 
teen children,  and  received  his  education  in 
Bond  County,  111. ;  he  removed  from  Bond 
County  to  Montgomery  County  in  1867,  where 
he  now  owns  a  tine  farm  of  360  acres ;  he  has 
filled  the  offices  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  and 
Supervisor;  has  been  School  Trustee  for  thir- 
teen years,  and  is  at  present  candidate  for 
County  Treasurer,  subject  to  the  action  of 
the  Democratic  party;  during  the  war,  he 
served  in  Company  D,  Forty-seventh  Illinois 
Infantry.  In  Montgomery  County,  June  14, 
1855,  he  married  Penny  M.  Lynn,  born  in 
Fayette  County,  111.,  May  31,  1839,  daughter 
of  Jefferson  and  Elizabeth  (Casey)  Lynn,  and 
there  have  been  born  to  them  three  children 
—Albert  J.,  Zedie  McClelland  and  Mary  B. 
B.  Politically,  Mr.  Abell  is  a  Democrat;  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Union  Church, 
and  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. 

J.  T.  ABMENTROUT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Witt, 
born  in  Montgomery  County  May  9,  1849, 
son  of  Christopher  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Borror) 
Armentrout,  natives  of  Hardy  County,  Va. ; 
Christopher  H.,  who  was  a  farmer,  was  born 
September  5,  1797,  and  died  in  Montgomery 
County  April  2,  1856,  where  his  wife,  who 
was  born  October  20,  1813,  now  resides.  J. 
T.,  who  is  the  fifth  of  a  family  of  six  chil- 


dren, was  educated  in  the  county  schools,  and 
engaged  in  farming,  which  occupation  he 
still  follows;  has  tilled  the  offices  of  Town 
Clerk,  Tax  Collector  and  Supervisor  of  Witt 
Township.  He  married,  September  14,  1871, 
in  Witt  Township,  Rebecca  Vermillion,  born 
in  Edgar  County,  111.,  September  14,  1852, 
daughter  of  James  S.  and  Elizabeth  (Curnett) 
Vermillion;  their  children  are  Clarence  L. , 
Elvira  V.,  Augusta  M.,  Ida  Or.  and  Lee;  How- 
ard E.  died  August  13,  1881.  Mr.  Armen- 
trout is  a  Methodist,  and  a  Republican. 

GEORGE  W.  ARMENTROUT,  farmer,  P. 
O.  Witt,  born  in  Montgomery  County  August 
;  8,  1855,  son  of  Christopher  H.  and  Elizabeth 
(Borror)  Armentrout,  natives  of  Hardy 
County,  Va.,  he,  a  farmer  by  occupation,  born 
September  5,  1797,  died  in  Montgomery 
County,  April  2,  1856,  where  his  wife,  who 
was  born  October  20,  1813,  now  resides. 
Subject,  who  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  of 
six  children,  received  his  education  in  the 
county  schools,  and  engaged  in  farming,  which 
occupation  he  has  always  followed;  was  Tax 
Collector  of  Witt  Township  in  1880  and 
1881.  He  married,  in  Witt  Township,  Jan- 
uary 1,  1880,  Ella  Tucker,  born  in  Walworth 
County,  Wis.,  February  28,  185S,  daughter 
of  James  and  Eliza  (Tratt)  Tucker.  Mr. 
Armentrout  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  and  a  supporter  of  the  Republican 
party. 

T.  S.  BATTLES,  farmer,  P.  O.  Nokomis, 
born  in  Philadelphia,  Penn. ,  January  19, 
1803,  only  child  of  Nathaniel  and  Ellen  (Ste- 
phenson) Battles;  he,  a  sea  Captain,  born  in 
New  England,  was  lost  at  sea  about  the  year 


312 


BIOGKAPHICAL: 


1802;  bis  wife,  born  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland, 
died  in  Philadelphia,  Penn.  Subject  was 
educated  in  bis  native  city,  and  began  life  as 
a  farmer,  which  occupation  he  has  always 
followed.  He  has  been  twice  married;  his 
first  wife,  whom  he  married  in  Philadelphia, 
was  Susan  Snowden,  a  native  of  that  city; 
she  died  in  Wayne  County,  Ohio,  leaving  four 
children — Rachel,  William  S.,  Johnson  G. 
and  Thomas.  In  Wayne  County,  Ohio,  March 
10,  1842,  he  married  his  second  wife,  Ann  E. 
Bright,  born  in  Perry  County,  Penn. ,  May  20, 
1815,  daughter  of  George  E.  and  Barbara 
(Brunei-)  Bright;  the  children  born  from  the 
second  marriage  are  Philip  M.,  Susan,  Bar- 
bara E.,  Ursula,  Hannah  O.  and  Anna.  Mr. 
Battles  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church. 

JAMES  R.  BROWN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Noko- 
mis,  born  in  Witt  Township  Montgomery 
County,  January  28,  1832,  son  of  David  D. 
and  Catharine  (Cress)  Brown,  both  of  whom 
died  in  Montgomery  County;  David  D.,  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  born  in  Tennessee  about 
the  year  1805,  died  in  1847;  his  wife,  born 
in  North  Carolina  about  the  year  1805,  died 
about  the  year  1862.  James  R.  is  the  eldest 
of  a  family  of  ten  children;  was  educated 
in  the  schools  of  Montgomery  County;  has 
always  been  a  farmer;  has  tilled  the  offices  of 
School  Director  and  Road  Commissioner.  In 
Fillmore  Township,  Montgomery  County, 
May  10,  1855,  he  married  Nancy  J.  Sanders, 
born  in  that  county  February  5, 1835,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Powell)  Sanders, 
and  there  have  been  born  to  them  eleven  chil- 
dren— Clara  A.,  John  F.,  Melvin  L.,  Laura 
C.  Metta  A..  Irene  E.,  Charles,  Edda  E.,  Eva 
L.,  Myrta  and  Idila  J.  Mr.  Brown  is  a  sup- 
porter of  the  Democratic  party. 

THOMAS  J.  BROWN,  farmer,  P.  O.  No- 
komis,  born  in  Montgomery  County  June  7, 
1843,  son  of  James    and   Mahala    (Hopper) 


Brown,  he,  a  farmer,  born  in  Tennessee  Jan- 
uary 8,  1802,  died  in  Montgomery  County 
July  30,  1846;  she,  also  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see, born  December  8,  1809,  now  a  resident 
of  Irving  Township.  Thomas  J.,  the  tenth 
of  a  family  of  eleven  children,  received  his 
education  in  Montgomery  County,  and  has 
always  been  engaged  in  farming.  He  has 
been  twice  married,  in  Montgomery  County; 
his  first  wife,  whom  he  married  November  11, 
1866,  was  Virginia  E.  McCamant,  born  in 
Brooke  County,  W.  Va.,  about  tho  year  1846, 
daughter  of  John  J.  McCamant  ;  she  died 
February  3,  1872,  leaving  three  children — 
Charles  Lee,  Carrie  J.  and  Clara.  He  mar- 
ried, April  2,  1872,  his  second  wife,  Rhoda 
C.  Lipe,  born  in  Montgomery  County  July 
23,  1852,  daughter  of  Allen  and  Leah  (Nus- 
man)  Lipe;  from  this  second  union  five  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  them — James  W., 
Wade  Hampton,  Tora  G. ,  Eva  M.  and  Thomas 
H.  Mr.  Brown  is  a  stanch  Democrat,  and 
has  been  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Demo- 
cratic Congressional  Convention  of  this  dis- 
trict. 

WILLIAM  BERRY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Witt, 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  March  10, 
1856,  son  of  David  and  Margaret  (Martin) 
Berry,  natives  of  Hamilton  County,  Ohio,  and 
at  the  present  time  residents  of  Butler  Town- 
ship, Montgomery  County;  the  former  was 
born  December  15,  1827,  and  follows  the  oc- 
cupation of  a  farmer;  the  latter,  born  July 
11,  1832.  Our  subject,  the  eldest  of  eight 
children,  received  his  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  finishing  at  Butler,  Montgom- 
ery County,  and  has  been  a  farmer  all  his 
days.  In  the  town  of  Butler,  Montgomery 
County,  March  16,  1882,  he  married  Mary 
Wood,  a  native  of  Montgomery  County,  born 
January  11,  I860,  daughter  of  William  and 
Rebecca  R.  (Smith)  Wood.  Mr.  Berry  and 
his  wife  are  members  of  the   M.  E.  Church; 


WITT   TOWNSHIP. 


313 


in  politics,  he  is  a  Republican;  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. 

E.  H.  DONALDSON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Noko- 
mis,  was  born  in  Fayette  County,  111.,  No- 
vember 10,  1836;  his  parents  were  natives  of 
Carroll  County,  Tenn. ;  his  father — who  had 
at  one  time  been  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness, but  who  was  engaged  in  farming  at  his 
death — was  born  February  27,  1816,  and 
died  in  Fayette  County,  111.,  October  4,  1872; 
his  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Elvina 
Hicks,  was  born  December  7,  1810,  and  is 
now  residing  in  Fayette  County,  III.  Our 
subject,  who  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of 
eight,  received  his  education  in  Fayette  and 
Montgomery  Counties;  first  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  merchant  in  Fayette  County,  111. ; 
in  1801.  he  moved  to  Montgomery  County 
and  located  on  his  present  property  of  200 
acres,  and,  by  devoting  all  his  energies  to  its 
improvement,  he  has  now  one  of  the  finest- 
improved  farms  in  the  township.  In  Fayette 
County,  111.,  January  3,  1850,  he  married 
Mary  A.  Rhodes,  born  in  Fayette  County, 
111.,  October  4,  1837,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Rhodes,  from  which  union  five  children  have 
been  born — William  A..  Mary  E.,  Aaron  B-, 
James  McC.  and  Selena  J.  Mr.  Donaldson 
is  a  member  of  the  Christian  Union  Church, 
and  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. ;  politically,  he 
is  a  Democrat. 

ROBERT  DIXON,  grain-dealer  and  miller, 
Witt,  was  born  in  Coles  County,  111.,  in  1844; 
his  father,  William  Dixon,  was  a  farmer,  and 
native  of  Illinois,  and  died  in  Coles  County, 
111.,  about  the  year  1S48.  Our  subject,  the 
eldest  of  three  children,  began  life  as  a  farm- 
er, and,  on  the  opening  of  the  war,  enlisted 
in  Company  B,  Fifty-fifth  Illinois  Infantry, 
participating  in  the  engagements  at  Shiloh, 
Tenn.,  April  0  and  7,  1862,  Arkansas  Post, 
Corinth,  Vicksburg,  and  Jackson,  Miss.  At 
the  close  of  the  war,  he  resumed  farmintr  till 


the  year  1881,  then  entered  the  grain  and 
milling  business  as  a  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Dixon  &  Houck,  operating  a  mill  and  grain 
elevator  at  Witt,  Montgomery  County.  He 
married,  in  Montgomery  County,  April  23, 
1S70,  Lucinda  Houck,  born  in  Michigan  in 
1846,  daughter  of  Daniel  Houck,  from  which 
union  there  has  been  born  to  them  one  child, 
Lula  M.  In  politics,  Mr.  Dixon  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 

DANIEL  GRANTHAM,  farmer,  P.  O. 
Irving,  son  of  James  and  Franey  (Sights) 
Grantham,  both  born  in  North  Carolina 
about  the  year  1800.  Our  subject  is  the 
eighth  child  of  a  family  of  twelve,  and  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County  December  3, 
1832;  he  received  a  fair  education  in  Irving 
Township,  Montgomery  County  ;  has  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  a  farmer  all  his  life, 
and  has  held  the  office  of  School  Trustee  for 
twenty  years.  In  Irving  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County,  October  21,  1858,  he  married 
Malinda  Lvin,  born  in  Casey  County.  Ky., 
November  15.  1836,  daughter  of  Perry  and 
Mary  (Osborn)  Irvin;  from  this  union  there 
have  been  born  six  children:  Mary  H ,  Henry 
H,  Theodora  L.,  Maggie  J.,  Urilla  M.  and 
Rosa  M.  A.  Mr.  Grantham  is  politically  a 
Republican;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  M. 
E.  Church. 

JOSEPH  HAND,  farmer,  P.  O.  Nokomis, 
born  in  Staffordshire,  England,  December  23, 
1820,  son  of  Joseph  and  Sarah  (Shipton) 
Hand,  natives  of  Devonshire,  England;  he,  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  born  in  1787,  died  in 
Macoupin  County,  111.,  August  19, 1860;  she, 
born  about  the  year  1780,  died  on  the  voyage 
to  the  United  States,  February  23,  1845. 
Subject,  the  third  of  a  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren, received  his  education  in  his  native 
shire,  and  began  the  business  of  life  as  a 
farmer.  In  1845,  he  emigrated  with  his 
parents  to  America,  landed  at  New  Orleans, 


314 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


and  proceeded  to  Paddock  Grove,  Madison 
Co.,  111.,  where  he  remained  six  years,  thence 
moved  to  Macoupin  County,  where  he  lived 
twenty  years,  and  finally  removed  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  bought  a  tract  of  land  in  its 
native  state,  which  he  has  cultivated  and  im- 
proved, and  now  has  (370  acres  of  fine  farm- 
ing land.  In  Staffordshire,  England,  July  8, 
1842,  he  married  Mary  Wilson,  born  in  New- 
boro,  England,  July  21,  1822,  daughter 
of  George  and  Sarah  (Hadkins)  Wilson,  and 
there  have  been  born  to  them  ten  children — 
George  W.,  Jane  E. ,  William,  Ann,  Sarah, 
John.  Irene  M.,  Libbie  L.,  Joseph  W.  and 
Emma  J.  Mr.  Hand  is  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  a  Republican. 

WILLIAM  HOLMES,  farmer,  P.  0.  No- 
komis,  was  born  in  Leeds,  Yorkshire,  En- 
gland, April  30,  1815,  son  of  John  and  Tere- 
sia  (Parvin)  Holmes  ;  the  former,  born  in 
Lancashire,  England,  died  in  Yorkshire, 
England,  about  the  year  1S19 ;  the  lat- 
ter, born  in  Skipton,  England,  about  the 
year  1785,  died  in  Yorkshire,  England,  in 
1817,  leaving  four  children,  William  be- 
ing the  third.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
began  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  store. 
He  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  trade  of 
coach  painting;  worked  at  that  trade  in  Cin- 
cinnati fourteen  years,  when  he  moved  to  In- 
diana, and  thence  to  Illinois.  Mr.  Holmes 
has  been  twice  married;  his  first  wife  was 
Ann  Richardson,  born  in  Yorkshire,  En- 
gland, in  1819,  daughter  of  Joseph  Richard- 
son, a  native  of  England;  they  were  mar- 
ried in  Dearborn  County,  Ind.,  where  Mrs. 
Holmes  died  August  5,  1849,  leaving  five  chil- 
dren— Ellen,  Emma,  Sarah  E.,  Mary  B.  and 
William  L.  In  Dearborn  County,  Ind.,  De- 
cember 24,  1850,  Mr.  Holmes  married  his 
second  wife.  Amanda  Rawling,  born  in  Dear- 
o.-i       County,    Ind.,    December    20,     1819, 


daughter  of  William  and  Laura  (Lewis) 
Rawling;  by  her  he  has  had  sis  children — 
John  R.,  Thomas  P.,  Laura  B.,  Richard, 
Louis  E.  and  James  F.  Mr.  Holmes  is  a 
member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F. ;  in  politics,  he  is 
a  Republican. 

F.  J.  HOLMES,  Witt,  was  born  in  Hills- 
boro,  Montgomery  County,  January  1,  1850, 
son  of  Joel  D.  and  Marandis  D.  (Bennett) 
Holmes,  he,  a  native  of  Alfred,  York  Co., 
Me.,  who  died  April  5,  1870;  she,  still  liv- 
ing, the  wife  of  Francis  Root.  Subject  has 
been  twice  married;  first,  in  Hillsboro,  March 
28,  1872,  to  Lucinda  J.  Atterbury,  daughter 
of  George  M.  Atterbury,  of  Kentucky;  Mrs. 
Holmes  dying,  Mr.  Holmes,  September  2, 
1877,  married  Florence  May  Hubbard,  of  Co- 
lusa, 111.,  daughter  of  Martin  M.  Hubbard,  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  Mr.  Holmes  has  two 
children — Stella  Marandis,  born  September 
2,  1878;  and  Myrtle  Keneston,  born  Novem- 
ber 20,  18S0. 

ANDREW  HOEHN,  farmer,  P.  O.  Noko- 
mis,  born  in  Germany  July  3,  1831,  son  of 
Ambrose  and  Agatha  (Rieder)  Hoehn.  he,  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  born  in  Germany  in 
April,  1805.  died  in  Clinton  County,  111., 
March  8,  1850;  she,  also  a  native  of  Ger- 
many, born  December  25,  1806,  is  now  resid- 
ing in  Montgomery  County.  Subject  emi- 
grated to  America  with  his  parents  in  1847; 
landed  in  New  Orleans,  thence  moved  to  St. 
Louis,  where  he  remained  a  few  months,  then 
moved  to  Clinton  County,  111.,  where  he  lived 
twenty-nine  years,  after  which  he  removed  to 
his  present  place;  he  received  a  fair  educa- 
tion in  the  schools  of  Germany  and  of  Clin- 
ton County,  111.,  and  began  life  as  a  farmer. 
in  which  occupation  he  is  still  engaged;  has 
been  Tax  Collector  of  Witt  Township  In 
Clinton  County,  III,  November  12,  1860,  he 
married  Bottle  Oberle,  born  in  Germany  in 
1843,  daughter    of    Andon    and    Elizabeth 


WITT   TOWNSHIP. 


315 


(Blaese)  Oberle;  from  this  union  there  have 
been  born  to  them  eight  children — Charles, 
Catharine,  Henry,  Isabel,  John  A.,  Emma 
M.,  Ambrose  and  Elizabeth  B.  Mr.  Hoehn 
is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  is  a 
Republican. 

WILSON  M.  MAXEY,  fanner.  P.  O.  Witt, 
born  in  Barren  County,  Ky.,  February  15, 
1829,  son  of  Edward  and  Nancy  (Barry) 
Maxey.  Edward  Maxey,  who  was  a  cooper 
by  trade,  but  in  latter  life  a  farmer,  was  born 
in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  in  1783;  died  in 
Montgomery  County  November  7,  1859,  where 
his  wife,  also  a  native  of  Virginia,  born  in 
1789,  died  October  20.  1843.  Subject,  the 
eighth  child  of  a  family  of  nine,  received  a 
fair  education  in  Montgomery  County;  has 
always  been  a  farmer;  has  been  School 
Trustee  for  fifteen  years.  He  has  been 
twice  married;  his  first  wife,  whom  he  mar- 
ried January  1,  1S52,  was  Louisa  J.  New- 
comb,  born  in  Virginia  April  4,  1833, 
daughter  of  William  A.  and  Mary  A.  New- 
comb,  died  in  Montgomery  County  Septem- 
ber 27,  1864,  leaving  seven  children — Mary 
V.,  Alice  I.,  William  A.,  James  EL,  Flora  F., 
Sarah  A.  and  Louisa  J.  In  Litchfield.  Mont- 
gomery County,  November  30,  1865,  he  mar- 
ried his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah  A  Greiner, 
born  in  Augusta  County,  Va.,  September  5, 
I  836.  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Nancy  (Gray) 
Balsley;  their  children  are  Cora  D.,  Charles 
W..  John  S.  and  Jessie  M.  Mr.  Maxey  is 
one  of  the  old  settlers  of  Montgomery  County ; 
he  is  a  stanch  Democrat;  is  Chairman  of  the 
Democratic  Committee  of  Witt  Township. 
and  a  delegate  to  the  State  convention  of  that 
party;  he  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

JOHN  M.  NEISLER,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irv- 
ing, son  of  Henry  M.  and  Elizabeth  (Lipe) 
Neisler,  natives  of  North  Carolina;  Henry 
M..  a  farmer  and  stock  dealer,  born  Novem- 


ber 19,  1816,  died  in  Irving  Township,  Mont- 
gomery County,  in  18S1;  his  wife,  born  Jan- 
uary 10,  1823,  is  now  a  resident  of  that  town- 
ship, in  which,  also,  subject,  the  second  child 
of  a  family  of  fifteen,  was  born  December  4, 
1841;  he  received  a  fair  education  in  the 
schools  of  Montgomery  County,  and  began 
life  as  a  farmer;  when  twenty -two  years  of 
age,  his  father  gave  him  the  farm  on  which 
he  now  lives;  previous  to  that  time,  however, 
he  worked  a  farm,  which  he  had  rented,  for 
two  years;  has  filled  the  office  of  Clerk  of 
Witt  Township  for  four  years.  In  Mont- 
gomery County,  November  14,  1861.  he 
married  Esther  Barringer,  born  in  that  county 
April  14,  1838,  daughter  of  Daniel  and 
Polly  (Cress)  Barringer,  and  from  this  union 
the  following  children  have  been  born  to 
them— Melvern  E.,  Ethlen  V.,  Helen  E.. 
Florence  D.,  Arthur  A.  and  Herbert  F.  Mr. 
Neisler  is  a  Democrat,  and  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

W.  L.  OPDYCKE,  farmer,  P.  O.  Witt, 
son  of  Andrew  S.  and  Judith  A.  (Lanning) 
Opdycke;  the  former,  born  in  Bucks  County, 
Penn.,  July  3,  1803,  died  in  Witt  Township. 
Montgomery  County,  August  11,  1874;  the 
latter,  born  in  Hunterdon  County,  N.  J., 
about  the  year  1810,  died  at  Milford.  in  that 
State,  in  July.  1831.  Our  subject,  the  elder 
of  two  children,  was  born  in  Milford,  N.  J., 
April  7.  1830;  he  received  a  fair  education 
in  Macoupin  County,  111.,  and  began  the  bus- 
iness of  life  as  a  farmer,  which  occupation  he 
has  ever  since  followed.  In  September,  1864, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and 
Forty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry,  at  Alton,  111., 
and  was  discharged  in  September,  1865.  He 
was  married,  at  Woodboro,  111.,  March  28, 
185  1,  to  Julia  E.  Wood,  born  in  Montgomery 
County  July  19,  1834,  daughter  of  William 
and  Rebecca  (McWilliams)  Wood;  the  for- 
mer, born   in  Darlington  District,  S.  C.  Oc- 


316 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


tober  21, 1808,  died  May  29, 1873;  the  latter, 
born  near  Lexington,  Ky,  December  18, 
1815,  died  February  14, 1857.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Opdycke  are  the  parents  of  nine  children — 
Delia  A.,  H.  Eugene,  James  M.,  Emma  F. 
E.,  William  D.,  Carrie  J.,  Ethelbert  Lan- 
ning,  Clinton  W.  and  Hettie  H.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Opdycke  is  a  Republican;  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  and  his  wife  of  the 
Methodist  Church. 

JOHN  STURGEON,  farmer,  P.  O.  Irving, 
is  a  son  of  David  and  Mary  (McCarty)  Stur- 
geon; the  former,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  In- 
diana, and  died  in  Montgomery  County  in 
1851;  the  latter,  born  in  Indiana,  and  died 
in  Jasper  County,  111.,  in  1840.  Our  sub- 
ject, the  eldest  of  six  children,  received  his 
education  in  Montgomery  County,  and  began 
life  as  a  farmer,  which  occupation  he  has  fol- 
lowed ever  since.  He  married,  in  Montgom- 
ery County,  April  16,  1846,  Charity  Cindoff, 
born  in  Kentucky,  who  died  in  Montgomery 
County  February  14,  1851.  In  Montgomery 
County,  April  2,  1854,  he  married  his  second 
wife,  Sarah  J.  Davis,  born  in  Montgomery 
County  Feb.  27,  1831,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Nancy  (Martin)  Davis.  Mr.  Sturgeon  has 
eleven  children — Austin  W.,  John  H.,  E.  H, 
David  B.,  M.  F.,  Robert  Lee,  William  M.,  W. 
R.,  Mary  E.,  Charles  E.,  Savilla  F.  and  his 
step-son,  William  T.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  politics  is  a 
Democrat. 

FREDERICK  F.  TATCH.  farmer,  P.  O. 
Witt,  son  of  John  N.  and  Emeline  (Sweet) 
Tatch;  the  former,  who  was  Captain  of  a 
whaling  vessel,  was  born  in  Germany  Octo- 
ber 22,  1813,  and  died  in  Macoupin  County, 
111.,  September  14,  1859;  the  latter  was  born 
in  Vermont  November  22,  1S20,  and  died  in 
Macoupin  County,  111.,  June  20,  1S71.  Our 
subject,  who  is  the  third  of  a  family  of  seven 
children,  was  born  in  Fair  Haven,  Mass. ,  No- 


vember 7,  1846;  he  received  a  fair  education 

• 
in  Macoupin  County,  111. ;  has  been  a  farmer 

all  his  life.  He  was  married,  in  Hillsboro, 
Montgomery  County,  November  13,  1873,  to 
Miss  L.  F.  May,  born  in  Roane  County,  Tenn., 
July  31,  1857,  daughter  of  Robert  C.  and 
Alvira  (Hall)  May;  from  this  union  six  chil- 
dren have  been  born — William  H,  Bertie, 
Vira  Estella,  Myra  Lucilla,  Charles  M.  and 
Hervey  O.  Mr.  Tatch  served  in  Company  I, 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty -seventh  Illinois 
Infantry,  during  the  war.  participating  in  the 
engagements  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  of 
the  A.,  F.  &  A.  M. ;  in  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. 

JOHN  TRATT,  farmer,  P.  O.  Witt,  was 
born  in  Somersetshire,  England,  March  3, 
1830;  his  parents,  Thomas  and  Betsy  (Watts) 
Tratt,  were  natives  of  England;  the  former, 
born  in  Somersetshire  in  1796,  was  a  farmer; 
emigrated  to  America,  and  died  at  Palmyra, 
Jefferson  Co.,  Wis..  January  30,  18 1 4;  the 
latter  died  at  the  same  place  in  March,  1S76; 
they  were  the  parents  of  five  children,  John 
being  the  third.  He  follows  the  business  of 
farming  and  trading  in  stock.  In  Jefferson 
County,  Wis.,  February  23,  1851,  he  mar- 
ried Sarah  Hooper,  born  in  Cornwall,  Eng- 
land, September  2,  1830,  daughter  of  John 
Hooper;  from  this  union  six  children  have 
been  born  to  them — Joseph,  Rosepha  J.,  Lil- 
lie  M.,  Thomas  H. ,  Jennie  and  Stella  B.  Mr. 
Tratt  is  politically  a  Democrat;  his  wife  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 

HENRY  WUBKER,  merchant,  Witt,  was 
born  in  Jacksonville,  111.,  August  21,  1844, 
son  of  William  and  Lena  (Maas)  Wubker; 
the  former,  born  near  Minden,  Prussia,  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1816;  the  latter,  in  Hanover  City, 
Hanover,  Germany,  August  21,  1818.  Our 
subject,  the  eldest  of  sis  children,  received 
the   foundation  of  his  education  at  Jackson- 


WITT   TOWNSHIP. 


317 


ville,  111. ;  he  also  attended  school  near  Vir- 
ginia, in  Cass  County,  111.,  and,  in  1871  and 
1872,  attended  Chicago  University,  Chicago, 
111.,  where  he  finished  his  education.  Mr. 
Wubker  was  engaged  in  farming  and  in 
teaching  school  till  the  year  1873;  in  that 
year,  he  removed  to  Irving,  Montgomery 
County,  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  bus- 
iness there  until  1878,  when  he  removed  to 
Witt,  and  there  carries  on  an  extensive  bus- 
iness in  dry  goods,  drugs  and  agricultural  im- 


plements. At  Irving,  Montgomery  County, 
May  3,  1876,  he  married  Lucy  A.  Cowell, 
born  in  Staunton,  Macoupin  Co.,  111.,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1851,  daughter  of  John  and  Caro- 
line (Truitt)  Cowell ;  there  have  been  born  to 
them  two  children — Hubert  L.,  who  died  July 
5,  1881;  and  Henry  T.  Mr.  Wubker  is  a  man 
of  fine  business  abilities;  in  politics,  he  is  a 
Democrat;  he  is  a  member  of  the  A.,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  and  Knights  of  Honor. 


818 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


D.  P.  BROPHY,  Postmaster,  Nokomis, 
son  of  Dennis  and  Julia  (Galvin)  Brophy, 
was  born  in  New  York  City  March  3,  1832; 
he  lived  in  the  city  till  about  fourteen  years 
of  age,  receiving,  during  this  time,  the  rudi- 
ments of  a  common  course  of  education;  upon 
the  death  of  his  mother,  in  1S46,  he  went  to 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  engaged  in  the 
type-foundry  business;  after  about  eighteen 
months,  he  went  to  the  city  of  Baltimore  and 
engaged  in  the  same  occupation  with  Edwin 
Starr,  of  the  Sun  building;  in  about  nine 
months,  he  engaged  on  the  Pittsburgh  &  Bal- 
timore Railroad  as  assistant  baggagemaster ; 
this  position  he  held  about  nine  months,  when 
he  went  back  to  New  York  City  and  engaged 
in  tbe  type-foundry  business  for  a  number  of 
years;  his  health  failing,  he  abandoned  this 
business  and  engaged  in  market  gardening 
near  the  city  of  Boston,  for  James  Young. 
In  the  fall  of  1856,  he  came  West,  and  first 
stopped  at  Litchfield  and  worked  for  Galvin 
Howe  some  six  months,  and  then  came  to  No- 
komis. At  the  beginning  of  the  late  rebell- 
ion, he  responded  to  the  call  for  troops;  vol- 
unteered in  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
sixth  Illinois  Infantry,  Company  F,  during 
this  time  acting  as  Postmaster  till  the  close 
of  the  war,  after  which  he  came  back  to  No- 
komis, and  was  appointed  Postmaster,  which 
position  he  still  holds,  having  been  in  the 
employ  of  the  Government  for  twenty  years. 
September  17,  1868,  lie  married  Miss  Susan, 
daughter  of  Thomas  S.  and  Ann  (Oldroyd) 
Battles,  by  whom  he  has  had  two  children — 
Nathaniel  B.  and  Julia  A.,  both  dead.  Mr. 
Brophy  traces  his   ancestry  back  to  an  Irish 


origin  through  both  his  father  and  mother; 
his  great-grandfather  settled  in  New  York  in 
an  early  day,  and  the  Brophys  are  scattered 
over  the  States;  Mr.  Brophy' s  father  raised 
two  children — our  subject,  and  Hannah,  who 
died  in  New  York  City  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three;  Mr.  Brophy' s  father  died  before  he 
was  born,  and,  many  years  after,  his  widow, 
and  mother  of  our  subject,  married  John 
Roberts  and  raised  two  children,  a  son  and  a 
daughter,  the  daughter  marrying  James  Jack- 
son, a  custom  house  officer  in  New  York  City. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brophy  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  are  respected  by  all  who 
know  them. 

WILLIAM  M.  BLLTE,  farmer  and  stock- 
dealer,  P.  O.  Nokomis,  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Ohio,  April  26,  1826,  son  of  Peter 
Blue,  a  farmer,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  in 
1792,  married  in  Ohio  in  1823,  and  died 
there  in  1855,  from  the  effects  of  a  rattle- 
snake bite,  in  eight  days  after  being  bitten; 
subject's  mother,  Nancy  (Crabb)  Blue,  born 
in  Virginia  in  1797.  is  now  living  at  Noko- 
mis, in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  her  age;  they 
had  six  children — Letitia,  wife  of  Thomas  F. 
Wilson;  William  M.,  our  subject;  Thomas 
O,  who  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-five;  Nancy 
O,  wife  of  the  late  N.  Brown;  Peter,  vtho 
died  at  the  age  of  thirty-three;  and  S"san 
E.,  who  died  at  the  age  of  thirty.  Subject 
was  married,  in  Franklin  County,  Ohio,  in 
1844,  to  Rachel  E.  Marshall,  born  in  that 
county  in  1828,  died  in  Montgomery  County 
April  4,  1869,  and  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Hannah  (Cain)  Marshall;  by  this  union,  sub- 
ject had  a  family  of  nine — Rebecca  J.,  Alice 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


319 


A.,  Francis  P.  (deceased),  Augusta  M.,  Will- 
iam P.  (attending  law  school  at  Bloomington, 
111.),  Ella,  Ada,  and  twins,  both  dead.  Mr. 
Blue  began  farming  at  the  age  of  twenty. 
and  has  followed  his  vocation  successfully; 
besides  farming,  he  is  a  well-known  stock- 
raiser;  owns  32<  I  acres  of  land  in  this  county, 
and  320  acres  in  Madison  County,  Neb.;  he 
began  life  with  a  limited  capital,  but,  by 
hard  work  and  close  attention  to  business,  he 
now  ranks  among  the  wealthy  men  of  Noko- 
mis.  Mr.  Blue  is  a  Democrat;  is  well  and 
favorably  known  in  his  district,  and  has  made, 
in  his  busy  life,  a  host  of  friends. 

GEORGE  GULP,  furniture,  Nokomis,  born 
in  Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  November  28, 
1821,  son  of  Adam  and  Nancy  (Wright)  Culp, 
he,  a  farmer,  born  in  Pennsylvania  July  5, 
1795,  moved  to  Ohio  about  1812,  where  he 
raised  fourteen  children  by  two  wives,  and 
died  there  October  20,  1805;  she,  born  in 
Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  September  20,  ITU.'., 
died  there  March  15,  1837.  Subject  received 
a  common  school  education;  worked  at  the 
carpenter's  trade  and  furniture  business;  has 
continued  to  manufacture  furniture  since  his 
arrival  in  Nokomis  in  1855,  and  keeps  in  stock 
a  full  line  of  superior  goods.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  September 
12,  1844,  to  Elizabeth  Easterday,  born  in 
Jefferson  County,  Ohio,  April  27,  1823, 
daughter  of  Christian  and  Ann  Marie  (Stem- 
pie)  Easterday,  he,  born  October  18,  1789, 
iu  Frederick  County,  Md. ,  died  September 
29,  1S75;  she,  born  in  Morgan  County,  Vs., 
March  7,  1791,  died  July  0,  1875.  Subject 
had  nine  children,  seven  now  living — Benja- 
min F.,  Barbara  (now  wife  of  C.  F.  Tindall), 
Loretta  K.  (deceased),  Adam  C. ,  Amos  L., 
James  A.,  Leora  F.,  Lillie  M.  and  Martin 
William  (deceased).  Mr.  Culp  is  a  member 
of  the  Lutheran  Church;  a  Democrat,  and  is 
a  strong  advocate  of  temperance.      The  name 


Culp  was  of  German  origin,  and  was  origin- 
ally spelled  Kalb,  then  changed  to  Kolp,  and 
afterward  to  Culp.  Baron  De  Kalb,  of  Rev- 
olutionary notoriety,  was  of  the  same  geneal- 
ogy. Baltza  Culp,  grandfather  of  subject, 
came  to  the  United  States  from  Germany  about 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war. 

MARTIN  HARKEY,  farmer,  P.  O.  Noko- 
mis, who  came  with  his  parents  from  North 
Carolina  and  settled  at  Hillsboro,  Montgom- 
ery Co.,  111.,  when  there  were  only  eight  log 
cabins  (1830);  he  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
in  1813,  and  is  the  son  of  Martin  and  Chris- 
tina (Mensinger)  Harkey,  who  were  natives  of 
Pennsylvania,  from  where  they  emigrated  to 
North  Carolina  in  an  early  day;  they  both  died 
in  this  county  at  a  ripe  old  age,  and  were 
both  respected  citizens,  and  members  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  Our  subject's  boyhood 
days  were  spent  at  Hillsboro,  and  working  on 
a  farm;  he  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion, and  began  life  for  himself  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  by  farming,  which  occupation 
has  ever  been  his  vocation.  In  1835,  he  mar- 
ried Mary,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Catharine 
(Bost)  Cress;  she  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
in  1815,  and  came  with  her  parents  to  this 
county  in  1818;  they  settled  close  to  Hills- 
boro, and  followed  farming;  father  was  born 
in  1779,  and  died  in  this  county  in  1805;  his 
wife  was  born  in  1780,  and  died  in  1859;  they 
were  both  members  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Mr.  Harkey,  by  hard  work  and  economy,  has 
secured  a  good  farm  of  300  acres,  and  a  good 
property  in  Nokomis.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Har- 
key have  been  born  nine  children — six  sons 
and  three  daughters —  Sophia  C,  dead ;  Har- 
riet R.,  dead;  Henry  L.,  in  California;  Jane 
E.,  wife  of  E.  Brightman,  in  California: 
George  W.,  dead;  Jacob  M.,  Thomas  P.,. 
James  M.,  and  one  dying  in  infancy.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Harkey  are  members  of  the  Presby 
terian   Church,  and  strong  advocates  of   the 


320 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


temperance  cause,  and,  in  fact,  everything 
that  pertains  to  good  and  the  promotion  of 
society. 

THOMAS  G.  HOBSON,  miller,  Nokomis, 
born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  May  10,  1S40, 
son  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Learning)  Hob- 
son.  Robert  Hobson,  subject's  father,  a  na- 
tive of  England  and  miller  by  trade,  came  to 
America  in  1S43 ;  followed  his  trade  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  United  States,  and  died  in 
Litchfield,  111.,  January  25,  1877,  aged  sev- 
enty-three years;  his  wife,  also  a  native  of 
England,  is  still  living;  they  had  ten  chil- 
dren, of  whom  our  subject  is  the  eighth;  he 
received  a  common  school  education;  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  learned  the  miller's  trade, 
and,  in  1873,  formed  a  partnership  with  L. 
M.  Hartsock,  at  Nokomis,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  At  Staunton,  111.,  December  8, 
1867,  he  married  Elizabeth  Cowell,  born  at 
or  near  Staunton,  111.,  September  20,  1847, 
daughter  of  James  R.  and  Lucinda  (Camp) 
Cowell;  she  died  May  18,  1870,  leaving  one 
child,  Gracie  May,  born  May  2,  1870.  He 
was  married  the  second  time,  at  Lincoln,  Lo- 
gan Co.,  111.,  January  23,  1879,  to  Matilda 
E.  Snell,  born  in  Staunton,  Macoupin  Co., 
111.,  December  4,  1851,  daughter  of  Selby 
and  Sarah  Jane  (Dees)  Snell,  he,  born  May 
8,  1811,  died  February  17,  1872;  she,  born 
at  Staunton,  Macoupin  Co.,  111.,  April  11, 
1831,  still  living.  Mr.  Hobson  is  a  Demo- 
crat, and  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
Messrs.  Hobson  &  Hartsock  have  a  mill, 
60x40,  engine  room  30x16,  and  boiler  room 
30x16;  the  four  run  of  stones  are  run  by  a 
sixty-horse-power  engine;  the  mill  was  built 
by  Rhoader  in  1866;  the  shipments  of  flour 
annually  average  15,000  barrels  ;  the  ship- 
ments in  1881  were  20,000  barrels. 

L.  M.  HARTSOCK,  miller,  Nokomis,  born 
near  Johnsville,  Frederick  Co.,  Md..  Novem- 
ber 9,  1841,  son  of  Nicholas  and  Sarah  Hart- 


sock, he,  a  stone  and  brick  mason,  died  when 
our  subject  was  thirteen  years  old;  she  died 
when  subject  was  but  four  years  old;  they 
had  two  children — L.  M.  and  Maggie  E. 
Subject  was  raised  among  strangers,  and  re- 
ceived a  common-school  education;  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  began  learning  the  mill- 
er's trade  at  Little  Pipe  Creek,  near  Middle- 
burg,  Md.,  and  has  followed  his  trade  ever 
since.  At  Waterloo,  111.,  January  9,  1869, 
he  married  Frances  A.  Cooley,  a  native  of  In- 
diana, born  September  6,  1844,  her  father, 
Lorin  Cooley,  dying  when  she  was  quite 
young;  her  mother,  Mary  Bowers,  is  now 
Mrs.  J.  D.  Jones.  Mr.  Hartsock  has  a  fam- 
ily of  four — Maggie  E.,  Artlrur  L.,  Robert 
L.  and  Ethel.  In  1873,  subject  went  in  part- 
nership with  Thomas  G.  Hobson  in  the  mill- 
ingr  business,  owning  a  half  interest  in  the 
Nokomis  large  mill,  a  description  of  which  is 
given  in  Mr.  Hobson's  biography,  published 
in  this  book.  Subject  is  a  Republican,  a 
Freemason,  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor.  Mr.  Hartsock  is  a  fine  example  of 
American  pluck;  starting  out  in  life  without 
a  cent,  he  has,  by  patience,  perseverance  and 
indomitable  will,  made  a  name  for  himself 
which  the  ravages  of  time  cannot  efface. 

CHARLES  L.  HENKEL,  druggist,  Noko- 
mis, was  born  in  Virginia,  son  of  Rev.  D.  M. 
and  Susan  (Eger)  Henkel,  his  father  being  a 
Lutheran  clergyman,  as  his  forefathers  were 
for  nine  generations  back;  both  parents  were 
natives  of  Virginia,  his  mother  being  a  sister 
of  Havemeyer.  the  great  sugar  refiner  of  New 
York.  Our  subject  received  a  good  classical 
education;  made  chemistry  a  study,  and,  early 
in  life,  engaged  in  his  present  vocation  as 
clerk  in  a  drug  store  at  Richmond,  Ya..  and 
elsewhere;  he  began  in  the  drug  business  in 
Nokomis  in  1876,  and  is  considered  an  excel- 
lent pharmacist,  having  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  early  life  in  familiarizing  himself  with 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


321 


the  details  of  his  profession.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  1S79,  to  Belle  Leas,  born  in  Jeffer- 
son County,  Ohio,  daughter  of  Leonard  Leas, 
Esq..  a  native  of  Adams  County,  Penn., 
where  he  was  born  March  20,  1811,  being 
now  a  resident  of  Nokomis. 

F.  O.  PADDOCK,  lumber-dealer,  Noko- 
mis, was  born  in  Argyle,  Wis.,  December  16, 
1853,  son  of  Oscar  H.  and  Ann  (Threadgold) 
Paddock,  he,  born  in  Woodstock,  Vt. ,  June 
12,  1830,  came  to  Illinois  at  an  early  day, 
and  is  now  in  the  lumber  business  at  Pana, 
111.,  and  with  his  son  (subject)  at  Nokomis; 
she,  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  England,  was  born 
December  12, 1836.  Subject  received  a  good 
business  education,  and  engaged  in  business 
at  Pana,  111.,  where  he  dealt  in  lumber  and 
building  material;  thence  he  moved  to  Noko- 
mis, where  he  carries  on  the  same  business; 
he  has  the  largest  stock  of  any  dealer  in  his 
line  in  Montgomery  County,  and  does  an  ex- 
tensive trade.  At  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  August 
28,  1877,  he  married  Ada  Piatt,  born  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  April  8,  1855,  daughter  of 
Rudolphus  T.  and  Mary  (Nares)  Piatt,  he, 
born  in  Clifton  Park,  N.  Y.,  August  1,  1832, 
died  iu  May,  1876;  she,  a  native  of  Geneva, 
N.  Y. ,  born  November  8,  1834;  from  this 
union,  one  child,  Jessie  F.,  now  three  years 
old,  has  been  born.  Mr.  Paddock  is  of  old 
Revolutionary  stock;  his  great-grandfather 
and  grand-uncles  were  Revolutionary  soldiers, 
and  he  is  an  honor  to  the  stock  from  whence 
he  springs. 

M.  P.  PUFELES,  merchant,  Nokomis,  born 
in  Austria  in  1852,  and  came  to  America  in 
1868;  he  was  the  son  of  Sigmund  and  Rosa 
(Hirschstin)  Pufeles.  Our  subject  received  a 
good  common-school  education.  In  1879,  he 
married  Dora  Weinstein,  who  was  also  born 
in  Austria;  they  have  three  children — Sig- 
mund, Lena  and  Jessie.  Mr.  Pufeles  com- 
menced business  by  clerking  and  traveling  in 


New  York  City;  came  to  Nokomis  in  1879, 
and  joined  in  partnership  with  Lessel  &  Bro. 
for  one  year;  after  that,  in  1880,  went  in 
business  for  himself,  and  now  does  a  first- 
class  business  in  dry  goods  and  general  mer- 
chandise; sells  for  cash,  and  pays  cash  for  his 
goods,  which  enables  him  to  sell  cheap.  Mr. 
Pufeles  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, and  a  credit  to  the  business  community 
at  Nokomis. 

H.  F.  ROOD,  banker,  Nokomis,  President 
of  the  Nokomis  National  Bank,  and  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Nokomis,  was  born  in 
Massachusetts  in  1818;  he  is  the  third  son  of 
Ashael  and  Asenath  (Fuller)  Rood,  who  were 
also  of  Massachusetts;  father  born  in  1772, 
and  by  occupation  was  a  farmer  in  his  native 
State,  where  he  died  in  1852;  his  wife  was 
born  in  1789,  and  died  in  1828.  Our  subject 
spent  his  boyhood  days  on  a  farm,  and  received 
a  common-school  education.  In  1843,  he 
married  Nancy  Louden,  a  lady  of  rare  attain- 
ments, and  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Nancy 
Hines  Louden.  Mrs.  Rood  has  been  to  her 
husband  ever  an  efficient  co-worker,  sharing 
with  him  all  his  trials  and  sustaining  him  by 
earnest  co-operation  in  all  his  plans;  she  is 
an  active  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  Mr. 
Rood  began  life  by  engaging  in  the  hotel 
business  in  his  native  State,  and  then  fol- 
lowed the  same  business  both  in  Connecticut 
and  New  York.  In  1850,  he  removed  to 
Crawford  County,  Penn..  and  in  1857,  by  the 
solicitation  of  friends,  he  removed  to  Mont- 
gomery County,  where  he  embarked  in  the 
mercantile  business,  occupying  for  his  store 
the  first  plastered  house  in  Nokomis;  by  ;i 
closo  attention  to  business  and  honest  deal- 
ings with  his  customers,  he  soon  gained  the 
conlidence  of  the  community;  in  connection 
with  his  merchandising,  he  was  Postmaster, 
express  agent  and  railroad  agent.  In  1877, 
he  became    President  of   the  National   Bank 


322 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


of  Nokornis,  which  position  he  still  retains. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rood  wore  born  four  chil- 
dren— Florence  A.,  dying  in  infancy;  Clar- 
ence E.,  express  agent  at  St.  Louis;  Horace 
E.,  with  his  brother;  and  Maude,  a  promis- 
ing young  lady,  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
her,  died  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  her  age. 

J.  "W.  RUSSELL,  merchant,  Nokornis,  was 
born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  in  1839; 
he  is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  eight  children 
that  were  born  to  William  H.  and  Catharine 
(Todd)  Russell.  William  Russell  was  born 
in  Kentucky  in  1818,  and  came  to  Montgom- 
ery County,  111.,  with  his  father,  John  Rus- 
sell, a  native  of  North  Carolina,  in  or  about 
1823,  settling  on  land  entered  by  them;  they 
followed  agricultural  pursuits  till  their  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  year  1880.  William 
Russell,  the  father  of  our  subject,  married  in 
this  county,  about  the  year  1838;  his  wife, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  Todd,  was 
born  in  about  1S16;  is  still  a  resident  of 
Montgomery  County.  Our  subject  spent  his 
early  days  on  his  father's  farm,  and  received 
such  .a  common-school  education  as  the  ad- 
vantages permitted  in  those  days.  In  1860, 
he  began  life  for  himself  by  engaging  at 
farming,  and  in  1871  he  embarked  in  the 
general  mercantile  business  at  Nokornis,  and, 
by  honest  dealing  and  a  close  attention  to 
business,  he  has  not  only  been  successful 
financially,  but  has  gained  the  confidence  of 
his  many  customers.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  Church,  Masonic  fraternity  and 
Knights  of  Honor.  In  1S63,  he  married 
Miss  Mattie  D.  Strader,  daughter  of  John 
and  Elizabeth  (Avis)  Strader;  she  was  born 
in  Jefferson  County,  Va.,  in  1842,  and  died 
in  1880,  leaving  one  child,  Charlie  D.  In 
1881,  Mr.  Russell  married  again — Annie 
Strader. 

H.  S.  STRAIN,  physician,  Nokornis,  born 
in  Highland  County,  Ohio,  June  13,   1837, 


son  of  Andrew  Miller  and  Rebecca  A.  (Pat- 
ton)  Strain;  he,  a  farmer,  born  near  Abing- 
don, S.  O,  March  23, 1800,  died  July  3,  1859; 
she,  born  near  Lexington,  Bourbon  Co.,  Ky., 
March  29,  180S,  died  July  31,  1872;  their 
family  consisted  of  seven  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Dr.  Strain  received  a  rudiment- 
ary education  in  the  common  schools  of 
Highland  County,  Ohio,  but  afterward  at- 
tended and  graduated  at  the  Worcester  Uni- 
versity, Cleveland,  Ohio.  In  September, 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Eighty-first 
Regiment  Ohio  Infantry,  and  was  detailed  as 
Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  regiment,  filling  that 
position  until  1S62.  On  September  13,  1866, 
near  Greenfield,  Highland  Co.,  Ohio,  the  Doc- 
tor was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Walker,  by 
the  Rev.  McKnight  Williamson;  she  was 
born  March  22,  1840,  near  Hillsboro.  High- 
land Co. ,  Ohio,  and  is  a  daughter  of  John 
H.  and  Margaret  B.  (Elliott)  Walker,  he, 
born  in  Rockbridge  County,  Va.,  in  1806,  died 
November  3,  1875;  she,  born  in  Rockbridge 
County,  Va.,  in  January,  1809,  is  still  living 
in  Hillsboro,  Ohio.  The  Doctor  has  five 
children  living — Maggie  H.,  born  February 
23,  1869;  Annie  Kate,  bom  June  22,  1872; 
John  W.,  born  March  13,  1875;  Stanley  M., 
born  March  24,  1877;  and  Andrew  N. 
("Scottie''),  born  July  22,  1867,  died  June 
26,  1872.  In  1865,  the  Doctor  was  appointed 
Surgeon  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Ninety-fifth 
Regiment  of  Ohio  Infantry,  and  served  until 
the  end  of  the  war.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Strain  are 
Presbyterians;  in  politics,  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  known  in  his  district  as  an  able 
physician.  Samuel  Strain,  the  Doctor's 
grandfather,  was  an  Irishman;  came  to  Amer- 
ica before  the  Revolutionary  war;  was  a  sol- 
dier for  seven  years,  and  fought  under  Gen. 
Green;  in  one  battle,  another  soldier  and 
himself  were  the  only  two  who  escaped;  he 
had  been  married  four  times,  raised  twenty- 


NOKOMIS  TOWNSHIP. 


32a 


two  children,  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
five. 

WILLIAM  STEINRAUF,  M.  D.,  Noko- 
mis, born  in  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany, 
September  18,  1850,  son  of  John  and  Cath- 
arine (Stengel)  Steinrauf,  he,  a  native  of 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  born  in  1827,  died  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  in  September,  1872;  was  a  stone 
mason,  and  served  two  years  in  the  United 
States  Army;  she,  still  living  in  St.  Louis, 
was  born  in  Kurkessen,  Germany,  November 
8,  1822.  Subject  received  a  good  classical 
education  at  St.  Louis  and  Washington,  Mo., 
and  graduated,  in  1876,  from  the  St.  Louis 

College,  Missouri.     He  was  married,  at  Bol- 
ts ' 

videre,  111.,  in  March,  1878,  to  Miss  Carolina 
Kuppler,  bom  at  Rock  Island,  111.,  Juno  L9, 
1860,  and  a  daughter  of  John  and  Anna 
Maria  (Lepla)  Kuppler;  he,  born  in  Wurtem- 
berg,  Germany,  died  in  1877;  and  she,  born 
in  Bavaria,  Germany.  The  result  of  this 
union  is  one  son,  Albert,  now  four  years 
old.  Subject  practiced  medicine  in  Jefferson 
City,  Mo.,  and  moved  to  Nokomis  in  1880, 
where  he  soon  gained  a  host  of  friends  and 
an  enviable  reputation.  He  is  a  strict  mem- 
ber of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  is  always 
on  hand  when  duty  calls. 

GEORGE  M.  STEVENS,  attorney,  Noko- 
mis, born  in  Canada  in  1846,  son  of  John  M. 
and  Sibyl  (Goddard)  Stevens,  he.  a  farmer, 
born  in  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  now  of  Shel- 
by County,  111. ;  she,  also  a  native  of  Canada,  is 
still  living.  Subject  received  a  rudimentary 
education  at  the  public  schools  in  Canada; 
afterward  attended  the  high  school  at  Spring- 
field, 111.,  graduated  at  the  law  school  of  Ann 
Arbor,  Mich.,  in  1872,  and  began  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Nokomis  in  1873.  Mr.  Stevens 
was  married,  at  Nokomis,  in  1875,  to  Jennie 
Blue,  a  daughter  of  WTilliam  M.  Blue  (a  bi- 
ographical sketch  of  this  family  will  be  found 
in  this  work).     The   subject  is  a  Royal  Arch 


Mason,  and  a  Democrat;  has  been  Attorney 
for  Nokomis  for  six  years  and  is  temperate  in 
all  things. 

THOMAS  TWOHEY,  railroad,  Nokomis, 
was  born  in  Ireland  in  1832,  is  the  son  of 
Thomas  and  Ann  Twohey.  Mr.  Twohey 
came  to  America  in  1848,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  making  for  himself  a  home;  he  lo- 
cated in  Massachusetts,  where  he  followed 
farming  for  four  years;  then  in  Putnam 
County,  Ind.,  and  at  St.  Mary's,  Vigo  County; 
then  he  attended  the  water  tank  at  Tower  Hill 
for  the  railroad  company  for  six  years,  and, 
after  spending  one  year  in  Missouri  in  the 
employ  of  a  railroad  company  there,  he  came 
to  Nokomis  and  took  charge  of  a  section  for 
the  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  and 
has  held  that  position  for  eighteen  years.  He 
married,  in  1852,  Sarah  Bolton,  a  native  of 
Ireland;  five  children  have  been  born  to  them 
— Mary,  wife  of  N.  Singer;  John  M. ,  Train 
Dispatcher  at  Mattoon,  III. ;  Patrick,  also  an 
operator;  Thomas  and  Michael.  Mr.  Two- 
hey and  family  are  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

THOMAS  J.  WHITTEN,  M.  D.,  Nokomis, 
was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  111.,  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1844,  son  of  Austin  and  Keziah 
(Casey)  Whitten,  he,  born  in  Newberry  Dis- 
trict, S.  O,  November  29,  1802,  came  to  Illi- 
nois at  an  early  day,  where  he  followed  farm- 
ing until  his  death,  which  occurred  May  12, 
I860;  she,  also  a  native  of  South  Carolina, 
born  March  15,  1799,  died  in  Montgomery 
County,  111.,  October  1,  1856.  Subject  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  in  1856,  and  grad- 
uated at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of 
Philadelphia,  Penn.,  in  1867;  he  began  the 
practice  of  his  profession  at  Hillsboro  in  1867, 
remaining  there  till  1880,  when  he  came  to 
Nokomis;  he  now  ranks  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing physicians  of  Montgomery  County.  He 
served  as  Hospital  Steward  at  Fort  Prickren 


324 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


from  1862  till  the  close  of  the  war.  At  Hills- 
boro,  111.,  January  2, 1868,  he  married  Sophia 
C.  Harkey,  born  in  Montgomery  County  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1843,  daughter  of  George  and  Mar- 
tha S.  (Masters)  Harkey,  natives  of  North 
Carolina,  he,  born  April  5,  1804,  died  Octo- 
ber 29,  1856;  she,  bom  June  7,  1803,  died 
August  13,  1852.  From  this  marriage  four 
children  have  been  born,  viz. :  Harry  Hood, 
George  Ernest,  Lelia  Grace  and  Lester  Cook. 
The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  an  Odd  Fellow;  is  Secretary  of  the 
County  Medical  Society,  and  has  officiated  as 
President  of  the  Central  Illinois  District  So- 
ciety. 

D.  H.  ZEPP,  attorney,  Nokomis,  born  in 
Carroll  County,  Md.,  in  1845,  the  son  of  Sam- 
uel and  Caroline  C.  (Zimmerman)  Zepp;  he, 
a  farmer,  born  in  Maryland  in  1822,  was 
married  in  1843,  and  is  still  living  there;  she, 
born  in  Maryland,  is  still  living;  they  had 
nine  children—  live  sons  and  four  daughters 


— of  whom  our  subject  is  the  oldest;  he  re- 
ceived a  good  common-school  education,  and, 
by  working  on  a  farm  for  $6  per  month,  he 
was  enabled  to  continue  his  studies;  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  he  began  teaching  school, 
and,  after  having  taught  school  in  the  coun- 
ty for  one  year,  he  became  Principal  of  the 
Westminster,  in  Maryland.  He  was  married, 
in  1874,  to  Ella  Beaver,  daughter  of  Jacob 
and  Sarah  (Hammett)  Beaver.  Mr.  Zepp  was 
elected  to  the  Thirtieth  General  Assembly,  and 
received  the  second  largest  majority  of  any 
member  in  the  House.  He  began  reading 
law  with  Judge  John  E.  Smith,  of  Maryland, 
in  1866;  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1868,  and 
came  West  in  1869 ;  he  was  Principal  of  the 
Public  School  at  Hillsboro  one  year,  and  at 
Nokomis  two  years.  Mr.  Zepp  is  a  Repub- 
lican, a  Knight  Templar,  and  a  self-made 
man;  not  only  has  he  been  successful  as  an 
educator,  but  also  as  a  financier,  now  owning 
400  acres  of  land  near  Tower  Hill,  as  well  as 
property  in  Nokomis. 


AUDUBON   TOWNSHIP. 


325 


AUDUBON  TOWN SH 1  P. 


CAPT.  M.  OHLMAN,  farmer.  P.  O.  Ohl- 
man,  was  born  near  Strasbourg,  Germany; 
his  father,  Michael  Ohlman.  was  horn  in 
France  ;  emigrated  to  America  in  1832  ; 
worked  on  the  White  House,  Washington, 
where  he  earned  sufficient  money  to  carry  him 
to  St.  Louis,  Mo. ,  where  he  removed  in  L833 
his  wife,  Gertrude  Zahn.  was  born  in  France 
and  died  in  St.  Louis  in  1853,  leaving  six 
children,  of  whom  our  subject  was  the  eldest. 
Our  subject  first  worked  on  a  Mississippi 
River  flat-boat;  at  tho  age  of  seventeen,  was 
promoted  to  the  post  of  pi  lot,  which  position 
he  held  for  ten  years,  when  he  became  Cap- 
tain and  owner  of  the  Star  of  the  West,  for- 
merly known  as  the  Polar  Star;  he  was  also 
Master  of  the  D.  A.  January.  In  1861,  he 
gave  up  steamboating,  and  became  a  farmer, 
and  has  now  a  fine  farm  of  660  acres,  togeth 


er  with  other  land  and  property,  all  of  which 
he  has  accumulated  by  his  own  thrift  and  in- 
dustry; he  has  realized  as  high  as  $12,000  on 
his  stock  at  a  single  sale.  In  1851,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Bnrbank,  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
daughter  of  Benedick  and  Elizabeth  (Stranb) 
Bnrbank;  there  have  been  born  to  them  an 
interesting  family  of  six  children,  all  of  whom 
have  been  given  a  good  education.  Capt, 
Ohlman  is  a  member  of  the  Boman  Catholic 
Church;  in  politics,  he  recognizes  no  party. 
but  polls  his  vote  for  the  man  whom  he  thinks 
will  best  advance  the  interests  of  his  coun- 
try; iu  him  all  measures  for  the  advancement 
of  education,  and  all  public  enterprises,  find 
a  liberal  supporter.  His  father,  who  was  a 
wagon-maker  by  trade,  died  in  California  in 
L851. 


326 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


ADDENDA. 

Biographies  too  Late  for  Insertion  in  Proper  Place. 


GREENVILLE— Bond  County. 


MAJOR  P.  E.  HOLGOMB,  retired  army 
officer.  A  sketch  of  the  eventful  life  of  this 
war  veteran  of  Bond  County  furnishes  in- 
teresting and  instructive  reading.  The  fol- 
lowing brief  outline  of  the  life  of  Maj. 
Holcomb,  the  only  retired  army  officer  of 
Bond  County,  and  one  of  the  most  gallant 
soldiers  of  our  late  war,  speaks  for  itself: 

He  was  born  January  13,  1824,  at  Cincin- 
nati. Ohio.  His  father,  P.  J.  Holcomb,  was 
a  native  of  Vergennes,  Vt.,  a  merchant  and  a 
mill  owner,  and  came  "West  at  an  early  date, 
and  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  active 
pioneers  of  the  Buckeye  State.  He  was  of 
English  descent,  and  married  Miss  Ruth  A. 
Francisco,  of  Corsican  lineage. 

Our  subject  was  the  third  child  of  a  fami- 
ly of  six  children.  When  about  seven  years 
of  age,  his  father  removed  from  Ohio  to 
Bond  County,  located  upon  a  tract  of  land 
and  began  farming.  Our  subject  received 
his  primary  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town  and  afterward  attended 
school  at  Greenville,  and  at  a  comparatively 
early  ago  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge 
Rust,  of  Edwardsville,  111.  Under  his  tuition 
he  read  law,  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  the  courts  of  the  State.  Maj.  Holcomb 
never  practiced  his  profession,  however,  but 
proceeded  almost  directly  to  Cincinnati  and 
enlisted  in  the  United  States  Army  for 
general    service    in    the    Mexican    war.    and 


joined  Company  E,  Third  Artillery,  Bragg's 
Battery. 

The  gallant  services  of  this  battery  at 
Monterey  and  Buena  Vista  have  made  it 
famous  in  history.  At  the  first-named  battle, 
Maj.  Holcomb  received  a  musket  ball  wound 
in  his  right  arm.  He  figured  in  the  Mexican 
war  until  August,  1848,  when  his  regiment 
disbanded. 

At  the  opening  of  the  rebellion,  in  1861, 
Maj.  Holcomb  was  the  first  in  his  county 
to  come  to  the  rescue,  and  immediately  set 
about  recruiting  a  company  of  soldiers,  to 
defend  again  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  This  he 
accomplished  with  his  usual  success,  his  being 
the  first  drilled  company  to  enter  the  conflict 
from  Bond  County.  Ho  remained  with  the 
company  until  the  latter  part  of  June,  1861, 
when  he  received  orders  to  report  to  Fort 
Preble  at  Portland,  Me.,  reaching  there  in 
July,  and  from  Fort  Preble  he  was  detailed 
on  recruiting  expeditions.  March  22,  1862, 
he  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  the 
Second  Battery  Vermont  Light  Artillery. 
He  acted  as  Captain  of  this  battery  until  they 
were  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  August, 
1863.  August  20,  1863,  be  was  commissioned 
Major  of  the  First  Texas  Union  Cavalry.  He 
served  with  his  regiment  in  that  State  and 
Louisiana,  a  portion  of  the  time  as  Brigade 
Commander  of  the  Nineteenth  Corps.  Octo- 
ber 5,  1864,  ho  was  ordered,  and  accordingly 


ADDENDA. 


337 


reported,  to  his  regiment,  at  Fort  Treble, 
and  was  soon  after  detailed  to  Fort  La  Fayette, 
New  York  Harbor,  where  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  prisoners,  under  Col.  Burke. 
In  the  winter  of  1866,  Maj.  Holcomb  was 
ordered  to  Texas.  He  served  in  regulating 
the  hostilos  in  that  State  until  January  30, 
1867,  when,  on  account  of  disability  and  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  service,  he  was  re- 
tirod  from  the  service,  with  a  salary  sufficient 
to  support  him  in  independence  during  his 
declining  years. 

Maj.  Holcomb,  it  will  be  seen,  served  his 
country  continuously  for  over  twenty  years. 
During  that  time  he  took  active  part  in  over 
100  engagements,  and  man\r  times  in  the 
very  heat  of  the  most  important  ones.  Eight- 
een different  times  shots  have  pierced 
through  his  uniform,  but  in  most  instances 
his  perdon  has  escaped  harm. 

April  3,  1856,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Bell 
Blanchard,  daughter  of  Seth  Blanchard,  one 
of  Bond  County's  earliest  and  most  active 
pioneers,  and  a  native  of  Stoughton,  Mass. 
They  have  one  son,  James  E.,  born  Septem- 
ber 26,  1874 

PROF.  S.  M.  INGLIS  was  born  in  Mar- 
ietta, Penn.,  August  15,  1838,  son  of  Rev. 
George  S.  and  Keziah  R.  (Martin)  Inglis,  he 
is  a  native  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  a  minister  who 
labored  largely  in  the  cause  of  African  Col- 
onization; she  a  native  of  Lancaster  County, 
Penn.  They  were  the  parents  of  six  children, 
two  boys  and  ioxir  girls.  Our  subject  was 
compelled,  through  force  of  circumstances, 
to  educate  himself,  but  by  hard  struggling 
completed  a  course  of  study  in  Mondota  Col- 
legiate Institute,  located  in  Mendota,  La 
Salle  County,  being  valedictorian  in  a  class 
of  nine  at  his  graduation.  He  adopted  the 
profession  of  a  public  instructor,  and  has 
given  nearly  all  his  time  to  that  calling. 
He  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Foiu'th 


Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  but  after  three 
months  of  camp  duty  was  discharged  in  con 
seipience  of  disability.  He  has  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  since  he  was 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  filled  the  position  of 
Elder  in  the  same:  also  takes  great  interest 
in  Sunday  school  work,  being  Superintend- 
ent; Trustee  of  Southern  Illinois  Normal 
University  through  appointment  of  Gov. 
Cullom;  also  First  Lieutenant  and  Captain 
of  Illinois  State  Militia.  Prof.  Inglis  has 
been  for  fourteen  years  connected  with  the 
public  schools  of  Greenville,  and  may  bo  said 
to  be  the  father  of  the  school  system  of  that 
city,  which  is  the  pride  of  the  county,  and 
would  reflect  credit  upon  any  section  of  the 
country.  In  habit,  the  Professor  is  indus- 
trious and  persevering,  and  benevolent  to  a 
fault,  always  assisting  with  his  means  every 
worthy  enterprise  and  person,  being  espe 
cially  the  friend  of  struggling  students.  He 
is,  and  has  been  since  the  formation  of  tin' 
party  in  1856,  a  Republican,  and  holds  mem- 
bership with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen. 

WILLIAMSON  PLANT,  son  of  Lorenzo 
D.  Plant,  and  grandson  of  Williamson  Plant, 
was  born  near  Pocahontas,  Bond  Co.,  HI.. 
December  19,  1827.  The  first  fourteen  years 
were  spent  on  the  farm  upon  which  he  wae 
born,  and  from  a  near  schoolhouse  received  a 
common-school  education  for  that  day,  one 
term  of  eight  months  having  been  spent,  at 
school  at  the  academy  in  Hillsboro  in  the 
winter  of  1839-40,  in  which  Mr.  Edward  \Vv 
man  was  teacher.  He  was  in  partnership  in 
a  store  in  Greenville  with  his  father  from 
184-8  to  1851,  and  has  served  three  regular 
terms  as  Sheriff  and  Collector  of  the  county, 
and  three  other  years  had  charge  of  same 
office,  making  nine  years  in  that  position. 
He  has  been  Secretary  of  the  St.  Louis,  Van 
dalia  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad  Company  since 


328 


BIOGRAPHICAL: 


its  organization,  November  22,  ISC},").  He  is 
engaged  in  farming,  and  is  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  "Greenville  City  Mills." 
Mr.  Plant  has  been  twice  married,  first  on 
May  3,  1S48,  to  Susan  G.  Grover,  by  which 
marriage  he  had  one  son,  Emery  D.  Mrs. 
Plant  died  March  15, 1S52.     He  was  married 


to  his  present  wife  formerly  Sarah  Jane 
Wafer,  March  31,  1853.  Six  children  have 
been  born  from  last  marriage — Emma  J., 
Willie  W.,  Ida  L.,  Lillio  E.,  Sallie  L.  and 
Ada  J.,  and  all  living  Mr.  Plant  has  re- 
sided at  Greenville  continously  since  Decem- 
ber, 1852. 


H I LLSBORO- Montgomery  County. 


ARIUS  N.  KINGSBURY,  County  Judge, 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was  born 
in  Athens,  Ohio,  February  5,  1830,  and  is  a 
son  of  Ira  and  Hannah  (Price)  Kingsbury, 
the  latter  a  native  of  Ohio  and  the  former  of 
Vermont,  where  he  followed  farming.  He 
came  to  Illinois  in  1841,  and  died  in  Bond 
County  in  1872;  his  wife  died  at  Mt.  Car- 
mel,  111.,  in  1842.  Seven  children  were  born 
to  them,  of  whom  the  subjeet  of  this  sketch 
is  the  second.  He  was  educated  principally 
in  the  common  and  academical  schools  of  the 
State;  studied  law  at  Greenville,  111.,  where 
he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1855,  and  in 
1857  came  to  Hillsboro  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  In  1873,  he  was 
a  candidate  for  Supreme  Judge,  receiving 
1,70(1  majority  in  Montgomery  County.  1. :{(((") 
in  Macoupin  County,  and  carrying  Shelby 
and  Richland  Counties.  The  year  previous, 
he  had  been  a  candidate  for  State  Senator  in 
the  district  composed  of  Montgomery  and 
Christian  Counties,  receiving  a  majority  of 
the  delegates,  but  being  defeated  in  tho  con- 
vention. He  was  elected  County  Judge  in 
November,  1873,  and  has  served  in  that  posi- 
tion ever  since,  giving  general  satisfaction. 
No  estate  has  ever  lost  a  cent  on  account  of 
bonds  being  insufficient;  he  is  always  at  his 
office  during  business  hours,  and  attends 
strictly  to  his   official   duties.     He  has  been 


renominated  for  the  office  of  County  Judge 
at  the  ensuing  November  election  (1882),  by 
the  Democratic  party  of  Montgomery  County. 
He  was  married.  April  29,  1859,  to  Miss 
Celeste  Hazard,  who  was  born  in  Alton,  111., 
and  is  a  daughter  of  Evan  M.  and  Jane  Haz- 
ard, the  latter  a  native  of  Huntsville,  Ala., 
and  the  former  of  Rhode  Island.  Judge  and 
Mrs.  Kingsbury  have  four  children — Mary- 
Evelyn,  Jessie  C,  Willie  V.  and  Ross. 
Judge  Kingsbury  is  not  a  member  of  any 
particular  church  organization,  but  a  patron 
of  all;  his  wife  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

HON.  JESSE  J.  PHILLIPS,  Circuit  Judge. 
Prominent  among  the  historical  names  of 
Illinois  is  that  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Few,  if  any,  of  the  gallant  officers  who  won 
their  way  to  distinction,  and,  by  their  valor 
in  the  field,  shed  luster  upon  our  army  in  the 
great  war  against  the  rebellion,  can  show  a 
record  as  replete  with  deeds  of  daring  as  that 
of  Gen.  Jesse  J.  Phillips,  of  Hillsboro.  Nor 
is  he  lacking  in  any  of  those  essential  ele- 
ments in  the  character  of  the  civilian  which, 
when  properly  concentrated  and  applied,  ren- 
der their  possessor  a  peer  among  the  more 
prominent  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Gifted  by 
naturc>  with  abilities  of  a  high  order,  he  has 
by  arduous  study,  acquired  fine  attainments 
as  a  scholar,  and  ranks  among  the  foremost 


ADDENDA. 


329 


orators  and  jurists  of  his  native  State.  Gen. 
Phillips  is  a  native  of  Montgomery  County, 
where  he  was  born  May  22,  1837.  His  edu- 
cation was  acquired  in  Hillsboro  Academy. 
Having  early  demonstrated  excellent  business 
qualifications,  he  was.  when  little  more  than 
nineteen  years  of  age,  appointed  to  the  posi- 
tion of  route  agent  on  the  Terre  Haute  & 
St.  Louis  Railroad.  He  resigned  this  posi- 
tion in  May.  1857,  and  entered  the  law 
office  of  Davis  &  Kingsbury,  of  Hillsboro, 
where,  for  the  three  succeeding  years,  lie  was 
a  diligent  student.  In  1860,  he  was  admit 
ted  tn  the  bar  of  tho  State,  and  began  prac- 
tice at  Hillsboro;  here  he  remained  until  the 
breaking- out  of  the  rebellion  in  1861,  when, 
upon  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for 
75,000  troops,  he  raised  a  company,  of  which 
he  was.  at  the  date  of  its  organization.  April 
17,  1861,  elected  Captain.  The  company 
was  accepted  and  ordered  to  Springfield,  111., 
on  April  23,  1861.  At  the  time  of  the  or 
ganization  of  the  Ninth  Illinois  Infantry  for 
the  three  months'  service,  he  was  elected 
Major  of  the  regiment,  and  the  latter  com; 
mand  having  been  ordered  to  Cairo,  it  ac- 
cordingly reported  for  duty  at  thai  point  May 
1.  The  regiment  was  required  to  do  little 
save  garrison  duly  during  its  service,  and 
having  been  properly  mustered  out  at  the 
expiration  of  its  term  of  enlistment,  the  Ninth 
Regiment  was,  on  September  3,  1861,  re-or- 
ganized and  entered  the  service  for  three 
years,  Mr.  Phillips  retaining  tho  position  of 
Major.  Gen.  Grant,  then  in  command  of  the 
military  division  at  Cairo,  ordered  the  Ninth 
and  Twelfth  Illinois  Regiments  to  Paducah, 
Ivy.  Maj.  Phillips  was  at  this  period  placed 
in  command  of  his  regiment  temporarily. 
The  rebel  forces  were  about  to  take  posses- 
sion of  Paducah,  and  it  was  important  that 
they  should  bo  foiled  in  their  purpose.  The 
Union    forces  had  scarcely  invested    the  city 


before  a  train  of  rebel  troops  approached  the 
suburbs  of  the  place;  discovering  that  the 
Union  troops  had  anticipated  their  purpo 
and  were  preparing  to  receive  them,  the 
train  hastily  retraced  its  course.  Maj.  Phil- 
lips, with  his  regiment  and  two  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery, was  immediately  ordered  to  go  out, 
on  the  line  of  the  railroad,  twelve  miles  from 
Paducah,  and  destroy  a  bridge.  This  order 
he  promptly  executed.  While  stationed  at 
Paducah,  the  Ninth  Regiment  did  considera 
ble  scouting,  but  was  engaged  in  but  com- 
paratively few  skirmishes.  On  the  loth  of 
October.  1861,  he.  with  companies  B,  H  and 
I,  of  the  Ninth  Regiment,  attacked  300 
rebels  at  a  point  about  four  rndes  oast  of 
Eddyville,  Ky.,  and  killed  three,  wounded 
twenty,  and  captured  twenty  men,  together 
with  some  thirty  head  of  horses.  December 
'.!,  1861,  ho  was  commissioned  Lieutenant 
Colonel,  and  February  4,  following,  ho  moved 
with  his  command  up  the  Tennessee  River, 
his  regiment  forming  a  part  of  the  army  that 
co-operated  with  tho  fleet  in  the  attack  on 
Fort  Henry.  Col.  Phillips,  with  eight  com- 
panies of  his  regiment,  participated  in  the 
memorable  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  and  was 
in  command  of  the  regimont  during  the 
greater  part  of  tho  action,  tho  Colonel 
having  been  disabled  by  a  wound.  In  this 
action,  the  Ninth  Regiment,  out  of  about  six 
hundred  men  engaged,  sustained  a  loss  of 
thirty-five  killed,  one  hundred  and  sixty 
wounded  and  six  prisoners.  For  his  gal- 
lantry in  this  contest,  Col.  Phillips  received 
much  praise  from  his  superior  officers,  and 
from  the  officers  of  other  brigades,  (Jens. 
Grant,  and  Oglesby  being  among  the  number 
who  congratulated  him  upon  the  superior 
manner  in  which  ho  handled  his  regiment. 
During  this  action,  and  while  leading 
charge  with  bayonets,  Col.  Phillips'  horse 
was  shot  under  him.      The  next  great  battle 


:!:;<> 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


in  which  he  took  part  was  at  Shiloh,  on  the 
6th  of  April,  1862.  In  this  battle  the  Ninth 
Eegiment  went  into  the  fight  with  570  men, 
and  of  this  number  sixty-one  were  killed  on 
the  field,  287  wounded  and  ten  taken  pris- 
oners. One  commissioned  officer  was  killed 
and  nineteen  wounded;  only  four  commis- 
sioned officers  were  left  unhurt.  Among  the 
mortally  wounded  was  a  brother,  Sidney  B. 
Phillips.  The  horse  ridden  by  Col.  Phillips 
in  this  action  received  three  musket  shots  and 
one  grape  shot  before  he  fell,  and  the  Colo- 
nel himself  was  shot  through  the  hand  and 
twice  through  the  right  thigh.  In  March, 
1862,  the  Colonel  of  the  Ninth  Eegiment  was 
severely  wounded,  and  in  consequence  the 
command  of  the  regiment  devolved  upon 
Lieut.  Col.  Phillips,  who  was  retained  in  this 
position  until  the  close  of  the  term  of  serv- 
ice of  the  regiment. 

Upon  recovering  from  the  effects  of  the 
wounds  received  at  Shiloh,  he  was  ordered  to 
Northern  Alabama,  and  was  stationed  at 
Athons,  in  that  State,  for  several  months. 
This  being  the  extreme  outpost,  both  to  the 
South  and  West,  of  the  Union  forces  sta- 
tioned in  that  locality,  made  it  a  point  of 
great  danger,  and  required  constant  activity 
and  caution  diuing  the  period  the  regiment 
remained  there.  His  command  was  at  this 
time  mounted  for  scouting  purposes,  at  his  re- 
quest. About  the  1st  of  February,  1863,  iie 
with  his  command  engaged  in  some  ten  or 
twelve  cavalry  fights,  in  one  of  which,  near 
Florence,  Ala.,  a  desperate  charge  with  sabers 
was  made,  in  which  he  received  a  severe  in- 
jury, by  his  horse  falling  after  he  had  broken 
through  the  enemy's  column.  He  had  made 
a  charge  upon  seventy  men  with  a  detach- 
ment of  his  own  regiment  numbering  but 
thirty-three  men,  and  succeeded  in  capturing 
thirty-four  of  the  enemy.  The  only  person 
hurt  during  the  charge  was  a  rebel,  cat  down 


by  a  saber  stroke  from  Col.  Phillips,  and  that 
sustained  by  the  latter,  as  above  stated.  In 
connection  with,  and  as  a  part  of,  the  com- 
mand of  Col.  Comyn,  commanding  a  cavalry 
brigade,  Col.  Phillips,  on  the  lath  of  April, 
1863,  had  a  skirmish  with  rebel  cavalry,  at 
Cherokee,  Ala.,  and  on  the  same  day  another 
skirmish  at  Lundy's.  In  .these  two  skir- 
mishes the  enemy  lost,  in  killed  and  wounded, 
fifty  men,  with  twenty-three  taken  prisoners. 
The  Union  loss  was  five  wounded  and  fifty- 
nine  captured.  On  the  17th  another  skir- 
mish occurred  at  Cherokee,  in  which  the 
Union  forces  captured  thirteen  of  the  enemy, 
the  former  sustaining  no  loss.  Another  skir- 
mish took  place  at  Crane  Creek,  Ala.,  on  the 
27th.  On  the  4th  of  May,  Col.  Phillips  and 
his  command  participated  in  the  fight  at  Tu- 
pelo, Miss.,  and  on  the  28th  had  a  skirmish 
at  Florence,  Ala.,  in  which  a  number  of  the 
enemy  were  captured.  In  this  action,  Col. 
Phillips,  with  his  regiment,  charged  the  rebel 
guns,  and  by  the  artillery  firing  at  the  rebel 
guns,  one  of  our  men  was  wounded  by  the 
Union  guns.  On  the  31st  of  May,  our  forces 
again  skirmished  with  the  enemy  in  Tennes- 
see. On  the  19th  of  June,  1863,  he  was  in 
command  of  about  six  hundred  men,  his  own 
and  parts  of  two  other  regiments,  with  two 
guns,  and  while  reconnoitering  in  Mississippi, 
was  attacked  by  about  three  thousand  men 
under  Gen.  Ruggles,  at  Mud  Creek  Swamp, 
and  a  severe  battle  ensued,  the  fight  lasting 
from  S  A.  M.  to  3  P.  M.  Col.  Phillips  be- 
ing eighty  miles  from  any  support,  wisely  de- 
termined to  retreat,  but  in  so  doing,  to  con- 
test every  inch  of  the  ground.  By  securing 
advantageous  positions,  and  by  his  tactics  and 
skillful  maneuvering,  he  punished  the  ene- 
my quite  severely  on  the  retreat,  and  the 
rebel  forces  were  ordered  to  discontinue  the 
advance.  The  rebel  loss,  as  was  afterward 
admitted  by  them,   was   200   in   killed    and 


ADDENDA. 


331 


wounded.  The  Union  loss  was  live  killed  and 
eighteen  wounded.  This  contest  is  referred 
to  in  the  official  reports  as  having  been  con- 
ducted in  a  gallant  and  masterly  manner  by 
Col.  Phillips,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
he  was  pursued  by  a  force  nearly  four  times 
as  great  as  his  own,  he  marched  forty  miles 
in  an  orderly  manner,  over  a  swampy  country, 
swam  his  command  over  two  rivers  (the  Tal- 
lahatchie and  Hatchie)  and  brought  his  artil- 
lery through  in  safety  and  with  comparatively 
little  loss.  On  the  13th  of  July,  his  command, 
forming  a  part  of  a  brigade  under  Col.  Hatch, 
was  engaged  in  a  sharp  right  with  rebel  eav1 
airy,  capturing  about  seventy  men.  Union 
loss,  seven.  In  August,  1863,  he,  in  com- 
mand of  about  sixteen  hundred  men,  raided 
through  Mississippi.  At  Grenada,  they  capt- 
ured and  destroyed  sixty  locomotives,  450 
cars  of  all  kinds,  and  a  large  amount  of 
stores.  At  this  point  the  command  of  Col. 
Phillips  met  and  drove  back  a  force  of  1,500 
rebels  under  Col.  Slemmer.  He  again  skir- 
mished with  the  enemy  on  Forked  Deer  River, 
in  Tennessee,  October  3,  1863.  A  short  time 
thereafter,  whilst  scouting  in  Mississippi  with 
500  men  and  two  guns,  he  found  himself  in 
the  front,  of  a  force  of  about  three  thousand 
rebel  cavalry.  Surmising  that  their  object 
was  to  cut  the  railroad,  and  thereby  prevent 
re-enforcements  being  sent  toward  Chattanooga 
from  Memphis  (as  was  being  done  by  Gen. 
Sherman),  Col.  Phillips  dispatched  couriers 
from  his  command  to  several  points  on  the 
railroad,  requesting  re-enforcements  to  be  sent 
to  him  near  Salem,  as  the  indications  were 
that  he  would  have  to  attack  the  enemy  near 
that  place.  On  the  8th  of  October,  at  11  A. 
M.,  with  his  small  force,  he  attacked  the  en- 
emy vigorously,  and,  after  fighting  two  hours, 
was  re-enforced  by  800  men  under  Col.  Mc- 
Crillis;  and  with  this  force  he  continued  the 
fight  until   dark,  when,   owing  to  the  disad- 


vantages under  which  ho  had  to  maintain  the 
conflict,  he  retreated.  The  loss  of  the  Union 
forces  was  thirty  killed  and  wounded.  Three 
days  later  the  rebels  attacked  Collierville, 
and  on  the  same  day  Col.  Phillips,  in  com- 
mand of  a  brigade,  forming  part  of  a  divis- 
ion under  Col.  Hatch,  followed  in  pursuit, 
marching  upward  of  seventy-five  miles, 
fighting  at  Graham's  Mills  and  at  Wyall, 
Miss.  In  the  last  engagement  he  had  a 
horse  shot  under  him. 

At  Florence,  Ala.,  November  30,  1863,  he, 
with  200  men,  attacked  a  force  of  the  enemy, 
charging  them  with  sabers  and  capturing 
thirty-four  men.  At  Decatur,  Ala.,  whei'e  his 
command  was  next  ordered,  he  remained  from 
January,  1864,  until  the  1st  of  May,  follow- 
ing, daring  which  time  he  was  engaged  in 
frequent  reconnoissances  and  skirmishes. 
Among  the  more  important  of  the  latter  was 
■the  action  near  Moulton,  Ala.  With  350 
men,  he  was  ordered  to  reconnoiter,  and  find 
the  locality  and  strength  of  an  infantry  force 
of  the  enemy,  understood  to  be  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. His  instructions  were  to  "develop 
the  strength  of  that  infantry."  He  accord- 
ingly attacked,  at  Somerville,  Ala.,  a  force  of 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  rebel  cav- 
alry under  Maj.  Williams,  and  after  a  short 
skirmish  drove  them  to  Danville,  where  they 
were  re-enforced  by  an  additional  force  of 
seventy-five  men  under  Capt.  Doan.  From 
Danville  the  rebels  were  driven  to  Moulton, 
where  they  were  re-enforced  by  350  men  under 
Maj.  Morehead.  Here  a  sharp  fight  ensued, 
and  the  entire  rebel  force,  550  strong,  who 
by  this  time  had  learned  the  invincible  troops, 
against  whom  they  were  arrayed,  were  driven 
three  miles  beyond  the  town,  where  Col. 
Phihips,  as  he  afterward  remarked,  "de- 
veloped'' the  rebel  infantry,  two  or  three 
regiments  strong.  Ten  minutes  after  the 
latter  "development,"  he  ordered  a  retreat. 


332 


BIOGRAPHIC  A  I.: 


On  reaching  the  town,  three  miles  in  his 
rear,  he  made  a  stand  against  the  cavalry  that 
were  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  checked  and 
drove  them  back  until  the  infantry  again 
came  up.  During  this  fight,  his  horse  was 
shot  and  fell  upon  him,  pinning  him  to  the 
ground  so  securely  that  lie  could  not  extri- 
cate himself.  The  position  in  which  he  was 
lying  was  one  of  great  peril,  being  immedi- 
ately between  the  lines  of  the  opposing 
forces.  At  this  juncture,  however,  his  men 
having  discovered  the  peril  of  their  leader, 
a  charge  was  made  by  a  portion  of  his  troops, 
led  by  Lieut.  Cyrus  Gilmore,  of  the  Ninth 
Regiment,  and  Col.  Phillips  was  rescued. 
In  this  fight  the  Union  loss  was  twenty  men 
killed  and  upward  of  twenty  taken  prisoners. 
The  rebel  loss  was  about  the  same  killed 
and  wounded,  and  thirty  -  six  prisoners. 
About  the  1st  of  May,  the  corps  to  which 
he  belonged  was  ordered  to  Chattanooga, 
preparatory  to  the  Atlanta  campaign.  When 
the  tro  >ps  reached  Brownsville,  Ala.,  ten 
miles  east  of  Huutsville,  the  infantry  were 
placed  on  ears  and  conveyed  to  Chattanooga, 
while  Col.  Phillips,  with  his  regiment,  was 
ordered  to  take  the  wagon  and  ambulance 
train,  with  the  artillery,  through  to  Chatta- 
nooga. He  accordingly  set  out  with  a  train 
of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  wagons, 
sixty  ambulances  and  two  batteries,  making 
the  march  of  ninety  miles  in  three  days.  On 
reaching  Chattanooga,  he  found  orders  for 
him  to  move  to  the  front,  which  he  immedi- 
ately obeyed,  and  the  next  morning  he  was 
ordered,  with  his  command,  to  take  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  In 
obedience  to  this  order  he  set  out  with  his 
command,  and  in  passing  through  Snake 
Clap,  drove  a  force  of  rebel  cavalry  before 
him.  On  the  following  morning,  having 
been  ordered  to  make  a  reconnoissance  on 
Rosaca,  he  had  advanced  but  little  more  than 


a  mile  when  he  was  confronted  with  a  heavy 
rebel  cavalry  force  under  Gen.  Wheeler, -of 
rebel  cavalry  fame.  Col.  Phillips'  force  was 
driven  back  after  a  sharp  fight  of  about  two 
hours,  during  which  time  he  had  his  horse 
shot  under  him.  and  received  a  wound  by  a 
shot  through  his  ankle,  which  was  quite  pain- 
ful, and  rendered  him  unfit  for  service  until 
about  the  1st  of  June,  when  he  again  as- 
sumed command  of  his  regiment,,  and  took 
part  in  the  heavy  lighting  before  Atlanta. 
In  the  battle  of  the  £2d,  he  took  an  active 
part.  He  was  placed  upon  the  staff  of  Gen. 
Dodge,  who  made  honorable  mention  of  the 
Colonel's  gallantry  in  his  official  report. 
On  the  night  of  the  22d  of  July,  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  a  brigade  of  infantry, 
and  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  battle  of 
the  28th  of  July,  materially  aiding  the 
heroic  Gen.  Logan,  who  on  that  day  sus- 
tained the  brunt  of  the  battle.  About  the 
1st  of  August,  1864,  he  was  again  appointed 
a  chief  on  Gen.  Dodge's  staff,  where  he 
remained  until  the  capture  ol  Atlanta, 
when  he  resigned,  his  resignation  being  ac- 
ted,  upon  the  1st  of  September,  1864. 
On  returning  to  his  home,  at  Hillsboro,  in 

1864,  he  re-commenced  the  practice  of  law, 
which  he  has  since  continued  with  great  suc- 
cess. Ho  was  commissioned  as  Brevet 
Colonel,  to  take  rank  from  the  13th  of  March, 

1865,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services 
during  the  war.  and  was  commissioned  at  the 
same  time  Brigadier  General,  by  brevet,  for 
distinguished  services,  also  taking  rank  from 
the  13th  of  March,  1865.  Thoroughly  Dem 
ocratic  in  his  political  views,  Gen.  Phillips 
ranks  prominent  among  the  leaders  of  his 
party  in  the  State.  Possessing  a  well-stored 
and  finely-balanced  mind,  with  intellectual 
and  oratorical  attainments  of  a  high  order,  he 
is  at  once  powerful  on  the  stum])  and  wise  in 
the    councils    of    his   party.       He    was  twice 


ADDENDA. 


833 


brought  forward  by  the  party  as  a  candidate 
for  the  office  of  State  Treasurer;  his  first 
candidacy  for  that  office  being  in  1866,  when 
he  made  a  thorough  and  vigorous  canvass  of 
the  State,  speaking  at  more  than  sixty  differ- 
ent places.  He  was  again  nominated  in  1868, 
but  the  Democracy  being  largely  in  the  minor- 
ity, he  was  again  defeated.     In  social  life  Gen. 


Phillips  is  one  of  the  most  genial  of  men. 
As  a  citizen,  he  is  enterprising  and  public- 
spirited,  ever  taking  a  leading  part  in  all 
matters  calculated  to  advance  the  material 
interests  of  his  city  and  county.  He  is  at 
present  Circuit  Judge  of  this  district,  a  po- 
sition he  fills  with  ability. 


LITCHFIELD— Montgomery  County. 


MKS.  JULIA  MACHLER,  ne'e  Maurer, 
is  a  native  of  Konigsburg,  in  the  Empire  of 
Prussia.  Her  father,  Casper  Maurer,  was  a 
Bavarian,  and  an  officer  in  the  household  of 
Queen  Lisett  (Elizabeth)  of  Prussia.  Her 
mother,  Helena  Long,  was  a  personal  attend- 
ant on  the  Queen.  After  his  marriage,  Mr. 
Maurer  returned  to  Bavaria  and  served  Queen 
Caroline,  the  mother  of  Lisett.  He  dying  in 
1836,  his  widow  remained  a  pensioner  in 
the  royal  household  until  her  death,  in  1868. 
Julia,  the  third  child,  accompanied  an  uncle 
to  the  United  States  in  1845,  and  the  fol'ow- 
ing  year  was  married,  in  New  York  City,  to 
Peter  Madder,  fifteen  years  her  senior.  He 
was  a  native  of  Crisnacht,  Prussia ;  had  been 


a  soldier  for  six  years,  and  then  wrought  at 
his  calling.  Coming  to  New  York  in  1841, 
he  toiled  as  a  journeyman  for  two  years,  and 
then  opening  a  shop  of  his  own,  conducted 
business  until  his  death,  in  1857.  Mrs. 
Madder  then  asserted  her  character,  and,  in 
order  to  provide  for  her  three  children,  went 
into  a  new  line  of  business,  with  success.  In 
1870,  she  located  here  in  order  that  her  boys 
might  grow  up  with  the  town,  and  was  speedi- 
ly looked  upon  as  one  of  the  "  solid  "  class. 
A  cheerful,  home-staying  woman,  true  to  her 
friends,  diligent  in  business,  generous,  char- 
itable in  judgment,  she  illustrates  in  her 
walk  of  life  the  virtues  which  make  home 
happy. 


ERRATA. 


The   biography    of     William    S.    Lea,    of 

Litchfield,    Montgomery    County,   is    not    in 


alphabetical  order,  being  among  the  S's,  in 
Litchfield. 


